Sidley Austin LLP Elevates Seven to Partnership in New York, 34 throughout Firm

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seven lawyers in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP are among the 34 lawyers elevated to partnership in the firm. Effective July 1, the firm will have 681 partners in offices in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. The new New York partners will be Jonathan P. Brose, Tax; Nicholas H. De Baun, Litigation; Bindu Donovan, Intellectual Property Litigation; Stuart S. Koonce, Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives; Todd L. Krause, Intellectual Property Litigation; Michael Madigan, Insurance; and Xiaowen Qiu, Structured Finance and Securitization.

“Welcoming this new group of talented lawyers to our partnership is a great privilege,” said Thomas A. Cole, chair of the firm’s Executive Committee. “Each of these lawyers embodies our firm ideals and our commitment to excellence, integrity, diversity and collegiality.”

“Our new partners have been integral to the Sidley effort in New York, contributing much to the firm and earning the respect of clients and colleagues,” added George Petrow, co-managing partner of Sidley’s New York office. “On behalf of the New York office and the firm, I congratulate them on this accomplishment.”

Jonathan P. Brose, 37, will be a partner in the Tax practice. He practices in all areas of tax law, with an emphasis on representing investment funds and investment advisors. He also has experience in securitization and structured finance, including the structuring of credit-default swaps and synthetic securitizations. Prior to joining Sidley, Mr. Brose clerked for the Honorable William C. Lee of the U.S. District Court, N.D. of Indiana.

Mr. Brose, currently an associate, received his J.D., Order of the Coif, from Emory University School of Law, his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from Miami University – Oxford.

Nicholas H. De Baun, 43, will be a partner in the Litigation practice. He practices in all areas of employment law, including Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA and common law employment matters. Mr. De Baun also has extensive experience investigating employment claims, preparing position statements, drafting employee handbooks, negotiating and drafting employment and severance agreements, and representing clients in court, before state and federal administrative agencies, and in mediations and arbitrations.

Mr. De Baun, currently an associate, received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from Oberlin College.

Bindu Donovan, 40, will be a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation practice. Ms. Donovan has extensive experience in all aspects of patent litigation, from discovery through trial. Her current practice focuses upon pharmaceutical patent litigation, including cases filed under the Hatch-Waxman Act. She has represented clients in cases involving pharmaceutical compounds and other drug therapies, medical devices and biotechnology.

Ms. Donovan, currently an associate, received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, her M.S. from University of Western Ontario and a B.S. from York University.

Stuart S. Koonce, 37, will be a partner in the Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives practice. He advises and represents clients in domestic and international offerings of hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity funds, structured derivative and principal-protected transactions, and fund-linked notes. He also represents managers in structured finance transactions.

Mr. Koonce, currently an associate, received his J.D., cum laude, from Boston University School of Law and his B.S., with great distinction, from McGill University.

Todd L. Krause, 45, will be a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation practice. He focuses his practice on patent litigation and counseling. He has significant experience in the life sciences, and has represented some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on a variety of patented technologies, including pharmaceutical compounds and compositions, gene amplification and expression, vaccines, genetically modified plants, immunoassays, cell-based assays, ophthalmics, gene therapy, cell culture techniques, and methods for compounding pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Krause, currently a counsel, received his J.D., cum laude, from University of Houston Law Center, his Ph.D. from University of Texas and his B.A. from Trinity University.

Michael Madigan, 53, will be a partner in the Insurance practice. He advises principally on insurance securitizations, such as catastrophe bond transactions, having represented either issuers or their financial advisors in more than 60 such transactions since 1997. Mr. Madigan also has extensive experience in the use of other innovative risk transfer products, including derivative products, as a means of transferring insurance risk to the capital markets.

Mr. Madigan, currently a counsel, received his, LL.M. from Harvard Law School and his LL.B. from University of Stockholm Law School.

Xiaowen Qiu, 36, will be a partner in the Structured Finance and Securitization practice. Her practice includes credit, equity, interest rate and foreign currency derivatives, and she routinely represents international financial institutions participating in securitization and structured finance transactions as placement agents, providers of liquidity and credit enhancement, issuers and investors. She also provides legal advice on various over-the-counter derivative products.

Ms. Qiu, currently an associate, received her J.D. at Columbia University School of Law, where she was a James Kent Scholar, and her M.A. and B.A. from People's University of China.

Sidley also named the following to partnership in its other offices: Beijing – Chen Yang; Brussels – Ken Daly and Kristina Nordlander; Chicago – Bobbi O. Anderson, Mark Borrelli, Kara L. McCall, Robert P. O'Keefe, Patricia M. Petrowski, John T. Schaff, Elizabeth M. Schubert, Amanda M. Todd, Dennis M. Twomey, Scott R. Williams and Ami N. Wynne; Frankfurt - Werner Geißelmeier; Geneva – Nicolas J.S. Lockhart; Hong Kong – Jason T. Kuo and Scott Dennis Peterman; London - David Howe; Los Angeles – Joshua E. Anderson, Stephen D. Blevit, Alycia A. Degen and Mitchell Poole; San Francisco - Theodore W. Chandler; Sydney - Bruce Dailey; Washington, D.C. – Karl F. Kaufmann and Robert D. Keeling.

Sidley’s New York office, with more than 400 lawyers, is one of New York City's ten largest law offices. The largest portion of the firm's capital markets practice is based in New York and has been recognized worldwide in the areas of securitization, structured finance, debt and equity offerings and derivatives. In addition, our New York lawyers have broad experience in other corporate and related areas, including mergers and acquisitions, banking and commercial finance, investment funds, hedge funds, private equity funds and other pooled investment entities, insurance, securities regulatory and enforcement, broker dealer regulation, bankruptcy and restructuring, commodities, real estate and REITs, intellectual property, project finance and tax. Sidley also has a substantial litigation practice in New York, with approximately 125 lawyers focused on all aspects of civil and commercial litigation, arbitrations and investigations, including securities litigation, employment litigation, white collar, products liability and patent litigation. Highlights of the regulatory practice include representation of insurance companies, healthcare companies and banking and financial institutions.

Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest full-service law firms, with more than 1800 lawyers practicing in 16 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Every year since 2003, Sidley has been named to Legal Business’ Global Elite, their designation for "the 15 finest law firms in the world." BTI, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, has named Sidley to their Client Service Hall of Fame as one of only two law firms to rank in the Client Service Top 10 for seven years in a row.

For purposes of the New York State Bar rules, this press release may be considered Attorney Advertising and the headquarters of the firm are Sidley Austin LLP 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212.839.5300 and Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603, 312.853.7000. Prior results described herein do not guarantee a similar outcome.