Global law firm Shearman & Sterling has elected nine counsel and associates to the partnership across its worldwide platform. The new partners practice in four offices—London, New York, San Francisco and São Paulo—and in the antitrust, bankruptcy and reorganization, capital markets, finance, global financial regulatory, investment funds, litigation, and mergers and acquisitions practice areas.
“Once again, our new partners represent the very best of Shearman & Sterling—outstanding technical knowledge, an ability to advise clients on complex legal and business issues, and a passion for first-rate client service," said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Shearman & Sterling's senior partner. "We know they will continue their exceptional work on behalf of our clients and contribute to our continued growth and excellence.”
The following lawyers were elected partner:
Jessica K. Delbaum (New York-antitrust), Thomas Donegan (London-global financial regulatory), John W. (Sean) Finley III (New York-investment funds), Peter Hayes (London-finance), Dana C. Kromm (San Francisco-mergers and acquisitions), Jeremy Kutner (London-mergers and acquisitions), John A. Nathanson (New York-litigation), Solomon J. Noh (London-bankruptcy and reorganization), and Mathias von Bernuth (São Paulo-capital markets and mergers and acquisitions).
Jessica K. Delbaum, a lawyer in the antitrust practice area in New York, focuses on defending multinational companies’ mergers and acquisitions before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice, as well as coordinating the multi-jurisdictional antitrust defense of transactions. Ms. Delbaum also counsels clients on a broad array of antitrust issues, including competitor collaborations, cartel leniency applications, and Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compliance. Prior to joining Shearman & Sterling, Ms. Delbaum was an Attorney General’s Honors Program Attorney in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. She earned her J.D., cum laude, in 2001 from Harvard Law School, where she was Articles Editor for the International Law Journal. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Columbia University in 1996.
Thomas Donegan is a lawyer in the global financial regulatory practice area in London. He represents banks, brokers, investment banks, exchanges, clearing houses and settlement systems, and corporations on diverse financial regulatory matters. His recent experience has included advising clients in Europe, North and Latin America, and Asia on the establishment of new businesses and products, prudential and compliance-related issues, and on their corporate and capital markets transactions. Mr. Donegan received a B.A. (First Class) in law in 1999 from Cambridge University.
John W. (Sean) Finley III is a lawyer in the investment funds practice area in New York. He has extensive experience advising on private fund formation and legal, compliance, and operational matters related to the management and investment activities of private funds and their sponsors and advisors, with a particular focus on hedge funds, commodity pool operators, and commodity trading advisors. He also advises on asset-management-related merger and acquisition transactions, including joint ventures, spinouts, and seeding arrangements. Mr. Finley previously served for several years as in-house counsel to an international investment management firm. He received his J.D. in 1998 from Washington University School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law. He holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he graduated in 1995.
Peter Hayes, a lawyer in the finance practice area in London, focuses on bank finance, particularly leveraged acquisition finance and related restructuring work. Mr. Hayes frequently works on cross-border financings involving bank and high-yield financing structures. In 1998, he earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a staff member with the Journal of Transnational Law, and that same year received a Maîtrise en Droit from the University of Paris I (Sorbonne). Prior to law school, he studied international political economy at The London School of Economics, receiving an M.Sc. in 1993, and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving a B.A. with honors and distinction in 1992.
Dana C. Kromm is a lawyer in the mergers and acquisitions practice area in San Francisco. She has extensive experience representing both strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures, tender and exchange offers, joint ventures, corporate governance matters, special committee representations, complex carve-out acquisitions, minority investments, and corporate partnering transactions. She also has significant experience in cross-border transactions. In addition, Ms. Kromm represents portfolio companies of private equity clients, handling day-to-day legal activities, add-on acquisitions, and other general corporate work. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2001 and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1996.
Jeremy Kutner is a lawyer in the mergers and acquisitions practice area in London, where he maintains a broad international corporate practice. Since joining the firm in 2010, Mr. Kutner has advised clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity capital market matters, private equity transactions, restructurings, and reorganizations. A Kennedy Memorial Scholar, Mr. Kutner received an LL.M. in 2001 from Harvard Law School. Prior to that, he earned a B.A. (First Class) in 1999 from Cambridge University, where he was top of his class each year and subsequently taught International Law.
John A. Nathanson, a lawyer in the litigation practice area in New York, focuses on representing investment banks, hedge funds, and other financial institutions on civil and criminal enforcement matters, including Department of Justice inquiries and regulatory matters involving the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and other U.S. agencies. Mr. Nathanson also counsels clients on civil securities litigations. Prior to joining the firm in 2009, he served as both a state and federal prosecutor, first as an Assistant District Attorney in the Frauds Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and later as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he served for four years in the Business and Securities Fraud Unit and was an Acting Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Unit. Mr. Nathanson earned his J.D. in 1993 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was Associate Editor of The Journal of International Business Law. He received a B.A. from Williams College in 1989.
Solomon J. Noh is a lawyer in the bankruptcy and reorganization practice area in London, having transferred from the New York office earlier this year. He represents creditors, distressed companies, Chapter 11 debtors, formal and informal committees, banks, and hedge funds with respect to all aspects of U.S. and international restructurings. Mr. Noh also works on matters related to financing and distressed debt trading. In addition, he provides support to Shearman & Sterling’s capital markets, asset management, and derivatives practitioners regarding a variety of structuring alternatives. In 2000, Mr. Noh graduated with his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He received his A.B., cum laude, in 1997 from Princeton University.
Mathias von Bernuth, a lawyer in the capital markets practice area in São Paulo, focuses on debt and equity capital markets transactions, as well as cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He joined Shearman & Sterling’s capital markets practice in New York in 2009 and relocated to São Paulo in 2011 to support the continued expansion of the firm’s practice in Brazil and throughout Latin America. Before joining the firm, Mr. von Bernuth was a corporate lawyer in New York and Germany. He received an LL.M. with honors in 2004 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a Dr. iur., magna cum laude, from the University of Munich in 1999, and a J.D. from the University of Munich in 1996.