DLA Piper announced today the addition of a six-partner group whose members will be part of the firm’s Corporate, Intellectual Property and Technology, and Litigation practices. The partners will be based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and New York.
The lawyers include Thomas Gaynor and Jinjian Huang, Corporate partners in San Francisco; Stephen Reil, a Corporate partner in Los Angeles; Christopher Mooney and Maria Swiatek, IPT partners in Silicon Valley; and Abigail Reardon, a Litigation partner in New York.
“These lawyers will significantly enhance our platform across a wide number of sectors and markets,” said Joe Alexander, global and US co-chair of the firm’s Corporate and Private Equity practices. “The addition of several experienced partners will offer an ideal complement to our current capabilities in California, where we are focused on growing our Corporate practice to meet the needs of our clients.”
“The addition of these lawyers is an important strategic element of our continued growth on the West Coast,” said Louis Lehot, co-managing partner of the Silicon Valley office. “We are committed to providing our clients with exceptional advice and service, and their combined knowledge and experience will bolster our Corporate, IPT and Litigation practices, and be a tremendous resource to clients requiring sophisticated counsel.”
“Together, these lawyers bring a strong reputation and valuable, diverse skillsets. At DLA Piper, they will be able to leverage the full scope of our global platform for the benefit of their clients,” said Frank Ryan, global and US co-chair of the Intellectual Property and Technology practice. “We are thrilled to welcome them to the firm and look forward to their contributions.”
“We couldn’t be happier to join the global DLA Piper platform to better serve our international clients, for whom we are poised to do more substantial and sophisticated projects,” Gaynor said. “We look forward to working with the exceptional talent already at the firm to build a stronger future together.”
They join from Nixon Peabody, where Gaynor led the firm’s California Corporate practice and previously served as managing partner of the San Francisco office, and Swiatek previously served as managing partner of the Palo Alto office.
Thomas Gaynor handles large-scale cross-border public and private mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, corporate governance, venture and private equity debt and equity financings, LLC and corporate formations and joint ventures, and domestic/offshore investment fund creation for clients across a wide range of sectors. He earned his J.D. from Boston College School of Law and his B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University.
Jinjian Huang concentrates his practice on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate financings, real estate acquisition and development and renewable energy project finance. He earned his J.D. from Hastings College of Law, his LL.M. from American University Washington College of Law, and his LL.B. from Sun Yet-Sen University in Guangzhou, China.
Stephen Reil handles a range of corporate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, mergers, reorganizations, joint ventures, growth equity financing and corporate governance. He focuses on middle-market private equity matters representing public and private companies and private equity funds. He earned his J.D. and B.S. from Brigham Young University and his M.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Christopher Mooney focuses his practice on strategic patent counseling, patent prosecution and patent litigation. He earned his J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center, his M.S. from the University of Texas at Dallas and his B.S. from Texas A&M University.
Maria Swiatek provides strategic intellectual property counseling to high technology, energy and life science clients, with an emphasis on development and leverage of domestic and international IP portfolios, complex IP transactions, M&A due diligence and litigation matters. She earned her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and her B.S. from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Abigail Reardon is a New York litigator with more than three decades of experience in complex commercial litigation, arbitration, mediation and strategic counseling. She focuses on transaction structuring, dispute avoidance and disputes in the technology field as well as in the energy and financial services sectors. She earned her J.D. from Duke University and her A.B. from College of the Holy Cross.
