12 Latham Partners Named 2025 MVPs

Twelve Latham & Watkins partners were named 2025 MVPs of the Year by Law360, the most of any law firm this year. The annual selection of leading lawyers across the industry recognizes honorees who “have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing significant achievements in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.”

The 2025 Latham Law360 MVPs are:

• David Allinson: Private Equity —  A partner in Latham’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department, David helps high-profile private equity clients structure and execute transactions across dynamic industries. He leads the Latham teams representing Blackstone and Hotwire Communications in Brookfield Infrastructure’s US$7 billion strategic investment in Hotwire, and CPP Investments in a US$15+ billion joint venture to expand hyperscale data centers in the US.
• Rachel Bates: Real Estate — The Global Vice Chair of Latham’s Real Estate Practice, Rachel advises clients on all aspects of their most significant real estate transactions across a variety of asset classes. She is among the firm’s top strategic advisors to Hyatt Hotels Corporation, representing the hospitality giant in its US$1.07 billion sale of Hyatt Regency Orlando, its US$2.6 billion acquisition of Playa Hotels, and the subsequent US$2 billion spin-out of the Playa portfolio.
• Matthew Brill: Telecommunications — The Global Chair of Latham’s Connectivity, Privacy & Information Practice and a member of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, Matthew represents prominent communications companies in their most complex litigation, regulatory, and transactional matters. He leads the Latham team advising Cox Enterprises in its blockbuster US$34.5 billion transaction with Charter Communications and also helped lead appellate challenges poised to shape the industry’s future, including overturning the FCC’s imposition of common-carrier requirements on broadband providers and challenging the agency’s digital discrimination and data breach reporting rules.
• Les Carnegie: International Trade — The co-leader of both Latham’s Economic Sanctions & Export Controls Practice and the CFIUS & US National Security Practice, Les advises companies, financial institutions, and private equity funds on a variety of national security issues, including sanctions, export controls, and foreign investment reviews. He recently led a team that successfully secured CFIUS clearance for Coherus BioSciences in connection with the sale of a major cancer-related drug.
• Charles Claypoole: International Arbitration — The London-based partner is a leading arbitration and international trade law practitioner, advising governments and investors on some of the most complex and challenging sanctions matters in recent years. Charles successfully led the team representing UniCredit Bank in a landmark legal case involving anti-suit injunctions before the UK Supreme Court, marking the first instance of English courts granting anti-suit relief for non-English-seated arbitration.
• David Della Rocca: Benefits — A partner in the firm’s Executive Compensation, Employment & Benefits Practice, David represents private equity funds, investors, and public and privately owned companies on benefits and compensation matters in connection with high-profile mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, IPOs, and other corporate transactions. He represents Cox Enterprises on employee benefits and executive compensation matters in connection with Cox Communications’ pending US$34.5 billion merger with Charter Communications, and Omnicom on the employee benefits and executive compensation aspects of its pending US$13 billion acquisition of Interpublic.
• Bradley Faris: M&A — A Global Vice Chair of Latham’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice, Bradley advises leading global companies and their boards on business-defining domestic and cross-border transactions that drive growth and shape global markets. He leads the Latham teams representing Cox Enterprises in the pending US$34.5 billion combination of Cox Communications with Charter Communications, and Omnicom in its pending US$13 billion acquisition of Interpublic.
• Jeff Hammel: Securities — The Co-Chair of Latham’s New York Litigation & Trial Department, Jeff represents Fortune 500 and other public companies, financial institutions, and officers and directors in their highest-stakes litigation matters. On March 19, 2025, Jeff achieved the remarkable feat of securing three consecutive victories in different courts for three different clients — Vroom Automotive, Sotera Health, and dLocal — within a single day.
• Lewis Kneib: Capital Markets — The Global Co-Chair of Latham’s REIT Industry Group, Lewis advises on industry-defining corporate finance and company representation matters across sectors, including real estate, hospitality, gaming, and alternative asset management. He co-led the Latham team representing Lineage in its US$4.4 billion IPO, which marked the largest IPO of 2024 and the largest IPO of a real estate company or REIT in history.
• Mike Morin: Intellectual Property — The Global Chair of Latham’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice, Mike represents leading companies — from start-ups to global leaders — in their most critical intellectual property matters, including multi-billion dollar cases involving many of the world’s best-selling drugs, medical devices, consumer products, and software products. He secured two jury trial victories in the last 18 months for Sarepta Therapeutics and Abbott Laboratories in major patent disputes over their signature products.
• Justin Stolte: Energy — The Global Chair of Latham’s Energy & Infrastructure (E&I) Group, which is consistently recognized as the top E&I practice in the world, Justin draws on prior experience in business and engineering roles at two global energy companies to lead Latham’s E&I Group and advise clients on transactions across the industry, including oil and gas, renewables, and non-energy infrastructure. His recent transactions include advising Brookfield in its US$5 billion AI joint venture with Bloom Energy and CPPIB in its US$5.6 billion sale of EAP.
• Pardis Zomorodi: Tax — A partner in the firm’s Transactional Tax Practice, Pardis advises US and international public and private companies on the tax aspects of complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, and IPOs. She was lead tax counsel to Lineage, the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT, in connection with its historic US$4.4 billion IPO, and she also represented Skydance Media on the tax aspects of its blockbuster merger with Paramount Global.