Crowell & Moring Elects Nine New Partners and Promotes 18 to Counsel Positions

Washington – January 4, 2021: Crowell & Moring elected nine lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2021. The firm also promoted 18 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, Los Angeles, and New York offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media, Environment & Natural Resources, Litigation, International Trade, Antitrust & Competition, Government Contracts, and Intellectual Property.

“These lawyers have demonstrated professional excellence and sustained commitment to our clients and our firm,” said Philip T. Inglima, chair of Crowell & Moring. “We are proud to celebrate our new partners, senior counsel, and counsel, and look forward to their continued success.”

The newly elected partners are:

Lauren Aronson (Washington) – A member of the Advertising & Media Group, Aronson represents clients across a variety of industries in advertising and marketing law. She has assisted numerous clients in initiating and defending false advertising challenges before the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and the National Advertising Review Board, and has provided counsel in Lanham Act false advertising suits. Aronson has also represented clients in investigations and actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general relating to marketing and sales practices. In addition to handling litigation-related matters, Aronson advises clients regarding the development, substantiation, approval, and defense of advertising claims. She counsels clients on a range of advertising-related issues, including social media, native advertising, telemarketing, rebates, warranties, right of privacy and publicity, and endorsements. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Duke University and received a master’s degree from Cornell University. She earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

Amanda Shafer Berman (Washington) – Berman is a member of the Environment & Natural Resources and Litigation groups. She draws on her extensive appellate and district court experience to achieve the best possible outcome for clients in a wide variety of litigation, including environmental, trade, trademark, and Title IX cases. Berman has successfully litigated on behalf of her clients in the federal circuit courts, as well as in the Court of International Trade and federal district courts. She also advises clients on climate change and other regulatory issues. Prior to joining the firm, Berman served as a senior attorney in the Department of Justice’s Environmental Defense Section, where she briefed and argued over a dozen cases in the federal courts of appeals. She is a five-time recipient of the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence, and sits on the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee. Berman graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and earned her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.

Astor Heaven (Washington) – A member of the Litigation Group, Heaven has tried cases in federal and state court and routinely litigates and arbitrates complex commercial, antitrust, and intellectual property cases in the defense, life sciences, and health care industries. He also maintains an active pro bono practice. He partners with the Office of the Public Defender and has successfully represented criminal defendants on a range of matters through trial. Heaven has also successfully represented domestic violence victims in U-Visa and T-Visa proceedings. He is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former Surface Warfare Officer. He received his law degree from American University Washington College of Law. Heaven currently serves as a trustee for the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation Athletic and Scholarship Program. He is also a Board Member for two separate organizations – Generation Hope and Neighborhood Legal Services Program.

Robert LaFrankie (Washington) – LaFrankie practices in the International Trade Group. He regularly advises manufacturers, exporters, and importers in all aspects of international trade and customs proceedings before various government agencies, U.S. courts, and international tribunals. He focuses on trade-related litigation and strategic counseling, including trade remedy proceedings and U.S. Customs compliance and enforcement issues. LaFrankie has successfully counseled numerous clients located throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas that produce or import a diverse range of products, including flat-rolled and specialty steel products and components, chemicals and plastics, frozen and canned food products, paper products, motor vehicle parts and components, petrochemical and renewable fuels, and other manufactured products. In addition to litigation and compliance counseling, he engages in strategic trade remedy and customs planning activities for clients, particularly for companies with global sourcing, manufacturing, and export/import operations. He also advises companies with regard to NAFTA and USMCA compliance issues and related audits of client facilities. LaFrankie received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Jordan Ludwig (Los Angeles) – Ludwig is a member of the Antitrust & Competition Group, where he focuses on antitrust litigation and investigations, complex commercial litigation, and appeals. Ludwig has extensive experience litigating high-stakes cases under the Sherman Act, Cartwright Act, and Section 17200, California's Unfair Competition Law. He has also litigated a wide variety of complex cases outside the competition area, including those involving the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the securities laws, legal malpractice, tortious interference, and breach of fiduciary duty. His clients have ranged from Fortune 10 companies to individuals and have spanned diverse industries. Ludwig maintains an active pro bono practice, where he has worked on issues related to racial discrimination, domestic violence, and immigration. Ludwig earned his law degree from Loyola Law School, where he graduated, cum laude and Order of the Coif, and was the chief note and comment editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors, from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Olivia Lynch (Washington) – A member of the Government Contracts Group, Lynch advises government contractors on navigating the procurement process as well as compliance and ethics. She advises on all manner of small business government contracting issues, including certification as to small business size and status, participation in Small Business Administration programs such as the mentor-protégé program and the 8(a) Business Development program, compliance with requirements such as the limitation on subcontracting and small business subcontracting plan requirement, and the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. Lynch counsels large and small contractors on small business issues in the context of procurements, deals, investigations, and False Claims Act litigation. She has an active bid protest docket and has been involved in agency-level protests, bid protests before the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims, and size protests and appeals before the SBA and its Office of Hearings and Appeals. In addition, this past year, Lynch has advised clients on the Paycheck Protection Program. In her pro bono practice, Lynch has represented DC prisoners in seeking parole and compassionate release and volunteered with the Election Protection Hotline. Lynch graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Allyson McKinstry (New York) – McKinstry practices in the Litigation Group, where she focuses on a broad spectrum of complex commercial, consumer, and retail litigation, including defending class actions and multi-district litigation. She represents clients from a broad range of industries, including automotive manufacturers, health insurers, financial institutions, retailers, and technology companies. McKinstry has extensive experience litigating in state and federal trial courts, as well as different arbitral forums. McKinstry has been deeply involved in analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial contracts generally, and retail leases in particular. She is currently representing numerous clients in connection with litigation arising from the pandemic. Previously, McKinstry was a law clerk to the Honorable Brian M. Cogan, U.S. District Court Judge in the Eastern District of New York. She graduated magna cum laude from Pace University School of Law, where she served as managing editor of the Pace Law Review. She received her bachelor’s degree from The College of New Jersey.

Megan Wolf (Washington) – A member of the Antitrust & Competition Group, Wolf’s practice focuses on antitrust counseling, mergers and acquisitions, and criminal and civil antitrust investigations. She counsels and represents clients in a wide range of transactional antitrust matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, competitor collaborations, and issues related to compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Wolf represents corporate clients and individual executives in criminal antitrust investigations, including those into procurement fraud, hiring practices, financial services, generic pharmaceuticals, and numerous other industries. She also represents clients in civil antitrust investigations and routinely counsels clients on implementing and maintaining effective antitrust compliance programs. Wolf received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as article development editor for the American Criminal Law Review and was a member of the Barristers' Council Trial Advocacy Division. She received her bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University.

Jacob Zambrzycki (New York) – Zambrzycki practices in the Intellectual Property Group, where he focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling. He has litigated and tried numerous intellectual property actions in federal district courts around the country and litigated numerous inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Section 337 Investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission, and appeals at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and has been recognized in the industry as a rising star in each of the past four years for his work. Jacob also advises clients regarding protection and enforcement of their intellectual property, and provides regulatory and other legal advice to companies involved with blockchain technology and digital assets. His clients comprise both emerging and Fortune 500 companies spanning various industries, including consumer electronics, automotive technologies, railroads, medical devices, financial services, cryptocurrencies, electrical fittings, pharmaceuticals, construction, and internet technologies. Zambrzycki earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, where he was a Fellow at the Center for the Study of International Business Law.

Crowell & Moring associates promoted to counsel are: Dylan Burstein and Angel Prado in Los Angeles; Lisa Umans in New York; Kainoa Asuega in Orange County; Kayvan Ghaffari and Katie Yablonka in San Francisco; and Charles Baek, Laura Baker, Sarah Bartle, Jared Engelking, Carina Federico, Hilary Johnson, Justin Kingsolver, Brian Lewis, Michael Pine, Ann Rives, Danielle Rowan, and Kieran Tuckley in Washington.