Gina Spinosa, Author at Gibson Dunn

Gibson Dunn is advising Diversified Energy Company on its acquisition of Birch Permian Holdings, Inc.

The firm’s corporate team is led by partners Rahul Vashi and Tull Florey and includes of counsel Steve Wright and associate Mike Sellner. Partner Cynthia Mabry and associate Sarah Dyer are advising on capital markets aspects. Partner Michael Cannon, of counsel Josiah Bethards, and associate Austin Morris are advising on tax aspects. Partners Kristen Limarzi and Bradley Smith are advising on antitrust aspects.

Read more here.

Gibson Dunn advised Oaktree Power Opportunities on its partnership with Vivax-Metrotech Corporation, a leading manufacturer of precision locating and inspection devices for utility infrastructure.

The firm’s corporate team was led in London by partners Will Summers and Jakob Egle and included London associates Charlotte Deans, Valeriya Anopchenko, Lena Tarrin, and Brendan Lian; Munich partner Dennis Seifarth and Frankfurt associates Andreas Rief and Simon Stöhlker; associate Vlad Zinovyev (New York); registered foreign lawyer Tyler Cohen and of counsel Bonnie Tse (Hong Kong); partner Qi Yue and associate Jiayi Lin (Beijing); and partner Ariel Harroch, of counsel Frédéric Chevalier, and associate Emma Enfert (Paris). The team was advised by IP partners Joel Harrison (London) and Kai Gesing (Munich) and associates Libby Pica and Elisa Wong (London); finance partner David Irvine and associate Yinn Lim (London); employment associate Georgia Derbyshire (London); international trade associate Irene Polieri (London), of counsel Chris Mullen (Washington, D.C.), and associate Karsten Ball (Washington, D.C.); and ABAC partner Oliver Welch (Singapore) and associate Su Moon (Hong Kong).

Gibson Dunn today announced the launch of its Robotics Industry Group. The cross-disciplinary group brings together more than 30 partners around the world, combining deep technical expertise and experience advising leading AI, technology, and advanced-computing companies across regulatory counseling, litigation, and corporate transactions with the firm’s elite intellectual property capabilities. The group advises companies developing and deploying robotic and autonomous systems, as well as investors in the sector.

“Robotics is drawing extraordinary levels of investment and talent, and it is becoming an increasingly consequential industry for our clients,” said Vivek Mohan, a leader of Gibson Dunn’s Robotics Industry Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Practice Group. “We have advised companies across the robotics ecosystem for years, and we see tremendous opportunity ahead as the industry continues to grow and evolve. The launch of this group reflects both the importance of the sector to our clients and the firm’s commitment to being at the forefront of it.”

Gibson Dunn advises across the sector, from industrial and humanoid robots to autonomous vehicles, drones, medical robotics, and space systems. The firm won an ITC case for SharkNinja in a three-year patent battle with iRobot over robotic vacuums and defended the first FTC inspection of an algorithmic system, which closed after a two-year investigation with no enforcement action. Lawyers in the group represent companies in trade secrets litigation involving humanoid robotics, counsel frontier AI labs on model development and deployment in physical systems, advise a Middle East government on a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles, and advise on a joint venture for one of the world’s largest announced deployments of construction automation.

“In the robotics space, intellectual property disputes can have an outsized impact on a company’s competitive position,” said Brian Rosenthal, a leader of the Robotics Industry Group and a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. “Trade secret and patent fights over sensing, actuation, and control systems can run in multiple jurisdictions such as district courts, the ITC and the PTAB, often in parallel. Robotics clients need lawyers who can litigate effectively across multiple jurisdictions on complex technology.”

“Robotics is inherently interdisciplinary,” said Frances Waldmann, a leader of the Robotics Industry Group and a partner in the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Practice Group. “As AI is integrated into systems that perceive, reason, adapt, and act in the physical world, companies developing and deploying them face corporate, regulatory, intellectual property, privacy, product liability, employment, and national security questions at the same time. The group gives clients a way to draw on our combined expertise in this space.”

“Our team supports clients from the moment they enter the space—as an investor, developer, or deployer—throughout their lifecycle, and we are seeing a significant uptick in interest in the area,” said Rob Little, Co-Chair of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group. Gibson Dunn represented Crestview Advisors in the formation of its industrial automation integrator and robotics portfolio company, Convergix Automation Solutions, and related M&A transactions, and has represented Convergix in subsequent matters.

Learn more about Gibson Dunn’s Robotics Industry Group.

Asian Legal Business named of counsel Andrew Cheng to its 2026 Hong Kong Rising Stars list, which highlights Hong Kong’s “next generation of standout lawyers.” The list was published on August 17, 2026.

Andrew’s practice focuses on civil litigation and dispute resolution. He advises multinational companies, high-net-worth individuals, financial institutions, professional trustees, and administrators on a wide range of disputes including contractual, trust, shareholder, estate administration, and private wealth. Andrew regularly represents clients in complex, high-stakes proceedings before the Hong Kong courts and arbitral tribunals, and he has handled a wide variety of interlocutory applications (including applications for urgent injunctive relief) and trials.

Law360 [PDF] published partners M. Kendall Day, Amy Feagles, and Oleh Vretsona’s “What DOJ Fraud Division Rule Resolves, And What It Doesn’t,” which discusses the lasting effect the new National Fraud Enforcement Division will have on federal criminal law enforcement.

Partners Margaux Hall, Branden Berns, and Karen Spindler have authored Law360’s “How ‘Most Favored Nation’ Regime Affects Biopharma Deals” [PDF]. They propose that while the Most Favored Nation (MFN) regime remains legally and politically unsettled, parties should not wait for final rules. Instead, they should proactively structure transactions so that the party controlling pricing decisions bears the associated economic consequences.

“With the law remaining unsettled and the manufacturer agreements executed to date confidential, the task is not to predict the outcome but to draft so the allocation survives any present or future imagination of MFN,” they write. “Dealmakers who wait for the rules to settle will be negotiating these terms after the risk has already been priced against them.”

Partner Ryan Murr contributed to the article.

Gibson Dunn announced today that Jonathan H. Ashtor has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Practice Group.

A highly regarded lawyer who has advised on some of the largest, most transformative technology transactions, Jonathan advises on technology M&A, IP licensing, technology development and collaboration agreements, AI, quantum and emerging technologies, and technology dispute resolution and advisory work.

“Technology remains at the forefront of the M&A scene as AI, digital transformation, and innovation continue to dominate the landscape. Jonathan’s senior-level deal expertise, combined with his engineering and applied physics background, will add further depth to our premier transactional platform,” said Daniel Angel, Co-Chair of the Technology Transactions Practice Group.

“Today’s deal market is flush with AI and emerging technology investment, creating both opportunities and challenges. Clients are looking for counsel with in-depth knowledge, creative problem-solving skills, and a commercially savvy focus to help them successfully navigate the complexities arising from this accelerated innovation. Gibson Dunn has built a preeminent destination practice for technology transactions, and I’m excited to join this exceptionally talented team,” said Jonathan.

Gibson Dunn’s premier Technology Transactions Practice Group represents clients in connection with complex and strategic technology, intellectual property, and data-driven transactions, and plays a key role in providing IP-related expertise on M&A, investment, financing, and related transactions involving businesses that heavily rely on intellectual property.

About Jonathan H. Ashtor

Jonathan advises clients across a variety of industry sectors, including artificial intelligence, computer & semiconductor technologies, life sciences & biotech, quantum and emerging technologies, e-commerce & media, industrial chemicals, and manufacturing, among others. He has advised clients on major, complex, and multi-jurisdictional M&A transactions, including public company mergers, private equity and venture-backed transactions, spinoffs, and joint ventures. Jonathan is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Jonathan was a partner at an international law firm, where he served as Co-Chair of its Global Artificial Intelligence Group. Jonathan is also a Professor of Practice at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, where he designed and teaches a course on technology transactions.

Gibson Dunn has taken home two early wins in the 2026 D.C. Legal Awards — Litigation Department of the Year: Labor & Employment (for the 10th time in a row) and the individual recognition Rising Star: Labor & Employment for partner Naima Farrell.

The firm has also been announced as a finalist for six awards.

Law Firm of the Year
Appellate Hot List
Litigation Department of the Year: General
Litigation Department of the Year: Antitrust
Litigation Department of the Year: Products Liability
Litigation Department of the Year: Intellectual Property

All the winners will be announced and honored at an awards dinner in Washington, D.C. on October 20.

Partner Federico Fruhbeck Jr. is a featured speaker on PEI Infrastructure Investor’s four-part “Critical Load: Inside the Data Centre Boom” podcast series, which “lifts the lid on one of the hottest and most contested sectors in private markets.” The first episode goes behind the scenes of Infrastructure Investor Network’s Global Summit, sets the stage with an explanation of what these facilities are, establishes the scale of the data center boom, and presents some staggering investment statistics.

Listen to the first episode on the PEI Infrastructure Investor website (registration required).

Gibson Dunn announced today that Clay Brett has joined the firm’s Houston office as a partner in its Private Equity and Energy and Infrastructure Practice Groups.

Clay is a preeminent advisor on M&A, investment, and financing matters in the energy industry, with experience in principal investor and general counsel roles. He represents sponsors and portfolio companies across the capital lifecycle throughout the sector.

“Clay is one of the leading private equity lawyers in the energy sector. His experience advising sponsors across the investment lifecycle, combined with his time on the investor side, gives him a unique perspective on the commercial and legal issues that drive successful transactions,” said Michael Piazza, Co-Chair of the U.S. Private Equity Practice Group. “I’ve known Clay for more than a decade and have worked both alongside and across the table from him, so I know firsthand the caliber of lawyer he is. His arrival further enhances our ability to advise sponsors and investors on sophisticated energy and infrastructure transactions.”

“Houston is the global center for energy investment, with capital flowing across traditional oil and gas, power, infrastructure, and energy transition opportunities,” said Rahul Vashi, Co-Chair of the Oil and Gas Practice Group. “Clay has built an exceptional practice spanning these sectors and brings a sophisticated understanding of the commercial and investment forces shaping today’s energy landscape. He deepens our market-leading capabilities in some of the most active areas of energy investment and positions us to meet growing client demand.”

“I’m excited to join Gibson Dunn at a time of tremendous opportunity across the energy and infrastructure sectors,” said Clay. “The firm has built the premier cross-disciplinary platform for sponsors, investors, and companies deploying private capital across power, infrastructure, transition and traditional energy markets. I’m looking forward to demonstrating our industry-leading abilities alongside this supremely talented team.”

Clay’s arrival continues Gibson Dunn’s strategic expansion in Houston and adds further depth to the firm’s premier energy and private equity platform. His addition follows the recent arrivals of Omar Samji and Atma Kabad and reflects the firm’s continued investment in advising sponsors and investors across the energy and infrastructure sectors.

About Clay Brett

Clay’s energy subsector expertise includes upstream, midstream, LNG, oilfield services, drillships, distributed power generation, solar, battery storage, CNG, RNG, CCUS and helium extraction, among others. His transactional experience is remarkably broad, spanning M&A, A&D, structured equity, structured credit, fund and investment vehicle formation, drillcos, derivatives, joint ventures, commercial agreements, and management incentives.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Clay was a partner at an international law firm. Previously, he was a partner and investment principal at Millennial Energy Partners, where he led investment origination, structuring, negotiation, and risk management for Millennial’s affiliated York Tactical Energy Fund. Additionally, he served as General Counsel of an upstream portfolio company operating in the STACK play of Oklahoma.

In their article for Tax Executive, Tax Controversy partner Saul Mezei and Adam Smith, Co-Chair of the firm’s International Trade Advisory and Enforcement Practice Group, note that companies hit with tariff costs often react instinctively by leveraging transfer pricing as a quick fix. “But that instinct can backfire in the long run,” they write, because a “pricing change that works for tax purposes can create serious problems on the customs side that might not surface for years.”

The article focuses on where those approaches can break down and why coordination between the tax and trade functions is critical before changes are made.

“Tax professionals,” the authors say, “must recognize that they are not solving a tax problem if tariffs are driving the analysis.” They add that “coordination is a risk-management imperative” and that “when the urge is to speed up, tax professionals should instead slow down, involve the right people, and make sure their positions hang together across both regimes.”

How to become a space lawyer: London partner Mark Leverkus shares his insights on a career in space law with Financial News, explaining how “You don’t need to go and get a degree in engineering to be a space lawyer.… You could be a finance lawyer, you could be an export controls lawyer, you could be a corporate M&A lawyer. All these different areas of law come together to assist operators and investors participating in the space economy.”

Mark, who runs introductory sessions on space law for new Gibson Dunn trainees and associates joining the practice, told Financial News that his advice to young lawyers is not to feel they need to have their careers mapped out from the start, as there will be plenty of opportunities to specialize and pivot later on.

He also shared his views on the future direction of travel for the space economy.

Partner Michael Kahn was profiled by Bloomberg Law [PDF] after being named to its They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 list. He described how he uses AI “to pressure-test theories and surface counterarguments before opposing counsel does” and to digest dense documents so he can focus on legal analysis. “For example, I’ve used it to comb a lengthy prospectus for the disclosures that undercut a plaintiff’s omissions claim and to distill multiple documents for facts needed to analyze securities trading — work that once consumed hours before the strategic analysis could begin,” he said.

Michael also discussed a pro bono victory representing a death row inmate, where he was part of a team that uncovered evidence of juror misconduct and successfully proved that the misconduct violated the client’s constitutional rights. The court ultimately vacated the client’s death sentence. “Being part of a team that helped achieve that outcome — and knowing that our work had a literal life-or-death impact — was deeply meaningful and remains one of the proudest moments of my career.”

Gibson Dunn represented Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) in its SEC-registered offering of $250 million aggregate principal amount of 4.875% Series NN Notes due 2029 and $1 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.650% Series YY Notes due 2036. The notes offering closed on August 13, 2026. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, PNC Capital Markets LLC, Truist Securities, Inc., and U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. acted as joint book-running managers in the notes offering.

The firm’s team was led by partner Andrew Fabens and included associates Lawrence Lee and Kevin Mills. Partner Edward Wei and associate Jason Zhang advised on tax matters.

On August 12, 2026, Gibson Dunn won a significant victory for client Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) in a case involving the Department of Justice’s challenge to HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, when the United States District Court for the Northern District of California approved HPE’s and DOJ’s settlement of the lawsuit, notwithstanding vehement opposition to the settlement by a group of state attorneys general.

After HPE and Juniper announced their merger in early 2024, the DOJ sued in January 2025 to block the deal on the theory that it would substantially lessen competition in the U.S. market for enterprise-grade wireless local area networking (WLAN) solutions. Gibson Dunn served as trial counsel to HPE, along with other co-counsel. On June 27, 2025—less than two weeks before the scheduled bench trial—the parties reached a settlement in which HPE agreed to divest its “Instant On” wireless networking business and license the source code for certain Juniper software that uses artificial intelligence to manage WLAN networks (known as “AI Ops”).

The parties’ settlement was subject to Court approval under the Tunney Act, which requires that settlements of antitrust actions brought by the DOJ be in the “public interest.” In the fall of 2025, a coalition of state attorneys general intervened in the Tunney Act proceedings to challenge the settlement and potentially force the lawsuit to continue. Gibson Dunn led HPE’s defense of the settlement and scored an important victory when the Court denied the States’ request to enjoin the merger pending completion of the Tunney Act process. The Tunney Act proceedings then continued through nearly three months of discovery—including substantial document discovery and numerous depositions—before concluding with briefing on motion for entry of final judgment.

On August 12, the Court issued its final ruling approving the settlement, rejecting each of the States’ substantive challenges and concluding that the settlement is in the “public interest.” The Court held that the Instant On divestiture could “promote competition in the market,” noting that Instant On already serves enterprise customers of all sizes and that smaller providers have historically scaled from small- and medium-business customers into the enterprise segment. The Court explained that the license to the AI Ops source code would “provide AI Ops … to an independent entity who could use it to compete against HPE.” In sum, the Court concluded that “[g]iven the risks that the United States would have faced at trial due to the relatively low market shares of HPE and Juniper, the fact that the proposed consent decree requires HPE to divest assets that others may be able to use to compete with HPE in the enterprise-grade WLAN solutions market, and the possibility that the United States could choose to walk away entirely from its challenge to the proposed acquisition if the settlement is not approved, entry of the proposed settlement serves the public interest.”

The case is United States of America v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., et al., 5:25-cv-00951-PCP (N.D. Cal.).

The Gibson Dunn team representing HPE during the Tunney Act process included partners Sam Liversidge, Steve Weissman, Eric Vandevelde, and Dan Nowicki and associates Courtney Spears, Elizabeth Fosburgh, Kunal Jhaveri, and Sam Askari. The broader team representing HPE in the underlying action included partners Michael Perry, Kristen Limarzi, and Jamie France and associates Matt Butler, Thomas Tyson, Austin Donohue, Ming Lee Newcomb, Jack Zippel, Soumya Kandukuri, and Tate Rosenblatt.

Gibson Dunn advised Quad-C on its investment in Paradigm HSE, a leading provider of health and safety solutions to industrial customers across North America.

The Gibson Dunn team was led by partner Andrew Herman and included associates Brennan Halloran and Ethan Anderson. Partner Aaron Adams and associate Eric Olson advised on financing aspects, and partner Matt Donnelly advised on tax aspects.

Eight Gibson Dunn lawyers have been named to BTI Consulting Group’s BTI Client Service All-Stars 2026 list, which singles out “the attorneys delivering the absolute best client service.”

The Gibson Dunn lawyers named to the list are partners Robert Giannattasio, Rahim Moloo, Kristen Poole, Heather Richardson, Brian Rosenthal, Sonja Ruttmann, and Ilissa Samplin and associate Sarah Ediger.

A Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team led by Rahim Moloo and Lindsey Schmidt secured a $1.5 billion award for a Spanish affiliate of insurer Liberty Mutual in international arbitration against the Republic of Venezuela. Late last month, a three-member tribunal administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration held that foreign exchange restrictions that Venezuela imposed from 2010 until 2018 breached the “free transfer guarantee” under the Spain-Venezuela bilateral investment treaty. The award included the value of Liberty Mutual cash that the tribunal found became “trapped” in Venezuela because of the measures, as well as interest and $15.5 million in legal fees. The Gibson Dunn team included of counsel Stephanie Collins and associates Maria Banda, Theo Tyrrell, Nika Madyoon, Pablo Garrido and Karsten Ball.

To read the complete article, visit Law.com (subscription required).

Reprinted with permission from the August 11, 2026 edition of The AmLaw Litigation Daily © 2026 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled unanimously in favor of DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub in a First Amendment challenge to New York City’s Customer Data Law, which required third-party platforms such as DoorDash to share customer information with restaurants — information that included customer names, phone numbers, email addresses, and delivery addresses.

The Second Circuit held that the law was subject to intermediate scrutiny, not deferential Zauderer review. Applying intermediate scrutiny, the court held that the law was overbroad because it presumed that every customer consented to having their information shared with restaurants. The decision confirms important limits on the government’s ability to compel speech, vindicates third-party platforms’ ability to use powerful data-based tools to serve customers and restaurants alike, and safeguards the privacy interests of thousands of everyday consumers.

The Gibson Dunn team representing DoorDash was led by partner Michael Holecek and included of counsel Jonathan Soleimani and associates Aaron Smith, Megan Murphy, and Apratim Vidyarthi.