In February, Gordon & Rees welcomed twelve new attorneys to our Alexandria, Chicago, Florham Park, Louisville, Miami, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Westchester offices. They join us as members of the Commercial Litigation, Construction, Employment Law, Environmental/Toxic Tort, Insurance, and Product & General Liability Practice Groups.
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Jana joins the San Francisco office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Jana lead and built legal departments of several unicorn and early stage start-up companies and advised leading technology enterprise companies as their in-house counsel. Her practice involved advising executives, human resource managers, finance departments, product and security teams on wide variety of legal issues, including employment, contracts, and product counseling nationally and internationally. Prior to her in-house practice, Jana practiced employment law and litigation for law firms in the United Kingdom and Czech Republic with focus on international employment and business. Jana earned her LL.M. from the University of San Francisco, School of Law and her B.A. from Charles University.
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Patrick Burns, Partner |
Patrick joins the Alexandria office as a member of the Commercial Litigation and Employment Law practice groups. He has significant litigation and trial experience in state and federal courts in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Patrick has successfully represented commercial businesses in a variety of litigation matters, involving a diverse range of issues, such as employment, wage and hour claims, defamation, corporate defense, class action defense, and contractual disputes. Patrick earned his J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law and his B.A. from Pennsylvania State University.
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Brandi joins the Chicago office as a member of the Environmental/Toxic Tort practice group. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Brandi worked at a Chicago-based law firm where she defended global clients in toxic tort and product liability matters. She began her legal career as an Assistant State’s Attorney at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. As an Assistant State’s Attorney, she served as first chair in over 60 bench trials and 7 jury trials. Brandi earned her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law and her B.A. from Spelman College.
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Ama joins the Chicago office as a member of the Environmental/Toxic Tort practice group. She represents and counsels private companies including hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and medical device manufacturers in matters involving premises liability, professional liability, product liability, and contract disputes. Ama earned her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago Law School and her B.A. from the University of Florida.
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Matthew Herlihy, Associate |
Matthew joins the Westchester office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Matthew routinely consulted on white collar criminal investigations, including representing clients in the construction and transportation industries in criminal and regulatory actions. These investigations ranged from alleged environmental violations, sanctions and potential penalties, to catastrophic construction site negligence matters. Matthew earned his J.D. from Pace University School of Law and his B.A. from Pace University.
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Benjamin joins the San Francisco office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. He defends class action wage and hour, and Private Attorney General Act claims in Federal litigation regarding alleged misclassification of independent contractors. He conducts DFEH anti-harassment trainings and defend workplace retaliation and discrimination claims against start-ups, corporate clients, and law firms. He represent clients at arbitrations, mediations, and depositions. Benjamin earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and his B.A. from Princeton University.
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Robert Malani, Associate |
Robert joins the Miami office as a member of the Insurance, Employment Law, and Commercial Litigation practice groups. From representing Fortune 100 companies and some of the largest financial services holding companies and lenders in the country, to counseling small businesses and individual clients, his comfort with complex details has led to favorable results in a range of matters. His skills as a trial attorney are frequently utilized in commercial contract disputes, insurance matters, real estate contract disputes and banking litigation, among other areas. Robert earned his J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and his B.S. and B.A. from the University of Florida.
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Jared joins the New York office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. He previously represented estate and trust fiduciaries, including the Public Administrator of the County of New York, in administration, accounting, probate and miscellaneous proceedings in Surrogate’s Court. In that role, he handled complex commercial litigation matters, including real estate and business disputes, on behalf of fiduciaries. Jared earned his J.D. from New York Law School and his B.A. from Binghamton University.
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Sean joins the Louisville office as a member of the Construction practice group. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Sean proudly served the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a staff attorney in the chambers of Judge Richard Downey and Judge David Lanphear of the Warren County Family Court in Kentucky. He also has extensive experience defending coal companies across the coalfields of Appalachia in claims related to surface mining, as well as litigation of federal black lung disability claims. Sean earned his J.D. from the University of Kentucky, College of Law and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
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Eric Sentlinger, Senior Counsel |
Eric joins the San Francisco office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. His practice includes defending actions in product liability, commercial litigation, and consumer protection litigation. Over the course of his career, he has represented numerous manufacturers, suppliers and premises owners in cases involving personal injury and wrongful death caused by negligence, defective products, design defects, and failure to warn. His representations include general product liability and products containing toxic substances including asbestos, benzene, and silica. On multiple occasions, he has prevailed on summary judgement on behalf of his clients. Eric earned his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
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Patrick Tobia, Of Counsel |
Patrick joins the Florham Park office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. He is an experienced litigator in state and federal court who is proficient in handling all phases of litigation from investigation to trial and appeal. He also has experience in transactional work. For over 30 years he has represented a variety of corporate and individual clients in all aspects of complex litigation and transactions. His experience includes representing parties in contracts, corporate governance, land use, real property, employment, preference claims, fair debt collection and fair credit reporting, lien law, consumer fraud, construction, easements, restrictive covenants, and estate and probate. Patrick earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.A. from Rutgers University.
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Christine Wheatley, Senior Counsel |
Christine joins the Sacramento office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. She has completed over two dozen jury trials, both criminal and civil, as well as numerous court trials. She is well versed in all areas of litigation. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Christine practiced in the areas of construction defect, real estate and business disputes. She has conducted and defended hundreds of depositions and written and argued countless motions. Christine earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.