September 15, 2021
Bolsters Presence in the Market with Addition of Substantial Team of Partners, Counsel and Associates Spanning Corporate Transactions, Private Wealth and Litigation
New York, NY (September 15, 2021) --- Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP today announced the addition of a number of new partners, counsel and associates to its recently launched Los Angeles office. The office opened on September 2, 2021 under the leadership of partners Alan Epstein, Michele Mulrooney and Alex Weingarten.
The team now includes approximately 40 lawyers, including 10 partners, 3 counsel and 26 associates, who will service clients in the areas of corporate and M&A transactions, private wealth, estates and trusts, litigation, and tax.
Willkie Chairman Matthew Feldman said: “The additions to the team bring us new relationships and also give us the critical mass necessary to cement our position in the Los Angeles market in these practice areas. All of these areas are core practices for our Firm. We expect to be able to leverage the resources of our Firm to support and grow the practices of our new colleagues. We also expect that they will be able to accelerate our growth in the California market generally.”
Los Angeles-based partner Alan Epstein, who is leading the launch of the office with Michele Mulrooney and Alex Weingarten, said: “The opportunity to lead Willkie’s expansion of its national platform in Los Angeles was one we could not pass up. We are thrilled to welcome our colleagues and look forward to working with them and all lawyers at the Firm to integrate with and support further growth of Willkie’s best-in-class platforms.”
The following individuals have joined Willkie as partners: corporate transactions lawyers Paul Bernstein and Thomas Baxter; private wealth lawyers Andrew Copans, Ani Hovanessian and Kathy Wunderli; litigators Eric Bakewell and Logan Elliott; and tax lawyer Shane Nix. All are based in Los Angeles, except Hovanessian, who is in New York.
In addition, private wealth lawyer Jonathan Lurie has joined as senior counsel.
Paul Bernstein and Thomas Baxter represent companies and individuals in the entertainment industry in joint ventures, M&A, capital raising, endorsement services and other corporate transactions.
Jonathan Lurie, Andrew Copans, Ani Hovanessian and Kathy Wunderli focus their practice on estate planning for high-net-worth individuals and their companies and non-profits.
Eric Bakewell and Logan Elliott have a broad commercial litigation practice representing clients in areas of entertainment, probate, restructuring and business litigation.
Shane Nix counsels companies and individuals on business and tax matters, including M&A and joint ventures, and specializes in tax planning for film, television, and music talent.
Willkie’s Los Angeles announcement follows successful office openings in Chicago in 2020, and in San Francisco and Palo Alto in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm of approximately 1,000 attorneys with offices in Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and Washington. The Firm is headquartered in New York City at 787 Seventh Avenue.
Tel: 212.728.8000.
