Kicking off 2019 are promotions for sixteen of the nation’s most talented lawyers at WSHB. Promotion of this talented group of lawyers comes on the heels of a year where the firm saw continued growth, as evidenced by its recognition in Law360 as one of the fastest growing law firms in the nation. Notably, as pointed out by this national publication, growth is organic from within the firm.
Fueling the growth is the raw talent and litigation success enjoyed by this class of rising stars, skilled in handling complex and civil litigation and consistent in results time and again. This year's senior counsel class is national in diversity, reflecting the geography of WSHB's 23 offices from coast to coast.
This year's class is comprised of James Chortanian (Orange County), Williams Daks (New York), Cassidy Ellis (Las Vegas), Robert Ferrier (Northern California), Jordan Gaskins (Glendale), Michael Harrell (New York), Anoush Holaday (Northern California), Kimberly Jones (Tampa), Andrew Kleiner (Phoenix), Danielle Kuck (Thousand Oaks), Colleen McCaffrey (Atlanta), Eric Morales (Miami), Samuel Nora (Los Angeles), Herjit Rubio (Riverside), Richard Singer (Miami), and Analise Tilton (Las Vegas).
"Senior Counsel is a promotion given to select associates who have consistently demonstrated strong legal skills and case handling ability, maintain excellent client relationships, and serve as contributing members of the WSHB team. We are very proud of our newest class of Senior Counsel who will assuredly bolster our entire Senior Counsel group," said Stewart Reid, Managing Partner at WSHB.
James Chortanian – Practicing in the firm's Orange County office, James’ practice is focused on the defense of physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers in medical malpractice cases. In addition to his experience in the medical negligence arena, James has successfully handled complex civil litigation in multiple practice areas, including elder abuse, product liability, and catastrophic injury matters. James has extensive litigation experience and has obtained favorable outcomes for a wide range of clients, including individuals and corporations. James is an active member of the Orange County Bar Association.
William Daks – William practices in a variety of civil litigation matters, including construction/labor law, automotive litigation, property damage, catastrophic injury and asbestos defense. He has experience handling complex litigation for individuals, small businesses, transportation companies, bus and transit service providers, common carriers, and public entities. William represents a number of small to large companies throughout New York in all facets of litigation. Licensed to practice in both New York and New Jersey, William is based out of the firm's New York office.
Cassidy Ellis – Cassidy practices civil litigation specializing in the areas of products liability, premises liability, complex construction defect litigation, and general liability defense. Cassidy has represented a number of hotels, casinos, restaurants and nightclub venues in a wide range of litigated matters, and was recently recognized by Nevada Business Magazine as one of "Nevada's Legal Elite" attorneys for 2018. A graduate of the University of Nebraska, College of Law, Cassidy served as Executive Editor of the Nebraska Law Review for four volumes. He also served on the school’s Moot Court Board and competed on the school’s national moot court team. Cassidy is based out of WSHB's Las Vegas office.
Robert Ferrier – A Tucson native, who attended the University of Arizona for both his undergraduate and law degrees, Robert was elected graduation speaker by his classmates, and the outstanding senior of his class by the faculty. Following law school, he clerked for Ruth V. McGregor, then Vice Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. As a practicing attorney, Robert rapidly earned a reputation as an aggressive and honorable trial attorney. He has appeared before many state and federal tribunals and tried cases to both juries and judges. Robert also has experience handling public entities, including a high profile trial to a jury involving seven figure exposures. Robert is licensed to practice in California, Arizona, the Navajo Nation, and the Tohono O’odham Nation. He is based out of the Firm's Northern California office.
Jordan Gaskins – Based out of WSHB's Glendale office, Jordan focuses his practice on the defense of medical malpractice claims. In addition to being a skilled lawyer in the medical negligence arena, Jordan also possesses substantial experience handling professional liability, employment law, transportation law, and premises liability matters. Jordan trained at the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Jack Daniels Trial School, and attended the University of San Diego School of Law. Outside the courtroom, Jordan volunteers his time as mentor in the Big Brothers of Los Angeles program, and is a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Michael Harrell – Michael is senior counsel in WSHB's New York office, where his practice focuses on complex insurance coverage issues as well as the defense of professionals in a wide variety of fields. In connection with his insurance practice, Michael regularly advises London market insuring and reinsuring syndicates. Michael lived in London in early 2018 as part of the Secondee Counsel Program. While in London, he trained primarily with property and casualty lines claims and underwriting personnel, and also spent time training with other underwriting syndicates at Lloyd’s as well as various London-based broking houses. Michael is licensed to practice in New York and Florida.
Anoush Holaday – Based out of WSHB's Northern California office, Anoush focuses her practice primarily in the areas of catastrophic injury, wrongful death, construction, medical malpractice, and intellectual property in both state and federal courts. She defends individuals and businesses against claims involving premises liability, breach of contract, and discrimination. Prior to joining the Firm, Anoush attended the University of San Francisco School of Law. After her first year of law school, Anoush was an intern at the Marin County Public Defender’s office. Anoush also served as Case Counsel in the University of San Francisco Moot Court program, where she prepared mock cases and guided first year law school students in composing and delivering arguments in mock court. Outside the courtroom, Anoush is an avid book and video game enthusiast.
Kimberly Jones – A Florida Super Lawyers "Rising Star," Kimberly focuses her practice on insurance coverage and appellate advocacy. She represents admitted and surplus lines insurance carriers throughout the state of Florida, providing advice to clients in first- and third-party coverage matters. Prior to joining the firm, Kimberly served as in-house staff counsel for an insurance carrier, where she assisted in the development of efficient and proactive legal strategy while litigating cases across Florida. Kimberly had also clerked at the Florida Supreme Court and at the Second District Court of Appeal. Kimberly is based out of the firm's Tampa office.
Andrew Kleiner – Practicing out of the Firm's Phoenix office, Andrew focuses on the defense of general negligence, complex torts and commercial litigation, environmental exposure, employment matters and class actions. Andrew has litigated cases involving general and professional liability, employment practices including discrimination, harassment, wage and hour disputes, wrongful termination, EEOC investigations and workplace accommodations. Andrew has significant experience in multi-party complex litigation involving contract disputes and catastrophic injury in state and federal court. He has secured many favorable outcomes on motions to dismiss, successful mediation/settlement, and multiple summary judgment awards. Andrew is licensed to practice in Arizona, California and Utah.
Danielle Kuck – Based in WSHB's Ventura County office, Danielle focuses her practice on civil litigation including transportation matters, catastrophic injury, products liability, property damage, labor and employment and construction matters. Danielle handles all aspects of civil litigation for individuals, corporations, trucking companies, fixed route bus providers, and public entities. Danielle has extensive experience handling both federal and state court matters. Danielle graduated summa cum laude from Southwestern School of Law. While at Southwestern, Danielle served on the executive board of the Southwestern Law Review as a Note and Comment Editor. Danielle was also a member of Southwestern Trial Advocacy Honors Program.
Colleen McCaffrey – Based in WSHB's Atlanta office, Colleen focuses her practice on advising and representing international and domestic insurers in litigation. Colleen has successfully litigated a variety of first-party and third-party insurance cases, securing summary judgment for numerous insurers in both state and federal court. While at WSHB, Colleen was given the opportunity to participate in the secondment program for a leading syndicate in the Lloyd’s market. While there, she worked closely with the North American claims team on both first-party property and third-party liability claims. Colleen is admitted to practice in both Georgia and North Carolina.
Eric Morales – A Florida Super Lawyers "Rising Star" from 2015 – 2019, Eric is an experienced civil litigator and trial attorney in the Firm's Miami office. Eric has vast experience representing nationwide retailers, restaurant chains, and smaller local businesses in general liability matters. He has worked extensively representing general contractors and developers in construction defect disputes, and representing asbestos products manufacturers in injury and wrongful death products liability cases. Eric is also a seasoned litigator handling complex multi-party maritime injury claims.
Samuel Nora – Headquartered in the firm's Los Angeles office, Sam’s practice focuses primarily on habitability, premises liability, and catastrophic injury matters. Sam has substantial experience in defending landlords, property management companies, and homeowners associations in all aspects of litigation, including law and motion, discovery, mediation and trial. Prior to joining the firm, Sam’s practice focused on general liability matters as well as the defense of general contractors and subcontractors in complex, multi-party construction defect actions.
Herjit Rubio – Based in WSHB's Riverside office, Herjit's practice focuses on construction defect, medical malpractice and healthcare law, elder abuse, public entity defense, toxic torts and catastrophic injury. She works to vigorously defend developers, builders, and contractors in complex construction litigation, as well as handling claims for municipalities and public agencies in all aspects of litigation, up to trial, including general torts, police liability, employment and dangerous condition of public property. Herjit has extensive experience preparing cases for trials on behalf of public and private sector clients in complex litigation matters.
Richard Singer – Richard is an accomplished civil litigator, specializing in insurance coverage analysis and policy interpretation, first and third party defense, including bad faith, property and catastrophic injury. Richard has extensive experience in representing and regularly advising domestic and international insurers on first-party property and hurricane catastrophes, representing clients in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Additionally, he has been tasked with leading and managing complex projects for various insurers’ Special Investigation Units (SIU) in assisting in the defense and prosecution of fraudulent insurance claims throughout the State of Florida. Richard also has substantial background in representing insureds as defense counsel in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, property damage, and premises liability. Richard is based out of the Firm's Miami office, and is admitted to practice in both Florida and Georgia.
Analise Tilton – Based out of WSHB's Las Vegas office, Analise has a broad range of civil litigation experience with an emphasis on matters involving premises liability, tort and general liability defense, as well as hospitality/retail, premise liability, intellectual property, transportation, trucking and construction litigation. She actively handles high exposure and catastrophic injury matters. Analise was admitted to the Nevada State Bar in 2013 and California State Bar in 2014 after graduating from Michigan State University, where she served as a member of the arbitration team.