News

The board of directors of McAfee & Taft, Oklahoma’s largest law firm, has named lawyers Mary Quinn Cooper and Charles Greenough from its Tulsa office and Barrett Ellis and Erin Van Laanen from its Oklahoma City office to serve as new practice leaders for the 2015 term.

Trial lawyer Mary Quinn Cooper was appointed to co-lead the state’s largest litigation practice with returning co-leader Brad Donnell. Cooper serves as trial counsel for a number of Fortune 500 corporations, including Ford Motor Company and General Motors, and defends product liability claims and class actions across the country. Her practice includes defending clients in professional malpractice cases.

Barrett Ellis was named leader of the firm’s Banking and Financial Institutions Group. Ellis advises corporate and financial institution clients in a wide range of transactional matters, with a particular emphasis on finance transactions and regulatory compliance. He is particularly regarded for his experience in representing banks and borrowers in structuring financing arrangements around complex corporate structures or regulatory requirements.

Charles Greenough was appointed leader of the firm’s Business Restructuring, Workouts and Bankruptcy Group and has extensive experience in financial, debtor/creditor, and bankruptcy matters, representing both lenders and borrowers, as well as serving as a trustee and as a liquidating agent in complex bankruptcy estates. He has represented banks and other financial institutions in all aspects of loan documentation, workouts and related litigation, including counterclaims brought by borrowers in problem loans. He also serves as a Chapter 7 trustee for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma.

As the new leader of the firm’s Aviation Group, Erin Van Laanen oversees one of the largest and most experienced FAA aircraft title and financing legal teams in the United States. Her practice is concentrated in the areas of aircraft title, registration, financing and leasing and related matters concerning the United States Federal Aviation Act, the FAA Aircraft Registry in Oklahoma City, and the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Aircraft Protocol.

McAfee & Taft is one of the nation’s 250 largest law firms as ranked by the National Law Journal and serves clients locally, nationally and internationally in the areas of aviation, banking, business restructuring and bankruptcy, business transactions and finance, employee benefits, energy and oil & gas, environmental law, healthcare, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, real estate and tax and family wealth. The firm employs nearly 350 Oklahomans, including 180 attorneys, and has offices in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa.