They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40—Where Are They Now?

Since we launched the Bloomberg Law “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” in 2021, some of our honorees have made big career moves, whether that meant leaving their firms for new roles in government, becoming in-house counsel—or even, being nominated for the federal bench.

We caught up with several of those who have made major career changes. For several, the process of applying for the young lawyer award prompted some to reflect on their paths and seek new challenges.

Big Change, Big Reward

Luke McCloud, currently Assistant to the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice had the chance to bringing his 8-year-old daughter to the US Supreme Court in January to watch him argue a case.

“She was really engaged in the process, “ the father of two young daughters said. “I think I have a future lawyer in the house. I look forward to seeing her one day in the Supreme Court.”

McCloud, a partner at Williams & Connolly when he was named to Bloomberg Law’s 40 Under 40 in 2022 for his appellate and intellectual property work, leapt to the Justice Department in January 2023. Named to the list after having successfully argued before the Supreme Court that year for client Carlos Concepción in Concepción vs. the United States, he realized, “There were some things in my career that I was proud of and wanted to do more of and the Solicitor General’s office was an opportunity to do that.”

McCloud said, “it’s an honor to serve the United States and have the opportunity to stand on the court and say that you represent the United States and to do the good works that so many government attorneys do day in and day out.” Though he acknowledged a financial sacrifice in the move, he emphasized, “the benefits of having the opportunity to focus almost exclusively on the Supreme Court in a way that you can’t necessarily do in a private practice.”

Luke McCloud, who was a partner at Williams & Connolly when honored in 2022, currently is an Assistant to the US Solicitor General at the Department of Justice.

Photographer: Melissa Lyttle/Bloomberg Law

While at the Solicitor General’s office, McCloud argued Campos-Chaves vs. Garland, which the Supreme Court decided on June 14, 5-4 in favor of the United States. McCloud was also on the government’s team in Food and Drug Administration et al v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al, in which the high court decided on June 13 to keep full access to abortion drug mifepristone.

When Alexandra Harwin was named an honoree in 2021, she was a New York-based partner and co-chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s discrimination and harassment practice. At the time she was honored, a case in which she represented a former assistant of Robert DeNiro in the Southern District of New York was in discovery. The assistant alleged she had suffered retaliation after complaining of discrimination. Eventually, in November 2023, a jury would award her client more than $1.2 million.

Now Harwin is associate general counsel at University Hospital in Newark.

“The cadence of my life has completely changed. As a litigator, we are constantly responding to emergencies and deadlines that are outside of our control. In-house, so much of what I do is preventative rather than responsive. I have a lot more control over my days.”

Besides the work-life balance of the role she took on in November 2023, Harwin’s homegrown affinity for health care helped lead her to her current role.

“I love hospitals. I come from a family of health care professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, and dentists, and many of my formative life experiences happened in hospitals. I’ve long felt that hospitals are the places where important things happen. And so when thinking about the next chapter of my career, the only place where I wanted to work was a hospital,” Harwin said.

Harwin handles legal responsibility for labor and employment matters impacting more than 3,500 employees. A regular day in her four-lawyer legal department may include “revising policies, consulting with senior leaders on personnel matters, and overseeing litigation,” she said.

“The reality is we have thousands of employees and so there are tons of issues that come up every day. And often it’s just a matter of simply checking that we’re doing everything right.”

Another honoree lauded for his appellate work may soon be headed to the federal bench. Amir Ali, president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center in Washington, D.C., was a 2023 honoree. In February, President Joseph R. Biden nominated Ali to the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Ali awaits the scheduling of a confirmation vote as we go to publication.

Ali was unavailable to comment, but David Bradford, a MacArthur Justice Center board member and founding attorney, said in an emailed statement: “MacArthur Justice Center celebrates Amir’s nomination.’” He added, “I have known Amir since he was in private practice at Jenner & Block, and I have continued to work with him in his capacity as a lawyer at MJC. Amir is a brilliant and experienced attorney who possesses the legal acumen and judgment necessary to be a superb district court judge.”

Moves, Mergers, and Trials

Other former honorees took opportunities to get in on the ground floor of a newer operation.

Alexandra Wilde was a M&A partner at Jones Day in Houston when she was honored in 2022. In her profile, she described her “somewhat nontraditional path” to partner.

After giving birth to a child prematurely during law school, she started her career with a toddler and an infant. Today she is one of the inaugural group of partners of UK-based Clifford Chance’s office in Houston, only its third office in the United States—which she joined in June 2023. Her eldest daughter will start high school in the fall.

“I had a really wonderful experience and time at Jones Day and I’m incredibly appreciative for the decade-plus that I spent there,” she said. But Wilde said she jumped to help establish Clifford Chance’s Houston office because “the idea of being part of an internationally recognized firm and part of the inaugural partner group was incredibly attractive for me, and I thought would be really wonderful for the client base that I serve” in energy, specialty chemicals, and infrastructure.

Wilde said that as an honoree “one of the most impactful things for me on a personal level was how much this resonated with younger attorneys. I received a lot of wonderful client feedback, but having people you have mentored in your career reach out and say things like, ‘Can you please help me get to that point in my career’ was really meaningful,” she said. She said her daughters thought it was pretty cool, too.

Alexandra Wilde, partner, at Clifford Chance in Houston, was an M&A partner at Jones Day when she was profiled as one of our 40 Under 40 in 2022.

Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg Law

Kristen Riemenschneider was a health care and life sciences partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer when she was honored in July 2021. In October 2021, she leapt to UK-based Freshfields to help start its new life sciences group in Washington, D.C. She followed friend Adam Golden, a life sciences M&A partner who joined Freshfields five months before she did. Both had worked with client AstraZeneca, along with another 2021 40 Under 40 honoree, Freshfields partner Sebastian Fain who handled one of pharmaceutical company’s largest transactions of 2020.

Riemenschneider, who was interviewing at Freshfields when the 40 Under 40 was announced, said being named one of the 40 “helped me cement my job transition.” Since moving, Riemenschneider helped craft the $3.75 billion separation of Sandoz from Novartis in October 2023, she said.

Keyonn Pope, an IP partner at Reed Smith when he was honored in July 2021, left Big Law, jumping that August to the mid-size litigation firm, Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, founded in 2016 in Chicago and San Francisco. Its managing partner and co-founder is Patricia Brown Holmes, the first African American woman to lead a major national law firm.

Pope said he was attracted to the chance to help build the firm, which has since opened offices in New York City; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Irvine, California. Pope, now the inaugural chair of the firm’s IP practice team, also serves as firmwide co-chair of the Associate Recruiting, Development, and Retention Committee and the chair of the firmwide Compensation Committee. Pope seems to welcome the responsibility.

“I can be part of the discussions that will shape the firm for the better into the future,” he said.

Cecilia Peniza (then Sanabria), part of our 2021 class, was then an intellectual property litigation partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett and Dunner. She moved to Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C., in September 2022.

Peniza said she never thought about making a move from Finnegan but was exposed to Latham attorneys as co-counsel for client AbbVie.

“It was a fantastic experience, seeing the strategy and culture,” she said.

Since moving to Latham, Peniza said she has been able to do more pro bono work in immigration and get more trial experience than she had in the past.

Dotun Obadina, who was an M&A partner in Minneapolis at Jones Day when honored in 2021, moved halfway across the country to join Paul Weiss in New York City in March 2023 as a counsel in its mergers and acquisition practice.

Despite the lesser title, Obadina said, “It was an opportunity for me to really work with some of the best lawyers in the business on the biggest deals with the biggest clients and it was just one I just couldn’t pass up” after meeting with Scott Barshay, chair of the corporate department, and Jeff Marell, global co-head of M&A.

Since joining Paul, Weiss he said he is proud of advising IBM in its $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp, among other transactions. (Also on that IBM matter was 2023 honoree Jonathan Ashtor, a partner at Paul Weiss in New York. Ashtor was named the firm’s Global Co-Head of Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions in February.)

James Hu, honored in the 2023 class, was a M&A partner at White & Case in midtown Manhattan, hopped downtown to Cleary Gottlieb as a partner in March, where he continues high-stakes dealmaking.

Hu also said that the process of applying for the 40 Under 40 honor helped him reflect on why he’s passionate about M&A practice.

“As a self-reflective process during the nomination cycle, that refocused my energy and attention on why I am doing this and how to do this at a higher level.”

Hu said that he spent a wonderful three years at White & Case and was able to develop a successful practice out of their platform. He said he was motivated to move by Cleary’s culture and types of transactions on which the firm works. He said several clients had moved with him but declined to provide details.

“I am grateful for the support and loyalty of my clients in connection with the transition to Cleary, who appreciate the reasons for my move.”

Renee Zaytsev, a former partner at Thompson Hine specializing in securities and shareholder litigation when she was honored in 2022, was named practice group leader of the Securities & Shareholder Litigation practice group at Boies Schiller Flexner in New York, which she joined in January. She said that after her profile appeared people told her they appreciated her candor in discussing challenges she overcame in her career.

Recently Zaytsev took on the role of New York chairperson of the Legal Mentor Network, a nonprofit group for young lawyers.

“As a first-generation lawyer and the daughter of immigrants, I know what it’s like to try to navigate this profession without guidance from someone who knows how things work,” Zaytsev said. “I believe in doing everything you can to help those who come after you, and so I do my best to help others be more intentional about setting their career paths and making the best choices possible to get there,” she said.