Three Jones Day lawyers named 2026 "Rising Stars" by Law360
The global law firm Jones Day announced that three of its lawyers—David Feder (Appellate), Lillian He (Compliance), and Ferrell Keel (Capital Markets)—have been recognized on Law360's 2026 Rising Stars list. This award spotlights top attorneys under 40 who excel in major litigation, complex transactions, or significant regulatory matters within their respective fields.
David J. Feder is an Issues & Appeals partner in the Los Angeles Office. Mr. Feder clerked for Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and co-authored the Justice's New York Times best seller, A Republic, If You Can Keep It. Mr. Feder positions cases to win on dispositive motions in the trial courts with rulings durable enough to survive appeal. His practice spans a variety of fields, including constitutional law, product liability, and environmental and regulatory challenges. Fortune 100 companies regularly trust Mr. Feder to lead legal strategy in bet-the-company litigation. For example, on behalf of a multinational energy company, Mr. Feder successfully argued an omnibus motion to dismiss involving 150 product-liability plaintiffs from 30 jurisdictions and then defeated appellate review. And on behalf of a major aerospace company, he argued and won an appellate ruling that will curtail regulatory overreach by requiring certain agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before acting.
Ms. He is a partner in Jones Day's Global Disputes Practice, based in Shanghai, where she is recognized for her leadership of cross-border white-collar investigations and compliance counseling for multinational companies operating in China and Chinese companies operating overseas. She recently led an investigation for a U.S.-listed healthcare company into potential bribery issues at its Chinese subsidiary, advising the company on a dawn raid by the Chinese government and on self-disclosure to the SEC and DOJ, while limiting the impact of the inquiry on the company's ongoing operations. Ms. He also served as lead counsel for a Chinese financial institution in responding to a U.S. government subpoena, navigating competing U.S. legal-process demands and Chinese data-protection and secrecy laws to reach an accommodation acceptable to regulators in both countries.
Ms. Keel, a partner in the Firm's Financial Markets Practice in Dallas, has led billions of dollars in capital markets transactions while also helping companies navigate some of the most consequential governance and shareholder activism issues facing public companies today. She has testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on proposed reforms to Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act and played a leading role in the legislative development and litigation defense of a first-of-its-kind Texas law regulating proxy advisory firms, representing the Texas Stock Exchange and the Texas Association of Business. In addition, Ms. Keel served as the lead securities expert on a Jones Day team representing ExxonMobil in a groundbreaking lawsuit that sought judicial relief—rather than the SEC's traditional no-action process—to exclude a shareholder proposal, a suit widely regarded as the defining development of the 2024 proxy season.
