FINCEN ISSUES - Key Persons
Abhishek Bapna is Counsel in the firm's Litigation department. His practice focuses on patent litigation in federal district courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC), as well as post-grant proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. His experience encompasses a broad spectrum of technologies, including software, consumer electronics, networking devices, biomedical devices, and vehicular safety telematics systems, and multimedia systems.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / New York, NY
- Partner in Patterson Belknap 's Litigation
Adeel Mangi is a litigator with extensive experience trying "bet the company" and high-stakes cases to judges and juries in state and federal courts around the country. Benchmark Litigation named Mr. Mangi to its 2024 and 2023 lists of the "Top 100 Trial Lawyers" in the U.S., which consists of "partners who have been venerated by peers and clients as being the best in breed at the nuanced practice of trial law . . . based on an intensive peer-and-client review." Mr. Mangi recently secured the largest jury verdict in the history of the Virginia court system with a $2 billion verdict after a seven-week jury trial in a case involving theft of trade secrets in the software industry. Mr. Mangi also secured the largest settlement with New York state in history in cases involving the death of a state prison inmate on the morning of closing arguments after a two-and-a-half week jury trial in the Southern District of New York. Mr. Mangi has represented other clients in a variety of industries in state and federal courts around the country across a range of subject matters including commercial contracts, false advertising, and consumer protection statutes.
Benchmark Litigation also named Mr. Mangi as a 2024 and 2023 Litigation Star and has noted that peers describe Mr. Mangi as "meticulous and relentless," and "an unflappable whiz at everything he does." Benchmark awarded its "Impact Case of the Year" recognition for 2023 to Mr. Mangi and his team. In 2023, Mr. Mangi was also named to The National Law Journal's General Litigation Trailblazers list. In 2022, he was featured in The American Lawyer's ‘Litigators of the Week' section in connection with a jury trial verdict. He has also been highlighted repeatedly, including in 2022, as a "Client Service All-Star" by The BTI Consulting Group. This award recognizes attorneys who "stand above all the others in delivering the absolute best in client service."
Earlier, Mr. Mangi was named a "Future Star" for the years 2017-2022 by Benchmark Litigation. From 2016-2018 Mr. Mangi was also named to Benchmark's "40 & Under Hot List." The list recognizes "the achievements of the nation's most accomplished legal partners" ages 40 and under. Mr. Mangi was previously named a "2014 Rising Star" by the New York Law Journal, which recognizes the most promising lawyers under the age of 40 who have demonstrated that they are top contributors to the practice of law and their communities; a "Rising Star" by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's Diversity & the Bar magazine, which selected 12 up-and-coming attorneys for 2014; and as one of the National Asian and Pacific American Bar Association's "Best Lawyers Under 40" for 2014. Mr. Mangi is also a 2013 graduate of the Microsoft Litigation Group's highly prestigious Trial Advocacy Academy.
Mr. Mangi has also litigated numerous high-profile civil rights cases. These included some of the most closely watched religious freedom cases of the Trump era, which involved two different Muslim communities denied permission to build mosques in Bernards Township and Bayonne. These lawsuits were the subject of seven editorials in New Jersey's largest newspaper and were covered extensively in the national press. Both cases eventually resulted in settlements under which the mosques were approved and the municipalities involved paid significant compensation to the affected Islamic groups. Mr. Mangi also tried a lawsuit in 2020 involving the death of a mentally ill African-American inmate who was alleged to have been killed by white prison guards in a retaliatory beating. The resulting landmark settlement included an unprecedented provision requiring New York to install a comprehensive network of video recording cameras and microphones throughout the Sullivan Correctional Facility. Mr. Mangi has filed a series of amicus briefs on behalf of a coalition of cross-faith religious groups on issues including DACA, the border wall, and on LGBTQ+ civil rights issues. Between 2017 and 2019, based upon work pioneered and led by Mr. Mangi, Patterson Belknap was awarded the "Outstanding Service Award" by the Alliance of Families for Justice; the "Legal Leadership Award" by the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey; the "Champions of Justice" award by the Muslim Bar Association of New York; the "Religious Liberty Award" (2018) and the "Landmark" litigation award (2017) by the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association; and the Trailblazer Award by the South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey. Mr. Mangi was also declared Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by the South Asian Bar Association of New York. Also in 2017, Mr. Mangi Chaired the Federal Bar Council's annual Law Day Dinner celebrating the Rule of Law before some 850 attorneys and federal judges.
Mr. Mangi joined the firm in 2000 upon his graduation from Harvard Law School with an LL.M. Mr. Mangi was at Harvard as a Kennedy Memorial Scholar. Prior to that time, Mr. Mangi qualified as a British Barrister at Law as a Member of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn, during which time his two-person team won the National Bar Providers Moot Court Competition. Mr. Mangi also holds a First Class Degree in Law from the University of Oxford (Pembroke College), where he held the Roger Bannister Scholarship for Academics and Sports and Domus scholarships. Mr. Mangi's two-person team was also the winner of the Oxford University Inner Temple Moot Court Competition.
Mr. Mangi serves on the Advisory Board of the Alliance of Families for Justice, which advocates on behalf of incarcerated individuals and their families. Mr. Mangi previously served on a variety of additional boards, including the Boards of Directors of the Muslim Bar Association of New York, the Legal Aid Society of New York, and Muslims for Progressive Values. He also served multiple terms as an ally Board Member for the National LGBT Bar Association.
Adeel Mangi, Partner in Patterson Belknap's Litigation Department, has been named to the 2023 National Law Journal list of General Litigation Trailblazers. Adeel is part of a diverse list of honorees recognized in the tenth annual list. Adeel is commended as a trial lawyer with experience taking sophisticated cases to trial. To read Adeel Mangi's Trailblazers profile, please click here.
Alejandro Cruz is a Partner in the firm's Litigation department. Mr. Cruz represents clients in complex commercial litigation, as well as in arbitrations, mediations, and investigations. His practice includes representing law firms and lawyers accused of legal malpractice, companies accused of antitrust violations, and financial institutions in a broad range of litigation, as well as disputes involving transactions and ownership of fine art. Mr. Cruz also defends clients in government investigations by federal and state agencies, as well as representing boards of directors and board committees of public companies in investigations and shareholder disputes. In addition, as a member of the firm's Privacy and Data Security group, Mr. Cruz advises clients on a wide array of cybersecurity and privacy issues, including incident response, ransomware, regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation. In 2020, the New York Law Journal named Mr. Cruz a "Rising Star," a designation recognizing "the region's most promising lawyers ages 40 and under." In 2024, Benchmark Litigation recognized Mr. Cruz as a "Future Star" for New York in Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC's Guide.
Mr. Cruz also maintains an active pro bono practice, including federal civil rights litigation involving the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, as well as defending eviction proceedings and other housing disputes. In 2016, Mr. Cruz received the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project's Champion of Justice Award for his commitment to pro bono service. Mr. Cruz is a member of the board of directors of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, a nonprofit legal services organization that provides support, advocacy, and high quality civil legal representation to poor and low-income families and individuals in New York state. He also sits on the board of directors of White Plains Hospital and the Hudson River School of Music, as well as the board of advisors for the Dartmouth College Center for Social Impact.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cruz served as a law clerk to the Honorable Eric N. Vitaliano of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2011 to 2012, and prior to that practiced at a New York law firm.
Alexander Shapiro is Co-Chair of the firm's Corporate department and Co-Chair of the firm's Structured Finance Workouts and Litigation Group. His practice focuses primarily on the representation of hedge funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors in connection with workouts and disputes involving structured finance transactions, including RMBS, CMBS, CLOs and student loans. He has also represented numerous clients in a variety of industries in connection with registered equity and debt offerings, tender offers, going private transactions, Rule 144A offerings, private placements of debt and equity securities, acquisitions involving public and privately-held companies, and other complex commercial transactions.
Alexandra Mahler-Haug is an Associate in the firm's Litigation department. From 2020 to 2021, Ms. Mahler-Haug served as a law clerk to the Hon. José A. Cabranes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In addition, from 2019 to 2020, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. Jeffrey A. Meyer of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Most recently, Ms. Mahler-Haug was a litigation associate at a New York-based international law firm.
Education
Yale Law School (J.D., 2019)
Alexandria Piacenti is an Associate in the firm's Litigation Department. From 2022 to 2023, Ms. Piacenti served as a law clerk to the Hon. Mary Kay Vyskocil of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In addition, from 2021 to 2022, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. Paul B. Matey of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ms. Piacenti was previously a litigation associate at a New York-based international law firm.
Education
University of Chicago (J.D., with honors, 2020)
University of Chicago Law Review
University of Virginia (B.A., with highest honors, 2017)
Andrew D. Cohen, Ph.D., a trained organic chemist, is a Partner in Patterson Belknap's Litigation department. He is an accomplished patent litigator, with over 15 years of experience in patent law. Dr. Cohen focuses his practice on life science patent litigation, where he leverages his scientific background to translate complicated technology into easy-to-understand terms. He has represented innovators in Hatch-Waxman and Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) cases, and has represented clients in inter partes reviews (IPR) proceedings before the patent office. A well-rounded litigator, Dr. Cohen also represents clients in complex commercial disputes (including arbitrations) and defending consumer class actions. He maintains an active pro bono practice in areas of civil rights, immigration, and housing. Dr. Cohen has also helped lead the firm's long-standing collaboration with Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, representing low-income tenants in housing disputes in Westchester County and surrounding regions.
Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Cohen served as a law clerk to the Hon. Cathy Seibel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to clerking, Dr. Cohen also spent three years as a patent agent at an international law firm, where he worked on motion practice, patent prosecution, due diligence, and opinion drafting. Before that, he was a scientific advisor for three years at a boutique intellectual property law firm, where he worked on Hatch-Waxman litigations, as well as due diligence, opinion drafting and patent prosecution. Dr. Cohen was recognized as a Rising Star in the New York-Metro edition of Super Lawyers from 2017-2020.
Andrew Haddad is an Associate in the firm's Litigation department. From 2019 to 2020, Mr. Haddad served as a law clerk to the Hon. Albert Diaz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 2018 to 2019, Mr. Haddad served as a law clerk to the Hon. Nicholas G. Garaufis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Prior to joining Patterson Belknap, Mr. Haddad was an associate at an international law firm in New York and a volunteer attorney for the Biden-Harris transition team in fall 2020.
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney
- Litigation Staff Attorney
Andrew Bloomfield is a Staff Attorney in the firm's Litigation Department.
Andrew Kirschenbaum is an Associate in the firm's Litigation department, where he represents clients in a variety of litigation contexts from pre-suit investigation through appeal and judgment collection. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kirschenbaum served as a law clerk to the Hon. Cathy Seibel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He previously worked as a litigation associate in the New York office of an international law firm.
Education
Fordham University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2019)
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Member of the American College of Real Estate
Andy Herz is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and is included in The Best Lawyers in America® and recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA as a key member of our highly rated real estate department. Mr. Herz operates as a broad-based commercial real estate lawyer advising corporate clients on acquisition, development and leasing transactions. Specifically, Chambers maintains that ‘the "terrific," "excellent" and "very capable" Andrew Herz has "developed a great reputation for himself" as "a seasoned real estate practitioner" in the New York market. Contemporaries state that they would refer leasing matters to him "without a shadow of a doubt."' Clients have stated that he is "an incredible leasing lawyer, probably the best in the city in terms of leasing." He has also been designated as one of only 32 real estate lawyers in the world to be included in the 2017 edition of The Best of the Best in Real Estate published by Legal Media Group. He has been an adjunct professor at both Vanderbilt Law School and Brooklyn Law School where he taught intensive commercial real estate law courses. For fourteen years, Mr. Herz has been a member of the Advisory Board and presenter at Georgetown University's Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute. His clients include major real estate owners and developers, hedge funds, technology providers, hospitals, professional service companies, charitable institutions and other law firms.
Andy Herz received the 2016 New York Bar Association's Real Property Law Section Professionalism Award for his "exceptional contributions of time and talent to New York real estate lawyers." The award identifies a person "possessing an outstanding level of competence, legal ability and achievement; a continuing civility and appreciation for others in his/her practice; a person who has engaged in mentoring of younger attorneys and who has been involved in Bar activities both on a state and local level."
Based substantially on his background with workouts, financing and real estate operation, Andy has four times been named a receiver in commercial property foreclosures; one of which required him to complete construction of a Manhattan office building and another of which placed him in charge of a 288 room Manhattan hotel with a restaurant. The value of all of these properties increased during his receiverships. Earlier in his career, Andy was the General Counsel of the New York State Mortgage Loan Enforcement and Administration Corporation, the workout arm of New York's Urban Development Corporation, which handled its defaulted $1.2 billion mortgage portfolio.
Andy has held leadership positions in numerous professional organizations, having served as chair of the Leasing Committee of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers; co-chair of the Office Leasing Committee and the Real Estate Asset Management Committee of the American Bar Association; and chair of the New York State Bar Association's Commercial Leasing Committee. He has also been designated as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a member of the New York City Committee of the Regional Plan Association. Andy has participated in seminars on workouts, commercial leasing, loan restructurings and mortgage financing for numerous industry groups, including New York University Real Estate Institute, the Real Estate Board of New York, the Practising Law Institute, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the New York Law Journal, The National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives and the Harvard Business School Real Estate Club. He served as a contributing editor to the New York Bar Association's text, Commercial Leasing, published in 2017.
Mr. Herz was a frequent guest on "Wake Up With Whoopi" talking about real estate law issues with Whoopi Goldberg. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of White Plains Hospital and of New Beginnings, a subsidiary of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison. He is also designated as an Honorary Director of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer
On March 27, Counsel Jenny Longman will present at a STEP webinar titled "FinCEN Transparency Initiatives Have Become UBIQUITOUS." Ms. Longman will be joined by Alan Winston Granwell (Of Counsel, Holland & Knight), Jennifer J. Wioncek (Practice Group Leader, Tax & Private Wealth, Bilzen Sumberg), and Sergio Alvarez-Mena (Chief International Counsel, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.) to explore the latest FinCEN transparency initiatives. To learn more, please click here.
Job Titles:
- Practice Area Attorney
- Practice Area Law Clerk
Job Titles:
- Associate General Counsel
Job Titles:
- Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Patterson Belknap Partner
Job Titles:
- Chief Business Development Officer
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Announces New Counsel and Special Counsel
- Announces Six New Partners and Six Counsel
- Announces Three New Partners and Five Counsel
- Announces Three New Partners and Three Counsel
- Announces Three New Partners and Two Counsel
- Announces Two New Partners and Five Counsel
- Announces Two New Partners and Six Counsel
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is pleased to announce that, effective January 1, 2024, Susan M. Vignola and Justin Zaremby will become partners of the firm, and Sara A. Arrow, J. Jay Cho, Zhiqiang Liu, Tara J. Norris, Ryan J. Sheehan, and Christopher Wilds will become counsel. Susan M. Vignola practices in the firm's Tax-Exempt Organizations department, where she represents a wide range of charitable and nonprofit institutions, including private foundations and public charities, donor-advised fund sponsoring organizations, social justice and advocacy organizations, international grantmaking institutions, schools and universities, and arts and cultural institutions, as well as their affiliated organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Ms. Vignola also counsels individual, family, and corporate donors on philanthropic planning and engagement with...
Patterson Belknap has been shortlisted for Benchmark Litigation's 2024 U.S. Awards for the New York category. According to Benchmark, these annual awards "recognize the country's most distinguished litigators and firms for their exemplary work over the past 12 months." Congratulations to the four other law firms who are shortlisted in the New York category: Cravath, Swaine & Moore Holwell Shuster & Goldberg Kramer Levin Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz The Benchmark awards will be presented in New York on March 13, 2024. The full list of 2024 award nominees, as well as additional information about the awards, can be found here.
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is pleased to announce that intellectual property attorney Stephanie Bunting Glaser has become Counsel to the Firm, and employee benefits and executive compensation attorney Jessica S. Carter has become Special Counsel. Ms. Glaser has been...
Patterson Belknap has again been ranked as a leading law firm by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC's Benchmark Litigation in the top category, "Highly Recommended," for New York Dispute Resolution, National General Commercial, and National Antitrust. In the 2024 edition, "A client expands on the firm's overall approach through a glowing accolade: ‘They bring a potent combination of transactional and litigation expertise to the table to help clients achieve their objectives. Building on their knowledge of deal documents and judicial decisions, they are great strategists and excellent writers. They tell their client candidly when it has a weak position, rather than engaging in undue optimism.'" The publication also notes: "The firm's practice offering covers a diverse spectrum, spanning commercial matters, white-collar crime, antitrust,...
Patterson Belknap received five awards in 2017 and 2018 based upon work pioneered and led by Mr. Mangi: the "Legal Leadership Award" by the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey; the Muslim Bar Association of New York's "Champions of Justice Award," the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association's 2018 "Religious Liberty Award" and 2017 "Landmark Litigation Award," and the South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey's "Trailblazer Award."
Patterson Belknap is proud to congratulate Partner Adeel A. Mangi on his nomination by President Biden to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If confirmed, Mr. Mangi will be the first Muslim to serve as a federal appellate court judge. To read the White House's announcement of Mr. Mangi's nomination, please click here.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Job Titles:
- Director of E - Discovery and Client Services
Susan Vignola practices in the firm's Tax-Exempt Organizations department, where she represents a wide range of charitable and nonprofit institutions, including private foundations and public charities, donor-advised fund sponsoring organizations, social justice and advocacy organizations, international grantmaking institutions, schools and universities, and arts and cultural institutions, as well as their affiliated organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Ms. Vignola also counsels individual, family, and corporate donors on philanthropic planning and engagement with tax-exempt organizations. She regularly advises clients in governance, regulatory and compliance matters, donor-advised funds, cross-border philanthropy, management and expenditure of endowments, and related corporate, tax, and regulatory matters. Ms. Vignola also helps tax-exempt organizations manage institutional collaborations and has extensive expertise advising clients on 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) affiliations and helping clients navigate the rules relating to lobbying and political activity. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Ms. Vignola spent over a decade working for nonprofit institutions in the U.S. and overseas. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, M.A. from the George Washington University, and B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer