Thompson Hine LLP has elected four new partners, effective January 1, 2023. The new partners represent a range of practice areas, including Business Litigation, Corporate Transactions & Securities and Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation.
“We are proud to welcome these attorneys to our partnership, said Deborah Z. Read, Thompson Hine’s managing partner. These future leaders of our firm exhibit outstanding talent in their respective practice areas and embrace the innovative ideas that drive our commitment to providing enhanced value to clients. Each of them is dedicated to helping clients achieve their business goals by delivering exceptional legal services while affording clients greater efficiency, predictability and transparency.”
The new partners are:
Beth A. Mandel, a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice in Cincinnati, assists employers with the design and implementation of group health, welfare and fringe benefit plans while navigating the increasingly complex web of federal and state benefit regulations and hot-button issues like health plan coverage of reproductive health care. She regularly assists clients with establishing or updating plan documents and summary plan descriptions, reviews and negotiates service provider agreements, guides health plan sponsors through HIPAA privacy and security compliance and breach response, and consults on claims litigation. She received 2023 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law and participated in the YWCA Rising Star Leadership Program in 2012. Mandel received her J.D. from University of Cincinnati College of Law and her B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from University of Michigan.
Kelsey Mehaffie, a member of the Corporate Transactions & Securities practice in Cincinnati, focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters, including complex corporate reorganizations, governance and commercial agreements. She has particular experience in stock acquisition transactions involving employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). She regularly advises corporations being sold to ESOPs, the trustees buying company stock in ESOP transactions, corporations that are owned by ESOPs and desire to sell to third parties, trustees of ESOPs being sold to third parties, and third-party buyers of existing ESOPs. She received 2022 and 2023 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition for Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Law and was included in the inaugural edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Mergers and Acquisitions Law. She also was selected to the Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars list in 2023. Mehaffie received her J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law and her B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from University of Cincinnati.
Philip B. Sineneng, a member of the Corporate Transactions & Securities practice in Columbus, focuses his practice on the financial services industry with a concentration on regulatory and compliance matters related to the organization, registration and operation of investment companies and advisers. He advises mutual funds, closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds and their investment advisers on issues related to new fund launches, mergers, liquidations and fund restructuring. He assists regulated entities in examinations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and provides ongoing advice to the boards of directors of registered investment companies on fund governance matters. He received the Ohio Diversity Council’s 2014 Multicultural Leadership Award and the 2013 Leadership Columbus Walk the Talk Award. He was selected to the Ohio Super Lawyers list, 2017-2020 and the Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, 2012-2016. In 2015 he was named a Top Lawyer by Columbus CEO, and he was selected for inclusion in Forty Under 40 by Columbus Business First in 2013. Sineneng received his J.D. from Cornell Law School and his B.A., cum laude, from Georgetown University.
Joe Smith, a member of the Business Litigation practice in Washington, D.C., represents clients in a broad range of commercial, civil and regulatory matters. He is one of the primary leaders of Thompson Hine’s Cannabis practice, advising clients in the cannabis and cannabis-related industries, as well as in the vaping industry, on federal and state regulatory compliance and enforcement, litigation, transactional and intellectual property issues. His litigation experience encompasses a variety of matters including challenges to state and federal administrative and enforcement actions, complex civil and commercial litigation, contract disputes, business torts, intellectual property litigation, and professional, real estate and medical liability. He received 2022 and 2023 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition for Commercial Litigation and Product Liability Litigation-Defendants and was included in the inaugural edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Commercial Litigation. He also was selected to the Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers Rising Stars list from 2020 to 2022. Smith received his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and his B.A. from Indiana University.