Lewis Roca Announces 13 Lawyers Named As Partner

Press Release

01/10/2019

PHOENIX (January 10, 2019) – Lewis Roca LLP has selected 13 lawyers to join the firm’s partnership effective January 1, 2019.

Michael Curry, Intellectual Property, Los Angeles

A member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice, Curry manages patent prosecution and post-grant matters before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and assists clients with patent counseling. He has technical expertise in the areas of electrical engineering, computer engineering, software, business methods, display devices, battery technology, memory devices, video game systems and software, semiconductor device design and manufacturing and customer contact service systems. He received his J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona and his B.S. from the University of Arizona.

Justin Ehresmann, Intellectual Property, Los Angeles

A member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice, Ehresmann has extensive knowledge and experience handling matters related to chemical production, new catalyst development, OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes), solar cells, fuel cells, microstructures, polymers and pharmaceuticals. He also has significant research experience related to heterogeneous catalysis, inorganic chemistry, solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, computational chemistry, microporous materials and zeolites.

Ehresmann is the co-author of numerous technical publications and serves as an adjunct faculty member of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Southern California. He received his J.D. from Loyola Law School and his Ph.D. and B.S. from the University of Southern California.

Diane Hazel, Litigation, Denver

As a member of the firm’s Litigation practice, Hazel represents businesses in government investigations and complex commercial litigation, including class actions, contractual disputes, insurance coverage and bad faith actions, securities, RICO, and other complex matters. She specializes in antitrust litigation and counseling and has represented clients in litigation before the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice on a range of antitrust issues. Before private practice, Hazel was an attorney in the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission and also worked with the Namibian Competition Commission under a U.S. Fulbright grant. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.S., magna cum laude, from Wake Forest University.

Aaron Johnson, Intellectual Property, Silicon Valley

A member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice, Johnson focuses on protecting and enforcing his clients’ intellectual property rights, particularly trademark and copyrights, and defending against claims of infringement. He counsels clients on IP protection strategy, assists with the prosecution of trademark and copyright applications in the US and abroad, and has handled trademark and copyright disputes in a wide variety of forums, including before federal and state courts in the US, opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent & Trademark Office, and domain name issues before international tribunals. He also has experience in a number of other intellectual property fields including publicity law and the development of anti-counterfeiting campaigns. He received his J.D., with honors, from George Washington University Law School and his B.S. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Shaun Lee, Intellectual Property, Los Angeles

As a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice, Lee represents clients in patent prosecution, trademark prosecution and enforcement matters as well as Internet law and domain name issues. With a degree in electrical and computer engineering, he advises clients on protecting inventions in a variety of technologies including: batteries, electronic displays, radar, user interfaces, machine learning, and computer vision. Lee received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and his B.S. from California Institute of Technology.

Stanley Lutz, Regulatory and Government, Phoenix

As a member of the firm’s Regulatory and Government practice, Lutz’s practice focuses on land, water, environmental, utility, and construction matters. He represents clients in state and federal court and before various administrative agencies with respect to regulatory oversight and enforcement, condemnation and land use issues. Lutz has also represented private utilities in administrative matters before the Arizona Corporation Commission as well as representing utilities in acquisitions by both governmental and private entities. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law and his B.S. from Utah State University.

Adam Massaro, Litigation, Denver

Massaro practices in the firm’s Litigation practice handling intellectual property and corporate litigation matters in areas including software, internet-based technologies, industrial equipment and sporting goods. He has litigated multiple cases to verdict, including obtaining a seven-figure jury verdict in a trade secrets case in 2018. Massaro has litigated intellectual property cases in multiple states and federal districts. He received his J.D. from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law and his B.A. from Pennsylvania State University.

Laura Pasqualone, Litigation, Phoenix

Pasqualone, a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment and Litigation groups, ‎practices in the areas of employment law and business litigation. She regularly advises ‎employers on compliance with a wide variety of federal, state and local employment laws. She provides emergency advice, preventative counseling, training and ongoing employment guidance to HR Directors and in-house counsel. Her practice ‎also consists of litigating cases involving claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and breach of contract. Pasqualone also has significant experience in cases involving the enforceability of restrictive covenants, trade-secret misappropriation and unfair competition. She has represented clients in both federal and state court, in arbitration, and before the Equal ‎Employment Opportunity Commission, the Arizona Civil Rights Division and the Arizona Office of ‎Administrative Hearings. She also regularly presents on employment law “hot topics” to hundreds of national and international employers and Human Resources representatives.

Before joining Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, Pasqualone served as a law clerk for the Honorable Justice ‎A. John Pelander at the Arizona Supreme Court. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, Order of the Coif and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Arizona State University.

Frances Sjoberg, Business Transactions, Phoenix

Sjoberg is a member of the firm’s Tribal Affairs, Gaming and Business Transactions practices. She handles matters ‎related to intergovernmental agreements, tribal business transactions, real estate and complex project management. ‎Her experience includes compact and contract negotiation, leasing and rights-of-way on tribal lands, jurisdictional conflicts, regulatory matters, federal reserved water rights, public lands and legislation drafting and analysis. She ‎has represented governmental entities, tribal enterprises, investors, receivers and developers in purchase-sale and lease transactions, fee-to-trust applications, loan workouts, multiparty negotiations and settlement agreements. Sjoberg received her J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona Law Review, and her B.A. from the University of Arizona. After law school, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Justice A. John Pelander at the Arizona Supreme Court.

Jared Sutton, Litigation, Phoenix

Sutton is a member of the firm’s Litigation practice with a focus in the areas of real estate, corporate, construction, general contract and insurance disputes (including coverage issues, agent disputes, and class actions). He practices primarily in trial courts, but is also growing an appellate practice in which he has drafted and assisted with numerous appellate briefs and has second chaired appeals in state and federal appellate courts. Drawing on his experience before law school as a procurement clerk for the Department of Army, Sutton also assists clients protesting and appealing state and federal procurement decisions.

He is a member of the Associated General Contractors’ Young Constructors Forum, Arizona Chapter and is the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the William E. Morris Institute for Justice. He received his J.D. from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, summa cum laude, and his B. C. J. and B.A. from New Mexico State University.

Ryan Swank, Intellectual Property, Silicon Valley

Swank is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice and handles matters related to patent consultation, patent preparation, patent prosecution, and securing trademarks. In utilizing his degree in electrical engineering, Swank is particularly familiar with display devices, touch screens, batteries, LTE technology, solar cells, radar, automated driving technology, electric motors and drive systems, artificial intelligence, computer memory and data processing and many other technical fields. He received his J.D. from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and his B.S. from Arizona State University.

Cindy Villanueva, Intellectual Property, Phoenix

Villanueva is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice focusing her work on trademark prosecution, counseling, enforcement and licensing, as well as providing trademark litigation support. She assists clients with all stages of securing trademark protection with an emphasis on the selection and enforcement of trademarks domestically and internationally. As part of her practice, she represents plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of disputes involving trademark, copyrights, trade secrets and rights of publicity. Villanueva also helps companies and individuals with brand development, audits, clearance, and worldwide registration issues, licensing and assignment transactions, and with clearing advertising, promotional and marketing claims and contests.

She is a graduate of Valley Leadership, Class 39 and participated in Ladder Down, Class of 2014, as well as the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Latina Leadership Academy in 2016. Villanueva was named Top Lawyer Under 40 by the Hispanic National Bar Association in 2018 and named a Southwest Super Lawyers – Rising Star in IP Litigation for the last three consecutive years. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of California, Irvine.

Holly White, Litigation, Denver

A member of the firm’s Litigation practice, White focuses on large, complex commercial litigation across a variety of industries, including insurance, health care and real estate. She has obtained complete and partial summary judgment for her clients in several cases in both state and federal court and favorably resolved numerous cases with over a million dollars at issue. She has successfully argued in front of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the Federal District Court, District of Colorado, in which the Courts granted summary judgment in favor of her client.

She acts as Secretary on the Board of eGo CarShare, a Colorado local non-profit, and is the Newsletter Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. White received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, and her B.A. from the University of Arizona.

About Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP

Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP is an Am Law 200 commercial law firm handling complex matters in litigation, intellectual property, business transactions, gaming, government relations and other practice areas. Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie offices are located in Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Irvine, Phoenix, Reno, Silicon Valley and Tucson. For more information, visit lewisroca.com.

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