Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Advises on the Largest Loan Facilities Opened to a Private Business in Ukraine
Baker & McKenzie announced today that it has recently acted as English law and Ukrainian law counsel to SCM (System Capital Management) Limited, of SCM Group, as the borrower, with respect to a USD400 million secured term loan facility arranged by BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA. Syndication of the facility is to be launched shortly.

SCM Group is now one of the Ukraine’s largest groups of companies. The group owns and controls assets in the steel, engineering, energy-generating, coal-mining industries, as well as in telecommunications, banking, insurance, media and other sectors of economy.

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by Partners Serhiy Chorny in Kyiv and David Scott in Moscow, with significant input from Associates Oksana Shovkoplyas, Iryna Nurzad and Oleksandr Svyryd in Kyiv.

The loan facility was secured by a pledge of 60%+1 shares of Severny GOK and Centralny GOK, Ukrainian major iron ore mining and processing complexes managed by SCM Group.

This is one of the largest loans provided to Ukrainian private business, which follows the earlier pre-export financing of USD400 million structured credit facility for Metinvest Holding, a member of SCM Group, for the purposes for modernization of Severny and Central GOKs, on which Baker & McKenzie also advised at the end of 2006.

Serhiy Chorny, the Kyiv-based partner and the head of banking and finance group, said: “We enjoyed working with SCM Group management on both transactions, during which they demonstrated professionalism and a high degree of sophistication. Amounts of financing attracted by SCM Group in both cases also prove the international banks’ increasing confidence in the stability of the Ukrainian economy and opportunities for continuing high growth.

03-13-2007

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Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P.

Barnes Hosts National Youth Leadership Forum on Law
Partner Johnine Barnes, who is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors, was asked to host the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law held in Washington, D.C., in February.

The Forum introduces high school juniors and seniors from across the nation to careers in the legal field. The six-day program offers students the opportunity to meet professionals from some of the nation’s top law firms, observe the legal process in action and interact with faculty from renowned law schools.

With the goal of presenting the students with various aspects of the practice of law, Ms. Barnes compiled the speakers for a panel discussion and moderated the forum. She discussed with the students the honor that can come in being an officer of the court and a productive and helpful professional in society.

The panel assembled by Ms. Barnes included:

* Washington, D.C., partner Lee Ellis provided the students with the history of Baker Hostetler’s DC office, noting that he was one of the five founding partners of the office. He also discussed the benefits and opportunities in practicing law in the nation’s capital.
* Melvin White, President-Elect District of Columbia Bar and a partner with McDermott Will & Emery LLP, presented on the structure of the legal profession and the bar, and his role as one of the leaders of the country’s second largest bar association.
* Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, discussed the judiciary and its role in monitoring the practice of law and lawyers and the necessity to practice law with honor and integrity.
* Baker Hostetler partner Ona Wang, of the New York office, discussed her path to the practice of law by way of a career in the medical sciences. She highlighted her desire to be a voice for others who are not represented and discussed her pro bono representation of individuals in capital post-conviction litigation at the state and federal level with the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama.

03-13-2007

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Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P.

Marburger Drafts New Outdoor Advertising Law
After more than three years of negotiations between the firm’s client Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. and the City of Cleveland, the council passed and the mayor signed a new law in December 2006 that allows multi-story, Times Square-style wall murals to cover the sides of older office buildings throughout downtown. Although Clear Channel will devote one mural to public art selected by the city, the others will be pictorial advertisements on state-of-the-art vinyl or electronic screens.

Cleveland partner David Marburger drafted the law in the course of negotiating with Cleveland officials once every month since early 2003, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of Clear Channel when it sued to invalidate a Cleveland ordinance that criminalized the outdoor advertising of alcoholic beverages.

Citing the First Amendment, Clear Channel sued the city under a federal civil rights law, and Clear Channel’s victory entitled the company to a significant award of attorneys’ fees which had accumulated during five years of litigating to defeat the ordinance.

Clear Channel then offered to forego the attorneys’ fees if Cleveland would agree to a complete sea change in its laws governing outdoor advertising. Since 1990, the city’s laws barred the refurbishing of existing outdoor advertising signs, many of which had been erected before 1950, and barred erecting any new signs throughout Cleveland. Most large American cities have the same kinds of laws.

With this new legislation—which removes many of those bars—Cleveland is the first among the nation’s large cities outside of Los Angeles and New York to decide to scrap anti-outdoor advertising laws on the theory that stylized outdoor advertising can enliven a deteriorating cityscape. The case was featured in a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal on February 3

03-13-2007

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

Metalmark Invests in Ocwen Structured Investments
Davis Polk & Wardwell advised Metalmark Capital, LLC as part of an investor consortium that includes Ocwen Financial Corporation and Angelo, Gordon & Co. in connection with the consortium’s formation and financing of Ocwen Structured Investments, LLC (OSI), a company that will invest in the lower tranches and residuals of residential mortgage-backed securities, related mortgage servicing rights, ABX Index Protection and other similar assets. Based in Florida, Ocwen is a leading provider of servicing and origination processing solutions to the loan industry.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ocwen, Angelo Gordon, Metalmark and other lead investors have committed to invest up to $250 million in OSI, and the total capital raised is expected to be $300 million.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partners Marc O. Williams and Leonard Kreynin and associate Vijay J. Shroff. Partner William H. Weigel and associate Lisa Mahle provided tax advice. Partner Nora M. Jordan and associate Aaron Schlaphoff provided Investment Company Act advice. Counsel Arthur S. Long provided financial institutions advice. Partner Edmond T. FitzGerald provided employment advice. All members of the Davis Polk team work in the New York office.

03-13-2007

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

Investor Group to Acquire Spirit Finance Corporation
Davis Polk & Wardwell is advising TPG-Axon Capital Management L.P. as part of a consortium of private equity investors led by Macquarie Bank Limited, Kaupthing Bank and other independent equity participants in connection with the consortium’s proposed leveraged buyout of Spirit Finance Corporation, an Arizona-based real estate investment trust focused on single tenant, operationally essential real estate.

According to the terms of the transaction, the consortium will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Spirit Finance common stock for $14.50 per share in cash. The transaction, valued at approximately $3.5 billion, is subject to certain closing conditions, including the approval of Spirit Finance’s stockholders and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2007.

The Davis Polk corporate team includes partner John H. Butler and associate Aly El Hamamsy. Partner Michael Mollerus and associate Neil Barr are providing tax advice. Partner Leor Landa is providing Investment Company Act advice. Partner Thomas Patrick Dore Jr. is providing real estate advice. All members of the Davis Polk team work in the New York office.

03-13-2007

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

Cypress Semiconductor Convertible Notes Offering
Davis Polk & Wardwell advised Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Lehman Brothers Inc. as initial purchasers of a $600 million Rule 144A/Regulation S offering by Cypress Semiconductor Corporation of its 1.00% convertible senior notes due September 15, 2009. In connection with the offering, Davis Polk also advised affiliates of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. as counterparties to convertible note hedge and warrant transactions and advised an affiliate of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC as counterparty to an accelerated share repurchase transaction.

Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable semiconductor solutions. Cypress offerings include the PSoC® Programmable System-on-Chip™, USB controllers, general-purpose programmable clocks and memories. Cypress also offers wired and wireless connectivity solutions ranging from its WirelessUSB™ radio system-on-chip, to West Bridge™ and EZ-USB® FX2LP controllers that enhance connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress serves numerous markets, including consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and solar power.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Alan F. Denenberg and associates Sarah K. Solum and Lee B. Shepard of the Menlo Park office. The tax team included partner Rachel D. Kleinberg of the Menlo Park office and associate Arie Rubenstein (not yet admitted) of the New York office. Partner James T. Rothwell and associates Mark M. Mendez and Victoria E. Bonnardel of the New York office provided equity derivatives advice. Partner Gail A. Flesher and associate Heather Daly provided environmental advice. Michael Nguyen of the Menlo Park office was the legal assistant for the transaction.

03-13-2007

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Darby & Darby, PC

New Principal Joins Darby & Darby’s Washington, D.C. Office
ntellectual property law firm Darby & Darby announces that Dr. Raj S. Davé has joined its Washington, D.C. office as its Managing Principal. Dr. Davé joins Darby from Morrison & Foerster’s Northern Virginia office, where he was a partner and co-head of the firm’s Nanotech & Materials group.

Dr. Davé is active in counseling, patent prosecution, patent opinions, interferences and patent litigation. He represents U.S. and foreign clients in ANDA, biochips, biotechnology, composite and polymer materials, fuel cells, holographic and magnetic recording media, lasers, medical devices, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS), nanotechnology, optics and pharmaceuticals, among many others. Prior to beginning his legal career, Dr. Davé held various technical positions in academia and industry, including Assistant Professor at Michigan Molecular Institute, Research Specialist and Associate Fellow at Monsanto Company, and Senior R&D Scientist at Bayer Corporation. He is the Manager of the India Project of the George Washington University School of Law, where he organizes an annual delegation of intellectual property judges, including Judge Randall R. Rader of the CAFC, and lawyers to India. He is also the Vice Chair of the Asia Practice Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

Andrew Baum, the Managing Principal of Darby & Darby, says that “the firm is excited to have a partner of Raj’s quality leave a general practice law firm in favor of Darby & Darby, which has specialized exclusively in intellectual property law for over 110 years. His decision to join us reflects the strength of our practice and our commitment to remaining a top-tier independent IP specialty firm.” He continued: “the development of our office in Washington continues our expansion into new geographic areas to better serve our clients in the U.S. and overseas.”

In 2006, Darby & Darby opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany, to serve European clients seeking U.S. patent expertise.

03-13-2007

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