Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is pleased to announce that Jason Auerbach, Serhat T. Krause, Gregory T. Larkin, Katarina Molnarova and Michael Sabin have been named counsel to the firm, and Klaudius Heda, Nik Kutnaks, Benjamin Lyon, Anna V. Maximenko and Andrew C. Rearick have been named international counsel to the firm. Their promotions became effective on January 1.

Jason Auerbach, resident in the New York office, works in the Corporate Department and is a member of the Investment Management Group. His practice focuses on advising sponsors of private investment funds, co-investment vehicles and separately managed accounts, covering numerous sectors and strategies, including buyout, fund of funds, secondaries and growth capital funds. Mr. Auerbach’s recent experience includes acting for clients such as Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and HarbourVest Partners. Mr. Auerbach joined the firm in 2008. He received a J.D. cum laude from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2008, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and a Dean’s Distinguished Scholar. He also served as an Articles Editor for the Cardozo Law Review. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004.

Klaudius Heda, resident in the Frankfurt office, is a member of the Corporate Department and the Finance Group. He has more than 11 years of experience in finance transactions, including syndicated loans, asset-based loans, securitization and factoring, real estate financings and intra-group financings. Mr. Heda also has extensive experience in private placements, ECA financing and aircraft finance, including operating and finance leases. In addition to his finance work, he advises on cross-border and German corporate M&A transactions, as well as public takeovers. His clients include industrial companies, private equity sponsors and funds, as well as financial institutions. Mr. Heda graduated in law from Philipps-University in Marburg in 1999. From 2000 to 2003, he worked as a research fellow for the Institute for Comparative Law of Philipps-University.

Serhat T. Krause, resident in the New York office, works in the Corporate Department and is a member of the Real Estate Group. Mr. Krause’s practice focuses on all aspects of real estate transactions, including real estate acquisitions and dispositions, development, joint ventures and financings. Mr. Krause regularly counsels retailers, private equity funds, developers, pension funds and investment advisers in connection with direct or indirect investments in real estate assets. He also regularly counsels pro bono clients on general real estate matters, including leasing. Mr. Krause received his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 2006, where he was a member of the Catholic University Law Review and the Jessup International Moot Court. Mr. Krause received an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his B.A. from Koc University in Istanbul. Prior to law school, Mr. Krause taught political science and international relations. He is fluent in Turkish.‎

Nik Kutnaks is resident in the Moscow office and is a member of the Corporate Department. He is an English-qualified lawyer whose practice covers cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance, including syndicated lending, acquisition financings, pre-export financings and capital markets transactions. Mr. Kutnaks also advises private investment funds, financial institutions and natural resources companies on a wide range of derivatives and structured products, including equity and commodity derivatives. He has worked on some of the most prominent Russian transactions of recent years, including the US $5.5 billion financing of the acquisition of Polyus Gold by Sacturino Limited. Mr. Kutnaks is admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales and is fluent in English and Russian.

Gregory T. Larkin, resident in the Washington, D.C. office, works in the Corporate Department and is a member of the Investment Management Group. Mr. Larkin focuses his practice primarily on compliance and regulatory issues relating to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 in the context of investment adviser registration, regulation and reporting, private fund formation, mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions. Mr. Larkin received a J.D. in 2008 from New York University School of Law, where he was named a member of the Order of the Coif, a Pomeroy Scholar and an Articles Editor of the NYU Law Review. He received a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 2002.

Benjamin Lyon is an English-qualified lawyer resident in the firm’s London office. He is a member of the Corporate Department and the Financial Institutions Group. He focuses on corporate transactions in the insurance industry, including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance and insurance regulatory advice, as well as all other aspects of corporate law with significant experience in a wide range of public and private mergers & acquisitions, capital markets transactions, joint ventures and other transactions both in the UK and internationally. He regularly advises insurers, corporates, financial institutions, private equity clients and investment banks. Prior to joining Debevoise in 2012, Mr. Lyon worked as a senior in-house counsel at a major international financial institution. Mr. Lyon is a member of the UK Chartered Insurance Institute and the British Insurance Law Association.

Anna V. Maximenko is resident in the Moscow office and is a member of the Corporate Department. She is the Head of the Russian Regulatory Practice, with nearly 18 years of experience in a broad spectrum of antitrust, data protection, contentious and non-contentious employment and regulatory matters, as well as mergers and acquisitions and general corporate advice in heavily regulated industries such as banking, insurance and healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Ms. Maximenko also provides bespoke compliance advisory services to Russian blue-chip clients and directs and manages the pro bono practice in the Moscow office. Ms. Maximenko is a member of the Association of Antimonopoly Experts, and is admitted to practice in Russia. She is a frequent speaker on the evolving regulatory and compliance issues in Russia and abroad and has contributed expert analysis in key areas of Russian law to numerous international editorials. Ms. Maximenko is fluent in Russian and English.

Katarina Molnarova, resident in the Washington, D.C. office, is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Finance Group. Her practice focuses on complex acquisition and leveraged financings. She regularly advises private equity sponsors and other corporate clients on syndicated loans, high-yield and investment grade debt offerings, and asset-based facilities. Her experience also includes structured financings and cross-border restructurings. Ms. Molnarova joined the firm’s New York office in 2007, and from 2010 to 2013, resided in the firm’s London office. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Molnarova was an associate at an international law firm in Prague, Czech Republic. Ms. Molnarova received an LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2007, a Master of Laws from Charles University Law School in Prague in 2005 and a Diploma in Legal Studies from Cardiff Law School in 2005. She is a native Slovak speaker and is fluent in Czech.

Andrew C. Rearick is a U.S.-qualified lawyer based in the firm’s London office. A member of the Corporate Department, his practice covers a full range of cross-border transactional matters for private equity and other institutional investors, as well as corporates, focusing in particular on mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures and other transformative transactions involving businesses centered in Europe, North America and emerging markets. He has advised on transactions across many industries, but has particular experience in the financial services, telecommunications, media and technology, and energy and natural resources sectors. Mr. Rearick received his J.D. in 2007 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an articles editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law. He graduated in 1999 with an A.B. cum laude in Politics from Princeton University. Mr. Rearick is fluent in Russian and French and previously lived and worked in Russia, Kazakhstan, France and the Netherlands.

Michael Sabin, resident in the New York office, works in the Corporate Department and is a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group. His practice focuses on advising sponsors of private investment funds, including buyout, real estate, energy, infrastructure and debt funds, and hedge funds, on structuring and formation matters, as well as strategic matters and related internal arrangements. Mr. Sabin also advises sponsors and investors in connection with complex secondary transactions, including spinouts, direct sales and purchases of portfolios of fund interests, and end-of-life fund restructurings. Mr. Sabin’s recent experience includes acting for clients such as Access Industries, Adams Street, Antares Capital, The Carlyle Group, Diamond Castle, Evercore, Global Atlantic, GSO Capital Partners, Interros, Norilsk Nickel and OEP Capital Advisors. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sabin practiced law in the private funds group of a major international law firm in New York. He is fluent in Hebrew and Russian. He graduated in 2005 with an LL.B. (magna cum laude) from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was an Editor-in-Chief of the Hebrew University Law Review and recipient of the Excellence Scholarship. Mr. Sabin received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2007, where he was a John Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. We deliver effective solutions to our clients’ most important legal challenges, applying clear commercial judgment and a distinctively collaborative approach.