Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP Elects Eleven Attorneys to Partnership
NEW YORK, November 13, 2007 – The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP announced today the election of eleven new partners to the Firm’s New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Frankfurt, Munich and Singapore offices. Representing a cross-section of the Firm’s practice areas, the new partners are: James G. Cavoli, Thomas Ingenhoven, Naomi J. Ishikawa, Lawrence T. Kass, Russell J. Kestenbaum, Dara A. Panahy, Daniel Perry, Abhilash M. Raval, Christoph Rothenfusser, Blair Tyson and Caroline Walther-Meade.
Commenting on the announcement, Milbank Chairman Mel M. Immergut stated, “We are pleased to welcome these outstanding young lawyers to the partnership. Their expertise, hard work and dedication have contributed to the growth of the Firm across a broad range of practice areas throughout our global offices.”
NEW YORK:
JAMES G. CAVOLI, formerly of counsel, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Litigation Group, resident in the New York office. His practice encompasses a full range of complex litigation, including civil and criminal enforcement of the securities laws, and international commercial arbitration. Mr. Cavoli has also represented institutions in grand jury, SEC and self-regulatory organization investigations, served as an independent monitor for a major New York hospital in connection with a settlement agreement with the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and is often called upon to conduct internal corporate investigations.
Prior to joining Milbank in November 2005, Mr. Cavoli spent nearly eight years in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Cavoli began his tenure as an AUSA in 1998, first serving in the General Crimes Unit, then the Major Crimes Unit, where he prosecuted health care fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, tax fraud and other white-collar offenses, and served as health care fraud coordinator. Mr. Cavoli also served as a Deputy Chief in the Appeals Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he was one of six AUSAs responsible for overseeing all briefing and argument before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He later moved to the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit, where he focused on accounting fraud and insider trading cases. Mr. Cavoli tried several cases and handled numerous appellate arguments while serving as an AUSA.
Mr. Cavoli began his legal career as an associate in the litigation department at Rogers & Wells (now Clifford Chance LLP). He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Albany Law School of Union University, where he was lead articles editor for the Albany Law Review, and his B.S., magna cum laude, from Siena College.
LAWRENCE T. KASS, formerly a senior associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group, resident in the New York office. He has extensive experience in patent litigation, appeals, licensing, prosecution and client counseling across a broad range of industries and technologies, including pharmaceuticals (including multidistrict Hatch-Waxman litigation), biotechnology, antibiotics, chemicals, medical devices, semiconductors, optics, printing, computers and software.
Mr. Kass began his legal career in private practice, he left to serve as a Clerk to the Honorable Alvin A. Schall at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and then he joined Milbank. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Kass was a Research Scientist and Development Engineer at Union Carbide/UOP from 1988 to 1995. In that capacity he developed various processes involving chemical separations, for which he was the named inventor or co-inventor of several patents. He earned his J.D. with honors from Pace Law School and dual degrees with honors in chemistry and chemical engineering from the State Universities of New York at Geneseo and Buffalo, respectively. Mr. Kass is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
RUSSELL J. KESTENBAUM, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Tax Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. Kestenbaum advises clients on the tax aspects of various types of transactions including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions (both domestic and cross-border), structuring for private equity funds, debt issuances and tax issues relating to bankruptcies and out of court restructurings. His clients include Cerberus Capital Partners, The Carlyle Group, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and various court appointed creditors’ committees, including those in the Enron, Refco and Winn-Dixie bankruptcy proceedings.
Mr. Kestenbaum received his B.A. from SUNY Albany and earned his J.D. with honors from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was the Executive Editor of the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal and a member of the Order of the Coif.
ABHILASH M. RAVAL, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Financial Restructuring Group, resident in the New York office. His practice concentrates on, among other things, representing investors, lenders and creditors in chapter 11 cases, distressed M&A transactions (both in and out of bankruptcies), out-of-court restructurings and debt and equity financings, both in the U.S. and internationally. Recent matters Mr. Raval has worked on include representing various investment funds in the chapter 11 cases of Orthodontics Centers of America, Communications Corporation of America, and AAIPharma; representing several investment funds in the out-of-court restructuring of American Color Graphics, Inc.; representing the official committee of unsecured creditors in the chapter 11 cases of Winn-Dixie and Enron; and representing various lenders and investors in numerous chapter 11 “DIP” financings, out of court “rescue” financings and distressed M&A transactions.
Mr. Raval earned his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School and received his A.B., summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College.
BLAIR TYSON, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Finance Group, resident in the New York office. His practice encompasses banking, structured finance and project finance, representing lenders, arrangers and borrowers in the United States, Asia and Latin and South America. Mr. Tyson was resident in Milbank’s Tokyo office from 2002 – 2004.
Mr. Tyson earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received his B.A. from the University of California at San Diego. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
CAROLINA WALTHER-MEADE, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Project Finance Group, resident in the New York office. She is a member of the Firm’s Latin America Practice Group and has extensive experience in cross-border financings and international project financing and development, with an emphasis on infrastructure, mining and energy projects throughout Latin America. She has also been involved in numerous acquisition financings and structured financings in the region. Her practice includes representation of commercial bank syndicates, multilaterals and ECAs on the lender side, as well as numerous developers and industrial groups on the sponsor/borrower side. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, she spent one and a half years at Milbank based out of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Carolina Walther-Meade grew up in Mexico and received a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego.
LOS ANGELES:
DANIEL PERRY, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Litigation Department, resident in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Perry’s practice is highly diversified with a concentration in complex civil and corporate litigation. He regularly represents financial institutions, corporations and individuals in class actions, securities and bankruptcy litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country. Mr. Perry also has extensive experience representing clients in criminal investigations, SEC enforcement matters, and corporate investigations.
Mr. Perry received his law degree cum laude from Cornell Law School, where he served as an editor of the Cornell International Law Journal and was a member of the Cornell Moot Court Board. He earned a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
WASHINGTON, DC:
DARA A. PANAHY, formerly a senior associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Project Finance Department, resident in the Washington, DC office. Mr. Panahy represents clients in the aerospace, communications and banking industries involved in space and communications ventures. His experience includes representing satellite operators, space-segment manufacturers, launch services providers, communications companies, banks and private equity firms in numerous financings involving public offerings, high yield debt, investment grade bonds, project and vendor financings, mergers & acquisitions, financial restructuring and reorganizations and in negotiating procurement contracts. He also counsels clients on domestic and international regulatory matters, including licensing of satellite, wireless and wireline communications systems, compliance with economic sanctions, national security and export control laws and regulations, risk management and legislative and policy monitoring.
Mr. Panahy is a member of the Society for International Affairs and the Society of Satellite Professionals International. He earned his J.D. from the American University, Washington College of Law, where he was Senior Articles Editor of the American University Journal of International Law & Policy, a member of the Moot Court Board and student representative on the Dean’s Finance and Honor Committees. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Spanish from the University of Virginia.
FRANKFURT:
THOMAS INGENHOVEN, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Finance Department, resident in the Frankfurt office. Mr. Ingenhoven specializes in acquisition finance, syndicated lending and financial derivatives. He has advised both lenders and sponsors on a large number of German and European leveraged buyouts and general syndicated lending transactions, and counseled his clients on financial derivatives under German law. Chambers Global 2007 and Chambers Europe 2007 recognize his stellar reputation in the acquisition finance arena, citing his ability “to find pragmatic solutions even when under the utmost pressure.”
Prior to joining Milbank, Mr. Ingenhoven practiced at a major international law firm in Frankfurt and London. Mr. Ingenhoven studied law at the universities of Tübingen, Germany, where he also obtained his doctorate degree (Dr. jur.) and Leyden, The Netherlands. He holds a post-graduate degree from the University of Cambridge, England (LL.M.) He is admitted in Germany and in England & Wales (Solicitor).
MUNICH:
CHRISTOPH ROTHENFUSSER, formerly an associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Corporate Department, resident in the Munich office. Mr. Rothenfusser joined Milbank in 2004 as part of the team founding Milbank's Munich office. He has broad experience in equity capital markets, public M&A transactions and corporate advisory work (“Aktien- und Konzernrecht, Umwandlungsrecht, Übernahmerecht”) which includes corporate reorganizations and public takeovers. He advises numerous listed companies and financial sponsors on all aspects of corporate law and takeover law. He also works on behalf of clients in the context of actions of minority shareholders and appraisal proceedings following corporate reorganizations.
Prior to joining Milbank, Mr. Rothenfusser was an attorney with a leading international law firm. He studied law and physics at the universities of Munich and Freiburg. He obtained his doctorate degree (Dr. jur.) from the university of Munich and a degree in physics from the university of Freiburg.
SINGAPORE:
NAOMI J. ISHIKAWA, formerly a senior associate, has been named a partner in Milbank’s Global Securities Group, resident in the Singapore office. Based in Singapore since 1998, Ms. Ishikawa's clients include investment banks, private equity firms, governments and government-related companies and private companies.
Ms. Ishikawa's practice focuses primarily on cross-border securities offerings including equity offerings, privatizations, rights offerings, debt offerings and high-yield offerings for companies located in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Ms. Ishikawa has participated in numerous mergers, acquisitions and investments in the region. She has extensive capital markets experience in Asia and works frequently on listings in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and elsewhere, as well as SEC-registered offerings in the United States. Representative transactions include the recent award-winning US$1.2 billion Reliance Petroleum Limited IPO and other landmark transactions including prominent Indonesian privatizations through initial public offerings for Jasa Marga, PGN and Bank Rakyat Indonesia and strategic sales of Indosat and Bank Central Asia. Among her significant debt offerings is a US$2.7 billion offering for Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company.
Ms. Ishikawa is a recommended capital markets lawyer in Chambers Global 2006 and Chambers Asia 2008 (inaugural issue). She is qualified to practice law in the State of New York. Ms Ishikawa is admitted to the New York Bar and earned her B.A. from the University of California a Santa Cruz and her J.D. from Columbia University.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance and transactions, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The Firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.