The Litigation Department is pleased to announce the appointment of new leaders in two practice areas and two offices:
Labor & Employment
Kevin Hyde and Bud Bobber have been appointed chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Labor & Employment Practice.
Kevin has been serving as Vice Chair of the department as well as managing partner of the Jacksonville office for the last several years. Kevin is also a member of the Automotive and Food & Beverage Industry Teams. He will be responsible for continuing to lead the group in its business planning and implementation efforts, improve upon attorney development and training, enhance cross-selling efforts, implement alternative fee pricing initiatives and corresponding profitability efforts, and improve communication channels within group members, among others.
Bud Bobber will assist Kevin in the administration and implementation of the Labor & Employment practice initiatives. Bud is resident in the Milwaukee office and has a national practice focusing on wage and hour, trade secrets/noncompetition litigation, employee benefits and employment discrimination matters. Bud also serves as Chair of the firm’s Professional Development Committee.
John Birmingham is stepping down as chair after several years of growth in the Labor & Employment Practice. John has managed the group expertly and his appointment as a Management Committee member a year ago is a testament to John’s leadership abilities. We thank John for his many contributions to the practice’s success.
eDiscovery & Document Management Group
Scott Seabolt is the new practice chair of the eDiscovery & Document Management Specialty Group. Scott is a Detroit office partner involved in the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice, the Securities Enforcement & Litigation Practice, and the Automotive Industry Team.
Scott succeeds Eric Maassen as chair of the group. Eric was instrumental in founding the eDiscovery team and has helped grow it as a Specialty Practice. We thank Eric for his contributions.
Madison Office
Naikang Tsao has agreed to serve as Madison Office Litigation Chair. Naikang is a partner in both the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Intellectual Property Litigation Practices. He joined Foley in 2000. Naikang will oversee Litigation Department administrative responsibilities within the Madison office, including performance evaluations, office training and mentoring, communication, and office-based business development, credentialing and public relations-related activities.
Naikang succeeds Mike Van Sicklen, who has led the Madison office Litigation Practice for the past 10 years. Mike has our thanks for his fine stewardship of the Madison office’s litigation development over the years.
San Diego Office
Mikel Bistrow, as Chair, and Nancy Stagg, as Vice Chair, will assume the leadership of the San Diego office Litigation Practice. Mikel joined Foley 18 months ago and specializes in the areas of commercial finance and lending, real and personal property secured transactions, Uniform Commercial Code, creditor’s collection and related remedies, bankruptcy, insolvency and work-outs. Nancy Stagg is also a recent arrival at Foley, having joined the firm early in 2012. Nancy’s practice emphasizes the defense of consumer class actions, unfair competition and false advertising litigation, as well as a wide variety of business and intellectual property litigation, including trade secret litigation. Nancy’s focus as Vice Chair will be on training and CLE within the San Diego and Del Mar offices.
Jeff Blease steps down as San Diego Litigation Practice Chair, but will continue his fine work as head of the Construction Litigation Practice. We thank Jeff for his forward-looking and creative leadership in both positions.
