Law Firm News

---

Law Firm News

Firm Name

News Title

News

News Date

25383 matches |  12125-12131 displayed

1  1731 1732 1733 1734 1735  3627

---

Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP

JMBM Expands IP Practice to include Biotechnology
Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP (JMBM), one of California’s foremost full-service law firms, today announced that it has bolstered its Intellectual Property practice through the hiring of Manali V. Dighe, who will focus her practice on biotechnology.

"Manali greatly compliments our practice as she brings extensive experience relating to domestic and international patent portfolio creation for biotechnology companies," said Rod S. Berman, chairperson of JMBM's Intellectual Property Group. "Her background in drafting patent applications, as well as her years of biotechnology research, sales and development will be a tremendous value to our clients."

Manali V. Dighe is a former life science specialist at Sigma-Aldrich Corp., a leading Nasdaq-listed biotechnology firm that serves more than a million scientists at university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Her expertise will allow JMBM to better service life sciences companies, including biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, university technology transfer offices and clinical laboratories.

01-10-2007

---

Hiscock & Barclay, LLP

Hiscock & Barclay Attorneys Speak at Construction Law Seminar
Two Attorneys from the Rochester and Syracuse offices of Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, Richard K. Hughes and C. Allan Reeve, are set to speak on February 2, 2007 at the National Business Institute seminar, “Managing Complex Construction Law Issues” at the Sheraton University Hotel & Conference Center from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. This advanced-level seminar offers detailed guidance on what to do to keep complex problems from threatening the timely completion of construction projects. Learn the hard legal facts and practical knowledge necessary to minimize your company’s liability.

Richard K. Hughes focuses on complex commercial litigation cases with special concentration in construction disputes, labor and employment matters, breach of contract, claims, alternative dispute resolution including mediation and arbitration, and appellate advocacy. Hughes has extensive experience in the state and federal courts, as well as in the American Arbitration Association.

C. Allan Reeve, Chair of the Firm’s Construction & Surety Practice Area, has been in the field of construction and surety claims for 30 years, representing bonding companies, contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, suppliers and public and private owners. Reeve has extensive experience in handling construction, lien law, trust fund, prevailing wage, and surety claims and litigation.

01-10-2007

---

Hiscock & Barclay, LLP

Hiscock & Barclay Attorney Named Chair-Elect of Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce
Hiscock & Barclay, LLP Partner Michael A. Oropallo (Auburn resident) has been elected to serve as Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce for 2007. He also serves as Legal Counsel and as a member of the Chamber’s Executive Board.

Oropallo has been involved in the litigation and trial of complex civil matters for nearly twenty years. His practice focuses on intellectual property and environmental litigation matters, including toxic torts. Oropallo has litigated cases throughout the United States, and has served as local counsel in New York for a number of national and international law firms.

01-10-2007

---

Crowell & Moring LLP

WORLD BANK ESTABLISHES TRIBUNAL FOR CYPRIOT INVESTOR EXPROPRIATION CASE AGAINST TURKEY
The World Bank’s investment arbitration center has appointed the three members of the tribunal that will decide the US$10 billion expropriation case brought by Cypriot investment firm Libananco Holdings Company Ltd. against the Republic of Turkey.

The tribunal will be chaired by Michael Hwang, a senior arbitration specialist from Singapore considered one of the world’s leading experts in resolving complex commercial disputes. He will be joined by Sir Franklin Berman QC, a London barrister who served as the senior lawyer in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is an expert on international treaties. The third member is Henri Alvarez, a Canadian lawyer and arbitration specialist who handles international investment disputes at the World Bank.

All three members of the tribunal have agreed to serve on what is likely to be the largest claim ever brought at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The case is based on Libananco’s claim that Turkey’s actions violated the Energy Charter Treaty, a multilateral energy-sector investment treaty that entered into force in 1998 and has been ratified by more than 40 countries, including Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus. The treaty protects foreign investors from governmental expropriation and requires all disputes to be resolved in binding arbitration at ICSID in Washington.

Libananco of Nicosia, Cyprus, holds a majority of outstanding shares in two of Turkey’s largest privately-owned hydroelectric utilities, Cukurova Elektrik Anonim Sirketi (CEAS) and Kepez Elektrik Turk Anonim Sirketi (Kepez). Both companies had been listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange and were highly profitable suppliers of electricity. In June 2003, the Government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan abruptly expelled the companies’ management through police raids and then issued administrative orders cancelling their 60-year concessions and seizing their substantial assets. The electric utility assets are now administered by Prime Minister Erdogan’s Government, which has refused to pay compensation to any shareholders for the expropriation of the assets of the utilities. Instead, the annual profits of both utilities are being paid directly into the Turkish Government Treasury. The accumulated income of both utilities since the expropriation already amounts to several billion US dollars.

The ICSID arbitration comes at an awkward moment for Turkey as it continues to strive for EU membership. A major stumbling block in the EU accession talks is Turkey’s refusal to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, an EU and United Nations member. The most recent flashpoint in this dispute is Turkey’s refusal, despite its commitment to the EU, to open its ports and airports to commercial traffic from the Republic of Cyprus. Recognition of all EU member states is a requirement for accession to the EU.

Aside from the lack of progress in the EU accession talks, the tribunal could rule that Turkey in fact recognized the sovereignty of Cyprus -- and the investment rights of Cypriot companies -- under international law when it ratified the Energy Charter Treaty in 2001, several years after it was ratified by Cyprus.

“More than three years after stealing the assets of these companies and then looting the profits for its own gain, Turkey will now answer for its unprecedented violation of international law,” said Stuart H. Newberger, a partner at the international law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP and the Washington, D.C.-based lead counsel for Libananco. “We look forward to presenting our case to the tribunal and are confident this injustice will be rectified.”

In Nicosia, Libananco’s Cypriot counsel Achilleas Demetriades stated, “There is no question that international law protects the property rights of Cypriot investors in countries, such as Turkey, which have ratified the Energy Charter Treaty. It is unfortunate that Turkey deliberately chose to expropriate my client’s investment in these utilities after expressly undertaking not to do so in the same treaty. Once again, we must look to international judicial bodies to bring Turkey to justice.”

With the arbitration proceedings moving ahead, it is expected that the tribunal could issue its first rulings by this summer.

01-10-2007

---

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Two Paul, Weiss Real Estate Projects Featured in Today's New York Times
Paul, Weiss' real estate projects dominated the "Square Feet" column in today's New York Times "Business Day" section. Featured on page C-10 is the proposed $600-million casino, hotel and mall complex at the site of the former Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, steel mill that is sponsored by our client the Las Vegas Sands Corp. in partnership with Barry Gosin of Newmark Knight Frank, which is also a firm client. The article notes that the partnership, Sands BethWorks Gaming, was awarded one of five hotly contested licenses in Pennsylvania to operate freestanding slots parlors. The final plans for the 300-room hotel, 200,000-square-foot outlet mall and casino with 3,000 slot machines are expected to be approved within the next few weeks, and developers are expected to break ground this summer. The Paul, Weiss lawyers who have worked on the Bethlehem Project include real estate partners Harris Freidus and Steve Simkin, counsel Colleen Codey and associate Yossi Subar; and corporate partner John Kennedy.

01-10-2007

---

O'Melveny & Myers, LLP

OMM Defeats Critical Preliminary Injunction Motion in Sunscreen Class Action Litigation
In a detailed order entered January 2, the Los Angeles Superior Court held that the plaintiffs in a putative class action against O'Melveny clients Johnson & Johnson and Neutrogena Corp. have failed to establish that they are likely to succeed on the merits of any one of their claims.

O'Melveny represents Neutrogena Corp. and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products in In re Sunscreen Cases, a coordinated consumer fraud action against the five leading sunscreen manufacturers in which the plaintiffs are seeking industry-wide regulation of the advertising and labeling of sunscreen.

After nearly four years of litigation, the plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction, the terms of which could have required our clients to issue a nationwide product recall and to re-label and re-package their entire line of sunscreen products. After extensive briefing and oral argument, the court ruled in favor of our clients and denied the plaintiffs' request.

The court's thorough order tracks many of the arguments in O'Melveny's opposition to the motion. Download the order.

The O'Melveny team was led by [links to bios, except Danielle Oakley] partners Richard Goetz and Tom Riordan and included associates Liz Lemond and Danielle Oakley.

01-10-2007

---

Covington & Burling, P.C.

Leading European Affairs Expert Joins Covington
International law firm Covington & Burling LLP is pleased to announce the appointment of Wim G. van Velzen as Senior European Policy Advisor in the firm’s Brussels office. Mr. van Velzen, a leading expert on European affairs, served with distinction as a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2004, where he was vice president of the European Peoples Party (EPP) and European Democrats Political Group.

Prior to his tenure in the European Parliament, Mr. van Velzen was President of the Dutch Christian Democratic Party from 1987 to 1994 and served as a senator in the Dutch Parliament from 1987 to 1995.

Mr. van Velzen, who is not a lawyer, will provide clients with strategic advice on their relations with the European institutions, and on the EU’s policy-making and legislative processes. He will also advise on issues relating to the new EU Member States and other markets in the region, an area where he developed deep expertise during his service in the European Parliament. He joins Covington from the Brussels office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP effective 1 January 2007.

Mr. van Velzen will work closely with the firm’s Government Affairs, Information Technology, Life Sciences, and Intellectual Property Groups. He has broad experience assisting companies in areas where Covington already enjoys a strong profile globally, including the telecommunications, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, computer hardware and software, and chemical sectors, among others.

Mr. van Velzen currently serves as member of the independent external review panel of the Commission concerning the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Programme. He has been widely recognized for his contributions to public service in Europe, and is the recipient of the Order of Merit of Hungary; l´Ordre de Mérit de Luxembourg; Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz, Deutschland; Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, the Netherlands; L´Ordre national de la Légion d´honneur de France; the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and the Order of the Rumanian Star.

Stuart Eizenstat, Head of Covington’s International Practice Group, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union (1993-1996), Under Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, welcomed Mr. van Velzen to the firm. Ambassador Eizenstat commented, “Wim brings over a decade of experience at senior levels of the European decision making process that is hard to match. He greatly enhances our ability to serve our clients in Europe, not only with respect to the European Parliament, but also the Commission and other key European institutions.”

Mr. van Velzen noted, “Covington is an outstanding firm and a great fit for my professional background and interests. Together, we can offer superb international policy advice to clients on both sides of the Atlantic, and indeed globally.

01-10-2007

---

25383 matches |  12125-12131 displayed

1  1731 1732 1733 1734 1735  3627