Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, announces today that partners Kathryn Ashton, Jana Cohen Barbe, Leah Bruno, Natalie Spears and Mary Wilson have been selected for the Crain’s Chicago Notable Women in Law series for 2020.

Published by Crain's Chicago Business, Notable Women in Law is an annual editorial feature profiling accomplished women lawyers in the Chicago area. The special section recognizes individuals for their success during the last 18 months.

Ashton is a leader of Dentons’ global Health Care group and is co-chair of the Cannabis group. Concentrating her practice on health care transactional matters with an emphasis on finance, she serves as underwriter’s counsel, borrower’s counsel and counsel to credit and liquidity providers in the health care industry. As co-chair of the Cannabis group, Ashton focuses on advising investors and participants in the US and international cannabis industries. She is part of the American Health Lawyers Association, the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys, the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Illinois Cannabis Bar Association.

Barbe was the first woman appointed to Dentons’ Global Board and the Firm's first global vice chair appointed from the United States region, a position she helped define while deftly navigating boardroom and cross-cultural dynamics. She advises many of the nation's leading financial institutions and insurance companies in connection with affordable housing and community development investments. She currently serves on the board of directors of Invitation Homes and chairs the board of advisors of much-acclaimed women’s advocacy organization Catalyst. She has previously chaired the board of directors of Thresholds, Illinois' oldest and largest provider of supportive services and housing to individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses.

Bruno is the managing partner of Dentons’ Chicago office. She has spent her career at the Firm joining the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group in 1999. She has extensive litigation experience in a wide variety of commercial disputes. She handles matters at both the state and federal levels around the country. Bruno has particular experience in false advertising consumer class actions as well as competitor disputes relating to intellectual property matters, including copyright, trademark, and other related areas. Bruno also has an active pro bono practice focused on reproductive rights issues. She is a member of the board of directors for the ACLU of Illinois.

Spears, head of Dentons’ global Technology, Media and Telecommunications sector and a former member of the US Board, is a trial lawyer who represents clients in courts across the US in a wide range of matters, including consumer class actions, IP, media and advertising disputes, complex commercial and real estate litigation. She has been routinely called upon to secure the media's First Amendment rights, often in high-profile cases of public importance, including her successful motion on behalf of 15 major news organizations to vacate the sealing order in the prosecution of Jussie Smollett; her success in leading a precedential Freedom of Information Act action against the City of Chicago and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel over use of private emails and texts about public business; and numerous successful access motions, including in the 2019 Laquan McDonald murder trial.

Wilson, recently named as the first woman US Managing Partner for Dentons, assumed a major leadership role for one of the key regions of the world’s largest law firm. Since joining the Firm 14 years ago she has held many leadership roles, including leading the Chicago office as Chicago managing partner for more than five years, co-chairing the Associates Development Committee and continuing to serve on Dentons’ US Board. She focuses her national practice on finance, health care law and tax-exempt organizations; to date, she has worked on billions of dollars in financings across the US. Wilson has just completed board service on the board of directors of KEEN Chicago and the Chicago Leadership Board of the American Diabetes Association.