Baker Botts Promotes Eight Lawyers to Special Counsel

HOUSTON, March 2, 2023– Baker Botts, L.L.P., a leading international energy, technology and life sciences law firm, is pleased to announce the promotion of eight attorneys to the position of special counsel, effective March 1, 2023.

"These lawyers consistently provide outstanding client service, display professional excellence, and make strong contributions to their clients, colleagues and the Firm," said Baker Botts Managing Partner,John Martin.

The new special counsel are listed below, with brief biographies that follow.

Julie Albert, Intellectual Property, New York

Julie's practice covers all aspects of branding, advertising and copyright law, ranging from public-facing social media, domain and false advertising matters to complex intellectual property litigation. As part of Baker Botts' Branding, Advertising & Copyright (BAC) group, Julie offers business-minded advice to clients around the world on matters central to their reputation. She advises clients in a variety of industries, including technology, media, fashion, consumer products, and food and beverage, on commercial disputes in federal and state court, contested matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and UDRP proceedings. She also works collaboratively with clients to clear, manage and enforce global intellectual property portfolios, optimize policies protecting valuable trade secrets, and train business team members on best practices around intellectual property in their day-to-day business operations.

Ben Geslison, Tax, Houston

Ben is an experienced trial and appellate litigator and tax attorney, actively practicing in state and federal courts at all levels. His practice currently focuses on state and local tax controversies, commercial disputes, and state-tax advisement matters. He has first-chair experience in trying jury trials to verdict in both state and federal district court. Ben has also handled several high-stakes appellate matters in state and federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Texas and the Supreme Court of the United States. Ben regularly advises clients on state and local tax matters, including tax audits and redeterminations, letter rulings, litigation, voluntary disclosure programs, settlement negotiations with state and local taxing agencies, and providing comparative analysis of tax issues across states for clients' use in strategic planning.

Nicholas Jones, Corporate, London

Nicholas is an English law-qualified lawyer advising clients in international finance transactions and projects in jurisdictions across the world. Nicholas has extensive experience working on a wide range of cross-border financing transactions, including syndicated and bilateral lending, acquisition finance, real estate finance, export credit finance and project finance. He represents both lenders and borrowers across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on energy and infrastructure.

Before joining Baker Botts in February 2018, Nicholas was an associate at another international law firm in London.

Dina Jubrail, Litigation, London

Dina's practice focuses on all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions; competition litigation, including follow-on damages cases and class actions; antitrust and regulatory investigations; and antitrust counseling. She has particular experience in the maritime sector, as well as in energy, technology, and telecommunications. She also has an in-depth knowledge of the relationship between competition and regulatory law in energy and telecoms, as well as the intersection between IP and antitrust. Based in London, Dina has previously worked in private practice in Brussels and at a large telecommunications company in London, and has been an integral part of our UK antitrust practice post-Brexit.

Alexander Kamel, Corporate, Houston

Alex advises commercial banks, lead arrangers, private equity funds, credit funds and mezzanine funds as well as publicly and privately held corporate borrowers and issuers, in commercial lending, direct lending, structured financing and other complex financial transactions. His experience includes syndicated loans, reserve-based and asset-based facilities, asset-backed securitizations, secured and unsecured high-yield debt offerings, sustainability-linked facilities, acquisition financings, mezzanine facilities, direct lending, restructurings and other structured financings.

Alex has experience representing clients in a variety of industries, including energy, manufacturing, commercial and residential development, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure. Alex's energy industry experience includes matters involving oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, oilfield services, distribution, storage and transportation, clean energy and sustainability.

Carolyn Pirraglia, Intellectual Property, New York

Carolyn's practice focuses on life science patent prosecution and counseling. Her experience includes preparing and prosecuting patents in diverse technological fields and conducting intellectual property due diligence, patentability, infringement and freedom-to-operate assessments. She also has experience in analyzing and assessing the value of patent portfolios covering investment targets.

Prior to joining Baker Botts, Dr. Pirraglia earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology. Her research focused on understanding the development of complex epithelial tissues using genetic, biochemical and cell biology techniques. In particular, Dr. Pirraglia studied the role of the Rho family of small GTPases and their downstream effectors in regulating collective cell migration, cellular adhesion and lumen formation of epithelial tubular organs. She has published her findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has presented at national conferences.

David Turner, Litigation, London

David is an experienced practitioner in international arbitration, litigation and public international law, with particular experience in investor-State arbitration. He has acted as counsel in numerous international disputes under the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, SCC, DIAC, ICDR and UNCITRAL arbitration rules.

A New Zealand-qualified barrister and solicitor and an experienced advocate, David has worked in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Prior to joining Baker Botts, David worked as a senior associate in investor-State arbitration at a major London law firm. He previously clerked at the Supreme Court of New Zealand and served as legal advisor to prominent international arbitrator Sir David Williams KC.

Derek Young, Tax, New York

Derek represents clients in state and local tax matters throughout the United States. He represents clients in all phases of tax and unclaimed property controversies, from audit and administrative proceedings through trial and appeals. He also provides state and local tax planning and advisory services, and assists clients in negotiating state and local economic incentives.

Derek has deep experience advising energy companies on all types of state and local tax, and advising technology companies on applying outdated tax laws to their cutting-edge businesses.