Shearman & Sterling has elected seven counsel and associates to the partnership across its worldwide platform. The new partners practice in five offices—Abu Dhabi, Düsseldorf, London, New York and Paris—and in the capital markets, international arbitration, litigation, market regulatory, mergers and acquisitions, and project development and finance practice areas.
"Once again we have elected an outstanding group of lawyers—reflecting our business and our global platform—to the partnership," said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Shearman & Sterling's senior partner. "We anticipate that their impressive record of client service, combined with outstanding technical abilities and leadership, will serve our clients and our firm very well."
The following lawyers were elected partner:
Iain Elder (Abu Dhabi–Project Development & Finance); Robert N. Freedman (New York-Project Development & Finance; Richard Kelly (London–Litigation); Daniel H.R. Laguardia (New York–Litigation); Mark S. McNeill (Paris–International Arbitration); Dr. Martin Neuhaus (Düsseldorf–Corporate); and Russell D. Sacks (New York–Market Regulatory/Capital Markets).
Iain Elder is a lawyer in the firm's project development and finance practice area in Abu Dhabi. He focuses primarily on the development and financing of energy projects, particularly in the upstream oil and gas, petrochemicals, and power and water industries, as well as on energy-industry-related M&A transactions. Elder has more than ten years' experience advising sponsors, international banks, export credit agencies, and multilateral agencies on a wide range of power and water and petrochemical projects in the Middle East and Europe, as well as national and international oil companies on upstream developments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Prior to relocating to Abu Dhabi, Elder worked in Shearman & Sterling’s London office. He completed the Law Society Final Exam at the College of Law, Chester, in 1995 and earned an LLB degree from the University of Liverpool in 1994.
Robert N. Freedman is a lawyer in the project development and finance practice area in New York, with an emphasis on finance and development, asset acquisitions and dispositions, and complex workouts and restructurings of infrastructure assets internationally and in the US. He has represented lenders in project and leveraged finance transactions for infrastructure and also has extensive experience representing developers in various sectors, including power, renewables and sustainable development, oil and gas, and transportation. In addition, he represents parties in commodity hedges for infrastructure projects, including in the renewables sector. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Freedman was a Managing Director and Counsel with GE Energy Financial Services, Inc., the energy investment business of the General Electric Company. He was selected for inclusion in the 2007 and 2009 Guide to the World's Leading Project Finance Lawyers and has published a number of articles on project development and green energy financing. Freedman graduated cum laude and earned a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1996 and earned a BS and graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1993.
Richard Kelly, a lawyer in the litigation practice area in London, has broad dispute resolution experience, ranging from representing clients on high-value litigation to advising on risk management issues, with particular emphasis on contentious matters involving banks and other financial institutions. Kelly frequently advises on cross-border disputes, regulatory investigations, anticorruption and compliance projects, English High Court litigation, and other contentious issues. Prior to joining Shearman & Sterling, he was judicial assistant to Lord Woolf MR and taught law for four years at the University of Oxford. His articles on fraud law reform, US federal securities class actions, and other topics have been published in legal periodicals. Kelly earned a postgraduate diploma in legal practice, with distinction, from the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice in 1997 and a BA in jurisprudence from the University of Oxford in 1995.
Daniel H.R. Laguardia is a lawyer in the litigation practice area in New York, with an emphasis on securities and financial markets litigation. He has worked on a wide variety of matters at the trial and appellate levels, in state and federal court, representing corporations, financial institutions, and individual officers and directors in class action litigation, as well as in connection with investigations by regulatory and enforcement agencies and in complex commercial litigation. His clients have included US and international leaders in the banking, mutual fund, telecommunications, and energy industries. Laguardia was a law clerk from 1998 to 2000, earned his JD and graduated cum laude from the New York University School of Law in 1998, and in 1993 received a BA with general honors from the University of Chicago.
Mark S. McNeill, a lawyer in the international arbitration practice area in Paris, focuses on international investment arbitration and international commercial arbitration. He has represented corporate clients and governments in dozens of international arbitrations before the ICSID, ICC, and other arbitral institutions, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL Rules. Prior to joining the firm, McNeill spent four years at the US Department of State, where he represented the US in investor-State arbitrations related to NAFTA, participated in the drafting of investment and dispute resolution provisions in US bilateral investment treaties, and received the Superior Honor Award and Meritorious Honor Award for distinguished service to the US government. Earlier in his career, he spent four years in litigation and arbitration practice in New York. McNeill has taught international investment law and arbitration at the American University Washington College of Law. He earned a JD from New York University School of Law in 1998, an MA from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1995, and a BA from Colgate University in 1989.
Dr. Martin Neuhaus is a lawyer in the corporate practice area in Düsseldorf. He has extensive experience in national and international private and public M&A transactions, corporate and capital markets law, private equity, restructurings, management incentive programs, and contractual trust arrangements. Prior to becoming an associate in the Düsseldorf office, Neuhaus served as a trainee in Shearman & Sterling’s New York and Düsseldorf offices. He was admitted to the German bar in 2002. Neuhaus completed the Second State Exam, Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf in 2002; the First State Exam, Higher Regional Court Hamm in 1999; earned a Dr. iur., magna cum laude, from Westfälische Wilhelms-University in 2001; and a Master of European and International Business Law from the University of St. Gallen in 2000. He also holds an academic degree in economics from the University of Bayreuth.
Russell D. Sacks is a lawyer in the market regulatory and capital markets practice areas in New York, providing regulatory advice to regulated and unregulated market participants, including broker-dealers, alternative trading systems, exchanges, investment advisers, and hedge funds. He has particular experience in the formation and regulation of US-registered broker-dealers, the acquisition of regulated entities, and US and cross-border operations of international financial institutions. Sacks is a regular speaker on securities law and regulation, and he has published widely on these and other topics in a variety of legal and trade publications. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a law clerk in the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa, Canada. He was awarded an LLB with honors from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1998 and graduated magna cum laude with a BA from the Columbia College of Columbia University in 1994.