Cleary Gottlieb Names 24 New Partners, Counsel, and Senior Attorneys

Cleary Gottlieb has promoted 15 partners, six counsel, and three senior attorneys, effective January 1, 2024.

The promotions will bring the firm’s total worldwide partners to 196, counsel to 51, and senior attorneys to 34.

“We’re proud to announce our new class of senior lawyers,” said Cleary Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “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 provide first-rate advice to our clients with intellectual agility, commercial acumen, and a human touch. These talented lawyers have demonstrated their commitment to our firm’s values and culture, and their promotion underscores our commitment to organic growth.”

The new partners, counsel, and senior attorneys are resident in the firm’s Brussels, Cologne, London, New York, Paris, São Paulo, Seoul, and Washington, D.C. offices. Their practice areas include antitrust, banking and financial institutions, bankruptcy and restructuring, capital markets, debt finance, environmental law, litigation and arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, structured finance, and tax.

Our new senior lawyers are:

• Kylie Barza (Partner, New York/Tax) ― Kylie’s practice focuses on U.S. tax matters in a wide range of corporate and financing transactions. She advises foreign and domestic clients on spin-offs, international and domestic mergers and acquisitions, internal restructurings, financing transactions, and capital markets transactions. She’s advised Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, Google, OpenText, FEMSA, and América Móvil.
• Nickolas Bogdanovich (Partner, New York/M&A) ― Nick’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions transactions, including transactions for financial sponsors and public company transactions, and corporate advice across a variety of industries and sectors. He has advised Warburg Pincus, TPG, Lowe’s, Google, OpenText, Astound Broadband, and other major sponsors and public companies.
• Matthew Brigham (Partner, New York/Tax) ― Matt’s practice focuses on U.S. tax matters in capital markets, debt finance, and structured finance transactions. Matt also regularly advises non-U.S. sovereign investors on structuring their investments into the United States. His clients have included Silver Point, América Móvil, Warburg Pincus, and PEMEX.
• Thierry Diouf (Senior Attorney, Paris/M&A) ― Thierry’s practice focuses on corporate and Africa-related transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, private equity, and projects. He has advised such clients as Alstom, Atlas Trust, the historic shareholders of CGF Bourse, GlobalFoundries, Latour Capital, Loxam, the Republic of Senegal, and Sienna Investment Managers.
• Alan Freedman (Partner, Washington, D.C./Antitrust) ― Alan’s practice focuses on a broad range of antitrust matters, including merger review, litigation, and government investigations. He has advised a wide variety of clients, including Keurig Dr Pepper, 21st Century Fox, Medtronic, and Korean Air.
• Patrick Gerardy (Senior Attorney, Cologne/Litigation and Arbitration) ― Patrick’s practice focuses on domestic and international litigation and arbitration. He has extensive experience in antitrust litigations. He has advised a range of clients, including Agfa-Gevaert Group, The Republic of Argentina, a Danish pharmaceuticals company, a leading automobile manufacturer, a major telecommunications company, and a North American automotive supplier.
• Brandon Hammer (Partner, New York/Banking and Financial Institutions) ― Brandon’s practice focuses on a broad range of creditors’ rights, clearing, financial regulatory, bankruptcy, digital asset, and market infrastructure issues. His clients include financial institutions, clearinghouses, sovereigns, and end users. He has advised numerous financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Citibank, BNP Paribas, Barclays, Bank of America, HSBC, Coinbase, and Genesis Global Holdco, LLC.
• Anne Saehee Kim (Counsel, Seoul/Capital Markets) ― Anne’s practice focuses on capital markets transactions, including SEC-registered and private debt offerings and SEC reporting advice to our clients in Korea. Her recent work includes matters for issuers including the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), KB Financial Group, Kookmin Bank, Korea Development Bank, Korean Air Lines, and the Republic of Korea, and underwriters including BofA Securities, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Société Générale.
• Jay Kozak (Counsel, Washington, D.C./Structured Finance) ― Jay’s practice focuses on structured finance. His practice encompasses a wide range of complex structured finance transactions, including collateralized loan obligations, receivables securitizations and financings, and asset-based lending arrangements. His recent work includes matters for clients including KKR, Angelo Gordon, Nomura, Blue Owl Credit, Goldman Sachs, Alcoa, and Vitro.
• Charity Lee (Counsel, New York/Litigation and Arbitration) ― Charity’s practice focuses on civil litigation, arbitration, and enforcement, with a focus on cross-border and ESG matters. She’s had notable successes representing clients including BHP and Vale in significant ESG matters. She also has developed significant experience, including litigation through trial, on behalf of clients in the financial services and life sciences industries in federal and state court and before the U.S. International Trade Commission.
• Romi Lepetska (Counsel, Brussels/Antitrust) ― Romi’s practice focuses on all aspects of EU, Dutch, and Belgian competition law and FDI control. She advises on a wide range of antitrust issues, including complex EU and international merger control proceedings, abuse of dominance cases, restrictive practices, and the EU foreign subsidies regulation. She has advised such clients as Allergan, Alstom, American Express, Broadcom, Citigroup, IQVIA, Philip Morris International, and Samsung.
• Sarah E. Lewis (Partner, London/Capital Markets) ― Sarah’s practice focuses primarily on international capital markets transactions, with an emphasis on U.S. securities laws and securities offerings by non-U.S. companies in the UK, Europe (with a particular focus on the Nordic region), and the Middle East. Representative corporate clients include Barclays, GSK, Santander UK, and Schibsted. Sarah also frequently works for all major underwriters.
• Anita Magraner Oliver (Partner, Brussels/Antitrust) ― Anita’s practice focuses on EU and French competition law, including merger control, anticompetitive agreements, and abuse of dominance. She has represented a range of clients, including Adevinta, Ardian, Broadcom, Essilor, Google, Illumina, LVMH Group, NVIDIA, Schibsted, Thales, United Technologies Corporation, Valeo, and Westlake Chemicals.
• Jonathan Mendes de Oliveira (Partner, São Paulo/Capital Markets) ― Jonathan’s practice focuses on corporate and financial transactions, especially capital markets, cross border financing and derivatives transactions, and corporate governance in Brazil. He has advised clients including Vale, Suzano, Inter, CI&T, the Federal Republic of Brazil, and the underwriters or issuers in numerous equity and bond offerings.
• John Messent (Counsel, London/Antitrust and FDI) ― John’s practice covers all aspects of UK and EU competition law, as well as national security and foreign investment screening. His recent work includes matters for Thales, Veolia, Broadcom, Ecolab, and Ryanair.
• Conor Opdebeeck-Wilson (Partner, Brussels/Antitrust) ― Conor’s practice focuses on competition law and regulatory affairs, including matters involving digital and technology markets. He assists clients before the European Commission and Courts and in proceedings in European member states. He has advised such clients as ASML, Booking.com, Citigroup, Google, NVIDIA, and PayPal.
• Joshua Panas (Counsel, New York/Real Estate) ― Josh’s practice focuses on U.S. and international real estate transactions. His work includes mortgage and mezzanine finance, real estate-related mergers and acquisitions, and portfolio leasing matters. He has advised clients including KSL, TPG, Warburg Pincus, and Goldman Sachs.
• Insoo Park (Partner, Seoul/Capital Markets) ― Insoo’s practice focuses on a wide variety of capital markets transactions, including debt offerings, IPOs, and SEC reporting advice to clients in Korea. He has represented a wide range of issuers, including Doosan Robotics, GS-Caltex, LG Display, NAVER Corporation, Nonghyup Bank, SK Broadband, SK Square, and SK Telecom, as well as underwriter clients including BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and Société Générale.
• Amber Phillips (Partner, Washington, D.C./Structured Finance and Funds Regulatory) ― Amber’s practice focuses on structured finance, fund finance, and the regulation of investment advisers and investment companies. Her practice encompasses complex U.S. and international transactions and related regulatory advice, including collateralized loan obligations, mortgage-backed securities transactions, asset-based lending transactions, and investment management agreements and arrangements, including registration, reporting, and compliance obligations of investment advisers and family offices. She has advised clients including Blue Owl Credit, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hillhouse, Natixis, Nomura, and The Nature Conservancy.
• David Schwartz (Senior Attorney, New York/Bankruptcy and Restructuring) ― David’s practice focuses on bankruptcy and litigation. He has represented debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings and parties in restructuring-related and civil litigations. David has represented a wide variety of clients, including LATAM Airlines, HSBC Bank, Genesis Global Capital, ESL Investments, Punjab National Bank, and Citigroup.
• Lauren Semrad (Partner, Washington, D.C./Banking and Financial Institutions) ― Lauren’s practice focuses on U.S. bank and bank holding company regulatory matters. She regularly advises on U.S. bank regulatory and compliance matters, including bank recovery and resolution planning, capital and liquidity requirements, and qualified financial contracts, among others. Her clients have included Deutsche Bank, UBS, Barclays, Credit Suisse, and a variety of trade associations such as ISDA, the Bank Policy Institute, the Institute of International Bankers, and SIFMA.
• Beau Sterling (Partner, Washington, D.C./Structured Finance and Environmental Law) ― Beau’s practice focuses on structured finance transactions, including advising underwriter clients in offerings for Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, and a range of other structured financing matters including Mizuho, Natixis, Nomura, Silver Point, and others. Beau also provides environmental advice in support of a wide range of transactions for clients including Warburg Pincus, Wafra, Altaris Capital Partners, Tech Data, Air Liquide, Henkel, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Saint-Gobain, Sysco, Sony, Westlake Chemical Corporation, and Bio Pappel.
• Paul Stuart (Partner, London/Antitrust and Litigation) ― Paul’s practice focuses on competition law and litigation, including litigation before the UK courts, European Commission and UK antitrust and merger proceedings, and appellate litigation before the EU courts. His work includes matters for the European Central Bank, Google, “K” Line, LG Display, Lundbeck, NSK, NVIDIA, Sony, and Western Digital.
• Dan Tierney (Partner, London/M&A) ― Dan has a broad M&A and corporate finance practice, with a focus on transactions involving UK and European public companies. He has advised a range of clients, including Engie, Euronext, Goldman Sachs, Open Text, Schroders, The Coca-Cola Company, Warburg Pincus, Allied Universal, and LivaNova.