press releases

O’Melveny Names Eight New Partners in 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Los Angeles—December 9, 2016—Eight outstanding lawyers will become O’Melveny partners effective January 1, 2017: Aleksander Bakic (London), Drew Breuder (Century City), M. Elizabeth Dubeck (Los Angeles), Nikole Kingston (Newport Beach), Jeeho Lee (Los Angeles), William Pao (Los Angeles), Youngwook Shin (Seoul), and Meaghan VerGow (Washington, DC).

“This class is a true representation of O’Melveny’s long-term strategic plans, representing a diverse group of people from growing practice areas,” said Bradley J. Butwin, chair of O’Melveny. “These men and women not only excel at client service, but uphold O’Melveny’s values of excellence, leadership, and citizenship.”

Aleksander Bakic With a detailed and evolving knowledge of the changing regulatory landscape for investment funds, Bakic delivers precise and to-the-point advice to European and emerging markets private fund sponsors, institutional investors, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds from O’Melveny’s London office. His primary asset focus is on European mid-market and African buy-outs, including growth and venture strategies. His extensive experience with cross-border deals allows Bakic to streamline these structured and complex transactions spanning multiple jurisdictions for his clients. Bakic joined O’Melveny in 2012. He has an LL.B. from the University of Ljubljana, 2004, and a Master of Law from the London School of Economics-Department of Law, 2006. Bakic is fluent in Italian, Slovenian, and Serbo-Croatian.

Drew Breuder Breuder is a tireless litigator who, from the firm’s Century City office, advises clients on a wide range of matters, including copyright, trademark, intellectual property, white collar investigations, and entertainment and media. Major clients that Breuder has represented in recent years include motion picture studios, a leading athletic footwear company, a national satellite radio broadcasting company, live sporting, music, and boxing promoters, and others in the entertainment and media industries. In addition to his extensive client work, Breuder heads the Century City Associate and Counsel Advisory Committee and actively mentors junior associates. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1998 and his bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1994.

M. Elizabeth Dubeck Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, Dubeck is a pioneer in the project development and real estate space, applying the public-private partnership model to infrastructure development, particularly airports, seaports, and rail facilities, and leading the privatization of government-owned assets. She also represents project sponsors and financial institutions in financings of infrastructure and related projects, and represents developers, tenants, and lenders in the development and leasing of real estate assets. Firmwide, Dubeck has served on the Associate and Counsel Advisory Committee and was the co-chair of the Women Attorneys’ Network in 2013. She joined O’Melveny in 2007 after receiving her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006, and her bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 2002. Before joining the firm, Dubeck worked for the CIA, and clerked for Judge Samuel Mays of the Western District of Tennessee. 

Nikole Kingston Kingston represents start-up, emerging growth, and Fortune 500 companies, as well as private equity firms, individual shareholders, owners, and principals in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. She counsels companies with operations and interests in numerous industries, from health care and technology to general consumer products, often advising them on securities law compliance, public reporting, and general corporate governance. Kingston joined O’Melveny in 2005 following her graduation from Chapman University School of Law and is an active firm leader, serving on the Newport Beach Business Development, Camaraderie and Community Involvement, and Employment committees. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University in 1999. 

Jeeho Lee A highly versatile corporate transactional lawyer, Lee has a broad capital markets practice representing both issuers and underwriters in deals ranging from high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings to initial public offerings to complex equity and debt tender offers. She also assists public companies with securities law compliance, disclosure issues, and corporate governance matters, as well as advising on bankruptcy proceedings on the creditor and debtor sides. Lee has been based in the Los Angeles office since joining the firm in 2007 and led the office’s summer program in 2013. She received her law degree from University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall in 2007 and her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2004.

William K. Pao Since joining the firm’s Los Angeles office in 2012, Pao has become an integral member of the securities and bank litigation practices, representing some of the firm’s largest financial institution clients in complex cases, particularly class actions challenging mortgage and loan servicing issues. Pao’s fluency in Mandarin also makes him ideally positioned to advise clients on foreign direct investment from China and China-related litigation. He is Vice Chair of the California State Bar’s International Law Section, and is equally active within O’Melveny, where he has served on the Employment Committee and as a Work Coordinator. Pao graduated from University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall in 2006 and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California in 2001. 

Youngwook Shin With a deep understanding of the business and legal environment of both the US and Korea, Shin was integral to the opening of O’Melveny’s Seoul office and to the expansion of the Korea Practice. Korean automotive companies, consumer electronics leaders, and financial institutions look to Shin for counsel in complex business litigation, antitrust, FCPA, regulatory, and transactional matters. Since joining O’Melveny in 2009, Shin has been based in the Los Angeles office but will relocate to the Seoul office early next year and will be a representative attorney of the Seoul office. He also is an exemplary firm citizen, working with North Korean refugee students and Human Rights Watch. Shin completed his LL.M. at Georgetown University Law Center in 2007, master coursework in law at Seoul National University Graduate School in 1998, and his Bachelor of Laws at Seoul National University in 1995.

Meaghan VerGow Based in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, VerGow is a skilled litigator and a powerhouse in the ERISA litigation arena. She represents financial services clients in high-profile commercial litigation and class actions at the trial and appellate levels, and has contributed to the defense of sweeping class actions in the automotive and healthcare industries. She also counsels clients on legal, policy, and regulatory matters. Since joining O’Melveny in 2007, VerGow has embodied the firm’s values, co-chairing her office’s summer program and women’s employee network. VerGow received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 2004, and her bachelor’s degree from Columbia in 1998. After law school, she clerked for Judge Merrick B. Garland on the DC Circuit and for Justice David H. Souter on the US Supreme Court.

About O’Melveny
O’Melveny’s clients shape markets, set precedents, and break boundaries. They are stalwarts and innovators, the names you trust and the next big thing. And for more than a century, O’Melveny has been right beside them, kicking down walls and putting up defenses to help our clients achieve their most important goals. With approximately 700 lawyers in 15 offices worldwide guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship, we uphold a tradition of treating our clients’ challenges and opportunities as our own. What do you want to achieve? For the answers, please visit www.omm.com.

Contact:
Julie Fei
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
213.430.7792
jfei@omm.com