Duane Morris Names 10 Attorneys to Partnership

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Feb. 5 — Duane Morris, a law firm, issued the following news release:

Duane Morris LLP is pleased to announce that it has promoted to the firm partnership 10 associates and special counsel in seven of the firm's offices.

These newly named partners are:

Corporate Practice Group: Scott E. Gluck, New York; Rina R. Patel, New York; and Peter D. Visalli, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Private Client Services: Angela Klemack Santos, Boca Raton, Florida

Trial Practice Group: Rebecca E. Bazan, Washington, D.C.; Adam Berger, Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Gregory S. Bombard, Boston; Christopher T. Grohman, Chicago; Oderah C. Nwaeze, Wilmington, Delaware; and Brian A. Shue, New York

“We're thrilled to admit these accomplished attorneys into the firm partnership,” said Duane Morris Chairman and CEO Matthew A. Taylor. “Beyond their obvious legal skills and business knowledge, they have shown through their hard work, client focus and collegial attitudes that they will prosper as partners at Duane Morris.”

Rebecca E. Bazan practices in the area of complex commercial litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She has worked in diverse areas, including animal law, environmental law, administrative law, consumer fraud, business and tort litigation, civil RICO and employment discrimination. Bazan has developed extensive experience in animal law and animal rights litigation and regulatory counseling, including representation of businesses or entities in the entertainment, agricultural, fashion and food production spaces whose operations involve animals or animal products or services. She has experience with the Endangered Species Act, Animal Welfare Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Bazan has experience in all phases of civil litigation, including motions practice, discovery, settlement negotiations, trial and appeal. She has authored many successful dispositive motions, has extensive experience managing large-scale electronic discovery, and has authored and argued successful appeals at the federal circuit court level. In addition to litigation, she advises and counsels clients on permitting and compliance with state and federal animal laws. Bazan also serves as a member of Duane Morris' Washington, D.C., office pro bono and diversity and inclusion committees.

Bazan is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D., 2009), where she was co-chair of the article selection committee of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, and a graduate of Emory University (B.A., 2006), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Adam Berger represents public and private companies involved in all facets of the gaming industry in a broad variety of corporate and regulatory matters. He has extensive experience representing casinos, casino holding companies, gaming equipment manufacturers as well as financial institutions, including banks, private equity funds and hedge funds, in connection with mergers and acquisitions, debt transactions, licensing, compliance matters and regulatory investigations. Additionally, Berger has represented clients in competitive licensing contests before various gaming agencies. He regularly advises clients on emerging developments and legislation affecting the brick-and-mortar and internet gaming industries. Outside of the traditional casino space, Berger has advised traditional gaming companies, media companies and financial institutions on matters related to the rapidly expanding sports wagering industry in the United States. He has also represented numerous companies involved in the fantasy sports and skill-based gaming industries.

Berger is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2010) and the George Washington University (B.B.A., magna cum laude, 2007). He is the current chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Gaming Law Committee and a former chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Casino Law Section.

Gregory S. Bombard is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on trade secret litigation, business torts and other complex commercial and intellectual property disputes. As part of that practice, he represents pharmaceutical, manufacturing and technology companies in state and federal courts and arbitration proceedings throughout the United States.

Bombard is a graduate of Boston College Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2010) and the University of Connecticut (B.A., summa cum laude, 2007), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. At the Boston Bar Association, he is a member of the Intellectual Property Section Steering Committee.

Scott Gluck practices in the area of corporate law, focusing on securities offerings and the regulatory, compliance and corporate activities of private fund advisers. He has extensive experience with fund formation, regulatory and compliance matters for private funds, including private equity and hedge funds. Gluck's practice includes the formation of private funds, implementation of their ongoing compliance programs, securities offerings and corporate transactions. He has significant experience with federal, state and local “pay-to-play” rules regulating political involvement and fundraising by investment advisers. Gluck serves as outside regulatory counsel for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), a leading trade association for small and middle-market businesses and private funds. He advises ACG on a broad range of regulatory issues, including securities regulations, the regulation of private funds and tax policy. Gluck also advices ACG's Private Equity Regulatory Task Force (PERT), which interacts with Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies on behalf of middle-market private equity firms.

Gluck is a graduate of Columbia University Law School (J.D., 1996), the University of Southern California (M.B.A., 2007) and the University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1992).

Christopher T. Grohman practices in the areas of white-collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. He has extensive experience both conducting and defending fraud investigations, including investigations focusing on Medicare/Medicaid fraud and on violating of anti-money laundering laws. Grohman is a seasoned trial and appellate lawyer, having conducted 13 trials in federal court and briefed or argued eight cases before the United States Courts of Appeals. He served as lead defense counsel for former Chicago Alderman Willie B. Cochran. In addition, he is a veteran at conducting international investigations for publically and privately held companies. Prior to joining Duane Morris, Grohman served for more than five years as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal cases, including prosecutions involving public corruption, fraud accusations in multimillion-dollar investments, public grants, healthcare, securities and tax, as well as racketeering, terrorism, sex trafficking and exploitation, narcotics and gun trafficking, murder and gang violence.

Grohman is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D., 2006) and the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business (B.S., summa cum laude, 2003).

Oderah C. Nwaeze is a trial lawyer with significant experience litigating complex corporate and commercial matters. His experience consists of corporate governance actions, statutory actions arising under Delaware General Corporation Law, state and federal class actions (including matters involving state and federal securities laws, statutory and common law fraud, and breaches of fiduciary duty) and breach of contract disputes. Nwaeze also regularly works with the professionals in Duane Morris' Intellectual Property Practice Group to represent clients in patent and copyright litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. He also represents financial institutions in litigation matters and has a unique understanding of the legal and business sensitivities of banking clients, which he sharpened through a secondment with TD Bank, N.A. in 2018.

Nwaeze is a graduate of Emory University School of Law (J.D., 2011), where he was inducted into the Order of Emory Advocates, a member of Emory Mock Trial Society, president of the student/alumni association and served on the Emory Law Honor Court. He is also a graduate of Wake Forest University (B.A., 2008), where he was a member of the track and field team and a recipient of the Joseph G. Gordon Scholarship Merit Scholarship. Nwaeze serves on the Compliance Committee of the board of trustees for Bancroft, a nonprofit provider of specialized services for individuals with brain injuries, autism and intellectual disabilities. He is also a member of the board of directors for Campus Philly, an organization dedicated to fueling economic growth in Philadelphia by encouraging college students to study, explore, live and work in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region.

Rina R. Patel practices corporate and securities law and focuses her practice on representing clients in domestic and cross-border stock and asset acquisitions and sales, mergers, joint ventures and public offerings as well as in assisting with corporate governance, commercial contract and public company disclosure related matters. She counsels publicly and privately held companies, including entrepreneurs and startups, through all stages of the company's life cycle and on a wide range of matters from pre-formation, angel, seed and VC as well as convertible debt financings, general corporate counseling, strategic acquisitions and partnerships through exits, including in initial public offerings. Patel's clients include life sciences, healthtech, food and beverage, mining, manufacturing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial services and fintech companies.

Patel is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law (J.D., 2005) and the University of Maryland (B.S., B.S., 2000).

Patel was promoted to the partnership of Satterlee Stephens LLP as of January 1, 2020. On February 1, 2020, Satterlee Stephens and Duane Morris combined, effectively growing Duane Morris' New York practice by 60% to more than 160 lawyers.

Angela Klemack Santos practices in the area of private client wealth planning and tax. She advises U.S. and non-U.S. ultra high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners and their advisors with respect to the design and implementation of tax minimizing and wealth transfer planning strategies, addressing U.S. income and transfer taxes, domestic and international estate planning, pre-immigration planning, tax compliance, asset protection and business succession planning. Santos also advises fiduciaries and individuals regarding the tax treatment and reporting obligations of foreign trusts with assets or beneficiaries located in the United States. Additionally, she advises personal representatives/executors and trustees on complex estate and trust administration and postmortem planning. Santos' practice also includes trust administration matters, modifying trusts, structuring new trusts, decanting, domesticating foreign trusts to the United States and transferring other state trusts to Florida.

Santos is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 2010), Syracuse University College of Law (J.D., 2009), where she was editor-in-chief of The Labor Lawyer, and The Ohio State University (B.A., 2003), where she was a Morrill Scholar and Fellow of the John Glenn Institute for Public Policy and Public Service. Santos was a 2016 graduate of the inaugural class of the Florida Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. She was a 2016-2018 Fellow of the Real Property Probate and Trust Law (RPPTL) Section of the Florida Bar and she is currently an executive council member of RPPTL. Santos serves on the Planned Giving Council of Place of Hope at The Leighan and David Rinker Campus, a nonprofit organization that rescues abused, neglected, homeless and orphaned children and survivors of sex trafficking and provides them with family-style foster care, maternity care and transitional housing and support services for youth aging out of foster care.

Brian A. Shue practices in the area of construction law. He drafts and negotiates construction agreements, architect and engineer agreements, trade contracts/subcontracts and license agreements on behalf of developers, contractors and design professionals. As a complement to his transactional practice, Shue also assists clients in disputes arising from public and private construction projects and has prepared pleadings and motions and coordinated pretrial discovery in complex litigations. He advises on the resolution of construction disputes through litigation, arbitration and mediation. Shue's experience in this regard extends to construction defect claims, delay and disruption claims, change order and extra work claims, warranty claims, property damage, insurance and surety bonding issues, mechanic's liens, default/termination and other related matters. Shue has been directly involved in some of the largest and most iconic development projects in the New York metropolitan area including, for example: the Hudson Yards redevelopment, Columbia University's Manhattanville expansion, World Trade Center Office towers and Essex Crossing. He has also been involved in many construction projects on behalf of a sports franchise owner, including a large-scale renovation of Hard Rock Stadium renovation in 2017, Miami Open tennis project in 2018, Miami Dolphins Training Facility in 2019 and a Formula 1 race track in 2019.

Shue is a graduate of Florida International University College of Law (J.D., 2010), where he was senior staff editor of the Florida International University Law Review, and Princeton University (Bachelor of Architecture, 2006). Prior to practicing law, Shue worked at Turner Construction Company, one of the nation's leading builders.

Peter D. Visalli practices in the area of corporate law, representing companies in a range of corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture arrangements, equity and debt offerings, securities compliance and general corporate matters. He has represented clients across a variety of industries, including gaming, retail, pharmaceutical, construction and engineering, and cannabis. As a member of the firm's gaming industry team, Visalli has represented casino operators, gaming manufacturers, sports wagering companies, investors and other participants in the gaming industry with respect to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing matters, manufacturing and supply agreements and other gaming-related matters. Prior to entering the legal profession, Visalli was a senior consultant with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, LLC.

Visalli is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law-Camden (J.D., 2005) and Loyola College (M.B.A., 2000; B.B.A., 1998).

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About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today's multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries.