Ballard Spahr Partner Katayun I. Jaffari has been recognized by SmartCEO with the publication's Star Influencer Award.

The award is given as part of SmartCEO'sCenters of Influence Awards program, which honors accountants, lawyers, and bankers known for their exceptional commitment to clients. Finalists were profiled in the September/October issue of SmartCEO magazine and celebrated at an awards ceremony where category winners were announced.

“In the many engagements Kathy was involved with at [my previous company] NRG Energy over the past 12 years, she made it clear that her job was to ensure the success of the client and to make us look good," said Tanuja M. Dehne, now with Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. "Though the easy thing to do is for counsel to swoop in as the ‘expert’ and take over without truly understanding what is required by the client, … Kathy would listen, ask deeper questions, and try to get to the root of the issues, while finding and creating solutions."

Ms. Jaffari is a partner in Ballard Spahr's Business and Finance Department and handles complex securities transactions for businesses in a variety of industries, including biotechnology, energy, and technology. She advises clients in multibillion-dollar deals and has broad experience in business finance, including public offerings, stock-for-stock mergers, private placements of common stock, and offerings of convertible notes.

Ms. Jaffari also focuses on corporate governance, counseling clients on complying with federal laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act). She helps clients develop compliance programs and guides them in matters concerning their corporate governance responsibilities.

About Ballard Spahr

Ballard Spahr LLP, an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 500 lawyers in 14 offices in the United States, provides a range of services in litigation, business and finance, real estate, intellectual property, and public finance. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, life sciences and technology companies, health systems, investors and developers, government agencies and sponsored enterprises, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. The firm combines a national scope of practice with strong regional market knowledge. For more information, please visit www.ballardspahr.com.