Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Robinson & Cole LLP

Robinson & Cole LandLaw Lawyer Elected Vice President of The Real Estate Exchange
Robinson & Cole LandLaw lawyer Diana MacPherson was recently elected vice president of The Real Estate Exchange, which is the Connecticut chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network. CREW is dedicated to advancing the success of women in commercial real estate. As vice president, Ms. MacPherson will be the chapter’s delegate to national functions hosted by CREW in 2007. In 2008, Ms. MacPherson will assume the duties of president.

01-29-2007

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Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Fulbright Sponsors "The Supreme Court," a Two-Day PBS Miniseries
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. is sponsoring the two-day PBS miniseries on the highest court in the land in a majority of the markets where the international firm has domestic offices. The Supreme Court will take an in-depth look at the inner workings of the Court and explore the history, impact and drama of the greatest legal minds and the Court they make up.

Please tune in on Wednesday, January 31, from 8-10 p.m. Central/Mountain or 9-11 p.m. Eastern/Pacific for the first two parts of the series, starting with: One Nation Under Law, which explores the creation of the Court up until the Civil War. The episode includes discussion of Marbury v. Madison and Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Following One Nation Under Law, tune into A New Kind of Justice, which explores economic growth after the Civil War through the effects of the 14th Amendment.

Then on Wednesday, February 7, the series continues at the same time with A Nation of Liberties. The episode will review the Court’s reaction to Bill of Right freedoms, civil rights cases from the 1940s to present and the Warren Court.

A Nation of Liberties will be followed by The Rehnquist Revolution, which will explore how the Court was reshaped based upon President Nixon’s appointments and the Court’s rise under Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

01-29-2007

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Foley & Lardner

Foley Announces Plans to Establish Presence in China
Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that it is planning to file an application with the Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China requesting approval to open a representative office in Shanghai.

The firm also announced that Catherine Sun has joined Foley as a partner from the Shanghai office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP where she led the firm's intellectual property practice in China. She is licensed to practice in New York and will be assigned to the firm's New York office during the license application process, but will be stationed in Shanghai.

If the application is approved, the firm will leverage its nationally recognized Intellectual Property Department to differentiate itself from other U.S. law firms that have recently opened representative offices in China by focusing on assisting companies with intellectual property (IP) counseling and dispute resolution.

The Shanghai office would serve the firm's U.S., Asian and European clients in a number of industries including life sciences, manufacturing, automotive and high-technology. Sun is expected to chair the firm's China practice and lead the growth and development of the Shanghai office.

“China's growing presence in the global marketplace coupled with its evolving legal system presents a unique business environment for our clients that are either currently doing business in Asia or are evaluating opportunities,” said Ralf Boer, the firm's chairman and CEO. “Our strategy for our Shanghai office is consistent with the firm's international market strategy that focuses on opening foreign offices in markets where the firm has a competitive advantage and can offer services not already available from other international law firms.”

Because of the current business and legal climate in China, Foley clients require assistance with intellectual property asset management, litigation and licensing. In addition, Foley will work with companies in the wireless industry on IP issues related to their technology platforms and the software underlying them, as well as the IP necessary to protect content and control counterfeiting and piracy. The firm also will counsel clients on corporate matters related to technology transfer, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, wholly foreign-owned entities and tax.

Sun has experience in IP strategy, counseling and litigation, IP issues related to cross-border M&A, international technology transfer, licensing and portfolio management. She earned a LL.M. degree from George Washington University Law School and spent seven years practicing law in the United States at one of the major national law firms in the Washington, D.C. area. She then returned to Hong Kong and Shanghai to continue her IP practice. While in the United States, she was an in-house attorney for a high-technology company and served as a Student Law Clerk to the Hon. Randall R. Rader of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Sun joins several Foley attorneys, including three Chinese nationals, with proven experience in understanding Chinese business issues, working with Chinese in-house counsel and building strong relationships with local Chinese law firms.

The attorneys include Stephen A. Bent, Hal Wegner, Zhu (Julie) Lee, Ken Duck, Tianjun (T.J.) Hou and Xueqing (Linda) Ji, who have years of experience in handling intellectual property and corporate matters for U.S., European and Japanese companies with interests in China. An office in Shanghai will give them a base of operations to assist current clients and work with Chinese companies seeking intellectual property protection and legal advice on corporate deals outside of China.

“Recent studies indicate that eighty percent of market capitalization in publicly traded companies is tied to intellectual property assets,” said Sharon R. Barner, chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Department. “As a result, businesses are placing more value on their intellectual property assets making it more important for them to protect and enforce their rights in China.”

Foley plans to move into office space in Shanghai in 2007 subject to approval by the Ministry of Justice. The Shanghai office would be the firm's second office in Asia following the Tokyo office, which opened in 2003.

01-29-2007

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Dorsey & Whitney, L.L.P.

Dorsey Managing Partner Marianne Short Named to Commission on Judicial Selection
Dorsey managing partner Marianne Short was recently appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court to the Commission on Judicial Selection. The commission solicits judicial candidates, evaluates applicants, and recommends three to five finalists to the Minnesota governor for District Court and Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals vacancies. The commission consists of 49 members, 27 appointed by the governor and 22 appointed by the Supreme Court.

01-29-2007

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Covington & Burling, P.C.

Covington Advises Goldman Sachs and UBS in AbitibiBowater Deal
Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc. announced today they will combine in an all-stock deal that would create the third largest publicly traded paper and forest products company in North America. Covington & Burling LLP represented Goldman Sachs and UBS in the deal. Goldman Sachs and UBS served as financial advisors to Bowater.

The combined company would be known as AbitibiBowater and would rank as the world’s eighth largest publicly traded paper and forest products company. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2007.

The Covington corporate team included corporate partner J. D. Weinberg and corporate associate Andrew Ment of the firm’s New York office.

01-29-2007

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Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Buchanan Completes Microfinance Securitization Worth $60 Million
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC recently handled the MicroFinance Securities (MFS) XXEB deal, a securitization of cross-border loans to approximately 30 microfinance institutions. The transaction directed $60 million of international capital to low-income entrepreneurs in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa.

The financing, which the firm managed on behalf of Developing World Markets (DWM), a U.S. investment firm specializing in emerging markets, provided long-term financing for approximately 30 microfinance institutions in 15 countries. The issuer was a Luxembourg-based securitization entity, and the securities were issued in dollars and euros to investors, primarily institutional investors, in the United States and Europe.

The lead attorney on the deal for Buchanan was Howard Finkelstein. Finkelstein is a New York-based structured finance lawyer who handled the first-ever securitization of loans to microfinance institutions in 2004 (known as BOMSI-1), which was a $54 million transaction that spanned four continents and microfinance institutions in seven countries. He has since acted as counsel in other securitizations of microfinance-related obligations.

Other members of the cross-practice, multi-office team that put together this deal were John Warner, Penny Zacharias and Vivian Arias.

Finkelstein said, "While BOMSI-1 took more than two years to complete, the MFS transaction —which was even more complex and involved more institutional investors and microfinance companies — was closed in under a year. Essentially, we were able to complete the deal faster because many of the hurdles we faced in BOMSI-1 have since been overcome in the market.”

He continued, "The short timeframe for this deal also reflects the fact that the capital markets are taking this asset class more seriously, not only as an opportunity to put money to work for socially valuable purposes, but also as a means to invest in a profitable industry."

DWS engaged two primary servicers in this transaction — Symbiotics, a leading Switzerland-based provider of microfinance investment intermediation services and Global Partnership, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that works to eliminate poverty through microfinancing programs. HSBC Bank USA, N.A., acted as Trustee and Paying Agent.

With the MFS transaction and other work done by Buchanan in this area, it has become one of the preeminent US-based law firms handling the securitization of microfinance-related assets.

The increased visibility and further development of microfinance into a bankable asset is partially due to the United Nations "Year of Microfinance" program. Credit can also be traced to the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammed Yunus, the founder of the microfinance movement.

About Finkelstein

Howard J. Finkelstein is a member of the Financial Services Group in the New York office of the law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC. Howard's practice focuses on domestic and international structured finance transactions involving both traditional asset-backed transactions and emerging asset classes, such as non-performing credit card receivables, subprime auto loans, home alarm receivables and music royalties. He has represented a variety of clients, including issuers, institutional investors, conduits and their sponsors, underwriters and trustees, in areas such as finding the most appropriate structure for a transaction, drafting and negotiating program documents, issuing and reviewing opinions and dealing with rating agencies.

A magna cum laude graduate of the Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Howard was notes and comments editor of the Cardozo Law Review. He received his masters degree in English from New York University in 1972, and his bachelor of arts degree from Yeshiva University in 1970.

01-29-2007

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Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Abitibi-Consolidated Enters Into Merger of Equals With Bowater Inc.
Before the opening of the stock markets on January 29, our client Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. announced that it agreed to enter into a merger of equals with Bowater Incorporated creating a new U.S. public company with an enterprise value of approximately $8 billion and establishing the third-largest public company producer of paper and forest products in North America. The transaction will be consummated through the creation of a new Delaware holding company, which will enter into a Plan of Arrangement with Abitibi and will merge a subsidiary with Bowater. The new company will be listed on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges.

The Paul, Weiss team included corporate partners Ted Maynard and Toby Myerson, counsel Didier Malaquin and associates Julie D'Ambruoso, Patricia Harley, Emily Malone, Lauri Penn, Daniel Sobol and Steve Williams; tax partner Peter Rothenberg, counsel Alyssa Wolpin and associate Patrick Karsnitz; litigation partners Richard Rosen, Moses Silverman and Joe Simons, and associates Adam Hill; employee benefits counsel Larry Witdorchic and staff attorney Eric Schecter; environmental counsel Bill O'Brien; real estate associate Jesse Meltzer; and paralegals Tim Carney, Ronald Conliffe and Brooke Spiegel.

01-29-2007

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