NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2024 (GlobeNewswire) — The new year brought new titles and responsibilities to Sanford Heisler Sharp’s leadership team, as well as a transition of roles and new support personnel firmwide.
“We are fortunate to have an abundance of leadership talent and experience across our national platform,” said David Sanford, Co-Founder and Chairman of the firm. “The depth of our partners’ skills allows us to rotate these responsibilities and maintain very strong management, mentoring, and accountability firmwide. We look forward to celebrating the firm’s twenty-year anniversary this year with another outstanding year.”
In addition to naming Schwanda Rountree, who joined the firm in August 2023, as Co-Managing Partner along with H. Vincent McKnight, Jr., there were a number of other changes at the firm.
Effective January 1, 2024, David Tracey is the new Firm Managing Partner. Resident in the New York office, Tracey also serves as the firmwide Public Interest Litigation Practice Group Co-Chair. A graduate of New York University School of Law, his personal practice focuses on discrimination and retaliation, race and gender discrimination, wage and hour, civil rights, and employee benefits cases.
The firm’s newest partner, Thiru Vignarajah, was named the Managing Partner of the Baltimore office. Vignarajah joined the firm late in 2023 from Capital Plus Financial, a leading innovative Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) where he was the CFO since August 2021. Prior to that, he was a litigation partner in DLA Piper’s Baltimore office. Before joining DLA, he was Deputy Attorney General of Maryland, where he was responsible for a wide portfolio of matters, including civil rights and juvenile justice, gun trafficking, environmental enforcement, criminal investigations, and appeals. Vignarajah graduated from Harvard Law School, was President of the Harvard Law Review, clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and for Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Lori Awes was named the firm’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Lori joined the firm on January 1, 2024, from Thomson Reuters, where for more than a decade she worked with law firms and helped them develop and build effective, customized marketing programs and websites for metro, regional, and national markets.
In other transitions, Carolin Guentert has joined Christine Dunn as Co-Chair of the Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims’ Rights Practice Group. Brent A. Hannafan and Andrew Macurdy, both of whom joined the firm in 2023 after long careers in public service, are Co-Chairs of the Firmwide Trial Practice Group. The firm launched an Executive Representation Practice Group led by David Sanford, Russell Kornblith, Kate Mueting, and Janette Wipper.
Danielle Fuschetti, previously a Co-Chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s Discrimination and Harassment Practice Group, is now the Executive Chair of the Discrimination and Harassment Practice Group, and Leigh Anne St. Charles, Nashville Managing Partner, is now Co-Chair of the Discrimination and Harassment Group.
The firm also announced Sarah Chu, Frank Xu, James Hannaway, Cara Van Dorn, and Kate MacMullin were promoted from Associate to Senior Litigation Counsel; Christopher Owens and Ting Cheung were promoted from Fellows to Associates; Khali Jones was promoted from Human Resources Coordinator to Director of Human Resources; and Danya Rangachar will become the firm’s first Chief of Staff by mid-2024. Kristi Stahnke McGregor recently joined the firm as Of Counsel; Sharon Kim joined as Senior Litigation Counsel; Hampton Watson, Hilary Rosenthal, Dacey Romberg, Maureen Slack, and Amruta Trivedi as Associates; Kiara Pagan as Human Resources Coordinator; Clarissa David as Bookkeeper; and Alexis L. Britt and Zina Wyman as Litigation Paralegals.
About Sanford Heisler Sharp
Sanford Heisler Sharp is a public interest and civil rights law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Baltimore, Nashville, and San Diego. The firm focuses on employment discrimination, Title IX, wage and hour, whistleblower and qui tam, criminal/sexual violence, financial services, and Asian American litigation and finance matters. Our lawyers have recovered over $1 billion for our clients through many verdicts and settlements.
In 2022, The National Law Journal named Sanford Heisler Sharp Civil Rights Firm of the Year, and it recognized the firm in 2021 as both the Employment Rights Firm of the Year and the Human Rights Firm of the Year. Law360 recognized the firm as Employment Practice Group of the Year in 2021, 2019, 2018, and 2016. Benchmark Litigation recognized the firm as the Labor & Employment Firm of the Year in 2021 and 2020.
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