Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Welcomes 2026 New Partner Class
Twelve attorneys elevated to partnership across seven offices, spanning complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, white collar defense, and international arbitration.
LOS ANGELES – Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, the global litigation powerhouse, has elected 12 exceptional lawyers to partnership effective January 1, 2026. This class spans offices from Los Angeles to Munich, representing the firm's continued global expansion and depth across key practice areas.
"We congratulate our new partner class and welcome these twelve extraordinary lawyers into the partnership, as we celebrate another extraordinary year for our firm," said Co-Managing Partner Michael B. Carlinsky. "This class reflects our continuing ability to develop world-class trial lawyers across our global platform, ensuring we continue to deliver superior representation in our clients’ most critical disputes."
The newly elected partners are:
Veronica Bartholomew – Based in Wilmington, Del. Veronica focuses on corporate litigation, with significant experience representing both public and private companies, private equity firms, founders, and directors in Delaware litigation. She has successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants through trial or resolution in M&A disputes, breach of contract cases, fiduciary duty litigation, and Delaware statutory proceedings. Her notable representations include multiple post-trial victories and pleading stage dismissals in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Veronica graduated from Duke Law School (top 5%) and the University of Notre Dame (summa cum laude, Valedictorian candidate), where she was also an NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball National Finalist.
Alex Bergjans – Based in Los Angeles, Alex focuses on complex commercial, media, employment, and intellectual property litigation. He has been a member of teams that successfully tried high-profile cases in state and federal courts and in arbitration. Alex has helped clients win complete defense verdicts on multi-billion dollar claims and protect those judgments on appeal. Alex previously served as a Deputy City Attorney in the Los Angeles City Attorney's Consumer Protection Unit, where he first-chaired criminal trials and led complex civil investigations and litigation, including an investigation that resulted in one of the nation's largest civil judgments for COVID-19 testing fraud. He graduated from Georgetown Law (cum laude) and Northwestern University.
James Bieber – Based in Los Angeles, Jimmy focuses on complex commercial litigation and other high-stakes disputes. He represents clients in a wide range of complex business litigation matters, including contract disputes, intellectual property litigation, and technology disputes. Jimmy joined the firm after graduating in the top 1% of his class from UCLA School of Law.
Leigha Empson – Based in New York, Leigha's practice centers on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on securities litigation. She represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of complex commercial disputes from pre-complaint investigations through trial, with significant experience in state and federal courts across the country as well as arbitration. Leigha joined the firm in 2017 and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Jonathan Feder – Based in New York, Jonathan specializes in M&A and corporate governance litigation. With industry-leading experience taking deals through trial, he has obtained post-trial termination, specific performance of closing, and exposed a “dodgy bargain” in expedited deal-enforcement trials. In a recent representation, Jonathan successfully forced a complete change of control at Delaware, Nevada, and Texas entities. Jonathan currently represents and advises several clients in litigation and on pre-litigation strategy in major pending deals. He also litigates high-profile corporate governance matters in the Delaware Court of Chancery and has successfully defended individuals and entities facing public and private prosecutions alleging corporate misconduct. Jonathan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he also served on the board of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Yehuda Goor – Based in New York, Yehuda focuses on high-stakes complex litigation, including major commercial disputes, sovereign and judgment enforcement litigation, and contentious finance, tech, insurance, and energy matters. His practice spans federal and state courts across the country, as well as multinational litigation in various jurisdictions. Admitted to practice in both New York and Israel, Yehuda often represents Israeli companies and individuals facing U.S. litigation and regulatory challenges, and advises international clients on cross-border matters involving Israel. Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, he served as a legal officer at the United Nations and clerked for the Honorable Uzi Vogelman of the Supreme Court of Israel. Yehuda received his LL.M. from Harvard Law School and his LL.B. magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.
Dr. Andreas Hahne – Based in Munich, Andreas is a German qualified attorney (Rechtsanwalt) whose practice focuses on national and cross-border patent litigation. He represents clients before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and the major German patent infringement courts (Düsseldorf, Mannheim/Karlsruhe, and Munich) at trial and appellate level, in nullity proceedings before the German Federal Patent Court and the Federal Supreme Court, and in opposition proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO). His expertise covers all aspects of complex patent litigation over a wide range of technologies such as life science, IT, telecommunications, and automotive. Andreas joined the firm in 2016 and obtained his Ph.D. in Law (Dr. jur.) from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and his LL.M. from Queen Mary University of London.
Nicholas Inns – Based in Washington, D.C., Nick joined the firm in 2021 following a decade of service in the Navy as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. During his military career, he prosecuted and defended sailors accused of felonies and litigated more than 30 contested cases to verdicts. His practice focuses on complex international commercial litigation and white collar matters, including economic sanctions and global disputes. He graduated from Harvard Law School and the Naval Academy.
James McSweeney – Based in London, James focuses on white collar criminal defense and corporate investigations, complex commercial litigation, and defamation. His practice includes all aspects of white collar crime and corporate investigations, and he has experience representing clients in complex commercial disputes before English courts. James joined the firm in 2017 and is qualified as a barrister in England and Wales. Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, James was an associate at another U.S. firm in London.
Kate Scherling – Based in New York, Kate focuses on corporate bankruptcies and bankruptcy-related litigation, including fraudulent transfer, recharacterization, and breach of fiduciary matters. She has represented creditors and debtors in contested matters, including DIP financing challenges, rejection motions, and contested plan confirmations, and has advised numerous independent directors in connection with restructuring transactions and investigations. Kate also worked in the U.S. Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel, where she drafted legislation related to bankruptcy and banking. She graduated from Fordham Law School cum laude.
Eric Wolkoff – Based in Boston, Eric's practice focuses on complex commercial and securities litigation, including cases for private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund clients and their portfolio companies. He has successfully represented clients in the financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life sciences industries in a wide range of matters, including involving unfair competition, trade secret litigation, fraud, breach of contract, partnership disputes, and breach of fiduciary duty claims. Eric has significant courtroom experience, having examined and cross-examined both fact and expert witnesses at trial and in arbitration, taken and defended numerous depositions, and argued dispositive motions. He is admitted in Massachusetts and New York and graduated from Columbia Law School.
Jianjian Ye – Based in New York, Jianjian specializes in complex commercial litigation, with particular expertise in M&A disputes, bankruptcy-related litigation, securities fraud class actions, and judgment enforcement matters. With native Mandarin fluency and deep cultural understanding, Jianjian serves as a strategic advisor to Chinese and Asian clients navigating U.S. litigation and regulatory challenges. Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Jianjian clerked for the Honorable J. Paul Oetken of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, and received his LL.B. from Tsinghua University.