VEDDER PRICE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Shareholder / Education
Adam L. Schwartz is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and a member of the Chambers USA-ranked Government Investigations & White Collar Defense team in the firm's Miami office.
Mr. Schwartz previously served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Mr. Schwartz received his law degree from Stanford Law School, and his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, summa cum laude, with distinction in research.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Education Committee
- Shareholder
- Shareholder / Education
Adam R. Beringer is a Shareholder and member of the Global Transportation Finance team at Vedder Price.
With a focus on commercial aircraft finance, Mr. Beringer has significant experience representing operating lessors, commercial banks, finance companies, manufacturers, private equity funds, hedge funds and other aircraft investors in all manner of aircraft finance transactions, including portfolio securitizations and warehouse financings involving substantial commercial aircraft portfolios, Rule 144A capital markets transactions, M&A transactions, cross-border operating lease transactions, distressed-debt transactions involving debt secured by commercial aircraft portfolios, and numerous aircraft portfolio acquisition and disposition transactions. Mr. Beringer also has experience representing investors and commercial banks in business aircraft and railcar finance transactions.
Mr. Beringer advises clients on various day-to-day matters, such as tax-based corporate structuring, aircraft and engine maintenance agreements, aircraft consignment agreements, aircraft modification and conversion agreements, aircraft servicing and management agreements, and aircraft and engine fund-style joint ventures, as well as general corporate and securities law matters.
Since 2014, Mr. Beringer has been recognized among the world's leading aviation attorneys by Euromoney Legal Media Group's Expert Guides. Since 2019, he was ranked in Chambers USA's Nationwide Transportation: Aviation: Finance category. Since 2018, the Legal 500 United States has recognized Mr. Beringer in the Transport: Aviation and Air Travel-Finance category. In addition, since 2017, Mr. Beringer was named a Leading Lawyer in the Corporate Finance and Secured Transactions Law categories. Vedder Price was named Airline Economics Aviation 100 Law Firm of the Year in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Prior to joining Vedder Price, Mr. Beringer served as general counsel to Q Aviation, a global aircraft operating lessor. At Q Aviation, Mr. Beringer advised senior management in the establishment of the company (from inception), developed portfolio and risk management processes and procedures, and had primary responsibility for all legal matters. With this background, Mr. Beringer is able to offer legal advice to aircraft investors that is both practical and based on real-world experience.
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Shareholder / Education
- Shareholder in Vedder Price 's Real
Alexander Berger is a Shareholder in Vedder Price's Real Estate practice group in the firm's New York office and focuses his practice on representing land proprietors and developers in all aspects of transactional real estate, including the acquisition, disposition and financing (construction and acquisition mortgage conduit loans) of commercial properties regionally and nationwide. He also has extensive experience in structuring and facilitating like-kind exchanges under IRC #1031.
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Co - Chair PLI 's Employment Law Institute 2022, Elizabeth N. Hall to Present
- Comments on Employee Reimbursement During the COVID - 19 Pandemic in Washington Business Journal
- Shareholder / Chair, Labor and Employment, Washington, DC / Education
Amy L. Bess is the immediate past Chair of the Labor and Employment practice area at Vedder Price and currently serves as Chair of the group's DC practice. She also recently completed a three-year term of service on the firm's Board of Directors.
Her employment litigation experience includes the representation of employers before U.S. state and federal courts and administrative agencies, defending against claims of race, sex, disability and age discrimination; sexual harassment; whistleblower retaliation; restrictive-covenant disputes; wrongful termination; and wage and hour violations. She regularly counsels clients in all of these areas, drafts and negotiates employment and severance agreements, conducts on-site workplace investigations, presents training seminars and speaks to employer groups on avoiding workplace problems. Ms. Bess also has experience advising clients regarding their public accommodation obligations under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and representing clients in litigation involving related claims.
Ms. Bess has extensive first-chair bench trial, jury trial and arbitration experience. She also is experienced in the defense of complex class action litigation, including wage and hour collective actions and pattern or practice litigation brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The Legal 500 United States guide recommended Ms. Bess in the Labor and Employment-Labor and Employment Litigation category in 2014. Since 2018 the Legal 500 United States guide recommended her in the Labor and Employment Disputes (including collective actions): Defense and Labor and in 2021 was editorially recommended in the Employment Labor-Management Relations category. Ms. Bess also has been listed in Washingtonian Magazine's "Best Lawyers" edition (December 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2022) in the category "Employment Defense." She has been selected for inclusion since 2012 in Washington DC Super Lawyers in the category "Employment Litigation Defense." In 2013, Ms. Bess also was listed in Expert Guides to World's Leading Lawyers-Labour and Employment.
Ms. Bess is actively involved in a number of non-profit and charitable organizations. She is a board member and serves as general counsel for Everybody Wins!, a charity in the district focusing on promoting children's' literacy. She is also a member of the board of the District of Columbia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In 2019 she was awarded the Tom Nees Award for Exceptional Service by Community of Hope, a non-profit organization pursuing a mission to aid low-income families experiencing homelessness and struggling with healthcare needs, in recognition of her long-standing, deeply-impactful service to the women, men and children who turn to Community of Hope for help. Most recently, she has been appointed to serve as a Commissioner on the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure.
Experience
Obtained a complete defense jury verdict on behalf of global retailer in a religious discrimination and retaliation case following week-long trial
Job Titles:
- Counsel
- Member of the Education Committee
- Counsel / Education
Amy S. Berns serves as Counsel at Vedder Price and is a member of the firm's Global Transportation Finance team.
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Named Fellow of Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Ariel Kelly and Amal Rafiq to Join Pathfinder Program
- Shareholder / Education
Anand Ramana is a Litigation Shareholder in the Firm's Washington, D.C. Office, and is also a Member of the Firm's Pro Bono and Diversity Committees.
Mr. Ramana resolves a wide variety of business and other civil disputes for his clients. He has significant first-chair trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts around the nation, with a particular focus in the District of Columbia and Virginia tribunals. As lead counsel, Mr. Ramana has tried nearly 20 jury and bench trials to judgment, and argued 10 appeals.
While he handles disputes for all businesses, Mr. Ramana dedicates a large portion of his practice to litigation on behalf of, and many times between, government contractors. He is a leading authority on proposal teaming and post-award subcontracting issues. Over the course of his career, he has successfully tried or otherwise favorably resolved employment, trade secret, restrictive covenant, contract, and business tort cases. He also has significant experience litigating disputes in the energy, financial services, consumer, and real estate industries.
Mr. Ramana also represents foreign companies, governments, and individuals in litigation in American courts. He is well-versed in the legal nuances that foreign parties, witnesses, and evidence present in American litigation. Indeed, he has substantial experience in helping European and Middle Eastern clients and executives understand, navigate, and prevail in the American legal system.
Mr. Ramana devotes a significant segment of his career to his pro bono practice. His pro bono successes include securing a writ of habeas corpus for the release of an innocent man serving time in prison on the eve of his unlawful deportation, forcing the return of two kidnapped children secretly taken to Saudi Arabia, and obtaining a reversal of immigration judge's deliberate disregard of integral portions of the record to reach a decision to deport a persecuted man. More recently, he helped supervise a large pro bono team that obtained a historic $8 million civil judgment in a nationally-recognized anti-human trafficking suit against a cult based in Kansas.
He was named to "Virginia Legal Elite," Civil Litigation by Virginia Business from 2014-2016 and was named a "Rising Star" by Thomson Reuters in Washington, DC (2013-2015) and Virginia (2009-2011).
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
- Associate in Vedder Price 's Miami
Andrew Figueroa is an Associate in Vedder Price's Miami office and a member of the firm's Litigation group.
Mr. Figueroa focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and government investigations and white collar defense. An experienced litigator,
Mr. Figueroa handles litigation matters at every stage on both the plaintiff and defense sides. He has represented a wide range of individuals and companies, in cases spanning from contract disputes to commodities trading litigation and leading to favorable settlements and pleadings-stage dismissals. Mr. Figueroa's standup experience includes evidentiary arguments for trial, oral arguments at the federal and state court levels, mediation in federal and state court, and taking and defending depositions.
Mr. Figueroa previously served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, and Judge Vance E. Salter of Florida's Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.
Mr. Figueroa received his law degree summa cum laude from Florida International University College of Law. While in law school, Mr. Figueroa was an Editor for the FIU Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree cum laude from the University of South Florida.
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Shareholder / Chair, Real Estate Group / Chair, Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Andrew Torre is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and Chair of the Real Estate group.
He counsels institutional and commercial clients in a variety of real estate matters, including the acquisition, disposition, leasing, development and financing of numerous types of real estate. In addition to his transactional practice, Mr. Torre has represented clients in connection with commercial real estate litigation matters, including mortgage foreclosures, forcible entry and detainer actions, zoning actions, breach-of-contract actions and postjudgment collection and enforcement actions.
Mr. Torre advises tenants, landlords and lenders with respect to a wide array of leasing matters, including the preparation and negotiation of commercial, office, retail and industrial leases as well as leasehold financing.
Mr. Torre has experience in all aspects of real estate development and has assisted clients in the acquisition of real estate and the creation and implementation of covenants, conditions and restrictions, easements, rights-of-way and property owners' associations.
Mr. Torre has also been selected by his peers as a Leading Lawyer since 2022 in Real Estate Law: Finance.
Education
University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2004
Georgetown University, B.S., 2000, summa cum laude
Job Titles:
- Member of the Education Committee
- Shareholder
- Shareholder / Chair, Corporate Liability Group / Education
Anthony J. Ashley is a Shareholder in the Litigation practice area based in Chicago.
Mr. Ashley has represented clients in pretrial, trial and appellate proceedings in state and federal courts across the United States and internationally in the areas of restrictive covenants and trade secrets, corporate espionage, unfair competition, complex commercial matters, intellectual property infringement and defamation. As a founding member of the Litigation practice area's subgroup on Restrictive Covenants and Trade Secrets, he also has extensive experience with emergency injunctive proceedings at both the state and federal levels.
In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Ashley is frequently consulted on CEO and other senior executives mobility among competitors, and he has successfully developed and implemented hiring protocols to permit immediate transitions. He also has extensive experience negotiating executive employment contracts, and he frequently represents companies and senior executives in connection with employment arrangements. Mr. Ashley regularly counsels corporations and individuals on how to safeguard corporate assets, including retaining senior executives and protecting customer relationships and confidential information.
Experience
Mr. Ashley obtained a seven-year injunction against a former senior executive of firm client GLJ, LLC, a leading designer, producer and marketer of a variety of consumer products. In July 2008, GLJ's Senior and Executive Vice President of International Operations abruptly resigned and began working with a Chinese manufacturing company to develop competing products. GLJ filed suit shortly thereafter, alleging claims for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and civil conspiracy. Mr. Ashley was successful in obtaining a sweeping permanent injunction that prohibited GLJ's former executive from competing with GLJ for seven years, even though the non-compete covenant in his employment contract had only a three-year term. Mr. Ashley was also able to secure a five-year worldwide injunction to prevent the co-defendant Chinese manufacturing company from competing with GLJ.
Mr. Ashley secured a substantial victory for firm client Leor Energy, L.P. Leor Energy, based in Houston, Texas, which engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation and marketing of oil and gas properties, and had recently sold all of its Deep Bossier natural gas and land interests to EnCana for $2.55 billion. After the breakdown of employment contract negotiations that led to his termination, former Leor Energy President William Sullivan filed suit against the Leor entities alleging breach of contract, fraud, promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel and quantum meruit. Based on the equity-incentive-laden contract, the plaintiff was seeking in excess of $75 million in damages. After removing the case from Texas state court to U.S. federal court in Dallas, Mr. Ashley obtained a complete dismissal with prejudice of all claims brought by the plaintiff at the trial court level. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiff's claims with prejudice and awarded costs associated with the appeal to the Leor entities. The plaintiff subsequently sought reconsideration, and his petition for panel rehearing was denied. Mr. Ashley' experience includes:
Mr. Ashley served as lead counsel for the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists and obtained the dismissal of 440 individual lawsuits pending before the U.S. federal Multi-District Litigation Panel alleging damages resulting from exposure to hormone replacement therapy medications.
Mr. Ashley successfully prosecuted claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misappropiation of trade secrets and civil conspiracy against three departing employees of a large U.S.-based corporation arising from the theft of technology under development. After obtaining a preliminary injunction in federal court in Ohio, the matter was settled shortly thereafter.
Mr. Ashley served as lead U.S. trial counsel prosecuting a declaratory judgment action in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England. In this case, Mr. Ashley sought a declaratory judgment in the British high court to invalidate certain restrictive covenants that would otherwise have prevented a former senior European executive of Black & Decker Europe from accepting the position as President of Ryobi Technologies (UK) Ltd. After a three-week trial, Justice Field invalidated the restrictive covenants in all respects, and awarded attorneys' fees and costs.
Mr. Ashley obtained the dismissal of a $110 million defamation suit brought by a former Illinois Appellate Court judge and candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court against a political action committee and one of its members. This trial court decision was affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court.
Mr. Ashley served as trial counsel to the former Chairman of Foley's Department Stores, a division of May Department Stores Company. Along with counsel for Victoria's Secret Stores, Mr. Ashley successfully prosecuted a declaratory judgment action to allow Foley's former Chairman to accept the position of Chief Operating Officer at Victoria's Secret Stores.
Mr. Ashley also served as lead counsel for the former President, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of an $80 million hair care conglomerate following these executives' sudden termination. After pursuing claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, Mr. Ashley was successful in obtaining a multimillion-dollar settlement on behalf of this senior management team.
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- Named Fellow of Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Nusra Ismail and Shalyn McKitt Join Pathfinder Program
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- Joins Vedder Price Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group in Chicago
Visit our Services Areas and Industries page to learn more about the respected and experienced attorneys who provide leadership and oversight for each of our practice areas.
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- Present at Corporate Jet Investor Asia 2022
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- Present at Corporate Jet Investor London 2024
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- Featured in Employee Benefits Article "How to Address a Toxic Workplace Culture
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- Featured in Employee Benefits Article "How to Address a Toxic Workplace Culture
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- Intellectual Property Shareholder
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- Shareholder
- Global Transportation Finance Associate
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- Shareholder, Chair of Shareholder Affiliations
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- Litigation Section Executive