News

Aaron Futch ’02 has been appointed executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Redwire Corporation, a global space infrastructure company based in Jacksonville, Florida. Futch is a longtime aerospace executive and corporate attorney in the space industry. He joins Redwire from Virgin Galactic, where he was associate general counsel, corporate and regulatory. Prior to that he was assistant general counsel for Intelsat General Corporation.

Russell Gorkin ’12 has joined Barnes & Thornburg as counsel in its New York office. Russell works with corporate clients on complex and high-stakes disputes, including contract disputes and related business torts, and bankruptcy-related matters.

Nathaniel Jones ’16 was promoted to counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth. He is based in Charlotte, where he focuses his corporate practice on transactional, securities, and corporate governance matters involving banks, bank holding companies and other financial institutions.

Asghar Leghari LLM ’18 has been appointed Assistant Advocates General at the Office of the Advocate General, Punjab, where he represents the government in environmental cases. Asghar is a founding partner at PrimeLegalCo., Advocates and Corporate Counsel in Lahore, Pakistan. His practice encompasses constitutional and environmental law, and he has served as an independent director on the board of a state-owned power distribution company.

Jared Manse ’07 was recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with a 2023 Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate for his work in assisting under-resourced inventors and small businesses with the protection of their ideas. Jared is counsel. Jared is a molecular microbiologist and patent attorney in the intellectual property group at UB Greensfelder, where his areas of expertise include life science, biochemical, pharmaceutical, material sciences, and food law and regulations. 

Serena Rwejuna ’13 will be honored by Corporate Counsel at its 2024 Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards on Sept. 24 in Chicago. Serena, a partner in the energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance group at White & Case in Washington, D.C., is recognized for her sponsorship, allyship and mentorship of young diverse professionals, with a special focus on developing and advancing women, African and African American lawyers. She mentors young attorneys within the firm as well as students in law school at Howard University, American University, and Duke. She is also an inaugural member of the Energy Bar Association's Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.

Adam Safwat JD/LLM ’94, a former deputy chief of the fraud section of the DOJ’s criminal division, has joined Foley Hoag as partner in the firm’s white collar crime and government investigations practice in Washington, D.C. Adam’s practice focuses on representing companies and individuals facing government investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. economic sanctions laws, political corruption, the Foreign Agent Registration Act, securities laws, and financial fraud. Most recently, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Nelson Mullins.

Steven Sauro JD/MA ’93 joined Barnes & Thornburg as of counsel in its Atlanta office. Steven concentrates his practice on transactional matters with a focus on real estate and finance.

Connie Shoemaker ’95 was appointed to the board of directors of Anchorage Digital Bank. Connie, a longtime financial services and asset management executive, is COO and CFO of Bridgewater Associates Holdings, Bridgewater’s parent company. Previously, she was chief administrative officer for Goldman Sachs Bank USA and has also held a senior leadership role at Macquarie Asset Management.

David Szekeres ’00 was appointed president of Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for chronic inflammatory diseases. David was most recently executive vice president and chief operating officer of Heron Therapeutics. He chairs the board of GRI Bio and is a member of the boards of CureMatch, Colossal Biosciences, and the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

Daniel Tola ’13 joined O’Melveny’s Los Angeles and Century City offices as a partner in its corporate finance practice. He moves from Katten, where he represented alternative lenders, commercial banks, investment banks, finance companies, equity groups, hedge funds, and private companies in US and cross-border working capital facilities, acquisition financings, subscription line financings, and other leveraged finance transactions.

Philip Weissman ’12 has joined the board of directors of the Advanced Air Mobility Institute. He is the founder of Advanced Air Mobility Professionals, serves as co-chair of the New York City Bar Aviation and Space Law Committee, and is on the Leadership Board of the International Bar Association Aviation Committee.

John Yates '81 has been appointed co-chairman of Morris, Manning & Martin. John has been with the firm for 37 years and founded its corporate technology practice that now represents more than 600 clients across 45 states and 11 countries. He is a philanthropic and civic leader in Atlanta and in 2023 was honored with the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Leaders in Corporate Citizenship Ann Cramer Lifetime Achievement Award.