Jan. 6, 2011 — The partner elections culminate a strong year for Bingham. In 2010, the firm expanded its key practices in global markets, most notably with the launch of a Frankfurt-based financial restructuring practice and the expansion of its Hong Kong office, specifically in the areas of structured transactions, investment management and financial restructuring.
“Bingham has experienced 15 years of consecutive growth,” said Bingham Chairman Jay S. Zimmerman. “In continuing to advance our successful strategy, we have added 10 partners to the deep bench of talent across our signature practices.”
The partnerships, effective Jan. 1, include lawyers from Bingham’s offices on both U.S. coasts and in leading practices, including structured transactions, broker-dealer, antitrust, environmental, private equity, energy and project finance, institutional finance, investment management, and tax. The newly elected partners, listed alphabetically, are:
Brandon L. Bigelow is a member of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group. He represents clients in a variety of complex commercial matters, including antitrust, consumer class action and securities litigation. He has appeared before state and federal courts as well as in arbitration proceedings, and has defended clients in government investigations. Bigelow also counsels clients on compliance issues involving state and federal competition laws. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Associate Justice Martha B. Sosman of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Brandon is a 2001 graduate of Boston College Law School, magna cum laude, and is resident in the Boston office.
Benjamin C. Burkhart is a member of the Private Equity Group, where his practice focuses primarily on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and securities transactions. He has represented both public and private companies, commercial and investment banks, and private equity funds in a wide range of transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, 144A and leveraged finance transactions, public offerings, and private placements of debt and equity. He is a 1996 graduate of University of Southern California Law School and is resident in the Los Angeles office.
David S. Cannon is a member of the Intellectual Property Group. He litigates a wide range of complex, high-stakes matters, including contract, intellectual property, trade secret, unfair competition, insurance coverage, securities fraud, product defect and multiparty construction defect claims. He handles all phases of litigation, has resolved numerous cases through mediation and has significant trial experience. Prior to joining Bingham, Cannon served as a judicial extern for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the Northern District of California. In 2007, he served as an assistant district attorney in the Misdemeanor Trial Unit for the city and county of San Francisco, trying and winning six cases. Cannon is a 2000 graduate of University of California, Hastings College of the Law, magna cum laude, and is resident in the San Francisco office.
Sandra Franco is a member of the Environmental, Land Use and Natural Resources Group. She represents clients in litigation matters involving environmental and natural resources compliance, rulemaking and enforcement. Franco has extensive experience litigating matters before the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and has worked on numerous suits involving government and private party claims at the district and appellate levels. She advises on matters concerning environmental and natural resource laws, such as the Clean Air Act, NEPA, the ESA and CERCLA, as analogous laws in a number of states. Franco has also litigated cases seeking review of agency action or inaction. She collaborates with colleagues in the government affairs practice on federal and state legislation, including asbestos litigation reform, and handles occupational safety and health matters. Franco is a 1999 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is resident in the Washington, D.C., office.
Robert J. Gross is a member of the Structured Transactions Group and has represented investment banks, hedge funds, issuers, sellers, purchasers, investors, servicers and monoline insurers in connection with domestic and cross-border financial transactions. His transactional experience includes public and private offerings and resecuritizations of asset-backed securities; asset sales and purchases, including sales and purchases involving distressed assets; mergers and acquisitions of mortgage-related assets and businesses; future flow securitizations in emerging markets; publicly registered offerings of securities backed by U.K. and Australian mortgage loans; servicing transfers; derivatives; various financing transactions; and the creation and maintenance of various distressed asset fund structures and programs. Gross is a 1997 graduate of University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is resident in the Washington, D.C., office.
Christopher E. Lawrence is a member of the Institutional Finance Group. His practice is focused on the representation of insurance companies and institutional investors, banks, mezzanine funds and other lenders in a wide range of secured and unsecured debt and equity financing transactions, including private placement financings, mezzanine financings, syndicated bank financings, acquisition financings, asset-based lending transactions, project financings, private equity fund investments and cross-border financings. Lawrence also has experience in public and private securities offerings and SEC compliance matters. He is a 1999 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and is resident in the Hartford office.
Steven L. Miller is a member of the Banking and Leveraged Finance Group and advises on general corporate finance and commercial lending. He represents financial institutions, borrowers and private equity funds in connection with a wide variety of public and private financing transactions, including equity-sponsored acquisition facilities; syndicated credit facilities; cash-flow and asset-based loans; multiple-lien, mezzanine and other subordinated credits; loan portfolio sales; restructuring; recapitalization; and other strategic financings and workout-related matters. His experience ranges across a wide variety of business sectors, including manufacturing, hospitality, telecom, technology and retail. Miller is licensed in California and Colorado and is a 1989 graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law, resident in the Los Angeles office.
Brian C. Rocca is a member of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group, where he focuses on antitrust and complex commercial litigation. Rocca has worked on high-stakes litigation in both civil and criminal contexts and in a wide range of industries, including networking equipment, MP3 technology, electronic memory, wireless technology, microprocessors, alcohol distribution, freight forwarding, copier and printer sales and services, and medical products and staffing. He regularly advises clients in connection with governmental investigations and also provides counseling to a prominent trade association relating to alcohol distribution issues. Rocca previously served as an assistant district attorney in the Trial Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and was lead counsel in a federal civil rights trial in 2005. He is a 2002 graduate of University of Virginia School of Law and is resident in the San Francisco office.
Joshua B. Sterling is a member of the Investment Management Group. His practice focuses on representing investment companies and their independent directors. Sterling helps clients evaluate how federal securities laws may affect their investment management activities and assists them in obtaining exemptive relief and other guidance from the SEC and its staff. He also advises non-U.S. asset managers on the legal and regulatory implications of offering their products and services in the United States. During the recent financial crisis, Sterling took a leading role in helping several money market fund clients participate in the Treasury Department’s Temporary Guarantee Program. Prior to joining Bingham, Sterling was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. He is a 2001 graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School and is resident in the Washington, D.C., office.
Bradford D. Whitehurst is a member of the Tax and Employee Benefits Group, where his practice focuses on tax planning. He has advised real estate investment trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, private equity and venture capital funds, and tax-exempt organizations regarding tax matters. Whitehurst joined Bingham as part of the firm’s 2009 combination with McKee Nelson, where he had been an associate since 2005. Whitehurst is a 2001 graduate of Duke University School of Law, cum laude, and is resident in the Washington, D.C., office.
Bingham offers a broad range of market-leading practices focused on global financial services firms and Fortune 100 companies. The firm has more than 1,100 lawyers in 13 locations in the United States, Europe and Asia.