Lawyers in United States

Simone Hicks

Simone Hicks is a partner in Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s Washington D.C. office and a member of the firm’s Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group. Her practice focuses on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters, including benefits and tax issues that arise in public and private mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions and on the design, negotiation and implementation of employee agreements, equity and cash-based incentive and other compensation programs for public and private companies, management groups and individual executives. Ms. Hicks advises clients on compensation-related corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance and analyzing and complying with applicable SEC registration, reporting and disclosure requirements. Ms. Hicks is co-author of “Potential Impacts Of IRS' $1M Affiliate Pay Deduction Cap,” Law360 (March, 2025); “2025 Executive Compensation Reminders for Public Companies,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (January, 2025); “Key Considerations for the 2025 Proxy Season,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (January, 2025); “2024 Proxy Roundup: ESG Metrics in Incentive Compensation Plans,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (August, 2024); “Key Considerations for the 2024 Proxy Season,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (January, 2024) and “Retaining employees below the c-suite during a merger,” Thomson Reuters/Westlaw Today (January, 2024).

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Simone Waterbury

Partner

Goodwin

Sinead Kelly

Sinead Kelly is Chair of Baker McKenzie's Compensation practice group in California. She has practiced in the compensation field for 20 years, specializing in executive compensation and global equity. Sinead frequently speaks and publishes on compensation-related topics and is a contributing author to Lexis Practice Advisor and Wolters Kluwer's "Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules," as well as a founder of the Firm's Compensation Connection blog. She is on the Advisory Board of the Certified Equity Professionals Institute (CEPI) of Santa Clara University and serves on the Firm’s International Benefits Committee. Sinead has been recognized by Chambers USA for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, where clients have described her as "extremely intelligent, responsive and solution-oriented.” She is a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer for 2024 and is ranked by Legal 500 as a "Leading Lawyer" for Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plan Design.

Baker McKenzie

Siobhan O'Donnell Sachs

Partner and Co-leader of Ballard Spahr's Real Estate Finance Group

Ballard Spahr LLP

Skottowe W. Smith, Jr.

Skott Smith brings considerable experience to his clients in the areas of retail, office and mixed-use development, leasing and financing. In this capacity, Skott assists developers, owners, tenants, lenders, and investors in a variety of transactions: He recently handled the development of a downtown office tower adjacent to and part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC He has handled the acquisition, financing, development and disposition of numerous large office, retail and residential developments He recently handled the acquisition of several medical office complexes He has extensive experience handling complex retail and office lease transactions throughout the United States He has recently been involved in the acquisition and development of a regional mall

Moore & Van Allen, PLLC

Skye Daley

Skye Daley is a Shareholder at Buchalter. His practice is focused on representing clients in high stakes, complex business and commercial litigation and arbitration Skye represents clients ranging from small businesses and start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, semi-governmental agencies and banking institutions. He has experience representing his clients in both state and federal court, as well as in arbitration and in administrative proceedings. In addition to business and commercial litigation, Skye has extensive experience representing employers in a variety of employment matters, advising his clients on questions of labor and employment compliance, and forcefully and successfully asserting his client’s rights in trade secret disputes. Recently, Skye obtained a full defense award on behalf of a San Diego-based financial institution following a four-day arbitration. A cross-complaint had been filed against Skye’s client by one of its borrowers alleging, inter alia, negligent misrepresentation and fraud in the inducement of the borrower’s loan agreements claiming Skye’s client made representations inconsistent with the express terms of the loan agreements. The Arbitrator rejected borrower’s claims and found that Skye’s client’s representations and conduct were consistent with the express terms of the loan agreements and within customary industry standards for banking institutions, resulting in no exposure to borrower’s multi-million dollar claim. In addition to his work in litigation, Skye has recently had scholarly work published in Bloomberg Law discussing the origins and basics of the Common Interest Doctrine and its application as a tool in litigation. He is the Chair of the Cathedral City Planning Commission, a member of the Riverside County Superior Court’s Subcommittee to Eliminate Bias and Promote Equal Justice and the Bench-Bar Subcommittee, a past member of the Board of Governors of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles, and is a coach of the La Quinta High School mock trial team. Skye has been recognized as a “Rising Star” in San Diego by Super Lawyers Magazine in 2023, 2024, and again in 2025.

Buchalter Law Firm

Slade Mendenhall

Associate - Litigation and Investigations

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Sloane Phillips

Partner

Balch & Bingham LLP

Smith R. Brittingham

Co-leader, ITC Litigation Section

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

Sofia Arguello

Winston Taylor

Sofía Yagüe

Partner Sofía represents numerous venture capital funds, angel investors and entrepreneurs, mainly from Latin America and Spain, in their financings, M&A and other major corporate transactions. In fact, in the past 6 years, Sofía has helped dozens of Latin-American and European startups and investors navigate the U.S. legal landscape in their fundraising efforts and investments. Her efficient and pragmatic approach to corporate transactions has made her one of the most recognized and sought-after attorneys in the venture capital sector. Sofía regularly collaborates with funds, accelerators and other industry organisations, both as a mentor and speaker, to promote education, innovation and diversity in the tech and VC ecosystems. By way of example, Sofia has participated in the following conferences and programs: 500 Startups Miami Growth Program, Wexchange, South Summit, Angel Summit Americas, Angel Summit Europe, Buenos Aires Startup Week, Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, Aminta Ventures’ Startup Angels Workshop, and many others. Representations: Advised Mexican fintech on $8mm Series A financing round. Advised Mexican shipping startup on multiple investments, including a $4.5mm financing round. Recurrent advice to Mexican VC fund on its Series A investments. Advised California-based company on +$11mm financing rounds. Advised numerous Chilean startups on their corporate restructuring and Series A financing rounds. Advised leading Peruvian startups on their corporate reorganization and VC financing rounds. Recurrent advice to Miami-based angel investors on their seed investments. Represented Peru Peru-based startup in its sale to NYSE NYSE-listed company.

Next Legal PLLC.

Soheil Ebadat

Managing Partner

Ebadat Law

Soline Louvigny

Soline Louvigny is a partner at Dentons' Paris office and a member of the Banking and Finance group. She advises on capital markets transactions involving debt securities issuances. Soline advises clients on a wide range of debt securities issuances (in particular vanilla and structured issuances, issuances eligible for regulatory capital, and ESG issuances), debt securities buybacks (liability management), bondholder consultations (consent solicitations), and regulatory issues relating to these debt securities (including benchmark and ESG regulations). She assists clients in developing issuance programs that meet their needs while complying with legal requirements. She advises major French and international banks and issuers in various jurisdictions and across multiple sectors on this type of transaction and works in particular with credit institutions, companies, insurance companies, and issuers of covered bonds (real estate credit companies). She has specialized in this sector for over 15 years and is widely recognized in the market. She regularly comments on new regulations (e.g., ESG issues).

Dentons

Solomon Rotstein

Associate

Greenberg Traurig

Solomon Shinerock

Partner

Morrison Cohen LLP

Sonal Mehta

Sonal N. Mehta is a trial lawyer representing many of the world’s leading technology and life sciences companies in high-stakes patent and technology disputes across a wide range of industries. Ms. Mehta has nearly 20 years of experience across all aspects of trial and appellate practice, including federal jury trials, state court jury and bench trials, International Trade Commission investigations, international arbitrations, and appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the California appellate courts. Outside of the courtroom, Ms. Mehta is an Executive Committee and Board member—and past president—of the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern District of California’s Practice Program and on the Northern District of California’s Patent Local Rules Attorney Advisory Committee. In 2019, she was selected for a three-year term as a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council. Ms. Mehta regularly presents programs on patent litigation at Federal Judicial Center workshops for federal district and magistrate judges, and is a frequent speaker on patent litigation topics. Ms. Mehta has a special interest in training and mentoring the next generation of trial lawyers. Since 2011, Ms. Mehta has taught Patent Litigation at her alma mater UC Berkeley School of Law. She regularly serves as guest faculty for the Stanford Trial Advocacy Clinic and for litigation practice courses at Berkeley School of Law. Prior to joining WilmerHale, Ms. Mehta was a partner at another large international law firm, where she built her practice representing major technology sector companies in high-stakes patent litigation at the trial and appellate levels. She then joined a litigation boutique firm based in San Francisco, where she continued to serve as lead counsel for leading technology and life sciences clients in patent and commercial litigation matters.

WilmerHale

Sonali Jindal

Sonali’s practice focuses on representing private equity sponsors in complex financing transactions, including leveraged buyouts and cross border financings. Sonali has significant experience with a variety of transaction structures, including syndicated debt financings, split collateral structures, first- and second-lien financings, asset-based loans, and unitranche financings. Her transactions span a range of industries, including software, industrials, healthcare, and retail, where the financings range from tens of millions to in excess of $6 billion. Representative clients include financial sponsors such as Vista Equity Partners and HGGC.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Sonja Johnson

Counsel

Shartsis Friese LLP

Sonja Pollack

Sonja Pollack represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies on leveraged finance transactions across the investment lifecycle. Sonja combines extensive bank financing experience with efficiency-fueled process to guide clients through all aspects of: Acquisition finance Secured, unsecured, mezzanine, and subordinated credit facilities Syndicated, direct lender, and clubbed credit facilities Asset-based and cash-flow loans Liability management transactions With an emphasis on the middle market, she tailors strategies to meet clients objectives, including for securing the best terms and mitigating execution risk. A recognized leader at the firm, Sonja actively participates in the firm’s formal mentoring program, with a particular focus on lateral integration. She is member of the Women Lawyers Group and the Parent Lawyers Group. Sonja is also a lifelong competitive equestrian.

Latham & Watkins

Sony Ben-Moshe

Sony Ben-Moshe is partner in our Finance Department and Co-Chair of the firm's Hospitality, Gaming & Leisure Industry Group, and former Co-Chair of the Latin America Practice. Sony has significant experience representing clients in financings, acquisitions, and formation of joint ventures in the United States and abroad. His experience includes: Structuring, documentation, and negotiation of banking finance transactions for leveraged and secured financing transactions, including LBOs Representation of issuers and underwriters in connection with 144A offerings and private placements of debt instruments Structuring and negotiation of various transactions involving private equity sponsors Representation of various parties in connection with the formation of joint ventures Development and financing of greenfield construction projects

Latham & Watkins

Soo-ah Nah

Partner

Dechert

Sophia Agathis

Partner

Holland & Knight

Sophia Han

Sophia Han is a tax partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Sophia's practice focuses on the tax aspects of domestic M&A and the renewable energy sector. She regularly advises project sponsors, tax equity investors and lenders on energy tax credits, project developments and financings, and M&A transactions for wind, solar and energy storage assets. Sophia represents clients on a variety of other federal income tax matters. Her experience also includes advising clients across a variety of industries, including medical device, retail and tech, on transfer pricing disputes.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Sophia Hudson

Sophia Hudson, lauded for her commerciality, judgement and “incredible technical proficiency” is a corporate partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and leads the Firm’s global Capital Markets Practice Group. Most recently recognized as a 2023 Law360 MVP, one of the legal industry’s rarest and most prestigious awards, Sophia’s experience spans numerous industries, public clients and private equity sponsors. Sophia provides thoughtful advice and business-minded solutions to clients on the full range of capital markets transactions, including IPOs and follow-on equity offerings, public and private high-yield, investment grade and convertible debt offerings and private placements of equity and convertible securities. Clients also value her counsel on disclosure and compliance, board and shareholder governance and general corporate law matters. She has advised many corporate clients on addressing crises as well as executive succession. Sophia regularly advises many of the most well-known public companies in the United States and around the world — across disclosure and their most important transactions, providing seamless advice and quarterbacking the Kirkland teams. In addition, Sophia also advises the largest and most sophisticated private equity firms, including Bain Capital, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Hellman & Freidman and Patient Square Capital, among others.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP