Matthew Christoff

Richard T. Ruzich is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Patent Law. Richard T., who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Richard T. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

G. Peter Nichols is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Patent Law. G. Peter, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which G. Peter is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Leslie Smith is a litigation partner and was a long-time member of the Firm’s Global Management Committee. She concentrates her practice in the areas of antitrust, class action, and consumer fraud litigation. The Legal 500 stated that Leslie has a ‘good strategic approach’, ‘demonstrates personal commitment to the company’s cause’ and ‘acquires and deploys the best firm talent appropriately’. Leslie is highlighted as “2017 Life Science Sta...

Joe Madonia is leader of the firm’s Environmental Litigation team. For more than 25 years, Joe has defended and counseled clients on a wide array of toxic tort and environmental matters at the local, regional and national levels. Joe delivers strong skills as a litigator, multifaceted trial experience, and the regulatory know-how and scientific depth needed to problem-solve at virtually any level of sophistication or difficulty. His experience includes serving as national trial counsel ...

Seth is a partner in the firm’s Corporate & Securities practice group. Seth focuses his practice on representing large and middle market private equity and venture funds and privately and publicly owned companies in a wide variety of domestic and cross-border complex business transactions. These include mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, venture capital investments, carve-out transactions, joint ventures, start-up financing, growth capital investments and c...

Brian Richards is Chair of the Firm’s Global Private Equity Practice and is a partner in the Private Equity and M&A practices at Paul Hastings. Brian has 30 years of experience leading complex domestic and international transactions, including leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and growth equity investments in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, technology, distribution, and services. The volume and breadth of Brian’s experience is rela...

Attorney – Jason Williams biography Jason Williams is a Chicago personal injury attorney at Smith LaCien LLP, concentrating in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death. He joined the firm in December 2021 after eight years as a solo practitioner, litigating cases at the trial and appellate levels on complex computer matters, medical malpractice, healthcare, antitrust and commercial work, and trusts and estates. The firm regularly confronts powerful corporatio...

Lowell D. Yoder focuses his practice on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, global tax planning and international tax controversies, representing high-tech, pharmaceutical, e-commerce, financial, consumer and industrial companies. He advises on tax-efficient structuring of cross-border acquisitions, dispositions, financings, internal reorganizations and joint ventures, as well as tax-beneficial planning for intangible holding companies, global supply chains and multi-jurisdictional service...

For the past two decades, Mike has been assisting clients develop and defend their patent portfolios. A former Army officer and Ford Motor Company design engineer, clients appreciate Mike’s organized approach to problems and his ability to communicate with inventors across a wide swath of technologies. Mike is a full spectrum patent attorney and is himself a patentee. On the prosecution side, Mike has procured patents in nearly every art group other than bio/pharma and has an almost per...

Bob Riley is a trial lawyer. He has tried a broad array of complex, high-stakes cases and has argued appeals in state and federal courts across the country. His practice focuses on product liability, mass torts, and environmental cases; class actions; and general commercial litigation. Bob’s appellate work has given rise to over forty reported decisions concerning trial consolidations, punitive damages, civil conspiracy, class certification, and constitutional interpretation. He litigat...