Winston & Strawn Appoints Seven New Managing Partners

Winston & Strawn Appoints Seven New Managing Partners

Winston & Strawn has announced the appointment of seven new managing partners across the firm’s offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Houston, Los Angeles New York, Paris, and London. The new appointments are a part of the firm’s periodic realignment of its management and leadership, undertaken by the firm’s Executive Committee. The newly appointed leaders will be responsible for taking forward the firm’s growth and strategic plans.

The newly appointed office managing partners at Winston & Strawn are:

Michael Blankenship has been appointed as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Houston office. He co-chairs the firm’s Energy & Infrastructure Advisory Group and the ESG Advisory Team. He specializes in M&A, private equity, corporate finance, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) offerings, and securities law. He routinely advises public companies on capital market offerings, strategic transactions, and matters related to securities and corporate laws. He joined the firm in 2020 and has previously worked at Locke Lord LLP, Vinson & Elkins, Paul Hastings, and Shearman & Sterling.

Mats Carlston has been appointed as the Managing Partner of the firm’s New York Office. He serves as the co-chair of the firm’s Finance Practice. He joined the firm in 2015 and has previously worked at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Nixon Peabody LLP. With more than 25 years of experience, he represents finance companies, direct lenders, and leading banks in syndicated financings and restructurings, with a focus on recapitalizations and leveraged buyouts of private equity sponsored enterprises.

Angela Machala has been appointed as the Managing Partner in the firm’s Los Angeles Office. She is also the West Coast Chair of the firm’s White Collar, Regulatory Defense & Investigations Practice. She joined the firm in February 2021 and has previously worked at Scheper Kim & Harris LLP. Her practice focuses on counseling clients on a variety of matters related to health care fraud, securities fraud, FCA violations, theft of trade secrets, environmental crimes, and other alleged offenses. She also provides representation to executives and companies in high-profile white-collar criminal cases and securities and regulatory enforcement matters. She also helps companies with sensitive internal investigations.

Cardelle Spangler has been appointed as the Managing Partner in the firm’s Chicago office. Her practice focuses on highly sensitive investigations, employment litigation, and counseling matters. She has also provided representation to clients in collective action, class action, multi-plaintiff, and single-plaintiff litigation. Her experience includes representing clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and financial services, food service, and transportation industries. She chairs the firm’s Respect in the Workplace Committee and is a member of the firm’s Associate Evaluation and Diversity Committees.

Danielle Williams has been appointed as the Managing Partner in the Charlotte office of the firm. She arbitrates matters related to patent infringement, copyright infringement, antitrust, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, and environmental laws. She also represents clients in high-profile disputes involving material damages demands in federal and state courts across the country. She handles a variety of patent infringement cases relating to different technologies and industries including high-tech, semiconductors, financial services, telecommunications, software, consumer products, and mobile applications.

Nicholas Usher has been appointed as the Office Managing Partner of the firm’s London office. He has significant M&A and private equity experience in the UK. He also headed the team that was awarded Legal Week M&A Team of the year in 2016. Jérôme Herbet has been appointed as the Office Managing Partner of the firm’s Paris office. She serves as the Chair of the Paris Corporate Practice.

Tom Fitzgerald, Chairman of Winston & Strawn, said, “Winston is committed to delivering exceptional service to our clients worldwide. This new and accomplished team of managing partners will anchor seven important markets that are key to our global strategy. We congratulate them on this assignment and thank our outgoing office managing partners for their outstanding leadership.”

Michael Elkin, Vice Chairman of Winston & Strawn said, “We look forward to working with our new leaders in implementing various goals identified in our strategic plan at both the office and regional levels.”

Recently, the firm has also appointed seven new partners to the firm’s 27-member Executive Committee.