Affiliate boutique group will focus on white collar, regulatory enforcement, and high-stakes litigation

WASHINGTON – May 1, 2024 – North Carolina-based law firm, Cranfill Sumner LLP, announced today it has brought on former Assistant Secretary of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christina Zaroulis Milnor, to launch an affiliate boutique group and its new Washington, D.C., office with well-known white collar partners, Patrick M. Mincey and Stephen Bell. The new group, Mincey Bell Milnor (MBM) will focus on white collar, regulatory enforcement, high-stakes civil litigation, and representation of whistleblowers before federal agencies.

“Our firm’s strategic vision is to have one of the leading white collar and regulatory enforcement groups in the country,” said Marshall Wall, managing partner of Cranfill Sumner. “With MBM, we have landed a prominent government official, just exiting the SEC, paired with two nationally known white collar litigators. We set it up this way so these lawyers could have the visibility of a boutique group with the platform of our larger firm. We plan to continue to grow the practice from here.”

Milnor has held significant roles at the SEC for more than a decade. She helped shape the Commission’s whistleblower program and brings an intimate understanding of securities law, how the SEC works and works with other federal agencies, and unique insight into the regulatory landscape.

“I am thrilled to work with Patrick and Stephen, who are two of the country’s best white collar practitioners and are already assisting compelling whistleblowers in sharing their intelligence with the government,” Milnor said. “This launch is a fabulous first step after my 11 years of government service, and I am certain that this group will take on some of the most impactful, and high-profile, whistleblower representations in modern history.”

In addition to the three partners, Associate Cameron Ervin and Of Counsel Chad Rhoades will also join MBM, and all will remain attorneys at Cranfill Sumner. The group’s clients will have all the benefits of a focused boutique group, with access to the infrastructure, staffing and resources of Cranfill Sumner and its more than 80 attorneys, enabling them to seamlessly take on matters that require the assistance of large attorney teams, the management of terabytes of data, and significant document production.

“We are reinventing traditional white collar work,” Mincey said. “Just as we have done with several high-profile cases to date, we handle white collar defense matters where our clients face criminal and sometimes civil charges, and we think differently about them. In those cases, we conduct investigations that expose questionable and often covered up practices, and they end up becoming whistleblower cases instead.”

Bell added: “With Christina, MBM will have the best, most-experienced lawyers in this area – working at the intersection of business and government in D.C.”

Mincey and Bell represent prominent corporations and professionals in their most challenging criminal, civil, and regulatory cases—including at jury and bench trials and on appeal—before federal and state courts throughout the United States and investigative forums around the world. They represent qui tam relators and individuals in government whistleblower actions and have represented some of the most notable and high-profile whistleblowers in recent times under the False Claims Act, SEC’s Whistleblower Program, FinCEN, and related federal programs.

Their most prominent whistleblower cases include separate matters involving two candidates for president of the United States. One involves whistleblower Will Wilkerson in parallel investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the SEC concerning Trump Media & Technology Group, former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company that owns and operates Truth Social, alleging securities violations and suspicious loans into Trump’s company with ties to the Kremlin and a Vladimir Putin ally. The second case, in parallel multi-billion-dollar investigations by the U.S. Federal Reserve, FinCEN, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, DOJ, and SEC—as well as numerous foreign government counterparts—involves whistleblower Mark Coffey, a former registered investment advisory chief compliance officer who exposed an alleged $2 billion international conspiracy involving Venezuela’s Oil Minister and United Nations Ambassador to launder stolen money from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) through major U.S. financial institutions.

Milnor began her legal career at the international law firm WilmerHale. Between 2013 and March of this year, she worked in various positions at the SEC, including with its Division of Enforcement, where she focused on its then nascent whistleblower program, its Office of General Counsel, and most recently as the Commission’s Assistant Secretary with greatest oversight of enforcement and litigative matters. She received her B.A. from Harvard University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia.

About Cranfill Sumner LLP

With more than 80 attorneys and 27 practice areas, Cranfill Sumner LLP attorneys serve business and professional clients throughout North Carolina and across the country. Founded in1992, the firm was built on the foundation of teamwork, client service, and reputation, and it continues that legacy today. The firm has offices in Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., and represents clients in all stages of litigation before federal and state courts in North Carolina, as well as select administrative agencies. Whether it’s for privately held companies, municipal entities, small-business owners or partnerships, the “Cranfill way” includes practical and efficient representation tailored for each client. For more information, visit www.cshlaw.com.

March 11, 2024 (OMAHA, Neb.) – Congratulations to Baird Holm Managing Partner Christopher R. Hedican who has been named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in North America.

Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship.

Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province, and there are currently approximately 5,800 members in the United States and Canada. The College maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings. The College is thus able to speak with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal profession and the administration of justice.

Chris was named Baird Holm’s Managing Partner in May 2021, and has been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 2017. His practice focuses on defending all types of employment claims, including discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, employment torts and public policy claims. A substantial part of his practice includes non-compete, business tort, trade secret and fiduciary litigation. He also regularly handles litigation involving self-funded ERISA benefit plans, fully insured benefit plans and third party administrators. Such claims involve equitable subrogation and benefit denial. He regularly defends cases in state and federal courts for firm clients throughout the country, but particularly in the Midwest.

About Baird Holm LLP

Baird Holm LLP’s integrated team of 100 attorneys, licensed in 23 states, is committed to connecting each of its valued clients to the positive outcomes they seek. With extensive and diverse expertise, Baird Holm leverages each attorney’s skills to respond efficiently to its clients’ local, regional, national, and international legal needs. As it celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2023, Baird Holm proudly represents public and private companies, individuals, private funds and other investors, financial institutions, governmental entities, and nonprofit organizations. Learn more at www.bairdholm.com.

From Turner Padget Graham & Laney’s Employment Group

On July 8, 2020, in a 7-2 ruling, the United States Supreme Court gave a strong endorsement of religious organizations’ freedom to choose those who will serve as ministers of the faith.  In Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment insulate religious organization from secular review of decisions to hire, fire, and discipline those who teach the faith.  The Court rejected the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s very rigid analysis of such things ministerial title and formal religious education, and instead called for courts to look at what the employee does.  Justice Alito wrote for the majority and stated: 

When a school with a religious mission entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of education and forming students in the faith, judicial intervention into disputes between the school and the teacher threatens the school’s independence in a way that the First Amendment does not allow.

Importantly, the Court held that judges simply have no warrant to second-guess the schools’ judgment of who should, and should not hold positions as teachers in religious schools.  Neither does the First Amendment permit judges to impose their own credentialing requirements for teachers of the faith.  Religious organizations must be left free to make determinations both in matters of faith and doctrine and to decide matters of church governance – including whom to retain as school teachers.

Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch concurred in the result entirely.  However, they wrote separately, to assert that courts must grant broad deference to religious organizations’ good-faith claims that an employee’s position is ministerial.  They wrote that what qualifies as “ministerial” is an inherently theological question that cannot be resolved by civil courts through legal analysis.  The concurrence posits that religious organizations must be free to shape their own faith and mission without judicial meddling.

The two cases on appeal involved adverse employment decisions regarding Catholic school teachers from Los Angeles.  One was an elementary school teacher, who taught all subjects and who took religious education courses at the school’s request.  She led her students in prayer and assisted the students in preparation for sacraments, religious services, and other religious activities though she did not hold herself out to the public as a minister.  The other had little formal religious education, though she, too, taught religion classes.  Both teachers’ contracts of employment contained requirements that teachers serve as “models of faith life;” “exemplify the teachings of Jesus Christ;” and “integrate Catholic though and principles into secular subjects.”  Both were terminated from their positions and brought suit under federal employment laws challenging that determination.