Blaine C. Kimrey is a Shareholder at Vedder Price, Chair of the Media & Entertainment Litigation practice group, and a member of the Privacy, CyberSecurity, & Media practice group.  A former journalist at two daily newspapers (the Austin American-Statesman and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette), Mr. Kimrey is a trial lawyer who has dedicated more than 20 years to working for and defending media entities. Mr. Kimrey’s practice, however, extends well beyond media defense, focusing on a broad range of direct and class action litigation involving topics as diverse as privacy, consumer deception, intellectual property, entertainment, insurance, banking, real estate, civil rights, telecommunications, and mass catastrophes and torts.  Among other accolades, Mr. Kimrey is Chambers USA Band 2 rated for Media & Entertainment Litigation in the state of Illinois, is listed in Best Lawyers in America for Intellectual Property Litigation, and is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Bryan K. Clark is an Associate at Vedder Price and a member of the Privacy, CyberSecurity & Media practice group.  He has an extensive media and privacy practice that includes privacy class action defense, mobile-marketing litigation, class action TCPA litigation, copyright litigation, right of publicity litigation, data breach response, FOIA issues, reporter’s privilege issues and prepublication review.

Bruce R. Alper is a Shareholder at Vedder Price, where he has practiced management-side labor and employment law for over 30 years. An accomplished litigator, Mr. Alper has represented employers in employment disputes of all types in judicial, administrative and arbitral forums. He has years of experience advising employers on matters involving employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, workforce reductions, labor relations, family/medical leaves and other employment regulatory matters. Mr. Alper represents a wide range of private-sector employers, including hospitals, financial institutions, manufacturers and universities, where he partners with management, corporate counsel and human resources professionals to develop strategic, cost-effective approaches to employee relations problems and risk management.

Mr. Arciniegas works primarily as a derivatives lawyer and covers markets for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, structured finance products and listed futures. He advises on every stage throughout the life cycle of a derivatives transaction, providing assistance to a wide range of market participants engaged in the markets in various capacities. Regulatory matters range from assisting clients on financial reform legislation, registration and membership with the CFTC, NFA, and other financial market utilities, to providing guidance to commercial end-users and sell-side participants on exemptions, cross-border access issues, and matters involving the overlapping jurisdiction of securities and commodities regulation. Transactional matters include the negotiation and implementation of comprehensive documentation for agency-MBS, cleared and OTC derivatives, FX, futures, loan-level hedging arrangements, prime brokerage, repurchase transactions, securities lending, structured finance transactions, and related industry protocols implementing changes in those markets. Mr. Arciniegas has appeared before the CFTC, the Federal Reserve, the SEC, and is a frequent speaker and published author on futures and derivatives topics.

Hannah Arenstam is an Associate in the Chicago office of Vedder Price and a member of the firm’s Litigation practice group.

John K. Burke is an Associate at Vedder Price and a member of the Intellectual Property group in the firm’s Chicago office. Mr. Burke counsels clients in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters. He has prosecuted patent and trademark applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and has drafted patent applications covering a variety of technologies, ranging from electrical and mechanical devices to software and business methods. Mr. Burke has experience assisting clients in enforcing intellectual property rights in U.S. district court and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Mr. Burke also advises clients on monetizing intellectual property through licensing and sales agreements and by conducting patent validity and infringement analyses.

Jeffrey C. Davis is a Shareholder at Vedder Price, concentrating his practice on representing corporations, financial institutions, public bodies and individuals in all aspects of technology licensing, e-commerce, e-fulfillment, eLearning, records management, eDiscovery, data privacy, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory matters, corporate finance arrangements and general corporate matters. 

He regularly provides advice and counsel on data processing, software development, software licensing, outsourcing, third party logistics transition services, multimedia content acquisition and distribution, consulting and strategic alliances for our firm’s client base. Mr. Davis also regularly counsels clients on all aspects of records management, including developing and implementing records management programs and electronic communications policies. He has written and spoken extensively on a variety of topics relating to information technology, data privacy, records management and electronic discovery.

Thomas R. Dee has extensive experience in complex commercial matters, including breach of contract, products liability, trademark, copyright and patent infringement, trade secret violations and enforcement of restrictive covenants. Mr. Dee has substantial experience in actions involving temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.

Mr. Dee represents clients ranging from Internet/e-businesses to Fortune 500 companies in U.S. federal and state courts and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. He has appeared and argued before the Illinois Appellate Court and the Federal Circuit and the Seventh and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Mr. Edgelow has many years’ experience representing clients in a broad range of corporate, financial and commercial matters, with a particular focus on transactions relating to mergers and acquisitions. He has represented clients in a number of company and asset sales in addition to joint-venture structuring. He regularly handles cross-border transactions and has significant experience in the use of English law and English transaction documents as they pertain to M&A transactions, joint ventures and the acquisition of English companies by foreign investors.

He has acted as the lead corporate solicitor on several high-stakes matters, including advising a U.S. investment fund on the restructuring and sale of its UK division specialising in the manufacture and sale of satellite dishes. He was also the lead UK solicitor advising a global dairy brand on the English law aspects of a significant group restructuring.

Mr. Hedges is an experienced trial attorney having successfully tried ten federal criminal cases and argued six federal appeals. Mr. Hedges also has significant experience leading complex investigations of individuals and corporations suspected of white collar crimes such as health care fraud; investment, securities and commodities fraud; mail and wire fraud; money laundering; and tax crimes including violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, among other federal statutes.

Prior to joining Vedder Price, Mr. Hedges served for seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago investigating and prosecuting a broad array of complex financial crimes, receiving numerous commendations from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other agencies for his work. During his tenure, Mr. Hedges prosecuted some of the largest and most complex health care fraud cases recently charged in the Northern District of Illinois, including the investigation and indictment of 11 administrators and doctors at the former Sacred Heart Hospital, which culminated in 2015 with a seven-week jury trial and guilty verdicts against the hospital’s owner and CEO and two other top administrators. In 2015, the Sacred Heart Hospital prosecution received the prestigious Investigations Award for Excellence from the Council for the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) after nomination by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

Meg Inomata is an Associate in the Washington, DC office of Vedder Price and a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment practice group. She has experience in all stages of litigation and represents employers in state and federal courts across the country. In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Inomata counsels clients on employee relations matters, including wage and hour disputes, discrimination and retaliation claims, and union and administrative grievance procedures. She assists clients in the administration of internal investigations and responding to EEOC and state administrative agency charges.

Mr. Kane serves as the Co-Chair of the Financial Institutions group for Vedder Price. His practice is focused on financial institutions and their officers and directors. He serves his clients in a number of different capacities. He serves as the regulatory and corporate counsel for many institutions. Calling upon his experience as a regulator, as a past director of two different community banks, and as a private practitioner for nearly 20 years, Mr. Kane is able to offer practical and experienced legal advice that few attorneys can match. In this capacity, he has counseled clients on general corporate, regulatory and securities matters, on new products and on mergers and acquisitions.

Ms. King concentrates her practice in capital markets and corporate securities transactions, with a specific focus on financial institutions. Ms. King regularly represents issuers and underwriters as lead counsel in a broad range of capital markets transactions, including public and private debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and capital planning and formation. In 2017, Ms. King was selected as an Illinois Leading Lawyer in the categories of Corporate Finance Law and Securities & Venture Finance Law.

Ms. King also counsels public companies on their reporting and disclosure obligations under the federal securities laws, as well as on a variety of corporate governance matters, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Act, and stock exchange requirements, creation and implementation of corporate compliance programs, and shareholder and board of directors matters.

Mr. Knape has broad experience counseling clients and litigating cases across a range of complex matters, including the enforcement and enforceability of restrictive covenants, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duties, unfair business practices, copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, and other breach of contract and business tort actions.

In addition to his general counseling and trial work, Mr. Knape has a dynamic appellate practice. He has been involved in a number of cases before the Illinois Supreme Court, including a first impression common law parentage action premised on contract law principles and a leading Illinois case involving the enforceability of restrictive covenants in the medical profession. He has successfully opposed petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, and principally authored briefs in numerous federal and state court appeals.

Mr. Knape also has filed noteworthy amicus curiae briefs in various appellate court actions, including most recently on behalf of a medical specialty society in the Texas Supreme Court involving medical peer review privileges, and another in the Illinois Supreme Court on behalf of a state lobbying organization seeking to overturn a controversial appellate court decision concerning the adequacy of consideration to support employee restrictive covenants.

Ms. Konar is an experienced government contracts attorney, representing and counseling defense and civil government contractors in all aspects of federal procurement law. Ms. Konar has defended clients in False Claims Act litigation and has advised and represented clients in bid protests before the Government Accountability Office (GAO). She is also experienced in handling prime/subcontractor disputes, and she has represented clients in requests for equitable adjustment and certified claims.

Ms. Konar also has extensive experience in conducting complex investigations of individuals and corporations suspected of violating the False Claims Act or other white collar crimes. She has assisted numerous clients in properly responding to Government-issued subpoenas and has worked closely with clients in responding to investigatory requests from the United States Attorneys’ Office, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense.

Mr. Lauro brings an unusually broad finance and transactions background to the firm. He served previously both in-house as General Counsel, where he has overseen legal, compliance and privacy matters for consumer and commercial finance companies and for manufacturers with global operations, and as a partner at a multinational law firm where he has led numerous M&A and private equity transactions.

Prior to joining Vedder Price, he was General Counsel, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary for the captive finance company of a global equipment manufacturing giant, managing billions in assets. He oversaw all legal and regulatory matters for consumer and commercial finance and insurance operations in all 50 states. He has also served as General Counsel for an emerging electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturer where he developed and oversaw an extensive global supply chain, operations and distribution network. In each position, Mr. Lauro was responsible for the oversight of corporate fundraising and financings in North America and Asia, including private capital investments by numerous private equity funds and other entities, corporate governance, operations, licensing and regulatory compliance.

Randall M. Lending joined Vedder Price in 1988. He is a Shareholder and a member of the firm’s Litigation practice area. He is also Co-Chairman of the firm’s Securities and Broker-Dealer Litigation subpractice group and a member of the firm’s Trade Secrets/Unfair Competition practice group.

Jonathan Maude is a Partner at Vedder Price and a member of the Labor and Employment group. He leads the group’s employment team in the firm’s London office.

Mr. Maude is an experienced and well-respected practitioner working in labor and employment law. He regularly advises across the full spectrum of employment law-related issues in the contentious and noncontentious spheres with a particular emphasis on advising corporate clients on complex strategic human resource-related matters.

Daniel C. McKay, II concentrates his practice in the representation of financial institutions and corporations and their officers, directors and shareholders in connection with mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, corporate finance, corporate governance and regulatory and compliance matters. He has been involved in more than 150 bank or thrift  mergers and acquisitions/securities offerings, with aggregate consideration of these deals totaling over $50 billion.

Mr. Mitra started his career as an Engineer and a Boeing Program Manager at Safran and Snecma, where he worked on new electro-mechanical connector designs, fuel quantity indicator systems (FQIS) and in-flight entertainment systems for Boeing, Airbus and other commercial aerospace programs. While working at Safran, Mr. Mitra was also involved in the Boeing 787 Electrical Design team in Seattle, Washington, which was instrumental in developing the new electrical system for the Boeing 787 aircraft.

Mr. Morrissey concentrates his practice in the representation of financial institutions and corporations and their officers, directors and shareholders in connection with mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, corporate finance, corporate governance and regulatory and compliance matters. He has represented clients in numerous bank and thrift mergers and acquisitions and securities transactions. In addition, he has represented clients with respect to various bank regulatory matters, including advising clients with respect to preparing for regulatory exams and responding to enforcement actions.

Joseph K. Mulherin is a Shareholder in Vedder Price’s Labor and Employment practice area. He counsels and represents private- and public-sector employers nationwide in a variety of employment law and related matters.

Mr. Mulherin has significant experience with wage and hour matters, having counseled clients on a multitude of issues and successfully litigated numerous single-plaintiff cases and large class actions, as well as Department of Labor audits and investigations. He also has extensive experience counseling and representing employers in discrimination lawsuits and EEOC investigations, including defending against agency efforts to expand investigations company-wide. Mr. Mulherin’s other areas of focus include class action strategy and procedure, independent contractor classification, mandatory arbitration agreements and wage payment laws.

As a litigator in our Complex Litigation group, Charles Nerko represents clients in commercial disputes before state and federal courts, administrative agencies, and arbitration tribunals. He helps clients resolve their most important and sensitive litigation dealing with contracts, business torts, data privacy, and intellectual property. Mr. Nerko’s experience includes pretrial investigation, provisional relief, motion practice, discovery, witness preparation, alternative dispute resolution, trial, and appeals. Prior to joining Vedder Price, Mr. Nerko was a litigation associate at an Am Law A-List firm and volunteered as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Nerko received his law degree cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a Notes & Articles Editor of the Law Review and served as a Member of the Moot Court Board.

Joshua Nichols is an Associate in Vedder Price’s Litigation practice area. He focuses extensively on defending corporations, officers and directors in government investigations. He has defended investigations by the DOJ, SEC, SIGTARP, OCC, CFTC and Illinois Securities Department, and has served as lead associate in the defense of 33 current and former bank directors and officers against FDIC investigations and claims totaling over $279 million.

Additionally, Mr. Nichols counsels and represents clients on a wide variety of business and commercial disputes, including actions for breach of contract, securities fraud, restrictive-covenant violations and director and officer liability, in both state and federal court as well as before FINRA and the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Nichols also drafts complex EB-1 immigrant petitions and O-1 nonimmigrant petitions for outstanding researchers, professors and individuals with extraordinary ability.

In 2016, Mr. Nichols was selected for inclusion as an Illinois Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine.

Joshua J. Orewiler counsels and advises both entities and individuals, with an emphasis on resolving complex litigation matters using creative and cost-effective solutions. He is an Associate at Vedder Price and a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation group and Environmental group.

Robert S. Rigg is a Shareholder and Chair of Vedder Price’s Intellectual Property practice group and Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation practice group. He concentrates his practice in all areas of intellectual property, including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets law with a primary focus on patent infringement.

He has a special focus in the areas of complex patent infringement litigation of all types of technology, including heavy machinery, pharmaceutical, chemistry and computer technology as well as business method patents. He has appeared as lead counsel in numerous federal district courts, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the International Trade Commission and is a member of the Trial Bar for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In addition to his litigation experience, he has counseled clients on intellectual property asset management, the procurement and enforcement of patents, trademark and copyrights, interference proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, licensing and confidentiality agreements.

Mr. Rii focuses his practice on health care transactions and regulatory matters surrounding mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and joint ventures for hospitals, health systems, multispecialty and large physician practices, specialty and ancillary care providers, managed care organizations, private equity firms and financial institutions investing in the health care space.

Lisa M. Simonetti is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and a member of the Litigation group. Ms. Simonetti focuses on the defense of complex litigation, including class actions, mass actions and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. Ms. Simonetti represents a wide array of financial services companies, including credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, e-commerce companies, automotive finance companies, national banks, student lenders and savings and loan associations.

Mr. Strubbe has significant experience in high-stakes complex commercial litigation across many industries, as well as defense of major class action claims and intellectual property matters. Mr. Strubbe’s widespread litigation and counseling experience includes matters involving federal and state environmental issues, covering government and private cost recovery and contribution actions under CERCLA, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims, enforcement matters, groundwater contamination claims, toxic tort claims and administrative and private actions. Mr. Strubbe most recently has defended several Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) class actions, was lead trial counsel defending a multinational corporation against trade secret misappropriation claims, served as National Mortgage Fraud Recovery Counsel for one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders in over a dozen federal cases, and represented a defendant in class action litigation involving the alleged contamination of over 800 private drinking water wells. He has also devoted a significant portion of his practice to the litigation and trial of contract disputes, failed transactions as well as transactional counseling, UCC claims, reinsurance and insurance coverage matters, and negligence and professional malpractice matters.

Mr. Svalina advises corporate clients, financial institutions and FinTech companies on significant corporate transactions. He focuses his practice on representation of financial institutions and their officers, directors and shareholders in connection with mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, and regulatory and compliance matters. In addition, he has represented clients with respect to various bank regulatory matters, including advising clients with respect to preparing for regulatory exams, responding to enforcement actions, new products/services and federal and state compliance issues.

Mr. Turgeon counsels clients on a broad range of intellectual property matters, including the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patents, trademark and copyright applications, unfair competition and trade secret matters, intellectual property and technology-related transactional matters and licensing and litigation of intellectual property and technology-related matters. He is a former patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Madeline V. Tzall is an Associate in the Chicago office of Vedder Price and a member of the firm’s Litigation practice area.

Ms. Tzall focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation. She represents a wide array of corporate and individual clients in a range of matters, including toxic torts, products liability, restrictive covenant violations and other commercial matters in both U.S. state and federal courts. Ms. Tzall also has experience defending companies against consumer litigation matters, including class actions and claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Alain Villeneuve joined Vedder Price as an Associate in the Intellectual Property group in 2006. He represents clients in a wide range of corporate matters, immigration matters and intellectual property matters, including the prosecution of patents and the registration and monitoring of trademarks and copyrights. Mr. Villeneuve has represented a large number of clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and in relation to international enforcement of intellectual property. His experience includes drafting patent applications in electrical, mechanical, wireless and computer software fields. He has also filed for international patent and trademark applications under the PCT and Madrid regimes. Mr. Villeneuve has also won significant cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and one of his patents has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Bilski v. Kappos decision.

Mr. Zubairi is the Chair of Vedder Price’s Government Enforcement & Special Investigations practice and regularly practices before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and other federal and state agencies.

His practice includes representing companies and individuals in government investigations and securities litigation, conducting internal investigations, advising clients on investment services matters, counseling clients during regulatory examinations, counseling clients on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters and providing general compliance and remediation advice.

Mr. Zubairi has successfully represented public companies, investment advisers, broker-dealers, accounting firms and officers and directors in complex matters involving financial statement restatements, alleged financial fraud, books and records and internal control violations, whistleblower allegations, conflicts of interest, board governance and oversight, supervision and insider trading.

Prior to joining Vedder Price, Mr. Zubairi was a senior attorney with the SEC, Division of Enforcement. At the SEC, Mr. Zubairi was the lead attorney on numerous high-profile investigations and litigations involving investment adviser and broker-dealer misconduct, financial fraud, officer and director liability, insider trading and pay-to-play practices. Mr. Zubairi spearheaded several complex investigations that resulted in substantial settlements against large public companies.