Former Hogan & Hartson Partner to lead McGuireWoods’ Japan Practice
LOS ANGELES – LAWFUEL – McGuireWoods LLP continues to grow its Los Angeles presence through the addition of lawyers from the Los Angeles and Pasadena office of Jenkens & Gilchrist and a partner from Hogan & Hartson.
Jenkens & Gilchrist’s Los Angeles and Pasadena offices’ financial services practice group will join McGuireWoods on January 2. Three of the former Jenkens & Gilchrist lawyers, including Gary Samson, Matthew J. Wrysinski and Donald K. Kirkelie, will practice in McGuireWoods’ Los Angeles office. Linda D. Sartin, also formerly of Jenkens & Gilchrist, will move to McGuireWoods’ Charlotte, N.C., office.
Theodore J. Roper, previously a partner with Hogan and Hartson, also is joining McGuireWoods’ Los Angeles office. Roper is recognized as a preeminent Japan-business lawyer with a practice focus on international trade, corporate and commercial law. He will head McGuire Woods’ Japan Practice Group. Fluent in Japanese, Roper has served as outside general counsel and legal advisor to a wide array of Japan-based businesses and their U.S. subsidiaries. He regularly lectures and writes in both English and Japanese on legal issues relating to United States-Japan business.
“We are very excited that Ted is joining our L.A. office because of his strong reputation for legal matters concerning Japanese corporations and know he will contribute a broad range of corporate experience to McGuire Woods and its clients in managing transactions in a resurgent Japanese economy,” said David Van Etten, managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Los Angeles office.
“We are also fortunate to attract Gary Samson and Linda Sartin, who have excellent national reputations for their financial services practices, along with Matthew Wrysinski and Donald Kirkelie,” Van Etten added. “All of the lawyers joining represent the level of legal talent we are focused on attracting to McGuireWoods.”
Samson, formerly the co-head of Jenkens & Gilchrist’s financial services practice in Los Angeles and Pasadena, represents banks and national commercial lenders on sophisticated asset-based and other commercial loans made to businesses across a broad spectrum of industries. Samson is a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, is listed in the 2005-2006 Best Lawyers in America and is a 2006 Los Angeles Super Lawyer. Samson also is the former chair of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and a former chair and current Governor of the Financial Lawyers Conference. He joins McGuireWoods as a partner.
Sartin, the other former co-head of Jenkens & Gilchrist’s financial services practice in Los Angeles and Pasadena, specializes in the representation of commercial banks, finance companies, and other commercial lenders in almost all types of debt financing transactions, including structured financings. She also joins McGuireWoods as a partner.
Wrysinski, who joins McGuireWoods as an associate, represents commercial banks, finance companies, and other commercial lenders in various types of secured and unsecured financings, including revolving credit and term credit facilities, senior, subordinate, tranche B, mezzanine and other working capital facilities, including debtor-in-possession financings.
Kirkelie, who joins McGuireWoods as an associate, focuses his practice on bankruptcy and commercial finance. Kirkelie’s primary emphasis is on the representation of secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy. Kirkelie also represents various financial institutions and other commercial lenders in secured financing transactions ranging from asset-based loans and leveraged buyouts to debtor in possession financings.
McGuireWoods LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 750 lawyers in 15 offices in the United States, Europe and Central Asia providing legal counsel to clients around the world. The firm’s Los Angeles office is located at 1800 Century Park East. For more information, visit www.mcguirewoods.com.
