NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 14, 2026--
Sterlington PLLC is pleased to announce that seasoned trial lawyer, Kevin Collins, has joined the firm as a partner in its Litigation practice. Collins joins Sterlington following his role as lead counsel in securing an $80 million settlement on behalf of a public entity in one of California's most significant wildfire-related cases.
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Before joining Sterlington, Collins was a partner and leader of Buchalter's Wildfire Litigation Team, where he represented clients in high-profile litigation matters in California state and federal courts. Most recently, Collins led a team representing the Placer County Water Agency in connection with damages arising from the 2022 Mosquito Fire, helping secure an $80 million settlement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The matter resolved claims related to operational disruption and infrastructure damage affecting the Middle Fork American River Hydroelectric Project. Collins also represented Solano County landowners in the $510 million antitrust suit against the developers behind California Forever, resolving on favorable terms, and defended a global LCD panel manufacturer in the TFT-LCD antitrust MDL, one of the largest antitrust multidistrict litigations in U.S. history.
"Kevin is a highly accomplished trial lawyer with an exceptional track record in complex, high-stakes litigation," said Christopher S. Harrison, Managing Partner of Sterlington. "His experience leading multifaceted disputes for public and private clients alike makes him a terrific addition to our litigation team."
Collins' practice spans complex civil litigation, including trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, antitrust, class actions, real estate, construction, land use, and mass torts. He regularly serves as lead counsel in multi-party disputes and has extensive experience coordinating litigation strategy across parallel proceedings. He has also served in lead roles in complex federal receiverships.
"I'm excited to join Sterlington and be part of a firm known for handling consequential matters for sophisticated clients," said Collins. "The firm's collaborative culture and focus on results align well with my practice."
In addition to wildfire and mass-tort matters, Collins represents Fortune 500 companies, HNWIs, entrepreneurs, public agencies, and closely held businesses in antitrust, trade secret, product liability, and complex construction and real estate disputes, as well as receivership and distressed-asset matters.
About Sterlington
Sterlington PLLC is a full-service law firm focusing on complex corporate, litigation, executive compensation, and private wealth matters. As a firm, we focus on the economic as well as the legal aspects of our matters.
Among other strengths, Sterlington is the ultimate law firm for founders, senior executives, and UHNWIs as well as their related businesses.
Visit us at www.sterlingtonlaw.com.
Kevin Collins, Sterlington
MIAMI (AP) — A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a federal case that accused him of bribing officials to win lucrative contracts to import food at a time of widespread hardship in the South American country.
Alex Saab is scheduled to appear before Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Tuesday for a change of plea hearing, according to court records. The details of the plea were not immediately made public and Saab’s attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment.
Saab was deported in May by Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez in response to pressure from the United States, which has been targeting the Colombian-born businessman for more than a decade. He was charged with a single count of money laundering tied to an alleged conspiracy to create fake companies, falsify shipping records and skim from government contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico.
Saab, 54, was previously charged during the first Trump administration in 2019 and then arrested during a refueling stop in Cape Verde on what the Venezuelan government described as a high-level humanitarian mission to Iran.
But President Joe Biden pardoned him in 2023 in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans in Venezuela. The deal, part of a failed effort by the Biden White House to lure Maduro into holding a free presidential election, was harshly criticized by Republicans and federal law enforcement officials, who immediately began investigating Saab for other alleged crimes not covered by the narrowly tailored pardon.
U.S. officials have long described Saab as Maduro’s “bag man” and could ask him to serve as a character witness against the former president, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a raid by the U.S. military in January.
The new U.S. prosecution of Saab and Maduro is taking place as the Trump administration overhauls relations with Venezuela, focusing its attention on tapping into Venezuela's vast oil reserves. This month, Trump announced what he called the “BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” in Venezuela, a partnership with Venezuelan oil entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt in which the U.S. government will gain a stake and access to at-cost crude shipments from oil fields with a potential to produce 65 billion barrels.
Saab was little known even in Venezuela until after his first arrest, in 2020, when Maduro's government invested huge resources rallying public support for his release.
Rodríguez, then serving as Maduro's vice president, helped mount an international campaign in which she referred to Saab as an “innocent Venezuelan diplomat” who had been illegally “kidnapped” by the U.S.
But following Maduro's capture, Rodríguez distanced herself from Saab, firing him from her Cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela.
Saab amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts but became even more valuable to Maduro as U.S. sanctions forced Venezuela to conduct much of its oil sales and foreign trade outside of Western financial institutions.
The new indictment accuses Saab and others of setting up a web of companies to bribe top Venezuelan officials controlling contracts for the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.
As part of the alleged conspiracy, Saab and others allegedly expanded their corrupt influence deep inside the Maduro government, accessing billions of dollars in oil sales from state-run oil company PDVSA, prosecutors allege.
Durkin Richer reported from Washington.
FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, and Alex Saab stand together during an event marking the anniversary of the 1958 coup that overthrew dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Jesus Vargas, File)
