In July, Gordon & Rees welcomed twenty-seven new attorneys to our Chicago, Florham Park, Houston, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Oakland, Portland, Reno, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle offices. They join us as members of the Commercial Litigation, Construction, Employment Law, Environmental/Toxic Tort, Health Care, Intellectual Property, and Product & General Liability Practice Groups.
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Brian joins the Miami office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Brian spent the last several years as In-House Counsel for a large debt buying company practicing in both Florida and Georgia. Brian earned his J.D. from Stetson University College of Law and his B.S. from Western Connecticut State University.
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Paul joins the Oakland office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. Paul has 35 years of experience in trying cases. He is skilled in defending and protecting his clients’ interests before juries and fact finders. He is a member of the San Francisco Chapter of ABOTA and has successfully tried to verdict large loss/high risk personal injury cases in what are regarded as some of the most defendant hostile and plaintiff friendly venues in the country. His extensive experience allows him to economically and efficiently manage the risks presented to his clients by litigation throughout California both in the Claims stage and once the lawsuit is filed. Paul earned both his LL.B. and B.A. from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
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Dustin Cameron, Associate |
Dustin joins the Oakland office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. Dustin represents parties in all phases of litigation, including discovery, law and motion, mediation and trial. He has a general civil litigation practice with an emphasis in the areas of premises liability, personal injury, employment and retail and hospitality. He defends large retailers as well as small business owners in these matters. Dustin earned his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law and his B.S. from the University of the Pacific.
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Andrew Dean, Senior Counsel |
Andrew joins the New York office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. Andrew earned his J.D. from New York Law School and his B.A. from Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
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Katrina Durek, Senior Counsel |
Katrina joins the Portland office as a member of the Product & General Liability and Employment Law practice groups. Her clients include multinational companies in the industries of retail, recreational sports and gig economy apps. She evaluates risk and exposure of claims and recommends litigation strategies to corporate clients. Katrina represents and counsels businesses in employment matters including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, wage and hour, ADA compliance and commercial litigation. Katrina earned her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Trevor joins the Portland office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. Trevor earned his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School and his B.S. from Oregon State University.
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Jill Evangelista, Senior Counsel |
Jill joins the Houston office as a member of the Commercial Litigation and Health Care practice groups. Jill earned her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law and her B.B.A. from the University of North Texas.
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John joins the Little Rock office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. John has an active civil litigation practice representing business and insurance clients in all types of complex cases in both state and federal courts. He has substantial experience in defending personal injury and products liability cases, and regularly defends companies in litigation over bad faith and construction defect claims. In addition, John frequently represents businesses in commercial disputes and other litigation matters, including breach of contract actions, insurance coverage disputes, and employment discrimination claims. His experience includes a wide variety of jury and non-jury trials, arbitrations, and mediations. John earned his J.D. from Tulane University Law School and his B.S. from the University of Central Arkansas.
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Emily joins the Oakland office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. She defends businesses of varying sizes, including large and mid-size restaurant franchises, small businesses and transportation companies against personal injury claims, motor vehicle collisions, contract disputes, and premises liability actions. She works with the corporate clients from inception through trial. Emily earned her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of San Francisco.
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Diane joins the San Diego office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. She handles all types of employment defense claims representing insurance carriers, employers, and employees. Diane earned her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and her B.A. from Chapman University – Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
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Wanja joins the Los Angeles office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. Wanja earned her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and her B.A. from Pepperdine University.
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Timothy Hanna, Associate |
Timothy joins the San Diego office as a member of the Commercial Litigation and Product & General Liability practice groups. He regularly defends individuals and business entities in federal and state court against allegations of breach of contract, fraud, and unfair business practices. Timothy has substantial experience in the defense of manufacturer clients in product liability and consumer warranty litigation. Timothy earned his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Elizabeth joins the Houston office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. Elizabeth earned her J.D. from the University of Texas and her B.A. from the University of Mississippi.
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Mark joins the Oakland office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. Prior to becoming a civil litigator, Mark served a 2 year tour of duty with the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic as a Community Environmental Development and Education specialist. After graduating law school, he worked as a litigator in house for an insurer, trying several cases as a first chair trial attorney in his time there. Mark earned his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, Davis.
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Jennifer joins the Sacramento office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. She is an experienced litigator and counselor, providing clients with solutions in all aspects of employment relations, including litigation, preventative counseling, and guidance. Jennifer represents employers in employment and traditional labor law matters, including discrimination and sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, retaliation, workers’ compensation, trade secrets, unfair competition, and wage and hour violations. She has experience defending companies in both class actions and single plaintiff cases. She also has experience representing clients in the health care, construction, trucking, retail, hospitality, education, medical, and gig economy and technology industries. Jennifer earned her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her B.A. from Santa Clara University.
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Marie Johnson, Associate |
Marie joins the Chicago office as a member of the Employment Law, Environmental/Toxic Tort, and Commercial Litigation practice groups. She has experience representing clients on both sides and at all stages of litigation, allowing her to view issues from every angle and further enhancing her ability to serve her clients’ needs. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Marie worked at a Chicago-based law firm where she represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of employment, mass tort, environmental and toxic tort, negligence, and commercial liability cases. She also worked as a Litigation Project Assistant at a major law firm and served as a legislative and press intern to U.S. Senator Durbin and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill. Marie earned her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Stephen joins the Reno office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. He has handled a wide variety of matters throughout Reno, Las Vegas and rural Nevada. Over his 40 years of practice, Stephen’s experience includes business litigation, corporate and partnership disputes, real estate litigation, personal injury defense, auto, truck, and bus injury claims, aviation crash and accident litigation, premises liability, insurance coverage opinions and litigation, corporate control/ shareholder disputes, debt collection, construction defect claims, licensing, administrative and regulatory law disputes, realtor/broker liability, professional engineer liability, and real estate sales and financing transactions. He has also been appointed arbitrator in 49 cases in the Nevada Arbitration Program. Stephen earned his J.D. from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Dahn joins the New York office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. He has practiced abroad and domestically in both transactional and litigation capacities. Dahn earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and his B.A. from The George Washington University.
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Melissa joins the Seattle office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. Melissa earned her J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School and her B.A. from Fordham University.
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Miguel joins the San Diego office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. He defends businesses and management in employment and labor disputes, including claims for wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, and wage and hour claims. Miguel earned his J.D. from California Western School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
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Christopher Nepacena, Associate |
Christopher joins the San Francisco office as a member of the Employment Law practice group. Christopher earned his J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and his B.A. from the University of San Francisco.
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Lynn Rivera, Senior Counsel |
Lynn joins the Reno office as a member of the Product & General Liability practice group. She routinely represents businesses of all sizes, including national retail corporations, in complex tort, personal injury and large loss cases involving claims of products liability, premises liability and negligence. She also represents businesses and public entities in litigation involving employment, professional liability, errors and omissions and directors and officers matters. Lynn earned her J.D. from California Western School of Law and her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
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Rachel Rivers, Associate |
Rachel joins the San Francisco office as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice group. An experienced litigator, Rachel has spent her career representing clients in state and federal courts. Her clients include individuals, business entities, and community organizations. Her diverse practice includes general liability, premise liability, insurance defense, environmental matters, real property, corporate law, and commercial litigation. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Rachel practiced insurance defense litigation, focusing on real property and business torts. Rachel earned her J.D. from Penn State University and her B.A. and B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Maritza Rodriguez, Associate |
Maritza joins the Chicago office as a member of the Environmental/Toxic Tort practice group. She focuses her practice on cases involving complex business litigation matters, including environmental and toxic torts. She also has experience in premise liability, personal injury litigation, dram shop, and products liability matters. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Maritza worked at a Chicago law firm where she defended clients in toxic tort and product liability matters across the state of Illinois. She also advocated and advised national corporate clients on matters in civil litigation, including breaches of contract, personal injury litigation, retail hospitality matters, and product liability. She conducted depositions, drafted motions for summary judgment, and mediated cases to settlement. Maritza earned her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Keith Sharkin, Partner |
Keith joins the New York and Florham Park offices as a member of the Intellectual Property practice group. He has over 30 years of experience handling trademark, copyright, unfair competition, false advertising, trade dress, dilution and domain name matters. He has worked with companies of all sizes, from the world’s largest corporations to start-up companies and has experience in a broad range of industries including consumer products, pharmaceuticals, apparel, jewelry, fashion, electronics, automotive, and transportation. He has litigated cases in federal courts throughout the United States, has handled hundreds of opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and has handled numerous domain name disputes. Keith also provides counsel to clients on clearance of trademarks, prosecution of applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, brand management and enforcement, licensing, due diligence and international filings and litigation. He works closely with clients to meet their business objectives and resolve matters successfully and cost-effectively. Keith earned his J.D. from Creighton University School of Law and his B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
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Virginia joins the New York office as a member of the Construction practice group. She represents all property owners – developers; health care providers; apartment building, brownstone and condominium unit owners; cooperative boards of directors; commercial enterprises; retail businesses; and not-for-profit organizations – as well as construction managers, contractors and subcontractors, in negotiating their construction and design services contracts and adjacent-owner license access agreements. With more than two decades of experience handling complex litigation and appellate practice, she counsels her clients to appreciate, navigate and overcome the obstacles inherent in construction projects and their impact on the parties’ legal positions. Virginia earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and her B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
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Rachel Wise, Associate |
Rachel joins the Las Vegas office as a member of the Commercial Litigation and Employment Law practice groups. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Rachel worked for several years with two prominent northern Nevada litigation firms where she practiced both real property and water law. She has also successfully handled matters relating to labor, employment, transactional, and contract law and has acted as a conflict city attorney. During her tenure in northern Nevada, Rachel successfully represented clients through all phases of civil and criminal litigation. Rachel earned her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law and her B.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno.