Bina Nayee is an associate in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department, as well as the Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation Practice Group, and the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group. She began her practice in the firm’s New York office, where she worked on high-stakes constitutional and complex litigation as well as emergency litigation seeking temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.

Representative matters include:

  • Represented top social media company in multiple nonpublic FTC investigations related to third party-information sharing.
  • Successfully defended leading online retailer against COVID-19 workplace safety claims asserted by New York Attorney General.
  • Defended major cloud-services technology company in five-day trial in Delaware Chancery Court action, second-chairing key client witness examination and participating in all stages of litigation from motion practice to post-trial briefing.
  • Won summary judgment for healthcare technology company and its founders in lawsuit filed by early investor alleging breach of contract and fraud.
  • Represented The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York in a successful free exercise challenge that yielded a landmark Supreme Court decision, which one commentator described as “one of the two most significant religion cases of the past 30 years.”

Bina maintains an active pro bono practice, tenaciously working to uphold her clients’ constitutional and civil rights across the country. Recently, her work defending a client in Dallas County against racially charged hate crimes was recognized by the Dallas Asian American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Team of the Year award. For another client, she won partial summary judgment in the Southern District of New York through her briefing of prisoners’ due process rights while placed in solitary confinement. Bina has also worked to vindicate the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters and journalists along the Eastern Shore.

From 2023-2024, Bina served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jane J. Boyle of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. While in law school, she served as a judicial summer intern to the Honorable James J. Cott, former Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Bina graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of the art’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and a minor in Spanish. She graduated from Fordham University School of Law, cum laude, where she received the Lawrence J. McKay prize for representing the school in the National Moot Court Competition. She served as an Associate Editor for the Fordham Law Review, a teaching assistant in Legal Writing and Civil Procedure, a member of the Moot Court Executive Board, and a competitor in the Vis East International Arbitration Competition in Hong Kong. She was a finalist in the William Hughes Mulligan Memorial Moot Court competition. While participating in the Federal Litigation Clinic, Bina also defended indigent clients.

She is admitted to practice in the States of Texas and New York, as well as before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Bina is fluent in Gujarati and conversant in Spanish.

Brendan Palmieri is an associate attorney in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group.

Brendan earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from New York University in 2024. He received his Master of Science in Earth Systems in 2017 and a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2016, both from Stanford University.

Brendan is admitted to practice in the State of New York.

Sarah Burns is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department.

Sarah graduated with High Honors from the George Washington University Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, Sarah interned at the U.S. Department of State Office of the Legal Adviser, as well as the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Sarah received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Miami. Prior to attending law school, Sarah worked in international development at a Washington, D.C.-area non-profit.

Sarah is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

George Stamas is a partner in the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions, Finance, Private Equity and Power and Renewables practice groups.

Mr. Stamas focuses on public company and private equity mergers and acquisitions and corporate securities transactions. He also counsels C-level executives and boards of directors on corporate governance matters. Mr. Stamas has received a Band 1 rating by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Corporate/M&A & Private Equity every year since 2004. Chambers USA’s comments have described Mr. Stamas as a “world class deal maker” who is “brilliant in a crisis” and has “a knack for finding middle ground when issues get contentious.” He is also ranked by Chambers Global as a leading attorney in Corporate/M&A. He has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal: M&A and Governance, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Dealmakers in America, and listed by The Best Lawyers in America for 28 consecutive years.

Mr. Stamas also has been honored by The Washington Post and he has been profiled by Crain’s New York as one of New York’s 200 most well-connected business people. Earlier in his career, Mr. Stamas was named by The American Lawyer as one of the leading 45 lawyers in America under the age of 45. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Stamas was a senior partner with Kirkland & Ellis.

Mr. Stamas previously served as Vice Chair of the Board of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, Inc.; as a founding board member of FTI Consulting (NYSE); as a venture partner of international venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates; and as a member of numerous public and private corporate boards. He is an executive board member of the New York private equity firm MidOcean Partners. Mr. Stamas is a partner of Monumental Partners, which controls the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards; an investor and a member of the board of aXiomatic, a leading eSports platform that controls Team Liquid; and a partner of the Baltimore Orioles. Mr. Stamas is also on the National Advisory Council of Youth Inc. (Recipient of the 2018 John C. Whitehead Leadership Award), and has previously served on numerous philanthropic and cultural boards, including The Shakespeare Theatre Company. He is a co-founder and Board President of The Hellenic Initiative, a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, and a director of Paris based Soparexo s.a., the parent corporation of Chateau Margaux.

Representative Lead Engagements

  • WGL Holdings in its pending $6.4 billion sale to AltaGas, Ltd.*
  • Approximately $750 million sale of Sagent Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGNT) to Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical*
  • Represented Morgan Stanley as advisor for the sale of ITC Holdings, the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States, for $11.3 billion (including debt) to Fortis, Inc. (pending)*
  • Represented Questar Corporation (NYSE: STR) in its $4.4 billion sale to Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D)*
  • SunEdison Inc. negotiation and agreement with Greenlight Capital regarding various corporate governance initiatives*
  • $4.9 billion sale of Piedmont Natural Gas to Duke Energy*
  • $7.9 billion merger of Constellation Energy and Exelon Corporation*
  • $2.2 billion acquisition of Vivint Solar, Inc., by SunEdison, Inc.*
  • $7 billion acquisition of PepCo Holdings by Exelon Corporation*
  • $1 billion sale of Bushnell Group Holdings Inc. to Alliant Techsystems Inc.*
  • Initial public offering of SunEdison Semiconductor*
  • $512 million acquisition of Stackpole International by Crestview Partners and the subsequent $659 million sale of Stackpole by Crestview and Stackpole*
  • $1.9 billion sale of SRA International to Providence Equity Partners*
  • $500 million sale of Totes by MidOcean Partners*
  • Initial Public Offering of Sagent Pharmaceuticals*
  • $1.4 billion sale of Martek Pharmaceutical to Royal DSM N.V.*
  • $800 million purchase of Prepaid Legal Services by MidOcean Partners*
  • Acquisitions by Tutor Perini Corporation aggregating $1.25 billion*
  • Constellation Energy $4.5 billion interest in nuclear assets to Electricite de France*
  • Monumental Partners’ $1 billion purchase of the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and Verizon Center*

Mr. Stamas graduated in 1976 from the University of Maryland Law School, where he was a member of the International Law Review and from 1977 to 1979, he served as special counsel to Stanley Sporkin in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

*Engagements prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Brianna N. Banks is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including class action and transnational litigation cases. Brianna also maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes representing clients in immigration proceedings and supporting victims of gender-based violence.

From 2023-2024, Brianna served as a law clerk for the Honorable Dale S. Fischer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Brianna received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2022, where she was awarded the William J. Stuntz Memorial Award for Justice, Human Dignity, and Compassion. While in law school, Brianna served as a Research Assistant and Teaching Fellow to Diane Rosenfeld, a Civil Procedure Teaching Fellow to William B. Rubenstein, a line editor for the Harvard International Law Journal, and a chair member on both the Harvard Black Law Student’s Association and the Women’s Law Association. Brianna also published a student note in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender entitled “The (De)valuation of Black Women’s Bodies.” Brianna received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Sociology, with a minor in German language, from Emory University in 2017.

Brianna is admitted to practice law in California.

Ellen Smith Yost is an associate in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas office.  She is a member of the firm’s Litigation, Global Trial, and Labor and Employment Groups. 

Ellen has represented employers in litigation matters related to administrative and regulatory proceedings, breaches of employee covenants and trade secret disputes, complex contract disputes, and responses to government investigations.  Her practice also includes advising companies and non-profit organizations on employment-related issues and litigation risks.

Before joining Gibson Dunn, Ellen clerked for Judge Jane J. Boyle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. 

Ellen earned her Juris Doctor summa cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif, served as Lead Articles Editor for the SMU Law Review, practiced as a student attorney in the First Amendment Clinic, and externed for Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Texas.  Her writing has been published in the Santa Clara High Technology Law Review, SMU Law Review, and the Journal of Air Law and Commerce.

Ellen is also a cum laude graduate of Duke University, and earned a Masters of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management from the University of North Texas, with highest honors.  Prior to practicing law, Ellen led membership, marketing, public outreach, and communications efforts for nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations in North Texas.  

Ellen maintains an active pro-bono practice and is also active in the Dallas community.  She serves on the Board of Directors of Shakespeare Dallas, is a member of Attorneys Serving the Community, and volunteers in Richardson I.S.D.

Ellen is admitted to practice in Texas and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Maria L. Banda is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Litigation and International Arbitration Practice Groups and a member of the ESG: Risk, Litigation, and Reporting group.

Dr. Banda’s practice focuses on complex cross-border disputes, including international arbitration, transnational litigation, and public international law. She has wide-ranging experience in international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitrations across five continents and across different industries, including energy, mining, extractives and natural resources, financial services, and aerospace. She has represented and advised private companies, sovereign states, and individuals in a variety of arbitral and judicial proceedings. Dr. Banda also has experience in complex litigation involving questions of international law (including, inter alia, rights and obligations arising under international treaties, substantive protections offered by customary international law, foreign sovereign immunity, and jurisdiction and extraterritoriality) and has advised clients at all levels of U.S. federal courts.

Dr. Banda also maintains an active pro bono practice, advising clients on matters of public international law, international environmental law, climate change, and international human rights law. She has represented clients and advised on proceedings before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Dr. Banda has particular expertise in international disputes, public international law, international environmental law, management of transboundary environmental resources, and climate change.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Dr. Banda worked as part of another leading D.C. law firm, where she represented clients in complex international disputes. She was the William C. Graham Fellow at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where she focused on emerging issues in climate law and taught Public International Law. Previously, Dr. Banda worked with several international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the International Labour Organization, as well as with the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and the UN Secretary-General’s Representative on Business & Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School (tasked with developing the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights).

She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D.), the University of Toronto (Hon. B.A., International Relations, Economics, and History), and Oxford University (M.Phil., D.Phil., International Relations), where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and a Trudeau Scholar. She clerked for the Hon. Mr. Justice Ian Binnie and the Hon. Mr. Justice Michael Moldaver at the Supreme Court of Canada.

She has published extensively on these issues in both academic journals and popular press and is a frequent speaker at international conferences. She has focused in particular on emerging issues in climate law and policy, such as managing climate risk exposure faced by businesses and the public sector, private climate governance, and climate-related disputes.

Dr. Banda is a Visiting Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., a Member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, an Advisory Board Member of the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and a former World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Dr. Banda is fluent in English, French, Italian, Croatian, German, and Spanish and speaks basic Russian.

Dr. Banda is licensed to practice in New York and the District of Columbia and has been admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

A representative sample of Dr. Banda’s experience includes:*

International Arbitration

  • Representing an energy company in an ICC arbitration against an African State in relation to a wrongfully terminated concession agreement.
  • Representing a local subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, an insurance company, in an investment treaty arbitration against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
  • Representing a U.S. mining company in relation to potential investment treaty claims against a Latin American State.
  • Represented a leading U.S. aerospace and defense technology company in a dispute under a contract to develop and supply military aircraft
  • Represented a leading U.S. pharmaceutical company in an arbitration seated in Switzerland involving an intellectual property license
  • Represented a major European natural gas supplier in price review arbitration against a European company
  • Represented a leading U.S. mining company in an ICSID arbitration against an Asian state
  • Represented leading European banks in investment arbitrations against a Central European State

Transnational Litigation

  • Advising a client on parallel litigation proceedings across three jurisdictions, including the United States, in relation to a sovereign State and state-owned companies.
  • Represented a leading U.S. oil and gas drilling company in complex litigation against the Republic of Venezuela and Venezuela’s national oil company in D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court for an unlawful expropriation and breach of contract under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)
  • Represented pro bono a domestic violence victim in a case described by the Second Circuit as involving “novel and significant issues” of “first impression” under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the legal team was honored in 2013 and 2014 with the Above & Beyond Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Advocacy by Sanctuary for Families)

Public International Law

  • Represented an African State in a boundary mediation with a neighboring State
  • Represented a pro bono claimant as part of a team that won a landmark decision in the first freedom of expression case in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Issa Loha Konaté v Burkina Faso
  • Represented IUCN WCEL in a joint written submission with the Organization of American States (OAS) and IUCN WCEL) and delivered oral argument in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark advisory proceeding on The Environment and Human Rights (Advisory Opinion OC-23/18)

Publications

Dr. Banda has been a frequent presenter on international, environmental, and climate law and policy, and has written widely on these topics in law reviews and popular press:

  • Climate Science in the Courts: A Review of U.S. and International Judicial Pronouncements (Environmental Law Institute: April 2020) (Publisher | SSRN);
  • Emerging Models of Environmental Dispute Resolution: International Human Rights Law and Transboundary Environmental Harm, book chapter in Environmental Dispute Resolution and Small States (forthcoming 2020);
  • Regime Congruence: Rethinking the Scope of State Responsibility for Transboundary Environmental Harm, 103 Minnesota Law Review 1879 (2019);
  • The Bottom-Up Alternative: The Mitigation Potential of Private Climate Governance after the Paris Agreement, 42 Harvard Environmental Law Review 325 (2018) (Publisher | SSRN);
  • Climate Adaptation Law: Optimizing Legal Design for Multi-Level Public Goods, 48 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 1027 (2018);
  • Litigating Climate Change in National Courts: Recent Trends and Developments in Global Climate Law (with Scott Fulton), 47 Environmental Law Reporter 10121 (2017);
  • Building a Latin American Coalition on Forests: Negotiation Barriers and Opportunities (with John Oppermann), 44 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 526 (2011);
  • International Law and the Responsibility to Protect: Clarifying or Expanding States’ Responsibilities? (with Jennifer M. Welsh), 2 Global Responsibility to Protect 213 (2010);
  • International Law and the Responsibility to Protect: Clarifying or Expanding States’ Responsibilities? (with Jennifer M. Welsh, The Responsibility to Protect and International Law (Alex J. Bellamy et al. , 2011);
  • On the Water’s Edge? A Comparative Study of the Influence of International Law and the Extraterritorial Reach of Domestic Laws in the War on Terror Jurisprudence, 41 Georgetown Journal of International Law 525 (2010)’
  • Summers v. Earth Island, 34 Harvard Environmental Law Review 321 (2010).

Speaking Engagements

  • Invited Speaker, International Climate Litigation: Recent Trends and Developments, General Session on The Proliferation and Implications of Climate Litigation, Virtual 67th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute (July 19, 2021);
  • Invited Speaker, Shareholder Activism on Environmental and Social Issues, panel convened by the Securities Litigation Practice Group of The Advocates Society (Toronto, Canada, April 8, 2021);
  • Invited Speaker, Climate Science in the Courts, Clean Energy Group Webinar (Washington, D.C., 17/06/2020);
  • Climate Science in the Courts, People Places Planet Podcast, Season 2, Episode 8 (Environmental Law Institute, Washington, D.C., 22/04/2020);
  • Invited Speaker, Presentation on Environmental Dispute Resolution, Conference on Environmental Dispute Resolution and Small States (London, UK, 08/09/2018);
  • Speaker, “Rethinking the Scope of State Responsibility for Transboundary Environmental Harm,” presentation at 2018 Institute for Global Law Policy Conference (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 03/06/2018);
  • Speaker, “Rethinking the Scope of State Responsibility for Transboundary Environmental Harm,” presentation at International Legal Theory Interest Group Roundtable, American Society of International Law Annual Meeting (Washington, D.C., 06/06/2018);
  • Invited Keynote, “R2P in the Anthropocene,” Model United Nations, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, (Toronto, Canada, 29/03/2018)
  • Invited Speaker, “Climate Action after Paris: Closing the Ambition Deficit,” presentation at Shaping Global Summitry Anniversary Conference, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada, 12/03/2018);
  • Speaker, “Rethinking the Scope of State Responsibility for Transboundary Environmental Harm,” presentation at Faculty Workshop, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (12/03/2018);
  • Moderator, Panel on Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Confederation of Tomorrow 2.0 Conference, Mowat Centre (Toronto, Canada, 12/12/2017);
  • Invited Panelist, “What’s to be done in the next 50 years?”, Conference on The First and Next 150 Years of Canadian Federalism: What’s Been Done? What’s to be Done?, hosted by Idée fédérale and the Institute for 21st Century Questions (Toronto, Canada, 22/11/2017);
  • Invited Panelist, “Global Adaptation Goal and Borderless Climate Risks: Strengths and Limits of the Paris Agreement,” UNFCCC Official Side-Event at the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, hosted by Fiji (Bonn, Germany, 15/11/2017);
  • Invited Speaker, “Protecting the Paris Bargain: Defining the Scope of Transparency Obligations under the Paris Agreement,” presentation at the Climate Law and Governance Day 2017: Advancing Law & Governance Contributions to Climate Action under the Paris Agreement (Bonn, Germany, 10/11/2017);
  • Invited Speaker, “Navigating the New World Disorder: Risks and Opportunities for Canada,” presentation at the Canadian International Council, Research Program Launch (Toronto, Canada, 24/10/2017) (invited lecture);
  • Invited Public Lecture, “The Climate-Security Nexus,” Environment, Sustainability and Society Lecture Series, College of Sustainability, Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada, 04/10/2017) (public lecture);
  • Invited Guest Speaker, “Navigating the New World Disorder: Risks and Opportunities for Canada,” presentation to the Canadian International Council (Halifax, Canada, 04/10/2017) (public lecture);
  • Speaker, “Global Climate Adaptation: Governing Adaptation Across State Boundaries,” workshop presentation at Environmental Governance Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada, 29/09/2017);
  • Invited Keynote, “R2P in the Anthropocene,” the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (CCR2P) Youth Summit (Toronto, Canada, 27/09/2017);
  • Speaker, “The Food-Water Nexus and International Law: Climate Change Adaptation Across State Boundaries,” presentation at International Conference on Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Environmental Sustainability: Choices, Compromises, and Priorities, held on the occasion of the 13th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law on Global Public Goods, Global Commons and Fundamental Values: The Responses of International Law (Naples, Italy, 06/09/2017);
  • Speaker, “The Bottom-Up Alternative: Private Options for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement,” presentation at 6th Annual Journal of Environmental Practice Conference on Climate Change Law & Policy following the Paris Agreement (Halifax, Canada, 16/06/2017);
  • Invited Speaker, “Climate Adaptation after Paris: A Multi-Level Governance Model,” presentation at International Scientific Workshop on The Emerging Complexity of Climate Adaptation Governance in a Globalising World (Stockholm, Sweden, 22/05/2017);
  • Panelist, Transformative Climate Mitigation Strategies and Initiatives, CIGI Roundtable: The Way Forward on Climate Action (Ottawa, 12/01/2017);
  • Invited Speaker, “Climate Change and Human Security: The Way Forward for Canada,” presentation at The Ottawa Process Twenty Years Later: The Landmine Treaty, Human Security, and Canada in the Twenty-First Century, conference convened by Canadian Landmine Foundation, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, and Canadian International Council (Toronto, 28/10/2016) (invited lecture);
  • Invited Co-Presenter (with Scott Fulton), “Litigating Climate Change and Sea Level Rise: Recent Trends and Developments in National Courts,” presentation at the 4th Biennial Conference on Law of the CCJ’s Caribbean Academy for Law and Court Administration (St. Marteen, 27/10/2016) (invited lecture);
  • Invited Speaker, Environmental Law Institute’s Monthly Briefing – Special Briefing on COP21 (Washington, D.C., 15/12/2015);
  • Invited Speaker, “Advancing Access to Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Trends and Developments in Environmental Access Rights,” presentation at 1st Inter-American Congress on the Environmental Rule of Law, held under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and the Caribbean Court of Justice (Montego Bay, Jamaica, 31/03/2015);
  • Invited Panelist, “Improving Access to Justice: Recent Trends and Developments in Procedural Environmental Rights,” presentation at the 3rd UNITAR-Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy, “Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Post-2015 Development, and the Future Climate Regime” (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, 06/09/2014);
  • Invited Speaker, “Climate Adaptation Law and the Private Sector,” presentation at the Legal Aspects of Sustainability Panel, 20th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference (University of Trondheim, Norway, 19/06/2014);
  • Invited Lecture, “The Responsibility to Protect and International Law: Between Normative Commitments and Political Realities,” Human Rights and Employment Law Conference, The Commons Institute (Toronto, Canada, 25/02/2013);
  • Speaker, “The Private Sector and Climate Change Adaptation: Incentives, Barriers, and the Law,” prepared for the Climate Change Law, Adaptation, and Sustainability Panel, organized by CLEAR, ELI, and ASIL, 2012 The Rio + 20 Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15/06/2012);
  • Invited Lecture, “R2P and Normative Change,” Panel at the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Conference on Ten Years After the ICISS: Reflections for the Past and Future of the R2P, University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs (Toronto, Canada, 11/2011);
  • Invited Guest Lecture, “Governing Global Climate Change: From Rambouillet 1975 to Heiligendamm 2007,” ECLA-Oxford Conference on Climate Change, Energy and Security (Berlin, Germany, 02/06/2007).

Katie Mills is an English-qualified associate in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She has broad experience of white collar crime and regulatory investigations, commercial litigation and international arbitration.

Katie’s practice focuses on government and corporate internal investigations (involving the UK Bribery Act, the UK Fraud Act and other anti-corruption / anti-money laundering laws) and international disputes.

She also counsels corporations on the effectiveness of their compliance programs and in connection with transactional due diligence, with a particular emphasis on compliance with anti-corruption laws and anti-money laundering regulations.

Katie has assisted a wide range of companies with internal / external investigations regarding allegations of bribes, fraudulent misconduct and anti-competitive arrangements. This includes, for example, representing a UK insurance broker in proceedings brought by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, U.S. Department of Justice and Colombian authorities in connection with alleged failures in anti-corruption systems and controls.

Katie is recognised by The Legal 500 UK 2024 for Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime.

Additionally, Katie completed secondments as the Head of UK Litigation at a leading cryptocurrency exchange and Legal Counsel at a leading insurance broking and risk management firm.

Katie trained at Gibson Dunn, during which time she spent 6 months seconded to the firm’s Hong Kong office, and also gained experience working with the Real Estate, Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions teams.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Katie undertook a graduate program at a leading investment bank. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge and was admitted as a Solicitor in 2020.

Jesse L. Eaton-Luria is an associate in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department.

Jesse earned her J.D. from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California, where she graduated Order of the Coif. During her time in law school, she served as a Submissions Editor on The Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice and was an Academic Success Fellow for the first-year law students. She also participated in the International Human Rights Clinic for two years and spent a semester as a Chambers Intern at the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in Tanzania.

Prior to law school, Jesse graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with highest honors with a B.A. in Global Studies and a minor in Spanish.

Jesse is admitted to practice in the State of California.

Tate Rosenblatt is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department.

Tate graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Managing Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal, served as a Law Fellow for the first-year Legal Research & Writing class, and was part of a team that successfully briefed cases in four federal circuits with the Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with highest honors.

Tate is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

M. Theodore Takougang is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of the firm’s Trial, Litigation, and White Collar Defense & Investigations practice groups. 

Theo is a trial lawyer with significant courtroom experience.  He has counselled clients through all phases of litigation, from pre-suit strategy to trials and appeals.  Theo has also helped successfully guide boards of directors through highly sensitive internal investigations and in criminal and regulatory matters before the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, various state Attorneys General, and other regulators. Theo has deep experience representing public companies, private equity firms, closely held corporations, and senior executives across a range of industries in litigation and investigations involving complex financial products, healthcare regulations, business torts, contract disputes, and federal environmental and bribery laws. 

Before joining Gibson Dunn, Theo was a litigation associate in the New York offices of a leading international law firm and a prominent litigation boutique. Prior to that, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Eric L. Clay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Honorable Kenneth M. Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Before law school, Theo worked as an aide to a congressman from Ohio.

Theo earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an editor of the Virginia Law & Business Review and a Paul D. White Scholar. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors from the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in Economics.

Theo is a member of the California and New York bars, and he is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Central District of California and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Sixth Circuits.

Angela Reid is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practices in the firm’s Labor & Employment Department.

Angela has extensive experience representing employers in a wide range of employment law matters under federal and state law, including claims for wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, harassment, retaliation, and discrimination.  She also provides advice to clients regarding the nuances of navigating complex employment and personnel issues, including helping clients develop and revise employee handbooks, preparing severance agreements, and employment agreements.  Angela also handles actions against employers before the EEOC and other administrative bodies.  Angela has experience representing employers in both single plaintiff and class action litigations across a wide range of labor and employment matters, and is experienced in all aspects of pre-trial litigation, including motion practice, discovery, and settlement negotiation.

Angela is also an experienced member of Gibson Dunn’s DEI Task Force, which she helped launch in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard.  She assists clients with navigating the legal and reputational risks surrounding DEI initiatives under the current legal landscape, and has defended clients against reverse discrimination suits under Title VII and Section 1981.  She has extensive experience with conducting privileged in-depth audits of clients’ DEI programs, assessing litigation and liability risks, and developing creative and practical solutions for her clients to accomplish their aspirations for an inclusive workplace. 

Angela earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California School of Law, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley. Before attending law school, she oversaw business development for a group of corporations in the fields of activated carbon, industrial tires and third-party logistics. Angela also served as an extern for the Honorable Deborah Saltzman of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

Cassie Aprile is a dual-qualified partner in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, practising in the firm’s Dispute Resolution Group. 

Cassie has extensive experience advising clients on a broad range of complex commercial disputes spanning multiple jurisdictions and across various industry sectors. She specializes in complex commercial litigation and international commercial arbitration. 

Cassie’s recent commercial arbitration experience includes representing a major international contractor in a multi-billion dollar arbitration arising out of a Middle Eastern infrastructure project, and appearing as the lead advocate in an arbitration for a major hotel group arising from a dispute concerning the management of a hotel in Europe. 

Cassie’s recent litigation experience has involved representing clients in Employment Tribunals, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The broad nature of her litigation practice is reflected in the diversity of her recent matters, which include representing a UK retailer in the largest private sector mass equal pay claim to be heard in the English courts, and defending a client against allegations of commercial fraud. 

Cassie is recognised by The Legal 500 UK 2024 as a “key lawyer” in international arbitration where she is described by clients as “[v]ery bright, and very capable. Produces extremely clear advice, and is able to lead and advocate on the most complicated matters“. 

Reflective of the international nature of Cassie’s practice, she is dual-qualified in both England & Wales and Australia. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, she practised in a leading Australian law firm and worked as a Clerk to a Supreme Court Judge in Australia.

Paul Yu is an associate in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Paul focuses his practice on the representation of non-bank financial institutions, financial services and financial technology companies, digital asset platforms, payment networks, and investment firms in areas related to the provision of payments.

Paul has advised clients on issues related to global product development, enforcement actions, and regulatory compliance, as well as acquisitions, investments, and commercial arrangements between parties in the global payments space.

Paul regularly counsels clients on compliance with federal and state law applicable to electronic payments, mobile payments, digital assets (including cryptocurrency and stablecoins), in-game currencies, and prepaid access, including state and federal money transmission laws and licensing regimes, state and federal gift card laws, Regulation E, and the Bank Secrecy Act.

Paul’s experience includes: *

  • Advised launch of a stablecoin product that will enable customers in Brazil 24/7 access to USDC.
  • Advised a financial technology company, which offers a digital ecosystem with in-game currencies, on various regulatory matters, including its acquisition by an investment group.
  • Advised a private equity firm in its acquisition of a majority stake in one of the largest global payment processors.
  • Advised a leading financial technology company on a variety of regulatory matters, including product development, maintenance of financial services licenses, and commercial agreements
  • Provided counsel to a multinational technology conglomerate during the introduction of an international e-commerce payment solution.

*Includes work performed at a previous firm.

Allonna Nordhavn is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department.

Allonna earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. While in law school, Allonna externed at the Oakland City Attorney’s Office and participated in the East Bay Community Law Center’s Education Defense & Justice for Youth Services clinic. Allonna also served as the Senior Articles Editor of the Berkeley Journal of Black Law and Policy. Before attending law school, Allonna earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University.

Allonna is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. 

Bernard Grinspan is a French and New York qualified partner in the Paris office of Gibson Dunn.

For more than twenty years, Bernard has advised publicly traded and privately held business entities on mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures and works closely with clients to provide guidance on strategic and financial investments. In addition, he works regularly on debt restructuring and insolvency matters. He also has notable experience in distributorship and licensing agreements as well as FCPA investigations. He has been instrumental in ‘getting the deal done’ in a number of highly visible transactions within the French business community.

Bernard is known to be creative in his approach to client’s issues, with a constant view to explore all possible avenues available, including those combining negotiations and litigation. He has been essential in a number of cross-border deals where litigation and corporate teams are formed and coordinated to maximize client’s results. Before joining Gibson Dunn’s Paris office in 1990, Bernard spent nine years in the United States, first as a student at the Harvard Law School, then as a practicing attorney in New York, working successively at White and Case, Schlumberger Limited and Davis Polk & Wardwell. His two-and-a-half-year experience at Schlumberger gave him an excellent insider’s view of the corporate world, rather unique in law firms as he was involved in the practical implementation of deals as well as their negotiation.

Chambers & Partners Global has consistently ranked Bernard as a “foreign expert” for USA-related Corporate/M&A work, noting that he is “well regarded” by clients for his experience and “valued opinions.” Previous editions commented that he is a “completely bilingual, extremely strategic and practical M&A expert” ; “a strong choice for complex cross-border transactions.” Chambers has also noted that the practice “benefits greatly from Bernard Grinspan’s US legal expertise and experience when it comes to handling major transatlantic deals”.

Legal 500 EMEA recommends him for M&A and Private Equity. Previous editions have described him as a “highly regarded” partner “who puts all his energy in to get a deal done”, “well placed to assist clients on complex transactions” and providing “creative advice that goes beyond the pure legal aspects”. Bernard shows an “innate understanding of business and human relationships,” directories say. In addition, Best Lawyers in France has consistently ranked him for Corporate Law and Information Technology Law over the years.

Bernard plays a major role in the growth of Gibson Dunn’s European practices. He was and continues to be instrumental in the development of the firm’s European offices into high quality legal service providers, capable of advising foreign clients on the laws of their respective jurisdictions.

He is fluent in French and English.

Miguel Loza, Jr. is Of Counsel in Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles office, where he practices in the Firm’s Litigation Department. Miguel focuses on complex litigation matters, with a particular expertise in transnational issues and cases arising out of Latin America. He also has significant experience handling white collar investigations, as well as high-stakes matters involving Alien Tort Statute, Torture Victim Protection Act, RICO, environmental, chemical exposure and supply chain allegations.

Miguel has played a major role in several noteworthy business and commercial matters involving important transnational litigation issues. He has extensive experience managing issues that arise in foreign and U.S. courts as part of a comprehensive global litigation defense strategy for the client. These issues include, among other things, securing positive results in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously, and also guiding and managing transnational matters to avoid vexatious litigation, inconsistent rulings and waiver of defenses in subsequent jurisdictions. Additionally, Miguel has litigated several cases dealing with the recognition and enforcement of foreign country judgments, with a particular focus on developing legal strategies to prevent the recognition of suspect foreign judgments in U.S. courts.

He is fluent in Spanish and works extensively with foreign attorneys throughout Latin America and Europe, advising clients on the multifaceted issues that characterize cross-border litigation and investigations and formulating comprehensive strategy plans to manage and guide the cross-border matters to a successful resolution for the client. Miguel is adept at selecting and working with foreign legal experts from varied backgrounds to assist clients in addressing difficult transnational issues and to prepare and present expert testimony before U.S. courts and international tribunals. Additionally, he advises clients on media strategies that are key components of a well-developed transnational litigation plan.

Miguel has also gained substantial experience defending clients involved in white collar government investigations and assisting clients in responding to government agency subpoenas. He has represented clients in connection with alleged violations of sales and marketing regulations, health regulations, environmental regulations, Food and Drug Administration regulations and other administrative matters. Miguel has also worked on international and cross-border white collar investigations in Latin America arising out of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues, including compliance monitorship work in Argentina and Mexico that involved substantial Spanish-language witness interviews.

Representative matters include:

  • Chevron Corp. – Ecuadorian Judgment. Fighting on a global scale to prevent the recognition and enforcement of an $18 billion Ecuadorian judgment against the company and assisting with development and execution of successful defense strategy in various Latin American jurisdictions.
  • Hupan v. Alliance One. Representing client in six cross-border chemical exposure suits filed against more than a dozen multi-national defendants by Argentine citizens and involving choice of law and forum issues and securing forum non conveniens dismissal in the principal Delaware suit.
  • Tellez v. Dole Food Co. Obtaining dismissal with prejudice of U.S.-filed toxic tort claims alleging that DBCP caused reproductive harm to Nicaraguan plaintiffs.
  • Dole Food Co., Inc. v. S.C.L.A. Securing a writ of error coram vobisto reopen an appealed jury verdict in a toxic tort case based on evidence of extrinsic fraud and due process violations.
  • Osorio v. Dole Food Co. Blocking recognition and enforcement in federal district court of a $97 million toxic tort judgment awarded by a Nicaraguan court without due process or evidence of causation and securing appellate affirmance of the trial court decision.
  • You v. Japan. Defending vehicle manufacturers against alien tort and RICO claims brought on behalf of a purported class of Korean citizens and securing dismissal based on failure to state a claim.
  • Wang Hui v. F+A Architects. Defending Qatar-based client in California personal injury action and securing dismissal based on lack of personal jurisdiction.
  • Worldwide Directories S.A. de C.V. v. Yahoo! Inc. Defending client against a $2.75 billion civil RICO claim brought by two Mexican companies in federal New York court and securing dismissal based on deficient RICO allegations.
  • Leading E-cigarette company. Defending the company in multiple investigations by state Attorneys General regarding sales and marketing practices and alleged violations of environmental and health regulations.
  • Siemens AG. Helping Gibson Dunn team conduct the compliance monitorship for the company, pursuant to the then largest-ever FCPA resolution with the SEC and DOJ.
  • Norwood v. Bourland. Representing pro bono client and vacating district court judgment that denied important First and Eighth Amendment civil rights claims.

Recent publications:

Miguel is a proud first-generation college graduate and first-generation professional. He is deeply committed to the Firm’s diversity and mentoring efforts, pro bono work and community service. Miguel is actively involved in the firm’s local and national recruiting and diversity efforts, and serves on the Firm’s LA office Diversity Committee. He also devotes time to the Firm’s mentoring efforts and co-leads the LA office affinity groups for Hispanic/Latinx and First-Generation attorneys. Miguel is actively engaged in the Firm’s pro bono matters, focusing particularly on immigration and social justice matters.

Since 2012, Miguel has been a trustee of the Mexican American Bar Foundation, an organization committed to diversity in the legal profession that awards more than $250,000 in scholarships every year to Latinx students in LA-area law schools. Since 2021, Miguel has also been a member of the Board of Directors for Families Forward Learning Center, a learning facility in Pasadena committed to working with underserved and underprivileged pre-school-aged children and their parents to prepare the children for academic success.

In 2020, Miguel was selected for membership in the Pacific Council on International Policy, which seeks to give the West Coast a stronger and more effective voice in global affairs. Miguel participated in the Los Angeles County Bar Trial Advocacy Program in 2014 and worked at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office as a Pro Bono Deputy City Attorney where he was first chair in two jury trials. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Mexican American Bar Association and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.

Miguel earned his law degree in 2008 from Cornell Law School, where he served as a Managing Editor of the Cornell International Law Journal, and as a student contributor to the Supreme Court Bulletin of the Cornell Legal Information Institute. During law school, he was selected to serve as an Honors Teaching Fellow for the Cornell Lawyering Program and received the law school’s Kasowitz Prize for Excellence in Legal Writing and Oral Advocacy. Miguel served as the Academic Chair for the Latino Law Students Association at Cornell Law School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005 from Stanford University, with a double major in History and Political Science.

Miguel is a member of the California bar and is admitted to appear before the United States District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and all California state courts.

Gabriel Herrmann is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and a member of Gibson Dunn’s Litigation Practice Group. His practice focuses on complex business and financial-services litigation, including disputes concerning commercial breach of contract claims, fraud and business torts, insolvency-related litigation, disputed interests in real property, shareholder derivative and securities litigation, antitrust and competition law, insurance, class actions, and M&A-related litigation.

A substantial portion of his experience concerns matters involving cross-border jurisdictional issues, coordination of parallel overseas proceedings, and international choice-of-law and venue considerations. In addition to his commercial practice, Gabriel has significant experience representing clients in matters relating to the operations of New York State and City governmental entities, including both administrative and judicial review of agency determinations and constitutional challenges to government action and legislation. He practices actively in the federal district and bankruptcy courts, as well as the civil and Commercial Division courts of New York State, and has extensive appellate experience in both the New York State and federal court systems.

Representative matters include:

  • Picard v. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (In re Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC), 460 B.R. 84 (S.D.N.Y. 2011), aff’d, 721 F.3d 54 (2d Cir. 2013), cert. denied sub nom., Picard v. HSBC Bank PLC, 134 S. Ct. 2895 (2014) (dismissal for lack of standing of Securities Investor Protection Act trustee to sue third parties for alleged harm to customers of insolvent securities broker-dealer).
  • Mashreqbank PSC v. Ahmed Hamad Al Gosaibi & Bros. Co., Index No. 601650/2009, 2010 WL 9535130 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty July 26, 2010), rev’d, 101 A.D.3d 1, 951 N.Y.S.2d 124 (1st Dep’t 2012), rev’d, 23 N.Y.3d 129, 989 N.Y.S.2d 458 (2014) (dismissal under doctrine of forum non conveniens of fraud and related business-tort claims against Saudi national).
  • Rubens v. UBS AG, 126 A.D.3d 421, 5 N.Y.S.3d 55 (1st Dep’t 2015) (enforcement of contractual forum-selection clauses compelling dismissal of action for breach of contract and related business torts against Swiss bank).
  • Knopick v. UBS AG, 137 F. Supp. 3d 728 (M.D. Pa. 2015) (enforcement of contractual forum-selection clauses compelling dismissal of action for breach of contract and related business torts against Swiss bank, Swiss financial advisor, and Swiss national).
  • Giordano v. UBS AG, 134 F. Supp. 3d 697 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) (dismissal of claims against Swiss bank based on enforcement of contractual forum-selection clauses, failure to allege adequate basis for personal jurisdiction, and failure to state a claim).
  • N.Y. City Educational Construction Fund v. Verizon New York Inc., Index No. 650193/2009, 2012 WL 2368984 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty. June 11, 2012), aff’d, 114 A.D.3d 529, 981 N.Y.S.2d 11 (1st Dep’t 2014) (dismissal of fraud, breach-of-contract, and related claims concerning transfer of zoning development rights in contract for sale of real property).
  • In re Kosmos Energy Ltd. Securities Litigation, 299 F.R.D. 133 (N.D. Tex. 2014) (denial of class certification in securities action under sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933).
  • Berks County Employees’ Retirement Fund v. First American Corp., 734 F. Supp. 2d 533 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) (denial of class certification in securities-fraud action under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).
  • Harrison v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 417 F. Supp. 2d 424 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) (ERISA preemption; construction of insurance contract).

Recent Speaking Engagements:

  • Speaker, “Recent and Pending Amendments to New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules and Uniform Commercial Division Rules,” Lawline (July 29, 2016).
  • Speaker, “December 2015 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Key Components and Recent Case Law,” Clear Law Institute (April 29, 2016).
  • Speaker, “December 2015 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” Lawline (March 10, 2016).
  • Speaker, “Proportionality in Discovery Under the New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” National Business Institute (February 29, 2016).

Gabriel earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Cornell Law School in 2003, where he served as an Article Editor of the Cornell Law Review, published a Note, Discovering Policy Under the Federal Arbitration Act, 88 Cornell L. Rev. 779 (2003), and served as a research assistant to the late Professor Theodore Eisenberg. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark University in 1998.

Gabriel is admitted to practice in the State of New York, as well as before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the American Bar Association, and the ABA Section of Antitrust Law.

Anne MacPherson is Director of Practice Development, UK Finance & Transactions.

Anne has a broad range of corporate experience with a particular focus on banking and debt finance. Anne began her career at a magic circle law firm (London, Hong Kong and New York offices) where she trained and practised as a project finance lawyer. Before joining Gibson Dunn, she was a banking partner in the London office of a leading U.S. law firm.

Clare F. Steinberg is an of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practices in the firm’s Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on class actions, with an emphasis on health care, consumer product, and employment matters. She defends clients in complex civil litigation in federal and state courts. She has also defended clients facing civil investigation by federal regulators. Clare has an active pro bono practice, which focuses on immigration matters. She has represented individuals seeking asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ellen Lipton Hollander in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Clare received her law degree with honors from the University of Chicago Law School. Prior to law school, she was a paralegal in the Philadelphia office of Pepper Hamilton. In 2011, Clare earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

She is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia.