News
Goldberg Kohn is pleased to announce that 18 firm attorneys have been included among the 2024 Best Lawyers in America honorees, and 14 have been named to the Ones to Watch list. Best Lawyers honors exceptional attorneys across the United States annually with its "Best Lawyers" and "Ones to Watch" lists. Selection for these lists is based completely on feedback gathered from peer attorneys. Only the top 5.3 percent of elite lawyers in the nation across 150 practice areas are included.
While the Best Lawyers list recognizes established attorneys within their field, the Ones to Watch list honors outstanding attorneys who have five to nine years of legal experience.
Goldberg Kohn's Best Lawyers in America Honorees
Joel Brown (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Brown represents banks and non-bank finance companies engaged principally in middle market lending operations. He has extensive experience in structuring, documenting and negotiating both cash-flow and asset-based financing, as well as broad exposure to senior, mezzanine and hybrid lending products.
Denise Caplan (Corporate Law). Ms. Caplan represents public and private businesses and business owners in a broad array of corporate law matters, including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and restructurings. She regularly advises on corporate start-ups, and is engaged in structuring corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and other business entities, employment contracting, and capital raising.
David Chizewer* (Commercial Litigation). Mr. Chizewer is Chair of the firm's Litigation Group who represents clients in bet-the-company litigation, including class actions. He also devotes a significant portion of his practice to False Claims Act cases, having successfully returned more than a half-billion dollars to government treasuries. He has been featured in the National Law Journal’s list of 10 of the Nation’s Top Litigators and named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Public Justice Foundation. In addition, he has been named Lawyer of the Year by the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, and has received the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service by the Federal Court in Chicago on two separate occasions.
Jeremy Downs (Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency & Reorganization Law). Mr. Downs represents senior secured lenders, junior lenders and large unsecured creditors in corporate bankruptcies and workouts. He also works closely with the firm's Litigation Group in connection with disputes that arise in the course of his practice, as well as with the firm's Commercial Finance Group in connection with financing matters.
Zachary Garrett (Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency & Reorganization Law). Mr. Garrett represents a broad range of clients, including secured and unsecured creditors, purchasers and assignees, in all aspects of commercial workouts and corporate bankruptcies, including restructurings, reorganizations, sales and liquidations.
Dimitri Karcazes (Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency & Reorganization Law). Mr. Karcazes is Co-Chair of the firm's Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Group. He represents lenders in the protection and enforcement of creditors’ rights and is involved in all aspects of commercial workouts and bankruptcies, including restructurings, reorganizations, sales and liquidations, as well as out-of-court workouts and assignments for the benefit of creditors.
Randall Klein (Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency & Reorganization Law and Litigation-Bankruptcy). Mr. Klein is Co-Chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Group. He concentrates his practice on the protection and enforcement of creditors’ rights. He is nationally recognized as a leader in his field, and for his experience in the drafting and enforcement of intercreditor agreements and unitranche agreements.
Jon Klinghoffer (Employment Law–Management, Labor Law-Management and Trade Secrets Law). Mr. Klinghoffer defends employers across the country in actions involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the ADA, FMLA and FLSA, and various state law discrimination and wage and hour claims, the WARN Act, ERISA class action claims, COBRA claims, unfair labor practice charges and other matters before the NLRB. He also regularly counsels clients regarding their employment practices and policies.
Richard Kohn (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Kohn represents banks and other financial institutions in structuring and documenting credit facilities, with a focus on cross-border lending transactions - an area in which he is widely recognized as a pioneer. For more than 20 years, he has been active in the reform of secured transactions law, including serving as a member of the Expert Group for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in preparation of its "Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions" (2007).
Adam Laser (Real Estate Law). Mr. Laser is Chair of the firm's Real Estate Group. He has extensive experience in real estate finance, with a particular focus on the structuring, origination, negotiation, and workout of commercial mortgage loans. In addition, he advises clients with regard to the acquisition, disposition and leasing of real estate throughout the United States.
William Loesch* (Corporate Law). Mr. Loesch is Chair of the Corporate Group. He advises businesses ranging from start-ups to public companies in a variety of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic alliances, debt and equity financing, dealership and distributorship relationships, and employment and consulting agreements.
David Mason (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Mason has 35 years of experience representing banks and other commercial lenders in cash-flow transactions that provide for acquisition, recapitalization, working capital, mezzanine, second lien and unitranche financing. He also represents asset-based lenders, and handles loan restructurings, bankruptcies and workout matters.
William Meyers* (Commercial Litigation). Mr. Meyers has handled a variety of complex commercial litigation matters throughout his career in courts nationwide. He has extensive experience in bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, regularly protecting the rights of secured creditors in these proceedings. He litigates cash collateral/adequate protection disputes, plan confirmation issues, claims objections, valuation disputes, relief from stay motions and receivership actions. He frequently serves as lead counsel for defendants in multidistrict class action litigation, and also litigates intellectual property disputes, including trademark infringement cases, domain name cyber-squatting disputes and breach of contract actions relating to intellectual property license/franchise agreements.
Anne Marie Pisano* (Commercial Finance Law). Ms. Pisano represents banks and other commercial lenders in documenting, negotiating and closing asset-based and cash flow loans, including bilateral and syndicated credit facilities, workouts and restructurings, and working capital and acquisition financings. She has advised on a wide range of credit facilities, including financing of privately held, sponsor-backed and public companies, with facility sizes ranging from $15 million to $400 million. She also represents minority lenders in broadly syndicated, large market multibillion-dollar credit facilities. Ms. Pisano frequently handles transactions with split-lien, multi-lien and unitranche structures, and regularly works on cross-border lending transactions.
James Rosenbloom (Real Estate Law). Over his 40-year legal career, Mr. Rosenbloom has maintained a broad-based practice representing clients in real estate, commercial finance and bankruptcy matters. He represents institutions and investors in financing transactions for real estate acquisitions, refinancings, restructurings and working capital. He also represents them in purchasing and selling real estate assets, including whole loans or loan tranches.
Gary Ruben (Real Estate Law). Mr. Ruben represents clients in all aspects of real estate, including financing, construction financing, acquisitions, sales, leasing, joint ventures, workouts, foreclosures and bankruptcies. He represents clients in complex sale-leaseback transactions, including addressing accounting and tax issues arising in such matters, and assists clients in the purchase and sale of loans and structure loan participations.
Michael Sullivan (Litigation–Labor & Employment). Mr. Sullivan is Chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Group. He advises employers on their labor and employment policies and practices as well as defends them in disputes with their employees. He counsels clients nationwide through the myriad of employment issues that arise under civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, employment contracts and restrictive covenants, wage-hour laws, OSHA violations, employment torts and common law. In addition, he advises Goldberg Kohn's clients on the labor/employment implications of significant corporate transactions, including mergers, sales, acquisitions, loans, workouts and bankruptcies.
Kenneth Ulrich* (Commercial Litigation). Mr. Ulrich represents clients in complex commercial litigation, including directors' and officers' liability and related insurance coverage issues, insurance coverage work for policyholders, breach of contract, fraud, and constitutional and government litigation. He has also served as outside general counsel for clients, supervising all legal matters, including contracts, trademark and employment issues. In this role, he actively supervised outside counsel in numerous jurisdictions.
Goldberg Kohn's Ones to Watch Honorees
Sean Apfelbaum (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Apfelbaum represents banks and other financial institutions in a wide range of asset-based and cash-flow loans, secured and unsecured lending transactions, and first and second lien facilities across a broad array of industries.
Alexandria Filush (Banking & Finance Law). Ms. Filush represents banks and non-bank financial institutions in structuring, negotiating and documenting a broad range of commercial finance transactions, including secured cash-flow and asset-based loan transactions, acquisition and working capital financings, senior secured, first lien/second lien, split-lien and unitranche credit facilities, cross-border and mezzanine financings, recapitalizations, refinancings, loan workouts and restructurings, and other complex commercial finance transactions.
Maya Foster (Banking & Finance Law). Ms. Foster represents banks, finance companies and other financial institutions in structuring, documenting and negotiating a broad range of commercial finance transactions, including acquisition finance transactions, first lien and second lien credit facilities, refinancings and other complex financial transactions. She also represents clients in workouts and restructurings.
Ross Friedman (Corporate Law and Business Organizations, including LLCs and Partnerships). Mr. Friedman advises private equity, privately held companies, startups and lenders on a variety of complex transactional matters, including domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, investments, debt and equity restructurings, and other transactions. He also provides general corporate advice to clients, which includes structuring and reviewing a variety of commercial agreements.
Joseph Hoolihan (Commercial Litigation). Mr. Hoolihan represents clients in commercial disputes involving breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, fraud, intellectual property, and False Claims Act matters. He handles all aspects of pleadings, motion practice and discovery. He is also experienced in handling trial preparation, arbitration, mediation and settlement conferences.
Yasamin Kaye (Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency & Reorganization Law). Ms. Kaye concentrates on financial restructuring, bankruptcy, general commercial litigation and distressed real estate foreclosures. She represents debtors, creditors, trustees and committees in bankruptcy proceedings, and is experienced in Chapter 11 reorganizations and Chapter 7 liquidations. She is also experienced in prosecuting foreclosure actions for a wide variety of commercial properties.
Meredith Kirshenbaum (Labor & Employment Law – Management). Ms. Kirshenbaum helps clients navigate labor and employment issues, litigation, and the challenges of commercial disputes. In her traditional labor law practice, she represents employers in unfair labor practice charges and in other matters pending before the National Labor Relations Board. She counsels employers during union organizing campaigns, defends employer interests throughout the union-election process, and negotiates union contracts. She also devotes a portion of her practice to advising charter schools, counseling them in labor law, employment law, charter applications, contract negotiations, state commission appeals and school policies.
Bojan Lazic (Real Estate Law). Mr. Lazic represents lenders in connection with the negotiation, documentation and closing of various real estate financing transactions. He handles mortgage and mezzanine financing, construction financing and mortgage origination for commercial mortgage-backed securitization programs. He also represents clients in connection with the acquisition, disposition and leasing of real estate.
Christopher J. Marquez* (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Marquez represents financial institutions in complex lending transactions. He has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing leveraged acquisition and working capital financings, recapitalizations, senior secured, split lien and unitranche transactions, and cross-border finance transactions. His practice covers a wide range of the middle market, with deal sizes ranging from $5 million to $400 million, and involves borrowers across a broad spectrum of industries and sectors.
Christopher Swartout* (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Swartout represents banks and non-bank financial institutions in structuring, negotiating and documenting a broad range of commercial finance transactions, including acquisition and working capital financings, recapitalizations, refinancings and other complex financial transactions. He is experienced with secured asset-based and cash-flow loan transactions, first-lien/second-lien, split-lien and unitranche structures, and mezzanine and hybrid lending products. He frequently represents lenders in international financings involving multiple jurisdictions
Daniel C. Toren* (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Toren represents banks and other financial institutions primarily engaged in middle market lending activities in documenting, negotiating and performing due diligence for asset-based and cash-flow commercial finance transactions.
Steven X. Torrez* (Banking & Finance Law). Mr. Torrez represents banks and other financial institutions primarily engaged in middle market lending activities in documenting, negotiating and performing due diligence for asset-based and cash-flow commercial finance transactions.
Kevan Ventura (Real Estate Law). Mr. Ventura represents financial institutions in connection with negotiating, documenting and syndicating complex real estate loans. He has extensive lender-side experience with respect to construction loans and bridge loans secured by a variety of collateral. He also regularly represents lenders in connection with loan workouts and restructurings and is experienced in handling a broad range of non-real estate commercial finance transactions, including first and second lien credit facilities, asset-based loans, acquisition and working capital financings, and other complex financial transactions
Jenna A. Ward (Banking & Finance Law). Ms. Ward represents banks and credit funds in structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing financing transactions, including asset-based secured loans, cash flow loans, first and second lien credit facilities, leveraged buyouts and debtor-in-possession financings across a broad array of industries.
*Indicates those listed in Best Lawyers in America for the first time
About Best Lawyers
The 2024 editions mark the milestone 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America® and fourth edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America legal awards.
“This historic 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America is a testament to lawyers’ and firms’ appreciation of the Best Lawyers steadfast methodology and historical significance on the legal industry,” said Best Lawyers CEO Phillip Greer. “Best Lawyers and ‘Ones to Watch’ accolades are based purely on the review of other top lawyers practicing in the same metropolitan and practice areas. Those practicing against each other in mediation or arguing across the aisle in court are providing positive feedback on their peers’ skillset, knowledge and professionalism. These awards are a genuine vote of confidence in their fellow lawyers.”
Determined through Best Lawyers’ transparent Purely Peer Review® research process, the Best Lawyers accolades recognize the top 5 percent of legal talent in private practice throughout the United States. Best Lawyers believes the quality of their peer-review survey directly relates to the quality of voters, so only lawyers who were previously recognized by Best Lawyers were asked to review their constituents for the 2024 recognitions. While preparing for the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, more than 13.7 million votes were analyzed; for Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, more than 2.4 million votes were analyzed. Using the same trusted methodology as traditional Best Lawyers awards, the lawyers recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America are earlier in their careers, typically only being in private practice for less than 10 years.