Executive Changes: Maurice Wutscher Expands to Maryland, Adds Attorneys to 3 Offices

National financial services law firm Maurice Wutscher LLP has opened a new office in Rockville, Maryland, and added attorneys to its Rockville, Miami and Chicago offices.

Maurice Wutscher now has 14 offices in cities throughout the United States including Cleveland, where a new office launched on Jan. 4, and in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Flemington, Indianapolis, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

With the addition of four attorneys, Maurice Wutscher has a skilled team of 30 litigators specializing in appellate matters, class action litigation, commercial litigation, construction litigation, consumer credit litigation, contested bankruptcies, contested foreclosures, employment litigation, equine law, insurance recovery and advisory services, regulatory compliance, and trials and evidentiary hearings.

Jason Zappasodi

Jason Zappasodi has joined the Rockville office and will practice in the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Consumer Credit Litigation groups.

He has successfully represented a broad range of mortgage companies, financial institutions, security companies, insurance brokers, real estate brokers, property managers and property owners in issues concerning mortgage lending, real estate and insurance disputes.

As a litigator, Zappasodi is experienced in mediation, jury trials, bench trials, appeals and administrative hearings.

Zappasodi graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he received a concentration in environmental law and was president of the Moot Court Board.

He is licensed to practice law in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Jherna A. Shahani

Jherna A. Shahani has joined the Miami office and will practice in the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Consumer Credit Litigation groups.

She has extensive experience defending depository and non-depository mortgage servicers, as well as asset buyers and securitized trusts, in various aspects of mortgage servicing litigation, contested homeowner and condominium association actions, contested foreclosures, contested title and lien priority disputes, and related real property matters.

Shahani attended the Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans. While attending law school, she studied abroad in Budapest, Costa Rica, and Vienna, garnering her certification in international law. She also clerked at the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office and was a member of the honor Association of Women Law Students.

She is licensed to practice law in Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Florida.

Gregg M. Barbakoff

Gregg M. Barbakoff has joined the Chicago office. He will practice in the firm’s Consumer Credit Litigation and Commercial Litigation groups.

Before joining Maurice Wutscher, he worked at a boutique litigation firm specializing in complex commercial disputes and consumer class actions. He has extensive experience litigating putative class actions arising under the TCPA, FDCPA, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and various consumer fraud statutes. In recognition for his work, he was selected as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine in both 2015 and 2016.

Barbakoff graduated magna cum laude from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and earned the distinction to be elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, he received the Class of 1976 Honors Scholarship, competed as a senior member of the Chicago-Kent Moot Court Team, and served as an editor for The Seventh Circuit Review, in which he was also published.

Barbakoff is licensed to practice law in Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Stuart Miles

Also joining the Chicago office is Stuart Miles. He will practice in the firm’s Consumer Credit Litigation and Commercial Litigation groups.

Miles has served as an assistant corporation counsel with the City of Chicago’s Department of Law, where he earned the Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation Excellency from the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor. As a member of the City’s Drug and Gang House Enforcement division, he successfully prosecuted hundreds of trials and evidentiary hearings concerning criminal activity at residential buildings and at various nightclubs. Before that, he worked as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney.

Miles graduated cum laude from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. While in law school, he completed a judicial externship in the Mortgage Foreclosure Section of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Miles is admitted to practice law in Illinois.

Maurice Wutscher’s Rockville office is located at 199 E. Montgomery Ave., Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850.

For more information, see MauriceWutscher.com.