Chicago, October 18, 2006, - Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP announces the addition of nine new associates to the firm's California, Florida and Illinois offices. The new associates include the following:
Amanda Mattocks, 33. Amanda Mattocks devotes her litigation practice to the representation of self-insured employers and insurance companies in workers’ compensation cases. She handles all phases of litigation, including conducting depositions, court appearances, drafting legal memoranda and negotiating settlements. During the summer of 2001, she served as a legal intern with the Senate of Canada, assisting the Honorable Senator Lorna Milne (Lib.-Ontario), then chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Ms. Mattocks received her J.D. in 2003 from Michigan State University College of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and the Wolverine Student Bar Association. She is a member of the John M. Langston Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Daniel Sanchez-Behar, 32. Daniel Sanchez-Behar focuses his practice in the area of professional liability defense with an emphasis on the representation of lawyers. He also handles insurance coverage and commercial litigation matters, including business and real estate litigation. Mr. Sanchez-Behar is experienced in all phases of litigation. He earned his J.D. in 2004 from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he served as a member of the U.S.F. Law Review. While a member of the U.S.F. Law Review, Mr. Sanchez-Behar authored a comment: "California's Approach to the Interpretation of Insurance Policies--MacKinnon v. Truck Insurance Exchange," 38 U.S.F. Law Rev. 577 (2004). He was also a member of the National Appellate Advocacy Competition Moot Court Team and a technical editor of the U.S.F. Maritime Law Journal. Mr. Sanchez-Behar served as a judicial extern to The Honorable A. James Robertson, of the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Mr Sanchez-Behar speaks Spanish fluently.
Kendra L. Basner, 29. Kendra Basner represents professionals in malpractice cases and also handles complex insurance coverage disputes. As a former Assistant Attorney General in the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Basner has extensive trial experience before the Justice of the Peace, Court of Common Pleas, Superior and Chancery Courts, as well as the State Supreme Court in Delaware. She is involved in all aspects of litigation practice, including conducting investigations; drafting correspondence, memoranda and motions; and negotiating settlements. In addition to her law practice, Ms. Basner’s accomplishments as an Assistant Attorney General included creating the Volunteer Consumer Advocate Program; overseeing statewide registration for health spas and telemarketing businesses; and writing and speaking on a variety of fraud topics. She is the author of the “DE Consumer Fraud Handbook,” used by the Delaware Attorney General’s Office. Ms. Basner received her J.D. in 2003 from Widener University School of Law, where she was a member of the Intensive Trial Advocacy Team. Ms. Basner is a member of the American Bar Association and the California State Bar Association.
Damian M. Fletcher, 38. Damian Fletcher handles all phases of litigation practice and trials at both the state and federal levels. He focuses his practice in risk management and defense of claims against businesses, manufacturers and professionals in cases of catastrophic loss. Mr. Fletcher is experienced in handling commercial litigation, general liability and products liability matters. In addition, he litigates professional liability matters, with particular emphasis on medical malpractice. Mr. Fletcher received his J.D. from Florida State University College of Law in 1995. While in law school, he served a series of internships, including clerking for both the Office of the General Counsel of the Florida Department of Transportation and the Employment Litigation Section of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Fletcher is a member of the American Bar Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Broward County Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association and The Florida Bar. He has been rated by Martindale-Hubbell for ethics and legal ability.
Rockford, Illinois Office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Michael P. Davidson, 31. Michael Davidson represents health care providers such as health systems, hospitals and long-term care facilities in their business and regulatory matters, with a focus on corporate and regulatory compliance, fraud and abuse, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and reimbursement. Mr. Davidson has contributed to scholarship on the historical development of regulatory, statutory and tort controls on human-subject medical research, as well as prosecutions of illegal gratuities, kickbacks and reciprocal arrangements as they relate to health care business transactions. In addition to his transactional practice, Mr. Davidson has litigation experience under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711. Mr. Davidson received his J.D. and a Certificate in Health Law in 2006 from Saint Louis University School of Law. There, he served as Staff Editor of the “Journal of Health Law” and received an Academic Excellence Award. Mr. Davidson also served as a Faculty Fellow for Professor Jesse A. Goldner, for whom he researched and drafted articles and book chapters on diverse health law topics and assisted in founding the Children’s Health Advocacy Project, an initiative to improve low-income children’s health by including lawyers and law students in multi-disciplinary heath care teams in St. Louis children’s hospitals. He also gained experience through internships with the Office of General Counsel for the Health Sciences Center at Saint Louis University and with the Honorable James K. Donovan, of the Fifth Judicial District of the Appellate Court of Illinois. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Davidson administered national and international epidemiological health-outcomes research projects for a research organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Chicago, Illinois Office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Kaycee W. Hopwood, 27. Kaycee Hopwood focuses her practice in general liability litigation with particular emphasis on products liability and personal injury matters. Ms. Hopwood is involved in all aspects of trial preparation, including drafting complaints, memoranda and pre-trial motions. She received her J.D., cum laude, in 2006 from The John Marshall Law School, where she served as Lead Articles Editor for “The John Marshall Law Review”. She also received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Corporations and was a member of the Dean’s List. Ms. Hopwood is the author of “For It’s One, Two, Three Strikes, You’re Out . . .,” which was published in the Winter 2006 edition of “The John Marshall Law Review”.
John P. Ryan, 26. John Ryan’s litigation practice includes an emphasis on medical malpractice defense. In addition, he handles matters involving civil rights defense, construction litigation, government litigation and products liability litigation. Mr. Ryan received his J.D., cum laude, in 2006 from The John Marshall Law School. While in law school, he participated in the Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition; received the Best Brief in the 2005 John Marshall Herzog Moot Court Competition; and was a member of the Moot Court Executive Board. Mr. Ryan has assisted in the research and editing of “The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 – Navigating Through its Sea of Uncertainty, Parts I and II,” which was authored by Hinshaw attorney Steven M. Puiszis, and published in For the Defense, Vol. 47, Nos. 10 and 11, Defense Research Institute, October and November 2005. He is a member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel.
Megan L. Zust, 25. Megan Zust focuses her litigation practice in the areas of general liability defense, personal injury defense and products liability defense. She is involved in all aspects of pre-trial litigation, including researching and drafting memoranda, motions, complaints and answers. Ms. Zust received her J.D. in 2006 from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was a member of the Dean’s List, Moot Court Board, Myra Bradwell Association for Women Law Students, and the Public Interest Law Foundation. While in law school, she was also a founding member and Executive Board Member of the Business Law Society and won the Trial Advocacy Mock Trial. In addition to these law school accomplishments, Ms. Zust was a participant in the American Bar Association’s Negotiation Competition in 2003 and its Client Counseling Competition in 2004.
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is a national law firm with approximately 500 lawyers in 24 offices coast-to-coast. The firm offers a full-service practice, with an emphasis in litigation, corporate, environmental, employment and construction law, as well as professional liability defense matters. The firm provides services to a range of clients in financial services, construction, health care, not-for-profit, insurance, legal, manufacturing, real estate, retail, transportation and other industries. Firm clients also include government agencies, municipalities and schools.
Hinshaw was founded in 1934. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, and maintains offices in 12 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.