HOUSTON, February 15, 2024 – Baker Botts, L.L.P., a leading international energy, technology and life sciences law firm, today announced the promotion of 12 lawyers to partner, effective March 1, 2024.

“The members of our newest partnership class embody the firm’s depth of extraordinary talent,” said Danny David, Managing Partner of Baker Botts. “Through their steadfast, superb client service, each of these lawyers has consistently demonstrated their ability to be future owners and leaders of the firm. I am honored to call them my partners.”

The members of the firm’s newest partnership class are listed below, with brief biographies that follow.

• Joyce Adetutu – Global Projects, Houston


• Julie Albert – Intellectual Property, New York


• Samia Broadaway – Environmental, Safety and Incident Response, Austin


• Julie Cress – Environmental, Safety and Incident Response, San Francisco


• Lindsay Volpenhein Cutié – Intellectual Property, Houston


• Ariel House – Litigation, Austin


• Alex Kamel – Corporate Finance, Houston


• Liam O’Rourke – Litigation, Houston


• Carolyn Pirraglia – Intellectual Property, New York


• Monica Smith – Litigation, Dallas


• Clarke Stavinoha – Intellectual Property, Dallas


• David Turner – Litigation, London

Joyce Adetutu – Global Projects, Houston

Joyce advises clients on critical matters related to compliance with U.S. sanctions, export controls, customs laws and regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the laws governing foreign investment in the United States.

In her international trade practice, she has represented clients in matters involving economic and trade sanctions administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). She also supports clients and other partners in reviewing a wide variety of agreements and arrangements, including most M&A and investment arrangements, for compliance with international trade laws. Joyce also counsels clients in a broad array of industries regarding the applicability of U.S. export controls to clients’ goods, software, and technology.

Joyce's early experience with large-scale energy transactions gives her an understanding of complex commercial issues when counseling clients on matters related to international trade.

Julie Albert – Intellectual Property, New York

Julie’s practice centers on branding, advertising and copyright law, ranging from intellectual property litigation to counseling on trademark and copyright law, design patents, trade secrets, gray market and counterfeiting issues, trade dress, domain name disputes, social media and advertising.

Clients in diverse industries, including technology, media, entertainment, fashion, consumer products and food and beverage, regularly work with Julie in complex commercial disputes in federal and state court, contested matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and UDRP proceedings. She works closely with clients to clear, manage and enforce global intellectual property portfolios, and strengthen protection of, and policies around, valuable trade secrets.

Samia Broadaway – Environmental, Safety and Incident Response, Austin

Samia works on a wide range of environmental permitting, litigation, and regulatory compliance matters at the state and federal levels. Her permitting experience includes water quality, water rights, air quality, waste, and underground injection control, including carbon capture. She also represents entities in contested environmental and enforcement proceedings and provides environmental regulatory counseling and transactional support for water, waste, air, and natural resources projects.

Before law school, Samia worked as an environmental consultant, assessing facilities for regulatory compliance and conducting soil and groundwater remediation activities.

Julie Cress – Environmental, Safety and Incident Response, San Francisco

Julie is a seasoned environmental lawyer with California regulatory experience having spent time working for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board as well as on the private side managing environmental, health, and safety programs. Julie has over 15 years of experience in California and federal environmental laws with a primary focus on air quality and climate change, assisting clients on regulatory, rulemaking advocacy, incident response, and compliance and enforcement matters. She has represented companies in various sectors including traditional energy and energy transition, auto and auto parts manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and transportation companies.

Lindsay Volpenhein Cutié – Intellectual Property, Houston

Lindsay practices in all areas of intellectual property law, including patent litigation, patent prosecution, and various aspects of intellectual property transactions.

Her litigation experience has involved a variety of technologies, including telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and oilfield equipment. She is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications relating to a broad range of technologies. She also has experience with post-grant procedures, including inter partes reviews, before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. In addition, Lindsay has provided formal opinions concerning potential infringement, validity, and enforceability of client and third-party intellectual property across various technologies, including refining, chemical catalysts, chemical formulations, and semiconductors.

Prior to attending law school, Lindsay worked as a process automation engineer for a Fortune 100 chemical company.

Ariel House – Litigation, Austin

Ariel represents plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of high-stakes litigation matters in federal, state, and appellate courts across the country, with a particular focus on complex business litigation.

Ariel is a hands-on trial lawyer with substantial experience handling all aspects of litigation, including direct and cross-examinations of both expert and fact witnesses at jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. She has litigated cases involving claims for breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement, securities fraud, violations of consumer protection statutes, and patent infringement, among others. Her clients include major technology, energy, health care, and consumer products companies.

Alex Kamel – Corporate Finance, Houston

Alex advises commercial banks, lead arrangers, placement agents, private equity, private credit and mezzanine funds, as well as publicly and privately held corporate borrowers and issuers, in domestic and international 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, sustainability-linked facilities, acquisition financings, mezzanine facilities, direct lending, public offerings and private placements of debt securities, restructurings and other structured financings.

Alex represents clients in a variety of industries, including energy, manufacturing, commercial and residential development, restaurants and foodservice, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure. His energy industry experience includes matters involving oil and gas exploration and production, offshore drilling, midstream, oilfield services, distribution, storage and transportation, clean energy and sustainability.

Liam O’Rourke – Litigation, Houston

Liam is a trial attorney who represents plaintiffs and defendants in federal courts, state courts, and international and domestic arbitrations. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, securities and shareholder litigation, and a broad range of tort litigation, including fraud, business torts, and wrongful death cases.

Liam works with clients in the energy, chemical, and power industries, and has substantial experience in upstream and midstream oil and gas matters. He routinely advises clients in all stages of litigation, guiding them through pre-litigation claim assessment and analysis, strategically navigating pre-trial discovery and motion practice, and advocating for his clients at trial and on appeal.

Carolyn Pirraglia – Intellectual Property, New York

Carolyn’s practice focuses on life science patent prosecution and counseling. Dr. Pirraglia’s 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, she graduated from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Cornell University. While at Cornell, her research focused on understanding the development of complex epithelial tissues using genetic, biochemical and cell biology techniques. In particular, she 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.

Monica Smith – Litigation, Dallas

Monica represents companies in complex commercial and intellectual property disputes, including false advertising, breach of contract, trade secrets, trademark, and patent matters. Over the years, she has developed particular experience in consumer class actions challenging the labeling and advertising of consumer goods. She has represented a range of clients in the consumer products, technology, and energy industries in both federal and state court. Outside the courtroom, Monica provides strategic counseling to her clients, with a particular emphasis on counseling in the product labeling space.

Monica also maintains an active pro bono practice. As first-chair trial attorney, she secured demolition of a notorious drug and prostitution house in West Dallas. She received D CEO's Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Award for her work on that matter.

Clarke Stavinoha – Intellectual Property, Dallas

Clarke works on a range of intellectual property matters, with an emphasis on complex patent litigation, patent prosecution, and matters before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board.

He has experience in many of the country's most popular patent venues, including the Eastern District of Texas, Northern District of California, District of Delaware, and District of Colorado. Clarke engages in various aspects of patent litigation matters, including infringement analyses, validity analyses, drafting pleadings, discovery, motion practice, and claim construction. He also has substantial experience litigating patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants.

In PTAB matters, Clarke represents petitioners and patent owners in inter partes review proceedings and patent owners in ex parte reexaminations involving a diverse set of technologies.

David Turner – Litigation, London

David focuses on international commercial arbitration, international investment arbitration and public international law. He has acted as counsel in numerous international disputes under the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, SCC, DIAC, ICDR and UNCITRAL rules. He was a key member of the team recently named International Arbitration Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards for our successful representation of the Republic of Iraq.

David has worked in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia. He previously clerked at the Supreme Court of New Zealand and served as legal advisor to prominent international arbitrator Sir David Williams KC. He speaks English, French and Spanish, with a working knowledge of Italian and German.

ABOUT BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.
Baker Botts is an international law firm whose lawyers practice throughout a network of offices around the globe. Based on our experience and knowledge of our clients' industries, we are recognized as a leading firm in the energy, technology and life sciences sectors. Since 1840, we have provided creative and effective legal solutions for our clients while demonstrating an unrelenting commitment to excellence. For more information, please visit bakerbotts.com.