Office Expands to 27 Lawyers Since Opening One Year Ago
NEW YORK, July 10 LAWFUEL – Press Release Service — Bracewell & Giuliani LLP announced
today that its New York office has added four senior attorneys, including
two partners, bankruptcy and corporate restructuring expert David C.
Albalah and broker-dealer and market regulation expert Julian Rainero.
Also joining Bracewell & Giuliani is former Special Assistant U.S.
Attorney Craig S. Warkol, who will serve the firm as counsel in the White
Collar Crime and Regulatory Defense Practice. Associate Scott M.
Gutmanstein has also signed on to become a part of the Broker-Dealer and
Market Regulation Practice group.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, senior partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, said, “Our
growth in New York stems from client demand for M&A, capital markets,
corporate restructuring and regulatory advice, especially in the energy and financial service sectors. I’m pleased that we’ve been able to build such a high-caliber team in little more than a year.”
The addition of these new lawyers follows the announcement last month
that Mark Palmer joined Bracewell & Giuliani to head the New York corporate practice together with his core team of two partners, Jonathan Gill and Robb Tretter. Since Bracewell & Giuliani announced the opening of its New York office on May 31, 2005, the office has grown to include 27 attorneys.
Prior to joining Bracewell & Giuliani, David C. Albalah was a partner
with McDermott Will & Emery. During his tenure at McDermott, Albalah
advised purchasers of assets and providers of funding to distressed
companies-whether in or out of bankruptcy-as well as debtors and creditors on bankruptcy and insolvency matters.
Before that, Albalah served as a certified public accountant in the
audit and tax departments at Ernst & Young for three years. Albalah will
lead the firm’s New York bankruptcy efforts, advising special situations
funds, creditors’ committees, and lending providers and bidders on
distressed assets. He will also advise on general insolvency matters for
both creditors and debtors. Albalah received his law degree from New York
University School of Law, and he holds a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Albany.
Prior to joining Bracewell & Giuliani, Julian Rainero was a partner in Bingham McCutchen’s broker-dealer group, where he advised broker-dealers and private investment funds on compliance with SEC, SRO and Federal
Reserve Board rules. His practice involves all aspects of broker-dealer
regulation, but is concentrated on correspondent clearing, prime brokerage,
net capital, margin, securities lending, customer protection and NYSE and
NASDAQ trading practices. Rainero will lead the firm’s New York
Broker-Dealer and Market Regulation Practice Group, which advises leading
financial institutions and private funds on compliance matters and
regulated transactions. Rainero graduated with a law degree from American
University (Washington College of Law) and a Bachelor of Arts from
Dickinson College.
Craig S. Warkol served as Senior Counsel in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, and most recently as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. As a prosecutor, Warkol worked on investigations involving allegations of securities fraud, insider trading, money
laundering and other corporate fraud cases. He was a key member of the
trial team that prosecuted Symbol Technologies Inc.’s chief financial
officer and two senior vice presidents for securities fraud, mail fraud,
wire fraud and tax evasion. Warkol obtained his law degree from the
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Michigan.
Scott M. Gutmanstein was previously an associate in the broker-dealer
practice at Bingham McCutchen, where he provided support in the arena of
securities regulation. Before that, he served as an equity trading
supervisor for a NASDAQ market maker and was a registered representative
for several major Wall Street firms. Gutmanstein holds a law degree from
Pace University School of Law, a Master of Business Administration from
Baruch College and a Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Albany.
About Bracewell & Giuliani
Bracewell & Giuliani has a 60-year history of global excellence. With
offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., throughout Texas, and in
Kazakhstan, Bracewell is strategically positioned to serve client needs
worldwide. Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, and leading public entities depend on Bracewell & Giuliani for practical solutions and creative advice spanning law, business and public policy. For more information about Bracewell & Giuliani, visit
http://www.bracewellgiuliani.com.
