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Crowell & Moring brings on former UBS Bank general counsel
Cristina Diaz, former executive director and general counsel of UBS Bank USA, and most recently head of legal for UBS’s U.S. Remediation Management Office, is joining Crowell & Moring’s Financial Services Group as senior counsel in New York.
The firm says Diaz brings more than two decades of in-house counsel and law firm experience in bank regulation, compliance, and risk management. Among her responsibilities will be counseling clients on traditional banking and emerging financial services, including digital assets companies seeking to acquire or establish national banks, and banks exploring partnerships with fintechs and digital assets firms.
“Cristina is a highly experienced, solution-oriented attorney who brings deep knowledge in the bank regulatory space. She will be an enormous asset to the firm’s growing regulatory and transactional offerings to banks, digital assets businesses, and fintechs,” said Carlton Greene, Co-Chair of Crowell’s Financial Services Group.
Earlier in her career, Diaz spent eight years at Davis Polk & Wardwell advising U.S. and foreign banks on bank regulatory matters, M&A, and capital markets transactions.
“I am delighted to join Crowell & Moring and integrate my bank regulatory experience with the firm’s nationally recognized digital assets practice. As traditional banking and emerging financial technologies continue to evolve, clients need actionable and sophisticated legal counsel. Crowell offers the collaborative platform to help institutions successfully execute their growth and compliance strategies,” said Diaz.
Diaz received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the New York University Law Review, and received her B.A., summa cum laude, from New York University.
New partner at King & Spalding to focus on finance and restructuring
King & Spalding has hired Gloria Kim as its new partner in the Finance and Restructuring practice group based out of its New York office.
King & Spalding has hired Gloria Kim as its new partner in the Finance and Restructuring practice group based out of its New York office.
Kim most recently served with Proskauer Rose, where she previously practiced with three colleagues who joined King & Spalding last month: Ron Franklin, Andrew Bettwy and Jin Joo. In her new position, Kin will be advising borrowers and lenders on matters including fund finance transactions, subscriptions, NAV and GP financings, and distressed transactions.
“Gloria is a highly talented fund finance lawyer who has been an integral part of many of the market’s most sophisticated transactions and has worked closely with Ron, Andy and Jin for years,” said Todd Holleman, co-leader of the firm’s Finance and Restructuring practice group. “Gloria brings exceptional experience across fund finance and leveraged finance transactions, deep familiarity with our clients and immediate connectivity with our growing team in both New York and London.”
Kim received her B.C.L./LL.B. from McGill University and her Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto (Trinity College).
“King & Spalding has built a market-leading fund finance platform with exceptional momentum,” said Kim. “The opportunity to provide top caliber service to our clients, and to rejoin Ron, Andy and Jin and other distinguished colleagues in our group while collaborating with the firm’s outstanding lawyers across finance, funds, restructuring and related practices was incredibly attractive.”
Trio of new partners at Coffey Modica
Defense litigation firm Coffey Modica LLP recently boosted its leadership by bringing on three new partners (l. to r.): David Aronowitz, Robert Gironda, Kieran Frail.
Defense litigation firm Coffey Modica LLP recently boosted its leadership by bringing on three new partners.
David Aronowitz, a veteran litigator with decades of experience, was added as a partner to lead the firm’s transportation practice group of 15 attorneys. With more than four decades of experience, Aronowitz has focused on complex matters impacting automobile and construction liability, insurance coverage, municipal defense, special investigations, and transportation and trucking.
Aronowitz’s past clientel spans the spectrum from commercial property owners, to restaurants, commercial cleaning contractors and other business entities.
“David Aronowitz is the perfect fit to lead this legal defense group, as he has been such an integral player on the national stage on behalf of major vehicle rental and leasing entities, multi-state logistic and trucking firms,” said founding partner Michael Coffey.
A graduate of Hofstra University Law School, Aronowitz is a former member of the Tort Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, the Kings County Bar Association, and the Judiciary Committee of the Kings County Bar Association.
“Coffey Modica’s client-focused approach to complex litigation matters has set a standard for handling major cases in the commercial auto, transportation and logistics, and rideshare industries,” said Partner David Aronowitz, who is based in the firm’s Tarrytown, NY, office. “The transportation practice has become an integral part of the firm and I look forward to leading and growing this practice group.
Joining Aronowitz at Coffey Modica are two more firm partners: Robert Gironda and Kieran Frail.
Gironda brings more than 25 years of defense litigation experience holding several leadership positions at notable New York firms, and as in-house counsel for a major insurance company. He focuses his practice on motor vehicle collisions, pedestrian knockdown cases, slip and fall cases, construction cases, private nuisance and civil rights litigation in both state and federal courts.
Gironda obtained his J.D. from Pace University Law School following his undergraduate degree from Mercy College. Gironda is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Frail, meanwhile, previously served in private practice and as agency attorney for the New York City Transit Authority, handling numerous transit-related claims on behalf of the MTA. He brings to Coffey Modica more than 13 years in civil litigation and insurance defense expererience.
Frail earned his B.A. from Villanova University before attending Seton Hall University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in New York and United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
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