Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announces that J. Robert Abraham, Brita Siepker and Sergio Torres have been named counsel to the firm, and that Christine Shu Gilleland and Nick Kagan have been named international counsel to the firm. Their promotions became effective on July 1.
J. Robert Abraham is based in the New York office and a member of the Commercial Litigation, Antitrust, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Special Situations Groups. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including consumer and shareholder class actions, antitrust litigation, and contractual disputes, particularly on behalf of asset management clients. Mr. Abraham received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010, where he was a James Kent Scholar, and received his B.A. from Cornell University in 2007.
Christine Shu Gilleland is based in the London office and a member of the firm’s Finance Group. Her practice focuses on advising clients on a range of financing transactions, including acquisition and leveraged financings, and structured and fund financings. Ms. Gilleland received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2014 and her B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Colby College in 2009.
Nick Kagan is based in the London office and a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group. His practice focuses on advising institutional, independent and first-time sponsors of buyout, credit, impact, real estate, venture capital and infrastructure funds in connection with a broad range of matters, including fund formation, marketing, regulatory, investor negotiations and ongoing operational matters, team incentivization arrangements, co-investments, internal reorganizations and secondary transactions including end-of-life liquidity solutions. Mr. Kagan received his GDL in 2011 and his LPC in 2012, both from BPP School of Law and his B.A. (Hons.) from the University of Nottingham in 2010.
Brita Siepker is based in the New York office and a member of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. Her practice focuses on domestic and cross-border corporate transactions in the financial services and insurance industries. From 2005 to 2006, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Siepker received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2005 and her B.S. and B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois in 2000.
Sergio Torres is based in the New York office and a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and Latin America Groups. His practice focuses on domestic and cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private equity investments and corporate governance matters for private equity sponsors, financial institutions and other corporate clients. Mr. Torres received his LL.M. from Stanford Law School in 2016, post-graduate degrees in International Trade and Corporate Law from Institutito Internacional de Ciências Sociais and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo in 2011 and 2013, respectively, his M.B.A. from Fundação Getulio Vargas in 2009 and his law degree from University of Blumenau, Brazil in 2008. He is admitted to the New York Bar and Brazilian Bar Association.