The promotions, effective January 1, 2026, span Reed Smith’s global platform and reflect the firm’s ongoing commitment to developing and recognizing outstanding talent across its practice groups and international offices.
“We are proud to welcome this exceptional group of lawyers to our partnership and counsel ranks. Their commitment to client service, legal excellence, and our firm’s culture and values has been outstanding. Spanning practices and industries across the globe, these promotions reflect not only individual achievements, but also the strength, depth, and continued momentum of our firm as a whole. We look forward to their ongoing leadership and contributions to our clients, teams, and offices worldwide,” said Casey Ryan, Reed Smith’s global managing partner.
The newly promoted fixed share partners and counsel represent a broad spectrum of Reed Smith’s core industry groups and practice areas globally, namely Real Estate, Financial Industry, Corporate, Entertainment & Media Industry, Insurance Recovery, Energy & Natural Resources, Regulatory Enforcement, Commercial Disputes, Intellectual Property, Life Sciences Health Industry, State Tax, and Transportation Industry.
The promotions span 21 offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia, underscoring the firm’s global reach and collaborative culture.
New partners — United States
Century City
Amy Dunitz is a music lawyer in Reed Smith’s Entertainment & Media Industry Group, focusing on talent representation of artists, producers, and songwriters, with deep experience in the negotiation of all types of music industry agreements, as well as a strong focus on music catalogue acquisitions and investments where she represents a wide range of buyers, sellers, lenders, and other investors in the space in transactions involving complex music rights, chain of title issues, and copyright law.
Chicago
Maggie Deutsch is a member of Reed Smith’s Global Corporate Group, where her practice focuses on private equity and borrower-side finance. She advises private equity sponsors, portfolio companies, borrowers, alternative lenders, asset managers, and financial institutions on a wide range of complex and high-value financing transactions. Maggie is trusted by clients for her ability to navigate sophisticated capital structures and deliver practical, commercially focused solutions across acquisition financings, refinancings, dividend recapitalizations, liquidity solutions, and restructuring-related transactions. Known for her collaborative approach and strong client relationships, she regularly serves as a key advisor on some of the firm’s most significant private capital matters.
Claire M. Whitehead is a member of the Insurance Recovery Group. She focuses her practice on representing corporate policyholders in complex insurance coverage disputes relating to large-scale underlying tort, environmental, statutory, and contract liabilities. Claire has experience resolving disputed claims under many types of insurance policies, including commercial general liability, E&O, and D&O policies, and policies specific to the health care industry. Claire has litigated insurance coverage disputes in state and federal courts across the United States and before the American Arbitration Association.
Denver
Josh Rosenholtz, a member of the Global Corporate Group, focuses on venture debt, sponsor finance, and private credit transactions. He represents banks, private credit funds, business development companies, and specialty finance lenders, as well as growth-stage and sponsor-backed companies, in structuring and negotiating bespoke debt solutions across the capital stack. Josh regularly advises on growth capital and recurring revenue facilities, delayed draw term loans, second lien loans, and acquisition and add-on financing, often with equity kicker features.
Houston
Sarah Thompson Schick, a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group, advises medical products companies developing and manufacturing pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices on issues where FDA regulatory and compliance matters intersect with strategic business decision-making. She specifically focuses on providing FDA regulatory and compliance counsel to medical products clients on a variety of matters, including Good Clinical Practice and clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, medical communications and health care economic information, Good Manufacturing Practice, advertising and promotion, contractual matters, compliance programming, and risk management. She also has experience handling regulatory issues in the context of corporate transactions, securities disclosures, and litigation.
A.J. Wissinger, a partner in the Energy & Natural Resources Group, is an experienced environmental lawyer with in-house experience as an environmental, health, and safety (EHS) attorney at a global petrochemical company. A significant portion of A.J.’s EHS regulatory and compliance practice includes advising technology clients on the EHS considerations associated with data centers and similar facilities. A.J. also maintains a robust transactional practice and helps clients navigate the environmental aspects of mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and commodities transactions and renewable energy developments and advises clients on renewable energy credit agreements.
Los Angeles
Katherine J. Ellena is a partner in the Insurance Recovery Group who represents corporate policyholders in a wide array of insurance coverage disputes across industries, including entertainment, aviation, pharmaceuticals, and technology. Over the course of her practice, Katherine has helped clients recover billions of dollars in insurance proceeds and advised corporate policyholders on managing their risks and negotiating broader insurance coverage on the front end.
Alexandra A. Roje, a partner in the Insurance Recovery Group, is highly skilled in complex insurance and commercial litigation matters, representing policyholder clients in a wide range of insurance coverage disputes involving D&O liability, product and environmental liability, employment practices liability, first-party property coverage, crime/fidelity coverage, and insurance coverage matters arising in bankruptcy proceedings. Alex also assists policyholders with the design of insurance coverage strategies, manuscripting insurance policies and providing advice and counseling to corporate boards.
New York
Ari Byk is a partner in the Global Corporate Group. Ari advises clients on a broad range of domestic and cross-border tax matters, including mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, joint ventures, financings, and capital markets transactions. He also advises high-net-worth individuals on a wide variety of personal tax matters and is a member of On-Chain, Reed Smith’s Crypto & Digital Assets Group.
Zachary Kaye is a partner in the firm’s Global Commercial Disputes Group in the New York office. As an experienced litigator, Zachary represents businesses across a broad range of industries in high-stakes lawsuits in federal and state courts.
Nicholas Vislocky, a partner in the Financial Industry Group focusing on financial restructuring, bankruptcy, and intercreditor arrangements, regularly advises credit facility agents, institutional and private credit lenders, and debtors facing insolvency-related issues, as well as purchasers of distressed assets, both in and out of court, with a particular focus on complex Chapter 11 restructurings. In addition, Nicholas regularly represents agents and trustees in performing and non-performing private credit and syndicated cross-border credit facilities.
Pamela L. Schoenberg is a litigator in the Global Commercial Disputes Group. She has substantial experience handling high-stakes and complex commercial disputes for clients in the entertainment, sports, and media industries. Her practice includes prosecuting and defending claims of breach of contract, copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition, right of privacy violations, defamation, false advertising, and tortious interference. She also frequently litigates and arbitrates a broad range of matters on behalf of clients in the finance industry — including commercial lenders, accounting advisory firms, and receivers and liquidators of failed banks and offshore funds — as well as commercial real estate investment trusts.
Philadelphia
Kristen J. Capriotti is a member of the Global Corporate Group. Her practice focuses on domestic and cross-border strategic and private equity-sponsored mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private placements, and other general corporate matters. Kristen represents businesses in a wide range of industries, including health care, aerospace and defense, and technology.
James S. Lawlor is a member of the Financial Industry Group, maintaining a global financing practice with a focus on bespoke transactions in specialized lending markets, including fund finance, music royalties, cannabis, health care, and economic development, mainly for private lenders or specialty groups within banks. He has extensive and invaluable experience with respect to all manner of complex and nuanced financing structures, as well as a depth of knowledge, judgment, and acumen with technical, esoteric, and knotty legal issues that arise in the transactional finance practice.
Arielle R. Lusardi is a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group. Her practice focuses on regulatory, compliance, transactional, and enforcement matters for various actors in the life sciences and health care industries. Arielle’s clients include pharmaceutical companies, health care providers and suppliers, and private equity funds and other health industry-focused investors.
Sebastian Watt is a tax lawyer advising Fortune 500 clients on complex state and local tax issues nationwide. He handles the full controversy lifecycle — from planning and return presentation to audit defense, administrative appeals, and litigation. He regularly speaks at national tax conferences and works with industry trade groups on the implications of tax legislation and litigation. His areas of focus include state conformity to the federal income tax base and sales and use tax manufacturing and mining exemptions.
Pittsburgh
Alison L. Andronic is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Group. She advises a wide variety of clients in all aspects of commercial real estate, including acquisition, disposition, financing, development, and leasing of commercial properties. Her experience includes assisting major universities and other institutional clients with complex real estate transactions, including P3 student housing and other development projects, RFP processes, ground and space lease transactions, and acquisitions and sales of real property. Alison also regularly represents clients in the leasing, acquisition, and disposition of shopping center properties and sports facilities, and the negotiation and amendment of reciprocal easement, parking, and other ongoing agreements relating to real estate.
Sara A. O’Toole Loevner is a partner in the Global Corporate Group. She advises companies, founders, investors, and boards on a broad range of corporate matters, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, divestitures, venture capital and growth equity transactions, and corporate restructurings. She has represented companies in a variety of industries, including technology, industrials and manufacturing, health care, and consumer products.
Gregory D. Vose is a litigator in the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group who represents clients across a range of industries in high-stakes commercial disputes. His practice focuses on antitrust litigation and counseling, and he has significant experience handling financial services, intellectual property, toxic tort, and accessibility matters at all stages of litigation, including through trial.
Princeton
Aaron M. Bender is a litigator in the Financial Industry Group who regularly defends financial institutions and corporations in all phases of litigation in state and federal courts. He has substantial trial experience, acting as lead counsel and trying cases through verdict in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania courts of law and equity.
Jeffrey B. Yaffa is a member of the Financial Industry Group. He has extensive experience representing institutional lenders, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions in a broad spectrum of lending and finance transactions with a focus on complex real estate financing transactions, corporate financing transactions, and other secured and unsecured financing transactions. He routinely advises lenders and other clients in all aspects of syndicated loan transactions, acquisition financing, construction financing, corporate financing, and loan workouts.
Silicon Valley
Justine Lee is a trademark and brand-protection attorney whose practice focuses on developing and implementing global branding strategies and providing comprehensive trademark counsel, including clearance, prosecution, enforcement, portfolio management, domain and social media disputes, and copyright issues. Justine represents clients in complex trademark transactions and disputes, including multi-jurisdictional enforcement matters, UDRP proceedings, DMCA takedowns, and emerging intellectual property issues arising from new technologies and digital platforms. Her clients are in a broad range of industries, including technology, food and beverage, beauty and cosmetics, real estate, health care, transportation, hospitality, and finance.
Washington, D.C.
Daniel Z. Herbst is a trial lawyer in the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group who represents clients in complex business disputes, regulatory litigation, and government investigations and enforcement actions. He serves a wide range of clients but works regularly with clients in the financial services, health care, and hospitality industries as well as with government contractors.
Wilmington
Jason D. Angelo is a partner in the Financial Industry Group, focusing his practice on complex restructuring and insolvency matters and related high-stakes litigation, including appeals. He represents a wide range of parties in sophisticated Chapter 11 and cross-border cases, with a particular emphasis on indenture trustees and other fiduciaries in the corporate trust space, and is frequently called upon to navigate novel and technically complex issues at the intersection of restructuring, corporate trust, and litigation. Based in the firm’s Wilmington, Delaware office, Jason regularly appears before some of the busiest and most highly regarded courts in the nation, including the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.
New partners — United Kingdom
London
Matthew Bowen is a partner in the Global Corporate Group who regularly acts on a broad range of complex domestic and cross-border transactions, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, venture capital, and corporate reorganizations. His experience spans a diverse range of sectors, including life sciences, transportation, renewable energy, and corporate real estate.
Jennifer Ellis, a partner in the Financial Industry Group, advises clients on a range of structured finance transactions and derivatives, with a particular focus on CLOs and SRT transactions. She is recognized as a leading individual in the CLO market, having worked with arrangers, collateral managers, warehouse finance providers, and CLO investors in connection with a variety of European CLO 2.0 transactions, warehouse facilities, retention fund structures, and retention note financings. Jennifer also advises financial institutions, asset managers, and end-users on a broad range of cross-border structured finance transactions.
Liam Hart is a partner in the Energy & Natural Resources Group. He is a highly experienced projects and construction lawyer, assisting clients with all types of project advisory and dispute matters in the United Kingdom and globally. Liam has advised developers and contractors on major construction and engineering projects throughout the world, including with respect to nuclear, aerospace, renewables, offshore and onshore oil and gas, health care, process and power plants, roads, pipelines, infrastructure, residential and commercial premises, port facilities, dams, and shipbuilding.
Eleanor Ruiz is a litigator in the Global Commercial Disputes Group, regularly acting in high-stakes, large-scale, multi-jurisdictional disputes in the English High Court for clients ranging from large corporates to major financial institutions. A trusted advisor to clients across the board when it comes to contentious risk, she is recognized for securing strategic insurance recoveries for policyholders and for her work advising large professional services firms on significant professional negligence matters. Eleanor has a track record of delivering results in complex, business-critical disputes and is committed to finding practical, commercial solutions for clients.
New partners — Asia
Singapore
Philip Orme is a partner in the Financial Industry Group with a focus on structured trade finance, alternative finance, and banking and finance. Philip has represented arrangers, issuers, banks, borrowers, and agents in receivables financing programs, structured loan facilities, note issuances, and refinancing arrangements, among others.
New counsel
Reed Smith’s 30 new counsel comprise 17 lawyers in its U.S. offices and 13 in its offices in the UK and Continental Europe: 11 in London; four in New York; two each in Austin, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.; and one each in Miami, Munich, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, San Francisco, Tysons, and Wilmington.
In the United States, the new counsel for 2026 are Jason T. Canaras (Energy & Natural Resources Group) and Ryan M. Pate (Life Sciences Health Industry Group) in Austin; Jessica E. Brown (Insurance Recovery Group) and Brittni W. Riley (Energy & Natural Resources Group) in Chicago; and Jessica Gopiao (Insurance Recovery Group) in Miami.
The four new counsel in New York are James N. Faller and Marissa B. Hight (both Financial Industry Group) as well as Charles P. Hyun and Nicholas J. Mazza (both Global Commercial Disputes Group).
Other new counsel are Georgios I. Tsoflias (State Tax) in Philadelphia; Ally Allegretto (Global Commercial Disputes Group) in Pittsburgh; Sheherezade C. Malik (Global Corporate Group) in Richmond; Sarah B. Johansen (Life Sciences Health Industry Group) in San Francisco; Justin D. deBettencourt (Transportation Industry Group) in Tysons; David A. Bender (Life Sciences Health Industry Group) and Amardeep S. Grewal (Intellectual Property), both in Washington, D.C.; and Justin M. Forcier (Global Commercial Disputes Group) in Wilmington.
Reed Smith’s new counsel in London are Tom Gates (Entertainment & Media Industry Group), James I. Hatchard, Emma C. Weeden, and Thomas J. Baxter (all Global Corporate Group); Ray-Shio Ho and Marcus Price (both Energy & Natural Resources Group); Yannis Potamias and Natalie Sharkey (both Financial Industry Group); Emma Shafton and James H. Stockman (both Global Commercial Disputes Group); and Giyan Tang (Transportation Industry Group).
In Continental Europe, new counsel are Jörn Halling (Global Commercial Disputes Group) in Munich and Aurélie Lopez (Transportation Industry Group) in Paris.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a dynamic international law firm dedicated to helping clients move their businesses forward. With an inclusive culture and innovative mindset, we deliver smarter, more creative legal services that drive better outcomes for our clients. Our deep industry knowledge, long-standing relationships and collaborative structure make us the go-to partner for complex disputes, transactions, and regulatory matters.
