Job Title Category: Associate

  • Alessia Bussola

    Alessia Bussola

    People

    Alessia Bussola

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Alessia Bussola focuses her practice on national and international taxation. She has experience in tax litigation, as well as in M&A tax structuring. Alessia also advises on wealth taxation and energy sector.

    Prior to joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Alessia gained experience working in an Italian tax law firm.

    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • Paris Nanterre University, Masters
    • University of Bologna, Masters
    • Double Master’s Degree in Law – France (Université Paris Nanterre) and Italy (Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna)
    Admissions
    • Milan
    Languages
    • English
    • French
    • Italian
  • Ryan Chusid

    Ryan Chusid

    People

    Ryan Chusid

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Ryan Chusid focuses his practice on sophisticated wealth preservation and tax planning for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, and their businesses. He devises and implements bespoke strategies to preserve generational wealth and maximize tax efficiency.

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    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • University of Miami School of Law, JD, cum laude
    • University of Miami School of Law, LLM, Taxation
    • University of Florida, BSBA, cum laude
    Admissions
    • Florida
  • Farhaan K. Anjum

    Farhaan K. Anjum

    People

    Farhaan K. Anjum

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Farhaan K. Anjum focuses his practice on creating and implementing complex estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning techniques for high-net worth individuals and families.

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    Results
    Recognitions
    • 2025 Golden Gavel Award for pro bono service
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • University of Florida Levin College of Law, JD, cum laude
    • University of Florida Levin College of Law, LLM, Taxation, cum laude
    • University of Florida Warrington College of Business, BBA, BS, cum laude
    Admissions
    • Florida
  • Rosalie Schwarz

    Rosalie Schwarz

    People

    Rosalie Schwarz

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Rosalie Schwarz focuses her practice on corporate advisory matters, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and private equity operations, both domestic and cross-border. She has additional experience in contentious aspects of corporate transactions.

    Prior to joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Rosalie worked in the corporate law departments of several leading French and international law firms.

    Results
    • Advised Beneteau in connection with the sale of Bio Habitat to Trigano*
    • Advised a CAC 40 company in connection with a partial sale of a carved-out branch*
    • Advised Pathé Group in connection with the reorganization of the group*
    • Advised a family-owned group in connection with the sale of its stake in a global group*

    *Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Master 2, International Affairs
    • Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Master 1, M&A/Corporate Law
    • Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Private Law
    Admissions
    • Paris
    Languages
    • English
    • French
    • German
  • Aleena Ijaz

    Aleena Ijaz

    People

    Aleena Ijaz

    Associate

    Washington, DC

    Areas of focus

    Aleena Ijaz focuses her practice on complex litigation and appellate matters.

    Prior to joining the firm, Aleena served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sandra L. Lynch of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She also previously taught a legal writing and research course to first-year law students at Harvard Law School.

    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • Harvard Law School, JD, cum laude,
    • University of Virginia, BA, high distinction
    Admissions
    • District of Columbia
    • Maryland
    Languages
    • English
    • Urdu
    • Hindi
  • Tatjana Kuhlen, LL.M. (Virginia)

    Tatjana Kuhlen, LL.M. (Virginia)

    People

    Tatjana Kuhlen, LL.M.

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Tatjana Kuhlen provides comprehensive advice to national and international clients on real estate transactions, their structuring, and financing.

    During her legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt/Main and as a research assistant at renowned large international law firms, Tatjana gained practical experience and insights in transactions and financing in the real estate sector.

    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, LL.M.
    • Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt, Second State Examination
    • University of Bayreuth, First State Examination
    Admissions
    • Germany
    Languages
    • German
    • English
  • Payton T. Thornton

    Payton T. Thornton

    People

    Payton T. Thornton

    Associate

    Washington, DC

    Areas of focus

    Payton Thornton focuses his practice on all aspects of antitrust, competition, and consumer protection matters. He regularly advises clients regarding antitrust compliance, healthcare mergers and acquisitions, Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notifications and merger review, and government investigations by the antitrust agencies and state attorneys general. With extensive experience advising clients through the HSR notification process, managing document production for federal and state antitrust conduct and consumer protection investigations, and preparing advocacy materials for government merger reviews, Payton provides strategic, business-centric advice to clients, primarily in the healthcare and technology industries. He offers key guidance to clients engaging in strategic transactions throughout the HSR filing and review process, Second Requests, and merger litigation.

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    Results
    Recognitions
    • District of Columbia Courts, Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll, 2025
    • Super Lawyers, Washington, DC, Rising Star in Antitrust Litigation, 2024-2026
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    • District of Columbia LGBTQ+ Bar Association, president
    • Gay for Good, national governance committee member
    • American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, The Antitrust Source, young lawyer representative
    • American Health Law Association Antitrust Practice Group, member
    Credentials
    Education
    • George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, JD, Antitrust Law Concentration
    • Oklahoma State University, BS, cum laude
    Admissions
    • District of Columbia
  • Kassandra DiPietro

    People

    Kassandra DiPietro

    Associate

    Washington, DC

    Areas of focus

    Kassandra DiPietro focuses her practice on antitrust and competition matters, with experience handling merger investigations and enforcement actions. She joined McDermott Will & Schulte from the Mergers II division of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where she participated in several of the FTC’s most high-profile merger challenges.

    During law school, Kassandra served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Susan Richard Nelson at the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. She was also the senior note and comment editor for the Iowa Law Review.

    Results
    • Represented the FTC in its merger litigation of Tapestry, Inc. and a global luxury group*
    • Represented the FTC in its merger litigation of IQVIA Holdings and a healthcare advertising company*
    • Represented the FTC in its merger litigation of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard*

    *Matter handled prior to joining the firm

    Recognitions
    • Janet D. Steiger Award, recognized for work on a significant merger litigation
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • University of Iowa College of Law, JD, high distinction, Order of the Coif
    • St. Olaf College, BA, cum laude
    Admissions
    • District of Columbia
    • Minnesota
  • Omar Abdel-Hamid

    Omar Abdel-Hamid

    People

    Omar Abdel-Hamid

    Associate

    Washington, DC

    Areas of focus

    Omar Abdel-Hamid focuses his practice on employment law. He represents public and private companies in complex labor and employment matters through all stages of litigation in federal and state courts, administrative proceedings, and alternative dispute resolution. Omar’s experience includes handling complex disputes involving restrictive covenants, trade secrets, executive compensation and separations, workforce restructurings, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act compliance, wage and hour issues, discrimination and harassment claims, and collective bargaining matters.

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    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • Washington University School of Law, JD, cum laude,
    • University of Michigan, BA
    Admissions
    • District of Columbia
  • Alex G. Picard

    Alex G. Picard

    People

    Alex G. Picard

    Associate
    Areas of focus

    Alex Picard focuses his practice on assisting high-net-worth individuals, families, and trust companies with wealth transfer planning and trust and estate drafting and administration. While earning his law degree, Alex served on the editorial board of the University of Miami Business Law Review.

    Results
    Recognitions
    Capabilities and industries
    Regional markets
    Community
    Credentials
    Education
    • University of Miami, LLM, Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning
    • University of Miami School of Law, JD, cum laude
    • Florida State University, BA, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
    Admissions
    • Florida