Part 2 of our Year-End Spotlight on Sullivan's community partners.

At Sullivan, we are proud to work with some of the most inspiring community organizations in the country. We have invited some of these organizations to take part in a year-end campaign to highlight their important work on the firm’s social media channels and the Life @ Sullivan blog. These posts feature quotes from the organizations' leadership and beneficiaries, focusing on what they have been grateful for in 2020 and what they are looking forward to in 2021.

Please follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more about these phenomenal organizations.

This week's blog focuses on What We're Looking Forward To:

At Sullivan, we are proud to work with some of the most inspiring community organizations in the country. We have invited some of these organizations to take part in a year-end campaign to highlight their important work on the firm’s social media channels and the Life @ Sullivan blog. These posts feature quotes from the organizations' leadership and beneficiaries, focusing on what they have been grateful for in 2020 and what they are looking forward to in 2021.

Please follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more about these phenomenal organizations.

This week's blog focuses on What We're Grateful For:

A very exciting day at Sullivan: Nick O'Donnell is set to argue before the Supreme Court of the United States at 11:00am. The case of Federal Republic of Germany v. Philip centers on a case of Nazi-looted art dating back to 1935.

Part of what makes Sullivan such a unique place is our people, so we'd like to introduce you to some of them in a series of posts. We asked associates around the firm why they chose Sullivan and how their experiences have been since joining us.

Mike Palmisciano is an associate in the Corporate Department of Sullivan's New York office. His practice focuses on the clearance, prosecution, enforcement and commercialization of intellectual property. Mike regularly advises clients on issues relating to domestic and international trademark portfolio management and enforcement, copyright protection and fair use, domain name acquisitions and disputes, and gaming, e-sports and advertising. His experience includes drafting and negotiating software, data, and merchandise license agreements, preparing website terms of use and privacy policies and conducting intellectual property diligence for transactional matters.

On October 22, the heirs to the Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell the medieval devotional art collection known as the Welfenschatz (in English, the Guelph Treasure) to agents of Hermann Goering in 1935 filed their brief in the Supreme Court of the United States. It can be viewed at this link.

The Supreme Court is set to hear argument on December 7, 2020, on whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and its "takings clause" create jurisdiction over the heirs' claims for restitution of the Welfenschatz—as all reviewing courts so far have held. The Welfenschatz is held by the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (in English, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation).

Sullivan's Boston office recently organized a backpack drive for a local elementary school. Thanks to the support of attorneys and staff, we prepared over 30 backpacks filled with school supplies necessary for the year. The bags will go to students in several grades at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Jamaica Plain.

We are pleased to welcome Angela Gomes to the Boston office as a partner in the Corporate practice. Angela, who moves to Sullivan from Skadden, focuses her practice on securities regulation and corporate finance, as well as mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters.

"Angela is a terrific addition to Sullivan’s Corporate practice group and we’re happy to have her on our team," said Joel Carpenter, managing partner of the firm. "With extensive experience in a wide range of transactional matters, her practice dovetails nicely with our clients and where we expect to see growth. We’ve worked with Angela many times and have repeatedly been impressed by her talent."

In addition to the 40 attorneys named to the annual Best Lawyers list, which we featured in a previous post, Sullivan is very proud to announce that two of our lawyers have been named "Lawyer of the Year" for 2020. This honor is conferred upon a single attorney in each practice area within a designated metropolitan area.

The Sullivan lawyers who received this honor were:

We are very pleased to announce that 40 lawyers have been included in the 2020 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Best Lawyers has published their list for over three decades, earning the respect of the profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has grown to provide lists in over 75 countries.

Part of what makes Sullivan such a unique place is our people, so we'd like to introduce you to some of them in a series of posts. We asked associates around the firm why they chose Sullivan and how their experiences have been since joining us.

Erika Todd received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2013, and came to Sullivan as a lateral associate. Her practice includes complex, commercial and employment matters, and she is a member of the Art and Museum Law practice group. Erika is also a director of the Harvard Law School Association of Massachusetts, where she leads an annual mentoring program and coordinates other initiatives.

Why did you choose Sullivan?

I liked the fact that Sullivan combined the resources of a bigger firm, including an international presence, with the individual attention on associate development of a smaller firm. That balance makes Sullivan unique among the firms I considered.