Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Mayer Brown LLP

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP Adds Two Corporate Partners to its Private Equity Practice
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP is adding two partners to its Private Equity Practice, David H. Lee and Robert C. Davis III. Both are joining the firm's Chicago Corporate and Securities Practice from Kaye Scholer LLP.

"David and Rob are exceptional talents who bring a wealth of private equity experience," said Fritz Thomas, a firm wide leader of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Corporate and Securities Practice and a member of the Policy & Planning Committee. "With an impressive history of representing fund sponsors in significant private equity transactions, they will be an excellent complement to our world-class M&A practice and will allow us to continue to expand our presence within the private equity community. We are excited to have them as partners."

Mr. Lee's and Mr. Davis's current practices focus on leveraged buyouts and complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and venture capital and growth-equity investments. While at Kaye Scholer and, prior to that, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, they advised on transactions ranging from several million dollars to over $2 billion for numerous clients, including private equity funds and various financial sponsors.

"Mayer Brown's recognized expertise in many practice areas, global capacity and diverse client base provide an excellent platform to grow and support our practice," said David Lee. "Mayer Brown's demonstrated commitment to its Private Equity Practice, its team-oriented culture and the caliber and depth of its bench will enable us to deliver top-quality advice to sophisticated private equity clients. These factors made our decision to join Mayer Brown compelling."

Mr. Lee and Mr. Davis will continue to expand Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Private Equity Practice in Chicago, which has seen significant growth over the past year. Their arrival follows closely that of Gary Jungels and Olga Loy. Mr. Jungels and Ms. Loy are Private Equity fund formation specialists who joined the Firm as partners in September 2006 from Kirkland & Ellis. The experience of the entire Chicago team complements the firm's expanding Private Equity Practice in New York.

"Mayer Brown has long-standing strengths in a variety of areas including secured lending, taxation and ERISA, to name a few," said Rob Davis. "With direct and immediate access to experts in these fields, we will be able to provide our clients with a full range of top-quality legal advice."

Mr. Lee received his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and his B.A. from The University of Chicago. Mr. Davis received his J.D., magna cum laude, from The University of Georgia School of Law where he was also a member of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Davis also received his M.B.A. from The University of Georgia's Terry College of Business and his B.A. from Duke University.

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP's Corporate and Securities Practice offers domestic and international expertise in mergers and acquisitions, securities, private equity/venture capital, information technology, corporate governance and other general corporate matters. Clients include 65 of the Fortune 100, helping the firm rank ninth in both the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index principal advisors survey and the FTSE most-used law firm survey. Most recently, the firm was ranked nationally among the top 15 firms in GSI's Legal Counsel Rankings for Completed Mergers for 2006, having worked on transactions valued in excess of $83 billion during the year.

01-22-2007

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Mayer Brown LLP

Chief Legal Counsel to Illinois House Speaker Joins Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP has announced that Rob Uhe, chief legal counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, has joined the firm as a partner in the Government and Global Trade Practice Group.

Mr. Uhe has served for more than eight years as Madigan's chief legal counsel acting as his point person on substantive (non-appropriation) matters that come before the General Assembly, a position which involves the analysis, negotiation and shaping of significant pieces of legislation. Mr. Uhe has negotiated a number of issues during his tenure as Chief Counsel, most notably the Soldier Field Renovation, O'Hare Modernization Plan, Midway lease bill, and overhauling the state board of education.

"Rob's vast experience and reputation both in the public and private sectors make him an ideal addition to our group," said Ty Fahner, Chairman of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. "As chief counsel to Michael Madigan he tackled tough issues like ethics reform and medical malpractice, while remaining respected by all participants in the legislative process.His significant knowledge of important and complex litigation in the state of Illinois, along with the relationships he's formed with key decision makers in the state government will greatly benefit the firm and our clients."

In addition to his primary role as chief counsel Mr. Uhe has acted as House Parliamentarian since 1999, a role which gave him the responsibility of ruling on matters of procedure affecting the outcome of contested bills.In 2003, Mr. Uhe took on the formal role of Ethics Officer for the House Democratic Caucus.Through this position he advised on the implementation of a new ethics model for the Illinois General Assembly, including the establishment of the Legislative Ethics Commission and the installation of a Legislative Inspector General.

"I'm very excited to be joining Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Government and Global Trade Group," said Mr. Uhe."This Group is well-established and respected, with a broad and diverse client base.I look forward to working with the firm's talented attorneys in several practice areas including lobbying, transactions and litigation, and welcome the opportunity to contribute to the continued growth of the firm."

Prior to joining the Speaker's staff, Mr. Uhe was an attorney with Phelan, Cahill & Quinlan and later at Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz.

Mr. Uhe graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Engineering.He received his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago where he graduated cum laude.

"Our practice, comprised significantly of attorneys who have also served at high levels in government, provides the best strategic and tactical legal counsel to our clients," said Mark Taylor, co-practice leader of the firm-wide Government and Global Trade Group."Rob'saddition will be a valuable asset to the continued growth and success of the firm and the group."

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP's Government and Global Trade Practice group represents clients in public law, in lobbying at the federal, state, and local levels, and in public finance.The group also offers strategic advice and counseling, advocacy and representation to companies seeking to gain and maintain an advantage in the global marketplace. Many of this group's lawyers have extensive experience in government service. In each of these areas, the firm combines legal skills with judgment and experience developed over the years in government and the law to provide value to its clients as they identify and advance their interests in the public arena.

01-22-2007

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Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Gift to Crisis Ministries Will Add Legal Project
Philip Lader, a Charleston-based partner in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, has been named a trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Located on the mall in Washington, D.C., the museum has 4 million visitors each year and houses more than 3 million artifacts, including the original Star Spangled Banner, Abraham Lincoln's top hat, Duke Ellington's sheet music, and Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz." Its exhibitions, including those on America's First Ladies, African-American Migration, and The American Presidency, explore major themes in American history and culture.

Also named to the museum's board was Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, author of biographies of John Adams and Harry Truman. President Adams served as America's first Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, the post held by Mr. Lader from 1997 to 2001.

01-22-2007

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Miller Nash LLP

Miller Nash Announces Four New Partners
Miller Nash LLP, a leading mulitspecialty law firm with offices throughout the Northwest, announces the addition of four new partners to its ranks: Chris Masse, Paul Havel, Steven Christensen, and Steve Turner.

“It is through tremendous talent, hard work and dedication to serving our clients that Steven, Paul, Chris and Steve have earned their place as Miller Nash’s newest partners,” said Tom Sand, managing partner. “We are pleased to have such diverse talents across varied practice areas represented in this year’s group of new partners. We look forward to their continued contributions to the firm.”

Chris Masse joined Miller Nash in 1999 and is in the firm’s Regulatory and Government Affairs department. Her practice supports the wide-ranging and varied transactional, regulatory and litigation needs of Native American tribes and organizations. This includes handling gaming, licensing, economic development, construction and other issues, as well as representing tribes in tribal, state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. She is admitted to practice in Washington state and is a member of the Washington State, King County, Federal and American Bar Associations.

Based out of both the Portland and Seattle offices, Paul Havel practices in the areas of domestic and international intellectual property counseling, licensing, dispute resolution and prosecution. In the technology area, Havel negotiates, drafts and provides advice concerning software licensing, software and Web site development and other technology and Internet-based agreements. Havel is admitted to practice in Oregon and Washington and is a member of the Oregon and Washington state bars and the Multnomah Bar Association. He also serves on the executive committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the Oregon State Bar.

Steven Christensen, in the Portland office, joined Miller Nash in 1997 and has built a practice concentrated on taxation and business transactions. Recently, Christensen has represented various charitable foundations in connection with their investments in private equities. Before beginning his legal practice, he worked as a certified public accountant, complementing his legal practice with expertise in the business field. Christensen is a member of the Oregon State Bar, the Washington State Bar Association, the Multnomah Bar Association, and the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation. He is also admitted to the U.S. Tax Court.

Steve Turner heads up Miller Nash’s litigation presence in its Vancouver office. He joined Miller Nash in 2002 with extensive experience litigating commercial, real estate, and tax matters as well as various constitutional, wrongful-death and products-liability disputes. Mr. Turner focuses on clients who are active in southwest Washington and beyond. He has taken many cases through trial in state court, in federal court, and in arbitration, and he has been involved in dozens of mediations. Mr. Turner has also argued many appellate matters in Washington, California and the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

01-22-2007

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Phillips Lytle, L.L.P.

Entrepreneurs Explore Future Possibilities at Capital Region Pre-Seed Workshop
Six teams from across the region met Friday at Capital Region World Trade Center, 100 State Street, Albany, to participate in the Capital Region’s first Pre-Seed Workshop with hopes of transferring their great ideas into viable start-up ventures.

The pre-seed workshop is designed to evaluate early stage ideas and assess their potential as the foundation of a start-up business. It consists of two intense one-day sessions separated by one week of “homework.” The workshop will conclude Friday, Jan. 26 with each team giving presentations of their proposed ventures.

“These sessions have been taking place all across the state with great success,” said Peter Pritchard, Program Director - Ventures Programs at Center for Economic Growth. “While this session’s participants were invited to attend, we’re hoping its success rate will enable us to have open enrollment for the next workshop for regional idea champions.”

Mark Wilson, a partner at Initiatives Consulting in Rochester, will lead the workshop. Wilson has initiated the program throughout the state, having hosted nine workshops in Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Ithaca over the last two years. Four hundred and fifty individuals have participated on a total of 53 teams. Of these, 20 companies have been formed, two of which have gone on to win a business plan competition, and several others have received either angel or seed investments. This is the first workshop of its kind to be held in the Capital Region.

A minimum of four individuals comprise each team of the six participating teams invited from regional universities, research foundation universities and existing companies. Each team contains an idea champion, usually a university or research professor; a technologist; an MBA student; and a coach or experienced entrepreneur who could potentially become CEO of the proposed business.

Additional team members could include attorneys, technology commercialization professionals or an incubator director. Support for this workshop has come from regional service providers such as Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti and Phillips Lytle, the research universities of Rensselaer, University at Albany, SUNY Research Foundation, NYSERDA and CEG.

01-22-2007

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Kemp Smith LLP

Former Assistant Secretary of Labor Joins Kemp Smith
Veronica “Ronnye” Vargas Stidvent, former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor and Special Assistant to the President, has joined Kemp Smith LLP in the firm’s Austin office.

A native El Pasoan and a graduate of the University of Texas and Yale Law School, Stidvent has a wealth of public policy experience. In her capacity as Assistant Secretary of Labor, Ms. Stidvent oversaw the work of 50 people with a budget of more than $8 million. She advised the Secretary of Labor on the vast array of labor issues that affect the American worker, including immigration reform, worker health and safety, and job training. Her office was responsible for the management and implementation of policy development, regulations, program implementation, compliance assistance strategies, program evaluations, research, budget and performance analysis, and legislation.

Prior to her appointment as Assistant Secretary of Labor, Stidvent served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President, where she helped develop policy on a wide range of issue areas, including labor, education, justice, homeland security, and regulatory reform. Before that, she served as a policy adviser in Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In that position, she counseled the OMB Director on federal regulatory policy and coordinated the implementation of new rules with the federal agencies and senior White House officials.

“Ronnye’s experience and expertise will help our clients navigate the often complicated and challenging world of public law. She is a wonderfully talented addition to our public policy practice,” said Jack Chapman, Kemp Smith’s Managing Partner. “We are excited about Ronnye joining us. She will be an asset to our firm as a whole and her government background will be critical as we expand our Austin practice,” said Tom Forbes, a partner in the firm’s Austin office.

Kemp Smith was founded in 1866 and has offices in El Paso and Austin. For over 140 years, Kemp Smith provided legal representation to the business community, public and private institutions, and to individuals. With a key office on the international border with Mexico, many of the firm’s clients operate on regional, national and international levels.

Ronnye grew up in El Paso, the daughter of a school counselor and a high school soccer coach. She was accepted into UT’s Plan II Honors program, where she focused on American Studies. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was honored as a Dean’s Distinguished Graduate. After earning her law degree at Yale, she served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Sidney Fitzwater, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Ronnye recently served on the University of Texas Commission of 125, a group of citizens convened to express a vision of how The University of Texas can best serve Texas and society during the next 25 years. She was also honored by the National Association of Hispanic Publishers as a Latina Role Model. She and her husband, Chris, have a 17-month-old daughter, Charlotte.

01-22-2007

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Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig's Latest Strategic Move Has Yielded Quick Results
The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has made another strategic move and clients see immediate benefits. The 1675-lawyer firm announced that it has recently made a number of important additions to its New York real estate practice and the combined team has closed a major transaction.

Craig H. Solomon, Gary S. Kleinman, Howard R. Shapiro, Joseph D. D’Angelo, Nicole Fenton, Howard Schochet, Dana Gallo and Andrew Kellner, in addition to a number of associates, have joined the Real Estate Department in New York. Bennett I. Deutsch will bolster the firm’s REIT tax practice and Steven Sinatra has joined the litigation practice. Additionally, Cory Gray has joined the New Jersey office in the litigation department. Previously, Solomon was the co-founder and managing partner of a prominent real estate boutique, where Kleinman, Shapiro, D’Angelo, Deutsch and the others also worked. The group consists of approximately 18 lawyers, bringing the New York real estate attorney count at Greenberg Traurig to over 65 and the number of attorneys in the New York office to approximately 350. This move comes on the heels of the New York office's designation of Bob Dinerstein, former Global General Counsel of UBS, as its head of the Financial Institutions Group, and other significant additions in the corporate and technology areas.

This addition has already proved fruitful. Last week a GT team led by new and existing attorneys represented Gramercy Capital Corporation as lender in connection with a $231 million asset-based loan made to The Kushner Companies to finance the equity component in their $1.8 billion acquisition of 666 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, New York. Greenberg Traurig completed all financial and organizational due diligence on 91 underlying assets, each with its own intricate ownership structure. The asset-based loan also involved a complex future funding component and cross-collateralization among all 91 underlying assets.

“In the face of mass mergers, we retain our discipline, focusing on strategic attorney additions and allowing us to maintain and enhance what is most important to us -- quality and culture,” said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Managing Shareholder of the New York office and National Operating Shareholder. "Greenberg Traurig is recognized as having one of the leading real estate practices in the world. These lawyers are extremely high quality and hard working practitioners who have further enhanced and diversified the New York and National practice," Rosenbaum continued.

“We welcome Craig and his colleagues to the real estate practice at Greenberg Traurig,” said Robert Ivanhoe, Chair of the National Real Estate Practice. “The fit and synergy with these attorneys is distinguished by how well and often we have worked together over many years through various clients our firm and these lawyers have represented. We are delighted to add their skills to our unique global platform while serving our clients together."

Stephen L. Rabinowitz, New York real estate shareholder added, “We have worked closely with these lawyers for many years - both as adversaries and as co-counsel. We always have been impressed by their work ethic, energy and practical approach to real estate transactions. We are excited to add their deep skills and vast experience to our toolbox. Their arrival has provided a singular opportunity to enhance our ability to serve clients in sophisticated matters requiring creative approaches.”

Marc Holliday, President & CEO of SL Green Realty Corp., commented, "I have known and worked closely with Craig Solomon for more than a decade and I believe he's one of the outstanding lawyers in this business. At the same time, SL Green and Gramercy Capital have enjoyed an excellent relationship with Rob Ivanhoe and Greenberg Traurig. My associates and I are delighted that they have joined together to form this powerhouse team and we look forward to working with them in the future."

Mr. Solomon’s list of clients includes SL Green Realty Corp., IXIS Real Estate Capital Inc., Gramercy Capital Corp., Blackacre Capital Management LLC, Taconic Investment Partners, LLC and various real estate opportunity funds. Significant representations have included the representation of SL Green in its recent $6.4 billion merger with Reckson Associates, the $900 million acquisition and redevelopment of One Madison Avenue, the acquisition and subsequent recapitalizations of 111 Eighth Avenue in New York City, and the $750 million first mortgage securitization of Park La Brea Apartments in southern California.

The addition of these high level attorneys follows Greenberg Traurig’s negotiation of some of the largest deals in the history of the real estate industry on behalf of firm clients, including:

* The representation of the US arm of Israeli developer El Ad with the acquisition, redevelopment loans, and refinancing of debt for the condominium conversion of The Plaza hotel in New York City.
* The representation of the seller in the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, to Tishman Speyer.
* The merger of Greenberg Traurig client, CNL Retirement Properties, Inc., the nation’s third largest healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT), with Health Care Property Investors, Inc., the nation’s largest healthcare REIT.
* The representation of Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers in the Manhattan House transaction, the largest condominium conversion in New York City history.

01-22-2007

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