Much Shelist recently announced the addition of Mary Anne (Molly) Phelan as a principal in the Real Estate practice group, and Urska (Ursha) P. Magajne and Christopher R. Walker as associates in the Business & Finance group. Additionally, the firm promoted Julia Rybakova from apprentice to associate in the Business & Finance group.
Molly Phelan represents real estate companies, investors, businesses with commercial and industrial real estate portfolios, and municipal organizations in a wide variety of real estate transactions. Her work includes tax assessment valuations, commercial development incentives, government incentives, reclassifications, exemptions, tax parcel divisions, large-scale municipal developments and Tax Increment Financing (TIF). She focuses on helping clients identify, maximize and protect the full potential of their real estate assets, minimize tax liabilities and resolve tax disputes. Phelan has extensive experience representing clients in hearings before review boards, local assessors’ offices, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board and circuit courts. She was named a “Rising Star” by Illinois Super Lawyers Magazine for four years running. Phelan earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Fluent in four languages, Ursha Magajne draws on her extensive legal and cross-cultural experience to assist clients through various financing transactions, including internal restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and other transactions, ranging from small private acquisitions to multibillion-dollar sales. She has represented international Fortune 100 enterprises, domestic mid-sized companies, investment groups and entrepreneurs in the health care, banking and financial services, pharmaceutical, leasing and manufacturing industries. In addition, she is deeply committed to providing pro bono legal advice to individuals and not-for-profit organizations. Magajne earned a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, a LL.M. from both the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Heidelberg (Germany), and a Ph.D. and a B.A. from the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law (Slovenia).
Christopher Walker focuses his practice on advising entrepreneurs, mid-sized companies, corporations, private equity firms, institutional investors and financial institutions on a wide range of corporate transactions and financing matters. Such matters include negotiating and drafting transaction and financing contracts, such as master services, non-disclosure, and confidentiality and employment agreements, as well as managing all aspects of due diligence and conducting collection activities. In addition, Walker has performed IP clearance searches and analyses, drafted licensing agreements to facilitate the monetization of IP portfolios, and guided clients through the complex rules and procedures of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While in law school, Walker served as a judicial extern for Justice Margaret O’Mara Frossard of the Illinois Appellate Court. Walker has a J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.S. from Yale University.
Julia Rybakova advises clients in the areas of intellectual property and corporate transactions. Her work includes agreements related to licensing, confidentiality, venture capital investments and general corporate matters. Rybakova is also a registered patent attorney who works on patent-related matters across a variety of technologies. Previously, she served as a law clerk at the office of the general counsel of the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. Rybakova’s work on patent issues involved RAND licenses, standard-essential patent licenses and patent exhaustion. She earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.S. from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is also fluent in Russian.
Rybakova participated in Much Shelist’s apprentice program, which gives first-year lawyers hands-on legal experience, extensive training and mentoring from principal attorneys across the firm’s diverse practice areas for a 12-month period.
Source: www.muchshelist.com
