About Us

Peter M. Kellett is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dykema. He previously served as Director of the Litigation Department, and prior to that, served as one of the Firm’s practice group leaders. His practice focuses on class action and commercial litigation; automotive industry litigation, and products liability cases. He has tried to verdict consumer class actions, numerous product liability cases involving catastrophic injury or death, and many business disputes.

Pascale Lagesse is a Partner at Bredin Prat. She specializes in the labor and employment issues arising out of mergers and acquisitions and corporate downsizings and restructurings. She is a seasoned litigator and frequently defends corporate clients in complex employment litigation. Ms. Lagesse lectures on a regular basis, notably at the Paris I Sorbonne University, and has authored numerous publications on labor and employment topics. She is the Past Chair of the International Bar Associati...

Henry Walker serves as the Chair of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP. In this role, he serves as the firm’s chief executive officer overseeing the strategic direction and growth of the firm. Mr. Walker leads the firm’s Executive and Management Committees working closely with them to define and execute the firm’s strategic and operational objectives. Prior to his election to Chair, he served as the firm’s Managing Partner.

Paul Theiss is Chairman of Mayer Brown. He has served on the firm’s Management Committee since 2009 and previously served as a co-leader of the firm’s global Corporate & Securities practice. He joined Mayer Brown in 1985. Paul practices corporate law focusing on a broad spectrum of mergers and acquisitions and capital markets work. He advises clients on both public and private mergers and acquisitions, and serves as general outside counsel to numerous companies as they develop...

Svein Gerhard Simonnæs is a partner at BA-HR. His main practice areas are corporate mergers and acquisitions, asset management and private equity. He received his Master's degree in Business at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business administration in 1989.

Matt Gorson currently serves as Senior Chairman of the firm. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm’s Southeast and California offices and previously served as the firm’s President. Matt joined Greenberg Traurig in 1973 as the firm’s 14th lawyer, and became one of the most prolific and in-demand real estate attorneys in South Florida. His work over the last two decades has played a key role in revitalizing the urban landscape and changing the skyline of Downtown Miami, Brickell Ave...

Peter J. Beshar serves as the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Air Force. He was nominated by President Biden in late 2021 and confirmed by the Senate in March 2022. As the Department’s Chief Legal Officer and Ethics Official, Mr. Beshar provides oversight and guidance to 2,600 civilian and military lawyers and 500,000 active duty and civilian members of the Air Force and Space Force. From 2004 to 2022, Mr. Beshar served as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Mars...

Kye Sung Chung is a senior partner and is the chair of the Finance Department at Kim & Chang. Mr. Chung is also the managing partner of the firm’s Hong Kong office. His practice focuses on financial regulatory matters, corporate finance, securities law, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Chung has extensive transactional experience, representing publicly and privately-held multinational and Korean companies in cross-border acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, securities offerings and fin...

Marianne D. Short was appointed executive vice president and chief legal officer in 2013. She is responsible for overseeing legal, regulatory and compliance matters across the enterprise. She has more than 35 years of courtroom experiences from her work on the court, the Dorsey firm and the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

Peter is a member of Loyens & Loeff’s Corporate and M&A Practice Group in Belgium. He is also a member of the Italian Desk. Peter has extensive experience in national and international corporate transactions. His focus is on mergers and acquisitions and private equity investments in a wide variety of economic sectors including insurance, manufacturing, the health care industry as well as traditional and renewable energy providers and the attendant service industry. He also represents ...

Gelu has over 20 years of experience in the legal profession, holds an LL.M awarded with distinction by Warwick University, UK, and is constantly ranked amongst the most prominent lawyers in Romania. Before founding Maravela & Asociatii, Gelu has acted as a judge, attorney at Linklaters` London office and equity partner of Mu?at & Asocia?ii.

Maura Abeln Smith is the founder of Maura A. Smith Law Offices LLC, a boutique law firm that opened in 2016. Offices are located in New Canaan, CT, and New York City, NY. Previously, Ms. Smith was Executive Vice President, General Counsel and General Secretary of Delhaize Group before she left the firm in 2013 to start her own practice.