Barack Ferrazzano Welcomes New Attorneys

Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, a Chicago-based full-service law firm, welcomes new attorneys to the firm.

Joseph Folz, formerly Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations, General Counsel and Secretary of Volkswagen Group of America, joins the firm Of Counsel in the Litigation department. 

Folz joins Barack Ferrazzano after long and successful career as an attorney in the automotive industry, beginning his career at General Motors in 1978.  He then spent 29 years with the Volkswagen Group, including serving as General Counsel since 1992, where his responsibilities included franchise and dealer relations, brand and business unit acquisitions and dispositions, antitrust compliance, government relations, and public affairs.  Folz’s career experience also includes significant cross-disciplinary non-legal business initiatives, such as working with Volkswagen’s marketing team to launch the New Beetle and Volkswagen’s famous “Drivers wanted” advertising campaign. 

At Barack Ferrazzano, Folz will focus on dealer relations, antitrust compliance, warranty programs, insurance regulation, and dispute resolution in the firm’s highly-regarded Automotive practice, which serves some of the world’s best-known automotive brands, including Audi,  Bentley, Chrysler, Kia, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Volkswagen.

Daniel M. Tardiff joins the firm as an Associate in the Litigation department.  Tardiff concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation.  He was previously an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, where he prosecuted complex health care and other civil fraud cases as well as defended civil suits alleging employment discrimination, negligence, constitutional tort, immigration, and other civil claims.  In May 2007, Tardiff also served as an instructor for the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.

Sandra L. Vasher also joins the firm as an Associate in the Litigation department.  She focuses her practice on commercial litigation matters.  Vasher previously practiced at Jenner & Block in Chicago.

Jeremy R. Heckman joins the firm as an Associate in the Corporate department from Sidley Austin in Chicago, where he was also a Corporate Associate.  Heckman concentrates his practice in securities and general corporate matters, including public securities offerings, private placements and other corporate and federal securities law issues, with particular emphasis on executive compensation disclosure and compliance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Matthew A. Jackson joins the firm as an Associate in the Real Estate department, where he will focus on finance, development, acquisition, and leasing of commercial and mixed use properties.  Previously he practiced with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco. 

Finally, the firm welcomes three (3) recent law school graduates as Associates.  Elias C. Selinger, a 2008 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, joins the Corporate department; Sarah Waxman, a 2008 graduate of University of Chicago Law School, joins the Litigation department; and Jacob J. Zetley, a 2008 graduate of Stanford Law School, joins the Real Estate department.