Philadelphia, April 8, 2020 — Cozen O'Connor is pleased to recognize 20 attorneys with the promotion to member: Isaac Binkovitz, Robert Careless, Ethan Chernin, William Craven, Greg Fischer, Andrew Hepworth, Aaron Holt, Matthew Horowitz, Anusha Jones, Tom Leonard, Jonathan Levy, Brock McCandless, Kristy Miller, Steven Millman, Jeffery Mullen, Seth Popick, Edgar Rapoport, Keri Schaubert, Benjamin Shechtman, and Samuel Stalker.
“It is really exciting for Cozen O'Connor to see so many talented attorneys continue to rise through the ranks of the firm,” said Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Heller. “This is a group of terrific lawyers and people and they will do a wonderful job representing Cozen O’Connor.”
Isaac Binkovitz’s practice focuses on financial fraud investigations and life insurance & annuities litigation. Isaac represents insurers in declaratory judgment actions seeking to have STOLI policies declared void ab initio. He also represents insurers in cases involving policy lapse disputes and other policyholder claims. In addition to his insurance practice, Isaac represents clients in general commercial litigation and matters relating to software licensing, trade secrets, and intellectual property.
Bob Careless concentrates his practice in the area of land use and zoning law, primarily in the city of Philadelphia and in the suburbs of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He represents developers, builders, property owners, investors, educational institutions, and financial institutions in a wide range of development and construction projects. Bob regularly appears before zoning hearing boards, planning commissions, and governing bodies as part of the zoning and land use approval process. He was named to the list of Pennsylvania Rising Stars for Land Use & Zoning in 2019 by Super Lawyers, which recognizes only 2.5 percent of Pennsylvania attorneys.
Ethan Chernin focuses his practice on employment litigation. Ethan is also dedicated to taking on pro bono matters. Over the course of five years he worked on behalf of a World War II veteran to successfully appeal a benefits claim denials, and in doing so changed the law. Ethan earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan and his law degree from University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.
Will Craven focuses his practice on national litigation, insurance coverage, and regulatory matters. Merging business and government knowledge, litigation, and coverage experience, Will offers an uncommon perspective to his clients. Will also represents insureds and self-insureds in commercial and business litigation, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, and fraud lawsuits. Prior to law school, Will graduated summa cum laude from Mississippi State University and interned with a U.S. congressman.
Greg Fischer focuses his practice on bankruptcy and litigation matters. He has represented clients in all manner of bankruptcy proceedings, including Chapter 7 trustees, creditors and third parties. Greg has also represented a variety of clients in the Delaware state courts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Greg earned his law degree from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville and his undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University, with a double major in business administration and economics.
Andrew Hepworth focuses his practice on commercial litigation and the defense of companies, individuals, and corporate clients from a variety of claims based in transportation, premises liability, personal injury, dram shop liability, construction defect, wrongful death, and property damage in both state and federal courts. As a litigator, Andrew has proven effective in mediations, hearings, taking/defending fact and expert depositions, and evaluating and investigating pre-suit claims, always keeping his client’s objectives at the forefront of his advocacy.
Aaron Holt is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Aaron exclusively represents employers in state and federal courts across the country while providing practical legal advice on all types of labor and employment law issues. Aaron’s experience includes class actions and multi-plaintiff litigation in all types of discrimination matters, retaliation claims, wage and hour disputes, disability and medical leave requests, as well as trade secret and noncompetition actions.
Matthew Horowitz is a registered patent attorney who focuses his legal practice on intellectual property litigation and prosecution. Matthew has experience in the fields of consumer products, medical and mechanical devices, and blockchain technologies. He has represented clients in cases involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trade secret misappropriation, and domain name disputes.
Anusha Jones is an experienced litigator who focuses her practice on defending clients against state and federal consumer protection claims, class actions, premises liability, wrongful death, insurance and maritime litigation. Anusha vigorously handles all phases of litigation, from drafting and arguing successful dispositive motions, to leading mediation and settlement negotiations, and preparing cases for and through trial. She has represented financial institutions, insurers, airlines, and clients in the transportation, hospitality and travel industries.
Tom Leonard has experience working on a wide variety of cases, including multimillion-dollar contract disputes, catastrophic personal injury and property damage claims, white collar investigations and defense, shareholder derivative suits, and class actions. He has also been involved in complex and unprecedented disputes with the federal and state governments regarding their power and regulatory authority, resulting in one instance of a $5 million settlement in favor of the client.
Jonathan Levy’s practice is concentrated in prosecuting complex commercial and tort litigation matters on a national basis in federal and state courts. Jon has successfully tried three cases to verdict in the Northern District of Illinois and Illinois state court. Jon has published on subrogation opportunities regarding catastrophic explosions, mechanical boiler failures, historic hotel fires, landlord-tenant litigation, and retroactive aggregate deductible recoveries.
Brock McCandless represents developers, landlords, investors, tenants, and real estate investment trusts in all aspects of office, retail, and industrial real estate transactions, including purchase and sale of real property, leasing, land use, zoning, tax analysis and appeals, and litigation related to real estate transactions. He also represents private and municipal clients in connection with public sector law matters, including drafting ordinances and board resolutions, public water and sewage issues, municipal liens, tax assessment issues, and compliance with local, state, and federal laws.
Kristy Miller's practice consists of litigating a variety of complex state and federal subrogation matters, from investigation through litigation and recovery. She focuses primarily on property damage and product liability claims, and is responsible for managing experts, inspections and discovery.
Steven Millman focuses his practice on representing and counseling employers in all facets of labor and employment law. His employment litigation experience includes defending his clients against claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wage and hour violations, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, and general employment torts, as well as bringing and defending claims involving restrictive covenants. In addition to his employment litigation experience, Steven assists employers with traditional labor matters, such as labor arbitrations, opposing unionization efforts, and defending against unfair labor practice charges.
Jeff Mullen focuses his practice on construction law. Before becoming an attorney, Jeff worked for a regional contractor as a project manager, where he oversaw various residential, commercial, and public projects. Building upon that experience, Jeff’s practice is focused exclusively on the construction industry to assist clients in addressing the specific challenges they face before, during, and after project completion. Jeff has counseled and represented owners, developers, contractors, and design professionals in all phases of construction projects and through the litigation and the alternative dispute resolution process.
Seth Popick focuses his practice on corporate finance and governance matters for emerging and mature companies. His experience includes representation of technology and life sciences companies in venture financing transactions, public offerings, and acquisitions. He also works with companies on employee compensation matters and commercial transactions. Seth earned a B.S. in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Edgar Rapoport focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, corporate finance and general business-related matters. Edgar advises and works closely with clients through all stages of a company’s progression, from launch to growth and profitability. Before joining Cozen O’Connor, Edgar served as general counsel of a large taxicab company in Chicago, where he personally handled the gamut of legal matters and oversaw the work of outside counsel.
Keri Schaubert concentrates her practice on complex patent cases for clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. She is a registered patent attorney and represents pharmaceutical companies in Hatch-Waxman and biosimilar litigation. Prior to attending law school, Keri received her Ph.D. in immunology from Wayne State University School of Medicine where, as a part of her doctoral research, she studied human CD8+ T cell responses to HIV epitopes and mimotopes thereof.
Ben Shechtman focuses his practice on counseling and representing employers in claims brought under every major employment statute, including Title VII, the ADEA, FMLA, ADA, FLSA, NLRA, and their state and local counterparts. He also counsels employers regarding compliance with these statutes and regulations, including but not limited to pre-litigation issues involving employee discipline, leaves of absence, and bonus payments. Ben’s experience includes litigation in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and nationwide.
Sam Stalker focuses his practice on the representation of insurance carriers in coverage matters involving professional liability, employment practices liability, and commercial general liability. He also represents engineers and architects in litigated matters. Sam is an experienced litigator, handling all aspects of coverage litigation, including matters involving the interpretation of policies, rescission, reformation, breach of contract, and bad faith. He also advises insurers in all aspects of coverage analysis.