The Recorder Names Dino Barajas and Natasha Kohne California Trailblazers
(Los Angeles and San Francisco) – The Recorder has named Akin Gump cross-border transactions partner Dino Barajas and litigation partner Natasha Kohne to its inaugural list of California Trailblazers, recognizing “a handful of individuals that are truly agents of change” and who have made “significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancement of their practice.”
The Recorder cited Mr. Barajas for his “pioneer spirit,” noting that telling him “he can’t do something just makes him want it more.” This includes his desire to build a California-based practice around infrastructure development and M&A in Latin America. “The fact that it hadn’t been done before,” he said, “wasn’t necessarily a preclusion that it couldn’t be done.”
Mr. Barajas, the publication notes, has worked on more than 40 energy and infrastructure projects across Latin America. In the future, The Recorder says, he hopes to work with clients to boost private equity investment in Latin America as well as promote diversity in the practice of law. “I want to open the door as much as I can for others,” he said.
Ms. Kohne was cited for her efforts “to make sense of an often contradictory world of regulations, laws and business needs” pertaining to cybersecurity and data privacy. As co-leader of Akin Gump’s cybersecurity, privacy and data protection practice, she has blazed trails, the publication notes, by working on “highly technical legal and regulatory issues” pertaining to the California Consumer Privacy Act, which goes into effect next year.
Looking ahead, Ms. Kohne observed that concerns about privacy and cybersecurity have led to “a maze and myriad of conflicting laws in different jurisdictions globally.” She said she hopes Congress will conform any new legislation to those regulations already in place, in Europe and elsewhere. “The next stage,” she added, “is how we can effectively harmonize all these laws with the different privacy regimes.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Barajas was named by Latinvex as one of Latin America’s Top 100 Lawyers. (Click here for more.) Ms. Kohne was named to Daily Journal’s Top Cyber Lawyer List. (Click here for more.)
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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