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Opioid Litigation

Prescription opioids–including OxyContin and Percocet, among others–are currently causing unprecedented harm across the country.

Cyber Litigation

We have co-counseled with a leading litigation firm to represent clients in the ever-changing and business-critical area of cyber security.

Corporate Transactions

As business people themselves, LaFlam offers clients guidance on decisions owners face related to entity structure, general business law matters and mergers and acquisitions.

Real Estate Transactions

LaFlam offers clients the technical expertise and creative, nimble thinking required to stay on top of the rapidly changing demands and complexities that dominate today’s real estate market.

Opioid
Litigation

Prescription opioids–including OxyContin and Percocet, among others–are currently causing unprecedented harm across the country. According to the CDC, someone in the United States dies from an overdose of a prescription opioid every sixteen minutes. Since 1999, there have been more than 183,000 reported deaths—more than three times the number of U.S. soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. According to some estimates, the opioid crisis is costing governmental entities and private companies as much as five hundred billion dollars a year.

In an attempt to clamp down on the epidemic, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed throughout the country against pharmaceutical manufacturers alleging that the companies deceived physicians and consumers about the dangers of prescription painkillers. Over the next six months, it is estimated that over one thousand lawsuits will be on file in state and federal courts.

We have co-counseled with one of the three firms leading a coordinated multi-state opioid litigation coalition. The larger legal team, comprised of a dozen firms spread through the nation, have agreed to coordinate their state court litigation efforts to both increase efficiencies and speak with a unified voice.

Collectively the coalition represents a broad range of stakeholders, including cities (both large and small), counties (both large and small), states, self-insured businesses, and other third-party payers (e.g., Taft-Hartley Trust Funds).

Cyber
Litigation

We have co-counseled with a leading litigation firm to represent clients in the ever-changing and business-critical area of cyber security.

Corporate
Transactions

As business people themselves, LaFlam offers clients guidance on decisions owners face related to entity structure, general business law matters and mergers and acquisitions. At LaFlam, we work hard to ensure that client’s transactions are appropriately and effectively handled with both legal concerns and business goals in mind.

LaFlam represents clients who are buyers, sellers, private equity groups, management or other interested parties in all types of acquisition and disposition transactions. We counsel our clients in every step of the transaction, including transaction structuring; performing due diligence; preparing, reviewing and negotiating the transaction documents; and advising on regulatory matters.

LaFlam provides sound advice and practical solutions in evaluating, negotiating and executing clients' transactions. Through an in-depth understanding of our clients' businesses, we help ensure that these significant business decisions achieve their objectives.

Real Estate
Transactions

LaFlam offers clients the technical expertise and creative, nimble thinking required to stay on top of the rapidly changing demands and complexities that dominate today’s real estate market. We listen intently to never lose sight of our clients’ big picture real estate objectives. We work in partnership with our real estate clients to negotiate the complex needs of the different parties involved in all of their real estate matters — from developers and investors to lenders and public authorities.

We offer a full spectrum of services often involved in complex real estate matters. These include: real estate acquisitions and dispositions; secured lending, restructuring and workouts; construction; architecture and related development matters; leasing; hospitality; land use, and environmental risk analysis. In conjunction with our corporate services, LaFlam assists clients in structuring the ownership and investment vehicles necessary to advance real estate acquisition and development.

Partners

Carrie M.
Risatti

Managing Partner

Carrie Risatti is a managing partner of LaFlam, LLP. Ms. Risatti is a seasoned real estate lawyer with nearly 20 years of experience. She focuses her practice on representing developers, investors and lenders in multifamily, retail and industrial development projects. She has a wide range of experience representing clients in all aspects of property acquisition, construction of buildings and infrastructure, sales and leasing, construction and permanent financing, and projects funded through the EB-5 visa program. Carrie also represents clients in the acquisition, disposition and financing of skilled nursing facilities. Carrie’s accolades include being named one of Illinois Super Lawyers, Super Lawyers magazine, 2008-2013 and "40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch," Law Bulletin Publishing Company, 2010.

Carrie earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Phi Beta Kappa and a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law. Carrie studied jurisprudence at L'Universita' degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy; she is fluent in Italian and French. She is licensed to practice law in California, Illinois and Virginia.

Bethany
LaFlam

Partner

Bethany LaFlam is a co-founder and partner of LaFlam, LLP. Ms. LaFlam advises clients on both legal and strategic matters; and has more than 15 years of legal experience representing clients on startup, mergers and acquisitions and securities matters. She has represented clients in the aerospace, oil & gas services, medical services and technology industries. Ms. LaFlam has been engaged by clients as a strategist to develop sustainable business models, to assist in fund raising, and prepare for successful exits. Ms. LaFlam also advises clients on matters related to new business models.

In the community, Ms. LaFlam has served as an advisor to and held leadership roles with multiple non-profit corporations, including: as a board member of Team Kids, and as a facilitator for the Living Peace Speaker Series.

Ms. LaFlam earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bowling Green State University and a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in California, with her DC Bar application currently pending.

Lamell
McMorris

Director of Government Affairs

Lamell McMorris is the Director of Government Affairs for LaFlam, LLP. In his work, Mr. McMorris utilizes his experience in government relations, public affairs, crisis management, and corporate social responsibility to provide strategic solutions for LaFlam’s clients.

Mr. McMorris has more than 20 years of experience in government and community affairs, strategic consulting, political campaigns, policy-making, grassroots advocacy, and broad-based coalition building. Under Mr. McMorris’s stewardship, the firm maintains deep and sustained relationships with leaders and decision makers across a wide range of constituencies.

Mr. McMorris is the founder and CEO of the Washington, DC-based Phase 2 Consulting and McMorris Consulting, through which Mr. McMorris provides strategic insight and external affairs services to some of the nation’s leading decision-makers in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Mr. McMorris previously led a full-service sports agency representing NFL and NBA players and personalities. Collectively, its agents signed multiple first-round draft picks and negotiated multi-million-dollar contracts on behalf of its clients. Additionally, Mr. McMorris served as the lead negotiator for the Major League Baseball Umpires Union and the National Basketball Association's Referees Union, where he played a key role in shaping collective bargaining agreements between the officials and their respective leagues.

Mr. McMorris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Society from Morehouse College and a Master of Divinity in Social Ethics and Public Policy from Princeton Theological Seminary.