Baker Hostetler Continues to Strengthen New York Office
Posted Under: Law Firms
Baker Hostetler Continues to Strengthen New York Office
NEW YORK, Oct. 20 — Baker Hostetler announced today the continued expansion of its New York office with the addition of Partners Mark A. Kornfeld, Deborah H. Renner and Gonzalo S. Zeballos, and Counsel Timothy Pfeifer.
“We are thrilled to welcome these four outstanding lawyers to Baker Hostetler,” said Steven Kestner, Executive Partner of the Firm. “Even in these challenging economic times, we have continued to recruit the highest caliber attorneys to strategically expand, both in New York and across the country.”
In addition to deepening the Firm’s expertise in class action defense, international litigation and securities litigation, the new lawyers will work on litigation matters representing Irving Picard, the court-appointed Trustee under the Securities Investor Protection Act for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. “The addition of these attorneys greatly enhances our commercial litigation practice,” added George Stamboulidis, New York Office Managing Partner. Stamboulidis noted that “the new hires push the number of lawyers in the office over 90, continuing an annual attorney growth rate in excess of 30 percent.”
“Adding these lawyers to our Litigation Group deepens the ability of the group to handle the most difficult and complex litigations throughout the country,” said Ray Whitman, Group Chair of the Firm’s national Litigation Group.
Mr. Kornfeld has experience in the areas of complex commercial litigation, including accounting liability, construction, environmental credits, real estate, and securities and shareholder class actions. He has also successfully resolved commercial disputes via alternative dispute resolution forums such as private mediation and the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Kornfeld regularly appears in both state and federal courts, and has represented companies in a wide range of industries. He also regularly represents individual corporate officers and directors. Mr. Kornfeld earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School.
Ms. Renner focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including consumer fraud and securities class actions. She has successfully represented companies in nationwide and state class actions and in other complex commercial matters in bankruptcy courts and other courts throughout the country. Ms. Renner also has experience defending insurance companies in litigation concerning increased long-term care rates, “vanishing premiums,” as well as in other suits concerning insurance pricing. Ms. Renner earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Mr. Zeballos, who is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks Portuguese, is a seasoned international litigator whose experience spans five continents and more than 25 jurisdictions worldwide. His practice includes general commercial litigation, international arbitration (ad hoc and major arbitration fora), international antitrust, multinational civil and criminal regulatory investigations, alien tort claims act, foreign securities litigation, and internal investigations including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. His experience also includes international discovery disputes with a focus on ediscovery. Mr. Zeballos earned his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, and holds two advanced degrees from the University of Chicago relating to the study of Latin American history and politics.
Mr. Pfeifer’s areas of practice include complex and multi-district commercial litigation, securities litigation, bankruptcy litigation, litigation involving foreign sovereigns and their state-owned entities, litigation involving issues of public international law, and white collar regulatory and transactional matters including numerous internal investigations on behalf of international companies regarding Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. He also has particular experience with the emerging economies of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Mr. Pfeifer earned his J.D. from Howard University School of Law.
Baker Hostetler has recently taken on more space at 45 Rockefeller Plaza to allow it to actively recruit additional high quality lateral attorneys across all its practice areas.
Prior to joining Baker Hostetler, Mr. Kornfeld was a partner with Hogan & Hartson, Ms. Renner was a partner with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, Mr. Zeballos was Assistant General Counsel for American International Group, Inc., and Mr. Pfeifer was with White & Case LLP.
About Baker Hostetler
Founded almost 100 years ago in 1916, Baker Hostetler is among the nation’s 100 largest law firms with 600 attorneys coast to coast. The firm has offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Costa Mesa, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando and Washington, D.C. Its five primary practice groups are Business, Employment, Intellectual Property, Litigation and Tax. For more information, visit the firm’s Web site at www.bakerlaw.com.
Contact: Christine Gill
Communications Manager
216.861.7852
cgill@bakerlaw.com
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