Haynes Boone Announces 2023 Class of New Partners

Haynes and Boone, LLP is proud to promote 16 lawyers to its partnership ranks, effective Jan. 1.

The 2023 New Partner Class includes: D.J. Beaty, Brent Beckert, Valisa Berber-Thayer, Dina Blikshteyn, Zach Burnett, Tiffany Cooke, Natalie DuBose, Christopher Konopka, Joseph Lawlor, Charlene Liu, Garrett Martin, Mike McArthur, Taryn McDonald, Chase A.M. Proctor, Matt S. Stewart, and Scott Thompson.

“Our new partners are a supremely accomplished group, who have demonstrated skill, professionalism, and dedication to client service throughout their careers,” said Haynes Boone Managing Partner Taylor Wilson. “This is one of the largest new-partners classes in our history. The fact that we are able to promote so many worthy lawyers to partner, from a variety of practices, speaks volumes about the long-term health of Haynes Boone.”

Read more about the firm’s new partners below:

D.J. Beaty

A Houston-based member of the firm’s Energy Litigation Practice, D.J. focuses on litigating disputes within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. He has handled matters across the nation for energy clients and is an experienced trial lawyer who has tried cases to juries and the bench, arbitrated to final award, and managed appeals in state and federal courts. D.J. also regularly advises clients outside of litigation on issues arising under industry agreements.

Brent Beckert

Brent is a Dallas-based member of the firm’s Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Practice Groups. He focuses on corporate law, private and public M&As, venture capital raises, and other complex domestic and international transactions for clients in a variety of industries, including the healthcare, technology, education, manufacturing, defense, construction, insurance, and professional services sectors. He also helps clients procure and negotiate coverage under representation and warranty insurance (RWI) policies in the context of M&A transactions.

Valisa Berber-Thayer

A Houston-based member of the firm’s M&A, International, and Private Equity Practice Groups, Valisa’s practice focuses on M&A and general corporate matters for clients in a range of industries, including energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure. She has advised public and private clients on both the purchaser and seller side in transactions ranging from complex cross-border transactions to acquisitions and sales of private companies, and corporate reorganizations. She has also advised distressed companies on the transactional and corporate governance aspects of out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 reorganizations.

Dina Blikshteyn

Dina is a New York-based member of the Intellectual Property (IP) Practice Group. Dina’s practice spans various technology disciplines including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, FinTech, wireless communication, and mobile technologies. She regularly represents Petitioners and Patent Owners in post grant review proceedings in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Dina also builds defensible worldwide patent portfolios involving various technology disciplines including AI, FinTech, wireless communication, blockchain, and mobile technologies. Dina co-chairs the AI practice at Haynes Boone.

Zach Burnett

Zach is a Dallas-based member of the firm’s M&A and Investment Management Practice Groups. His practice focuses on M&A, private equity investments, and corporate compliance and governance. Zach represents clients across a range of industries in various corporate and securities matters. He also regularly advises investment funds and investment advisors on the formation, organization and operation of both hedge funds and private equity funds and their compliance with applicable federal and state laws.

Tiffany Cooke

Tiffany is a Dallas-based member of the firm’s IP Litigation Practice Group and is a registered patent attorney. Her practice focuses on representing clients in commercial and intellectual property litigation in state and federal court. Tiffany’s litigation experience includes representing plaintiffs and defendants in contract, trade secret, bankruptcy, patent, copyright, trademark infringement, and complex commercial litigation. Her experience extends to all phases of litigation, including trial and post-trial. She has taken and defended depositions, argued hearings, and questioned both friendly and hostile witnesses at trial.

Natalie DuBose

Natalie is a Dallas-based member of the firm’s Insurance Litigation Practice. She is an insurance-recovery professional who has successfully represented a number of businesses – large and small – under all types of commercial insurance policies, including directors and officers, commercial general liability, property, errors and omissions, builder’s risk, fidelity, and cyber. With a decade of experience helping businesses navigate complex insurance disputes, Natalie has worked with clients in the financial services, construction, and healthcare sectors to recover under claims following significant litigation events or natural disasters.

Christopher Konopka

A Dallas-based member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, Chris has represented developers, investment funds, individuals, public corporations, and financial institutions in connection with various commercial real property transactions, including financing (both borrower- and lender-side), acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and development projects. Such transactions have covered a broad range of property types, including multi-family, industrial, office, retail, and raw land. Prior to joining the firm, Chris primarily represented institutional lenders in connection with commercial real estate loan originations intended for securitization on the secondary market.

Joseph Lawlor

Joe is a New York-based IP and advertising lawyer with a nationwide practice. Joe litigates high-stakes advertising, trademark, and media disputes in federal court, the National Advertising Division (NAD), and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). He also counsels clients on advertising claims and substantiation, marketing and sponsorship agreements, IP licenses, social media, endorsements, and influencers. Clients turn to Joe for guidance on cutting-edge advertising and social media issues because of his deep substantive knowledge and unique skillset that spans from counseling and transactions to trials and appeal. His clients include well-known brands in consumer goods, telecommunications, higher education, media, pharmaceuticals, professional sports, and fintech.

Charlene Liu

Charlene is an IP lawyer and member of the firm’s Patent Prosecution Practice in San Francisco who has extensive knowledge of patents and a focus on patent prosecution and assertion. She performs client counseling, portfolio development, and management in various technological fields, focusing on software, AI and deep learning, semiconductors, integrated circuits, financial service, and network security. Charlene also frequently counsels clients on assertions and licensing disputes, such as in the realm of standard essential patents and wireless technology. Charlene has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University.

Garrett Martin

Garrett is a Houston-based litigator in the firm’s Energy, Power and Natural Resources Practice. While the majority of his practice centers on representing clients in all facets of the oil and gas industry, he is a creative, solution-oriented litigator with nationwide experience representing clients in a variety of disputes, both in and outside energy. He has particular experience in complex procedures such as mass and class royalty actions in multiple federal and state courts.

Mike McArthur

A Dallas-based member of the Trademark Practice Group, Mike counsels clients on the legal risks and practical implications of adopting, protecting, and enforcing their brands worldwide. His practice focuses on trademark availability clearance searches, trademark prosecution, global IP portfolio management, opposition and cancellation proceedings, and online enforcement to address infringement on websites and social media platforms.

Taryn McDonald

Taryn is a Dallas-based member of the firm’s Litigation Practice, with a focus on government investigations and healthcare litigation, representing individuals and companies facing actual or threatened government enforcement actions. She has represented clients under criminal or civil investigation by various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and FINRA. Taryn has extensive experience defending clients in qui tam and False Claims Act investigations and lawsuits and regularly provides counsel on regulatory issues.

Chase A.M. Proctor

Chase is a member of the firm’s M&A Practice Group based in Dallas who is licensed to practice in both New York and Texas. He has experience in domestic and international acquisitions, divestitures, securities transactions, and other complex business transactions, including corporate restructurings and M&A transactions within the bankruptcy context. Specifically, he has represented both corporate, private equity, and venture capital buyers and sellers in structuring, negotiating, documenting, and closing acquisitions and dispositions. He also has experience representing high-net-worth family offices with respect to a number of investment and other M&A matters.

Matt S. Stewart

A Dallas-based member of the firm’s Investment Management and Private Equity Practice Groups, Matt focuses his practice on structuring, forming, and advising private equity, energy, real estate, and other private investment funds and their management companies. He also regularly counsels private equity sponsors, hedge funds, family offices, and institutional investors on joint ventures, minority investments, co-investment programs, secondaries, and other strategic transactions; management teams with respect to private-equity backed investments and equity compensation arrangements; and on complex governance matters.

Scott Thompson

A Dallas-based member of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group, Scott frequently helps clients in corporate transactions by identifying and correcting employee benefit plan issues (such as retirement plan qualification failures and compliance with Sections 409A and 280G of the Internal Revenue Code), as well as negotiating and drafting the purchase agreement and other transaction-related documents. In addition, Scott advises clients on incentive, equity, and deferred compensation matters, as well as payroll and unemployment tax complexities and potential issues that may arise when employee groups are consolidated with, or transferred to, another entity in connection with a corporate transaction, business consolidation, or reorganization.

Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with 18 offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With 600 lawyers, Haynes Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer. It was recognized in the BTI Consulting Group’s 2022 “A-Team” report, which identifies the law firms that in-house counsel commend for providing superior client service.

Several media outlets covered Haynes Boone's 2023 class of new partners, including Texas Lawyer, Bloomberg Law's Wake-Up Call, Reuters - The Afternoon Docket, World IP Review, and Law360 Pulse.