Davis Polk has announced that 19 lawyers have been promoted to counsel, effective January 1, 2022: Christopher A. Baratta, Stephen A. Byeff, Sijia Cai, Vanessa Chan, Hillary A. Coleman, Matthew J. Cowcher, Bo Huang, Samuel Kang, Elina Khodorkovsky, Nathan Kiratzis, Kwesi Larbi-Siaw, Jennifer Liu, Maude Paquin, Stephen D. Piraino, Michael J. Russo, Joseph Scrace, Chris Van Buren, Jie Zhang and Albert Zhu.

Chris Baratta is counsel in Davis Polk’s Tax practice in New York. He advises a wide range of clients, including financial institutions, technology companies and multinational manufacturers, in a variety of tax controversy matters ranging from Internal Revenue Service audits and appeals to federal and state court proceedings. He recently represented a client in the securities industry in a trial before the United States Tax Court in a matter of first impression. He also has significant experience advising on the tax aspects of complex capital markets transactions, as well as representing clients in the private equity space in relation to tax matters, including fund structuring and mergers and acquisitions.

Stephen Byeff is counsel in Davis Polk’s Capital Markets practice in New York. He advises U.S. and non-U.S. clients on capital markets transactions, as well as governance, public company disclosure and general corporate matters. Stephen represents corporate and financial institution clients on a variety of transactions, including IPOs, SPACs, private placements and high-yield, investment-grade and convertible debt offerings. His practice ranges across a variety of industries, including retail, technology, automotive, biotech, pharmaceuticals, industrials, financial services, insurance and energy.

Sijia Cai is counsel in Davis Polk’s Investment Management practice in New York. Sijia advises private fund sponsors in connection with the organization, marketing and operation of private investment funds, including private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds and co-investment funds. She also represents private fund sponsors and institutional investors in connection with complex secondary transactions, including GP-led secondary transactions. Sijia regularly advises institutional investors in connection with investments in private funds and other advisory arrangements. She also provides regulatory and compliance advice to investment managers and other financial institutions regarding compliance with the Investment Company Act and Investment Advisers Act. 

Vanessa Chan is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate practice in Hong Kong. She has experience in a wide variety of capital markets transactions. Her practice focuses on advising corporate clients on all aspects of ongoing compliance matters, including corporate governance, capital structure, public reporting and disclosure. She has worked with clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including technology, healthcare, consumer products, energy and mining, insurance and securities. Vanessa is dual qualified in Hong Kong and in England and Wales.

Hillary Coleman is counsel in Davis Polk’s Capital Markets practice in New York. She advises U.S. and non-U.S. issuers and underwriters on capital markets transactions, including initial public offerings and other equity offerings and public and private high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings, including in Latin America. She also advises U.S. and non-U.S. clients on governance, corporate and securities law matters. Her practice ranges across a variety of industries, including digital currency, technology, financial services, energy, healthcare, consumer products and industrials.

Matthew Cowcher is counsel in Davis Polk’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice in New York. He advises on a broad range of public and private transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, investments, spinoffs, joint ventures and other corporate partnering arrangements, and other general corporate matters. His experience includes a wide variety of U.S. and international transactions across a number of industries, including technology, financial services, media and communications, consumer products, biotech, pharmaceuticals and cryptoassets.

Bo Huang is counsel in Davis Polk’s Litigation practice in Hong Kong. He advises Chinese companies and individuals, Chinese and international financial institutions, and multinational corporations in regulatory and internal investigations of alleged U.S. and Hong Kong securities law violations, breaches of Hong Kong sponsors requirements and FCPA violations. He also advises on sanctions and export control compliance, licensing matters and fintech regulations. Bo previously spent over five years in our Corporate practice.

Samuel Kang is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate practice, currently practicing as a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Hong Kong. He advises private equity sponsors and corporate clients on a wide range of M&A matters, including sponsor-led acquisitions and divestitures, leveraged buyouts, mergers, going-private transactions, strategic M&A, restructurings, and venture and growth capital financings. He has extensive experience advising on transactions across the Asia-Pacific region.

Elina Khodorkovsky is counsel in Davis Polk’s Tax practice in New York. She advises clients on the federal income tax aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, spinoffs, internal reorganizations and a variety of capital markets transactions (including “Up-C” IPOs). Elina’s practice spans public and private clients in a broad spectrum of industries, including private equity and the fintech, industrials, healthcare and energy sectors.

Nathan Kiratzis is counsel in Davis Polk’s Antitrust & Competition practice in New York. He advises clients on the competition law aspects of complex transactions across a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, technology, industrials and consumer products. Nathan routinely represents clients in merger investigations and in non-merger conduct investigations before the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. In his M&A advisory practice, Nathan assists clients with the development of strategies for obtaining competition clearance of transactions across international jurisdictions. He is an editor of Global Competition Review’s Merger Remedies Guide.

Kwesi Larbi-Siaw is counsel in Davis Polk’s Finance practice in New York. He advises financial institutions and borrowers on a variety of fund financing transactions and structured financings, including NAV facilities, capital call facilities and back-leverage transactions.

Jennifer Liu is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate practice, currently practicing as a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Hong Kong. She has substantial experience in complex capital markets transactions. Jennifer represents both corporate and financial institution clients on public and private equity and debt transactions, including initial public offerings, follow-on equity offerings, high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings, and liability management transactions. She has advised on a wide variety of capital markets transactions across many sectors, including real estate, healthcare, technology, consumer products and financial institutions.

Maude Paquin is counsel in Davis Polk’s White Collar Defense & Investigations practice in New York. Maude represents multinational corporations and individuals in internal and external investigations, focusing particularly on financial institutions and technology companies in areas such as fraud, antitrust and privacy. She has represented clients in connection with criminal and civil investigations by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Reserve and others. Maude’s matters frequently involve coordinating joint or parallel investigations by multiple U.S. and global regulators in cross-border investigations and enforcement actions, as well as follow-on civil litigation. She also regularly advises clients on corporate governance and compliance matters.

Stephen Piraino is counsel in Davis Polk’s Restructuring practice in New York. He regularly advises clients on a wide array of U.S. and international restructuring matters. He has represented companies, agent banks, indenture trustees, ad hoc groups and strategic partners in both in-court and out-of-court transactions, including prepackaged and traditional chapter 11 cases, DIP financing and cross-border restructurings. Stephen has experience in a variety of industries, including aviation, energy, telecommunications, media, consumer products and retail. Prior to joining the firm, Stephen clerked for the Hon. Barbara J. Houser of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Mike Russo is counsel in Davis Polk’s Derivatives & Structured Products and Capital Markets practices in New York. He advises financial institutions and other market participants on all aspects of the development, issuance and marketing of U.S. and international capital markets transactions. These include public and private offerings of fixed- and floating-rate debt securities, preferred stock and structured notes linked to a variety of different assets. Mike has extensive experience developing new financial products, including proprietary indexes; green, social and sustainability bonds; and financing transactions related to cryptocurrencies. He routinely advises on SEC, FINRA and other regulatory and transactional matters relating to securities offerings and new product development.

Joe Scrace is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate practice in London. He advises corporate and investment banking clients on public and private M&A transactions, takeovers, and securities offerings and listings. He has particular experience advising on the Takeover Code and has been recognized by Legal 500 UK as a “Rising Star” for premium and upper mid-market M&A.

Chris Van Buren is counsel in Davis Polk’s Capital Markets practice in New York. He represents issuers, private equity investors and investment banks in connection with SEC-registered and exempt offerings. U.S. and international capital markets transactions he has advised on include equity offerings (IPOs, follow-ons, SPAC IPOs and de-SPACs), debt offerings (high-yield and investment-grade) and liability management transactions. He also advises clients on general corporate matters, including corporate governance and SEC compliance. Chris’s transactional practice spans a broad spectrum of industries, including healthcare and life sciences, fintech, industrials, insurance, retail and energy.

Jie Zhang is counsel in Davis Polk’s Corporate practice, currently practicing as a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Beijing. She advises corporate clients and private equity funds on M&A matters, including pre-IPO financings, buyouts, joint ventures, PIPEs, de-SPACs, going-private transactions and strategic investments. She also advises clients on securities law and general corporate matters.

Albert Zhu is counsel in Davis Polk’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice in New York. He represents U.S. and international clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, corporate governance, shareholder activism and other general corporate matters. He also advises private equity firms and their portfolio companies on a range of transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions of investments, leveraged buyouts and minority investments.

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