Nine McCarter & English attorneys, resident in five of the firm’s offices and six of its practice groups, have been elevated to partnership. Attorneys from the Boston, Newark, East Brunswick, Wilmington and Washington, D.C. offices have become partners. The new partners practice in intellectual property, environment and energy, bankruptcy and restructuring, public finance, corporate, securities and business transactions, and tax & benefits.
“Each of our new partners has had tremendously successful careers,” Chairman Michael P. Kelly said in announcing the promotions. “We look forward to watching them progress even further, as lawyers and as leaders, as they pass this milestone in their careers.”
Added Joseph T. Boccassini, managing partner of the firm: “Our new partners exemplify McCarter’s most important values: the excellence, commitment and compassion that distinguish great lawyers from good lawyers. Their success and elevation is yet another reminder that our greatest asset is our people. All nine are excellent lawyers, naturally, but they also have the skills and character needed to succeed in the practice of law in these times.”
Denise Goulet is resident in McCarter’s Washington, D.C. office in the Energy & Environment group. Goulet has represented clients in electric and natural gas industry matters for more than 35 years, counseling them regarding complex energy market issues, electric transmission power supply and tariff matters, and transmission planning, pricing and cost allocation issues. She has litigated a number of transmission formula cases and has been actively involved in most of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proceedings regarding major electric and natural gas policy, capacity performance rules, buyer- and seller-side market power mitigation rules, demand curves and demand response in capacity markets. She has represented rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and states’ commissioners and consumer advocate offices. She has appeared before FERC’s counterpart state regulatory agencies and handles appellate proceedings arising out of federal and state cases. She is a 1980 graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center, now known as University of New Hampshire School of Law.
Lee Holtzman is resident in the Newark office and a member of the Tax, Employee Benefits & Private Clients group. Holtzman focuses on local property taxation issues across the country and has extensive experience in all aspects of property tax litigation, from initial counseling through post-trial appeals. He has litigated a variety of commercial property disputes, representing owners of industrial facilities, assisted living facilities, hotels, commercial properties, self-storage facilities, apartment complexes, office buildings, golf courses and residential/co-op developments. He is a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Taxation and a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Gateway Regional Chamber of Commerce. He is a 2001 graduate of Syracuse University College of Law.
Benjamin Hron works out of McCarter’s Boston office in the Corporate, Securities & Business Transactions group. Hron primarily represents startups, emerging growth companies and private equity and venture capital investors in connection with debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, and compliance with securities law. He also serves as outside general counsel for a number of his clients, advising management on legal and business issues ranging from day-to-day matters to strategic initiatives. Hron is a co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Committee and is a former co-chair of the Securities Law Committee. He also speaks regularly on legal topics related to entrepreneurship. He is a 2003 graduate of Harvard Law School.
Peter Knob is a member of the Bankruptcy & Restructuring group in the Newark office. Knob focuses on litigation related to creditor’s rights and real estate. His creditor practice touches on a variety of collateral, including real estate, aircraft, vehicles and accounts receivable. On behalf of creditors, Mr. Knob has obtained emergent relief restraining and/or attaching assets and has successfully prosecuted fraudulent-transfer, breach-of-contract, foreclosure, replevin, and restitution claims. He has also represented creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, including adversary proceedings seeking to block the discharge of debts. Knob is regularly called upon by lenders, insurers and others to solve real estate title issues, including errors or defects in the land records, ownership disputes and disputes as to the validity and/or priority of liens. He is a 2008 graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law.
Richard Myslinski is a member of the Public Finance group in the Newark office. Myslinski serves as bond, underwriters’, borrowers’, bank and trustees’ counsel, concentrating primarily on bond financings involve acute and subacute health care facilities as well as economic development transactions. He represents educational institutions and community hospitals in complex merger transactions, including the coordination of due diligence, merger and affiliation agreement negotiations, regulatory filings and bond issuance. Prior to joining McCarter in 2012, he practiced for three years in the project finance practice of a major New York law firm, where he represented financial institutions, sponsors and developers in connection with the construction, operation and financing of domestic and cross-border energy projects and other infrastructure-related transactions. He is a 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law.
Wyley Proctor is based out of McCarter’s Boston office and is a member of the Intellectual Property & Information Technology group. Proctor represents clients in patent, trademark, and patent-related antitrust disputes in federal court and at the USPTO. Her practice covers a range of technologies, from pharmaceutical products and genetic engineering tools to smartphones and software. She has extensive experience with pharmaceutical patent litigation, representing owners of blockbuster drugs under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Her clients include large global companies, established mid-sized clients, and startups. She maintains an active pro bono practice, fighting for victims of domestic violence in divorce and custody matters, and is active in several not-for-profit children’s and families’ organizations. She is a 2006 graduate of Duke University School of Law.
Scott Smedresman is a member of the Corporate, Securities & Business Transactions group in McCarter’s East Brunswick office. Smedresman represents early- and growth-stage technology companies throughout their life cycle: from formation and financing, through licensing and technology matters, to exits. He assists them – often opposite Fortune 500 companies – with product launches, building customer bases and scale, acquiring technology assets and negotiating customer licensing deals and strategic partnerships. In addition to corporate work, Scott represents companies in disputes regarding technology and intellectual property matters, both in and out of court. Besides representing clients directly, he works on policy and industry activities in the technology sector, lecturing at universities and serving as a mentor at various accelerator programs. He is a 2007 graduate of Fordham University School of Law.
Christiana Zhang is a member of the Intellectual Property & Information Technology group in the Boston office. Zhang assists pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients with patent prosecution and management, helping them assemble and monetize patent portfolios. Prior to joining McCarter, she was in-house patent counsel at a Boston-area biotechnology company, where she was responsible for designing patent strategy and overseeing patent prosecution. Before becoming an attorney, she was a patent agent at two law firms, managing patent portfolios for clients of all sizes. She has extensive experience in domestic and foreign patent preparation and prosecution, patent validity and freedom-to-operate opinions. She did post-doctoral research as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied platinum-based anti-cancer pharmacology. She is a 2012 graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has a Ph.D in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University.