Cleary Gottlieb Names 23 New Partners, Counsel, and Senior Attorneys

Cleary Gottlieb has promoted nine partners, eight counsel, and six senior attorneys, effective January 1, 2023.

The promotions will bring the firm’s total worldwide partners to 176, counsel to 60, and senior attorneys to 46.

“We’re thrilled to announce our new class of senior lawyers,” said Cleary Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “These talented lawyers reflect the breadth of substantive expertise and geographic presence that our clients seek, and have demonstrated their commitment to our firm’s values and culture. As new partners, counsel, and senior attorneys, they will continue our rich tradition of bringing together talented people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to solve challenging problems for our clients worldwide.”

The new partners, counsel, and senior attorneys are resident in the firm’s Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Milan, New York, Paris, Rome, and Washington, D.C. offices. Their practice areas include antitrust, bankruptcy and restructuring, capital markets, corporate governance, debt finance, financial institutions, litigation and arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, tax, and white-collar defense and investigations.

Our new senior lawyers are:

• Laurie Achtouk-Spivak (Partner, Paris/Litigation and Arbitration) ― Laurie’s practice focuses on international arbitration and litigation, with a particular emphasis on public international law. She represents clients in commercial arbitrations as well as investors and sovereigns in investment treaty arbitrations before ICSID, ICC, and other arbitration institutions, and often advises on investment structuring and sustainability matters. Her recent work includes matters for large corporates and sovereigns, including the Hellenic Republic, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the Republic of Iraq, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Arab Republic of Egypt.
• Christopher Bachand-Parente (Senior Attorney, New York/Real Estate) ― Chris’ practice focuses on complex real estate transactions, including lender and borrower side financing transactions, joint ventures, acquisitions and sales, and restructurings across an array of asset types. He has advised clients such as Hospitality Investors Trust, ESL Investments, Angelo Gordon, Genting Malaysia, Breaking Ground, Brookfield, Brooklyn Public Library, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Banco Inbursa, and Argent Ventures.
• Matthew Bachrack (Counsel, Washington, D.C./Antitrust) ― Matthew’s practice focuses on antitrust matters. His work includes merger control, criminal and civil investigations, and antitrust counseling, particularly with respect to the United States and the antitrust regimes in Asia. He also has extensive experience in U.S. civil antitrust litigation. His representations include matters for JUUL, Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, Molson Coors, and Leroy Seafood.
• Paolo Bertoli (Counsel, Milan/Litigation and Arbitration) ― Paolo’s practice focuses on arbitration and litigation. He has acted in numerous international and domestic arbitrations involving complex commercial disputes as well as public international law issues, and in commercial, securities, and antitrust litigation in a variety of Italian courts; he has also acted as arbitrator under the Milan Chamber of Arbitration Rules. He has recently represented such clients as ArcelorMittal, BNP Paribas, Danieli, Dover Corporation, Enel Group, TIM, and Vale.
• Laura Birène (Counsel, Paris/Capital Markets and Debt Finance) ― Laura’s practice focuses on corporate and financial matters, including financing and capital market transactions. She has advised a range of clients, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Lyonnais, J.P. Morgan, Latour Capital, Universal Music Group, Vivendi, and Worldline.
• Fausto Caronna (Counsel, Rome/Antitrust) ― Fausto’s practice focuses on EU and Italian consumer and antitrust law. He advises clients on unfair commercial practices, misleading advertising, unfair contract terms and business-to-consumer agreements, as well as on abuse of dominance, cartels, restrictive practices, and merger control proceedings. His recent work includes matters for Assilea, Alba Leasing, Compass Banca, HP, Samsung, Santander Consumer Bank, Telecom Italia, and Unipol.
• Sophie de Beer(Partner, Paris/M&A) ― Sophie’s practice focuses on French and European merger and acquisition transactions, involving both listed and non-listed companies. She has extensive experience on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and partnerships involving financial institutions, as well as on related banking and financial regulatory matters. She has represented a range of clients, including Amundi, BNP Paribas, BPCE, Cerberus, Crédit Agricole, GlobalFoundries, Groupama, J.P. Morgan, My Money Bank, Natixis, and Veolia.
• Alessandro Gennarino (Senior Attorney, Milan/ Debt Finance) ― Alessandro’s practice focuses on international financing and corporate matters, including leveraged finance transactions, debt restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions. He has recently advised such clients as A2A, F2i, Goodyear, Sogefi, and Warburg Pincus.
• Helena Grannis (Partner, New York/Capital Markets and Corporate Governance) ― Helena’s practice focuses on capital market transactions and corporate advisory matters. She handles domestic financial transactions for U.S. and international clients, including initial public offerings and equity and debt offerings. She also advises companies on corporate governance matters, including disclosures, ESG issues, board composition and independence, proxy advice, and shareholder engagement and strategy. Her recent clients have included Bed Bath & Beyond, Clorox, Honeywell, and TPG.
• Alexander Janghorbani (Counsel, New York/Litigation and Enforcement) ― Alex’s practice focuses on complex securities issues, litigation, and enforcement, informed by nearly nine years at the SEC as an investigative staff attorney and a Senior Trial Counsel. His representations include matters for Petrobras, Garlinghouse, ING, and OPKO Health.
• Thomas S. Kessler (Partner, New York/Bankruptcy and Restructuring) ― Tom’s practice focuses on bankruptcy, restructuring, and other complex civil litigation. He has represented a variety of clients, including debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, and parties in restructuring-related suits, contractual disputes, and securities litigation. His representations include matters for LATAM Airlines, Samarco Mineração, Garuda Indonesia, Apollo Management Holdings L.P., Novonor, BNP Paribas, Overseas Shipholding Group, Warburg Pincus, and Petrobras.
• Philipp Kirst (Senior Attorney, Cologne/Antitrust) ― Philipp’s practice focuses on European and German competition law, including cartels, abuse of dominance, merger control, and all aspects of competition damages litigation. He has represented clients before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office, as well as European and German courts. His recent work includes matters for BayWa, Beiersdorf, Broadcom, Google, Lundbeck, Nestlé, and Western Digital.
• Wanjie Lin (Senior Attorney, Brussels/Antitrust) ― Wanjie’s practice focuses on competition law, State aid, and international trade law. She has written and spoken on the EU’s new Foreign Subsidies Regulation. Her recent work includes matters for Adevinta, NVIDIA, Illumina, Temasek, IBM, and The Walt Disney Company.
• Brian Morris (Counsel, New York/Financial Institutions) ― Brian’s practice focuses on U.S. securities, commodities, and derivatives regulation, including SEC and CFTC regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He regularly advises banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, electronic trading platforms, clearinghouses, and corporate end users on a variety of transactional, enforcement, and financial regulatory matters. He has worked with, among others, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Banco Santander.
• Susanna Parker (Partner, New York/Tax) ― Susanna’s practice focuses on tax matters, particularly for private equity and hedge funds, joint venture arrangements, acquisitions and divestitures (both domestic and international transactions), financing transactions, and private client and family office matters. Her work includes matters for Sixth Street, KKR, TPG, Brookfield, The Raine Group, Viking, and Coller Capital.
• Laura Prosperetti (Counsel, Rome/Financial Institutions) ― Laura’s practice focuses on EU and Italian banking and financial law and regulation. She advises clients on a range of regulatory and transactional matters, including compliance issues linked to the implementation of EU financial regulatory reforms, supervisory reviews, and mergers and acquisitions of regulated entities. Her recent representations include matters for Euronext, F2i Sgr, Groupama, HP, and Worldline.
• Chrishan Raja (Partner, London/Capital Markets) ― Chrishan’s practice focuses on international capital markets, with a particular focus on equity and debt transactions (including bank regulatory capital), corporate governance, and ongoing reporting. Chrishan has experience across a range of jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East. He has recently advised on matters for ACG Acquisition Company (a London-listed SPAC), Barclays, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and UBS.
• Andres Saenz (Senior Attorney, New York, White-Collar Defense and Investigations, Civil Litigation) ― Andres’ practice focuses on white-collar defense, regulatory enforcement, compliance programs, and complex civil litigation, in particular with respect to cross-border issues. His representations include matters for Petrobras, Vale, and BNDES.
• Naomi Tarawali (Partner, London/Litigation and Arbitration) ― Naomi’s practice focuses on international dispute resolution. She has represented financial institutions, corporations, funds, and sovereigns in their most complex and challenging disputes, involving litigation, arbitration, and mediation, and invariably ranging across multiple jurisdictions. She has advised a range of clients, including Goldman Sachs, Mubadala, Natixis, and Vale.
• Sophie Troussard-Fauré (Senior Attorney, Paris/Antitrust) ― Sophie’s practice focuses on EU and French competition law, including merger control, cartel investigations, and related litigation matters. She has experience in a range of sectors, including aerospace, consumer goods, and manufacturing. Her recent representations include matters for Airbus, Tech Data, Elsan, Ortec, Vivendi, and Whirlpool.
• Mirko von Bieberstein (Partner, Frankfurt/M&A) ― Mirko’s practice focuses on domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and general corporate law. He also advises on German foreign direct investment reviews, representing clients from a variety of sectors before the German authorities and providing related strategic advice. His recent work includes matters for Albany, Broadcom, DCC, Henkel, Merck, OpenText, and a major UAE sovereign wealth fund.
• Carina Wallance (Counsel, New York/Bankruptcy and Restructuring) ― Carina’s practice primarily focuses on cross-border restructurings in Latin America and other emerging markets, but also includes corporate, leveraged, distressed, and project financings. She has advised on matters for LATAM Airlines, Garuda, Aeromexico, Grupo Posadas, and OEC.
• Miao Zhang (Partner, Hong Kong/Capital Markets) ― Miao’s practice focuses on equity capital market transactions, including IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, pre-IPO investments, and PIPE transactions involving Hong Kong-listed clients. Her recent representations include matters for Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Temasek, H World Group, Hansoh Pharmaceutical, OneConnect, and Topsports.