In the Public Interest WilmerHale

In this episode of In the Public Interest, host Felicia Ellsworth interviews Brendan McGuire, who recently rejoined WilmerHale after serving as chief counsel to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and City Hall. McGuire discusses his experience in the Adams Administration, including the challenges emerging from COVID, the New York City Legal Fellows Program and the asylum seeker crisis. He also reflects on his prior experience as chief of the Public Corruption Unit at the US Attorney’s Office for the SDNY and how it influenced his decision to join the Adams Administration. McGuire discusses his return to WilmerHale and how his experience in the mayor’s office will contribute to his private practice.

In 2021, Mariah Carey’s company Lotion LLC applied to register the trademark “Queen of Christmas” for future use on a vast range of products, including music, perfume, sunglasses and coconut milk. Elizabeth Chan, a singer and songwriter who exclusively writes and sings holiday music, filed an opposition to block Carey’s registration in August 2022. Chan herself had been dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” by the media in 2014 and has embraced and used the title ever since, including publishing a “Queen of Christmas” album.
In this episode, co-host and Partner Felicia Ellsworth is joined by Chan, along with fellow Partner Louis Tompros and former Associate Hailey Cherepon to discuss their experience working with Chan on her successful opposition to Carey’s attempted trademark registration. Tompros is an intellectual property litigator who has handled some of the most challenging patent, trademark and copyright matters for high-profile clients in technology, manufacturing and entertainment. Along with Tompros and Cherepon, the WilmerHale team who represented Chan included Partners Kevin Prussia and John Hobgood.
Chan shares the story of her journey to becoming a full-time Christmas songwriter and singer. Later in the episode, Tompros breaks down the intricacies of opposing a trademark registration and how WilmerHale helped Chan clear the path for herself—but more importantly, for others—to freely use the title “Queen of Christmas.”

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, reversing Roe v. Wade and holding that the US constitution no longer includes a right to abortion. The Court’s decision left states with full authority to regulate – or eliminate -- abortion access. In Season Two of In the Public Interest, WilmerHale Partner Kim Parker spoke with Helene Krasnoff, Vice President of Public Policy, Litigation and Law at Planned Parenthood, to preview the potential outcomes in Dobbs and their potential impact on reproductive rights in the United States. Parker is vice chair of the firm’s Litigation and Controversy Department and has represented Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health providers in a number of legal challenges. She also serves as co-chair of WilmerHale’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee.
In this follow-up episode, In the Public Interest welcomes back Parker and Krasnoff, along with Dr. Kristina Tocce from Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, to revisit the status of reproductive rights in the US, post-Dobbs. Parker, Krasnoff and Dr. Tocce discuss the legislation and litigation across the US that has resulted from the Court’s decision in Dobbs, including so-called “trigger bans” in place in a number of states. Krasnoff and Dr. Tocce share their perspectives on the burdens placed on patients seeking abortion care in states where abortion is now banned and how these burdens also impact other patients who live in states where abortion access is protected. And they discuss how a federal abortion ban, if enacted, would impact abortion access in the US.

In late February of 1965, Malcolm X was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York. In the days after the famous civil rights leader’s assassination, three men were arrested and charged with his murder. All three men were later convicted on those charges, despite testimony that two of those men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam, were innocent. In the years since, Aziz and Islam steadfastly maintained their innocence, and in 2020, The Innocence Project took up their case. Nearly five decades later, Aziz and Islam were exonerated in November 2021, after The Innocence Project successfully urged Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. to reinvestigate the case.
In this episode, In the Public Interest co-host John Walsh invites WilmerHale Partner April Williams to share the story of her involvement in The Innocence Project’s efforts to exonerate Aziz and Islam. Williams focuses her practice on complex civil and criminal litigation and maintains an active pro bono practice, including her work with a team of WilmerHale lawyers supporting The Innocence Project on this case. Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at The Innocence Project, joins Walsh and Williams for an in-depth discussion of The Innocence Project’s work to exonerate the two men.
Walsh, Williams and Potkin revisit the political tensions swirling around the time of Malcolm X’s murder and the specific events leading up to his assassination on the afternoon of February 21, 1965. They discuss the thorny legal issues involved in seeking to overturn a decades-old conviction and how a newly discovered evidence law in New York formed the legal grounds that ultimately led to Aziz and Islam’s official exoneration. The episode wraps up with Potkin sharing how racial disparities in the criminal justice system are also borne out in wrongful convictions, with Black individuals making up nearly half of known exonerations.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the early months of 2022, a spate of countries, including the United States, have imposed several packages of sanctions on Russia and Russian officials. These sanctions ranged from bans on the provision of various types of professional services in Russia to prohibitions on oil imports and trading of petroleum products from Russia. In this episode, In the Public Interest co-host Felicia Ellsworth is joined by Counsel Georgia Tzifa and Mariia Shulha, a Ukraine-trained lawyer at WilmerHale, who both focus their practices primarily on international trade matters. Shulha had lived and worked in Kiev for five years until she was forced to leave her home and resettle in Brussels after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ellsworth, Tzifa and Shulha discuss WilmerHale’s work advising clients on sanctions compliance. They talk through the scope of the sanctions imposed by Western countries following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the differences between these recent sanctions and previous sanctions levied in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Shulha also shares about her background as a lawyer who cut her teeth in international trade law through government service and how her experience living through Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has informed her private practice at WilmerHale.

In the Public Interest is pleased to welcome Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and current partner at WilmerHale. Bharara, who joined the firm in June 2022, is also a legal analyst for CNN and host of his own podcast, “Stay Tuned with Preet.” Since joining WilmerHale, Bharara has focused his practice on investigations and criminal litigation matters.
In this episode, Bharara sits down with In the Public Interest co-host John Walsh to talk about his journey to becoming a leader in the legal profession and the experiences that shaped his unique and storied career. Bharara discusses the incident that vaulted him to the national stage and what drove his headline-making refusal to return a phone call from a newly inaugurated President Trump. Walsh and Bharara share their views on the role of lawyers in supporting our constitutional system and what it means to “do justice,” which Bharara describes as “doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.” The episode wraps up with Bharara reminiscing on the cases that most heavily influenced his enduring commitment to the pursuit of justice.