Andrés Mercado

James F. Botana is a principal in the Chicago, Illinois, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He represents management in employment cases in federal and state courts, and before administrative agencies in a variety of employment and labor-related claims. Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, he was a prosecutor and a senior attorney in the Employment Litigation Department of the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago. He has successfully prosecuted and defended numerous civil and crimin...

Bruce S. Griffen is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: General Practice and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Bruce S., who practices law in Flagstaff, Arizona, has been recognized since 2010. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Bruce S. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

As co-head of Katten's highly ranked structured finance and securitization practice, Howard Schickler offers clients insights formed from more than 30 years of experience representing private equity funds, special situation funds, specialty finance companies and the full range of players in structured finance transactions. Howie takes care to understand his clients' businesses, having worked with some all the way from the launch of their businesses through their growth cycle, including merger...

David Palay is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law and Commercial Litigation. David, who practices law in Madison, Wisconsin, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which David is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Mark Piontek is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Municipal Law. Mark, who practices law in St. Louis, Missouri, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mark is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Paul co-founded Gilchrist & Rutter in 1983 and practiced law until 2006, at which time he joined a publicly held REIT client as an executive vice president. After working as an executive vice president and then as co-chief operating officer and general counsel in two publicly held real estate companies from 2006-2014, and the merger of his company into another publicly held REIT, Paul returned to his law practice in January 2014. He combines his lega...

Meredith (“Merry”) Campbell serves as a business advisor to local, national and global clients who look to her for counsel on managing their most important asset — their employees. Clients hire her because she successfully resolves workplace-related issues while helping them to maintain a positive and productive workplace. She often serves as outside General Counsel to her clients, advising on personnel matters and ensuring that her clients are up-to-date on compliance, trai...

John C. Jeppsen focuses his practice on corporate and securities law, public offerings and private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and other sophisticated finance transactions. John regularly advises public companies on Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting obligations including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, stock exchange listing rules and corporate governance matters.

John Baron is the lead partner of the Charlotte office’s Federal and International Tax Group, partner-in-charge of the Charlotte office and chair of the partners committee. His practice is principally transactional in nature, and his clients include both domestic and foreign companies and financial institutions, as well as private equity firms, CDOs and hedge funds. He regularly provides tax structuring advice and renders tax opinions with respect to mergers and acquisitions, structured...

Richard “Rush” Howell is a litigation partner in Kirkland’s Chicago office. Recognized as a trial lawyer companies call when the issues are too important not to fight, Rush has significant experience serving as trial counsel for companies in high-profile restructuring and product liability cases and representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a wide array of business disputes. His practice spans commercial litigation, restructuring, data security an...