Law Firm News

---

Law Firm News

Firm Name

News Title

News

News Date

25383 matches |  20546-20552 displayed

1  2936 2937 2938 2939 2940  3627

---

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Katten Muchin Rosenman’s Expansion of Employee Benefits Practice Continues with Addition of Gary Howell as Partner
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP today announced the continued expansion of its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice with the addition of partner Gary W. Howell. Mr. Howell will be based in the Firm’s Chicago office and is the fifth new partner to join Katten’s Employee Benefits Practice this year.

In April, Edward J. Rayner joined the practice as a partner in the New York office. His addition was preceded by the arrival of Chicago-based partners Gregory K. Brown and Kathleen Sheil Scheidt in February, and the addition of Shannon Skinner Anglin in January. New York-based employee benefits attorney, M.C. Tania Balthazaar also joined the practice in January as special counsel.

“Gary’s extensive background counseling companies as well as financial service providers in the management of ERISA plan assets, makes him an important addition to our growing practice,” said William B. Duff, chair of Katten’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice. “The continued expansion of our department is in response to the evolving needs of our clients in this complex practice area. The five partners that we have added this year enable us to better service our current and future clients.”

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Howell served as partner for 15 years in the HR Law Practice Group at Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP in Chicago.

Mr. Howell’s practice emphasizes ERISA fiduciary matters, tax-qualified retirement plans and ERISA litigation. A significant portion of his practice involves the representation of banks, trust companies, investment managers, and hedge funds in connection with their compliance in managing ERISA plan assets. This representation includes questions involving fee structures, fiduciary status, identification of plan assets, prohibited transactions and fiduciary duty. He has obtained prohibited transaction exemptions and advisory opinions under ERISA from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Mr. Howell also maintains an active practice involving the retirement plans of large and small clients, master and prototype retirement programs, and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). He has worked extensively on ERISA “preemption” of state law in connection with state health care legislation.

Mr. Howell speaks extensively on employee benefits law topics and co-authored the chapter on “Insurance Companies as Fiduciaries” in the first edition of ERISA Fiduciary Law, published by the Bureau of National Affairs. In addition, he recently completed a new chapter, “Allocation and Delegation of Fiduciary Responsibilities,” for the upcoming second edition of that book. He has been selected as both a Leading Lawyer of Illinois and an Illinois Super Lawyer for 2005-06.

Mr. Howell received his B.A. from the University of Iowa and his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law, where he currently serves as an adjunct professor, teaching employee benefits law. He is a member of the Illinois and New York bars, and the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

Katten Muchin Rosenman’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice provides comprehensive services in planning, designing and implementing employee benefits and executive compensation programs for organizations of all sizes and structures. Combined, its attorneys have more than 200 years of benefits experience including at the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

08-07-2006

---

Godfrey & Kahn

GODFREY & KAHN ATTORNEYS INCLUDED IN IN BUSINESS MAGAZINE’S “40 EXECUTIVES UNDER 40” LISTING
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. is pleased to announce that two attorneys from the firm’s Madison office, LaFollette Godfrey & Kahn, are included in In Business magazine’s “40 Executives Under 40” listing, which features the Madison area leaders of tomorrow. Included in the listing are: Rochelle H. Klaskin, a member of the firm’s Corporate and Labor & Employment Practice Groups, and Thomas N. Shorter, a shareholder in the firm’s Employment, Health Care and Education Practice Groups.

Rochelle H. Klaskin
Klaskin advises on corporate and employment matters for a wide variety of businesses in every stage of their development. She focuses her practice on private equity transactions, emerging technology issues, non-compete agreements, corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions. She also trains employers on a multitude of human resources matters including hiring, disability, anti-harassment, and family and medical leave issues. She graduated with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago-Kent Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and mass communication.

Thomas N. Shorter
Shorter represents small businesses, health care and educational institutions in employment and regulatory matters such as collective bargaining, FMLA compliance, discrimination issues, discipline and discharge, services for children with disabilities, IDEA, Section 504, ADA, HIPAA, EMTALA, Stark, and Anti-Kickback issues. He received his law degree from Northeastern University School of Law, Phi Delta Phi, and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Founded in 1957, Godfrey & Kahn maintains offices in Madison (LaFollette Godfrey & Kahn), Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay, and Waukesha, WI; Washington, DC; and Shanghai, PRC. With more than 190 attorneys, Godfrey & Kahn provides legal and business advice to clients ranging from small businesses and governmental entities to large privately and publicly held national and international companies.

08-07-2006

---

Lewis and Roca LLP

Hale Elected Chairman of the Board for Southern Arizona Chapter of American Red Cross
Lewis and Roca is pleased to announced that Todd E. Hale, a litigation partner in the firm’s Tucson office, has been elected as the Chairman of the Board of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross. Hale has served on the Board of Directors for the past three and a half years, including service on the Board’s Executive and Human Resources Committees. The Red Cross helps southern Arizona families prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

Hale is an experienced trial lawyer who focuses on representing clients in complex civil litigation and counseling and representing employers and public entities in all areas of termination, harassment, and discrimination law.

A Tucson native, Hale received his J.D. from the University of Arizona, College of Law,summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, in 1994. He received his B.A. from the University of Arizona, cum laude, in 1990.

08-07-2006

---

Edwards & Angell, L.L.P.

Partner Paulette Brown Co-Chairs American Bar Association Commission’s Study on Women of Color in Law Firms
On August 3, 2006, the American Bar Association (ABA) released a Commission of Women in the Profession report entitled ""Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms."" Litigation partner Paulette Brown serves as Project Co-Chair of the Commission and co-authored the report's Introduction. The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession embarked upon a research initiative to examine the experiences of women of color in the legal profession and address questions of job satisfaction, hindrances by legal employers and equality in the workplace. Paulette recently attended the ABA Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, at which the Commission of Women in the Profession presented its findings from this initiative and provided an educational forum for ABA leaders and other parties interested in using the study to effect positive change in the profession.

Forbes.com, The Washington Post, and The Houston Chronicle published an article on August 6, 2006 entitled “ABA: Women of Color Leaving Big Firms,” which discusses the findings of the Commission with regard to discrimination in the workplace and how it has affected women of color who are leaving the private practice of law. Paulette Brown and Litigation partner Elaine Johnson James were interviewed for comment in the article, which also appeared on the front page of Diversity Inc. News on August 7, 2006.

08-07-2006

---

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, L.L.P.

STEVEN SCHULMAN TO LEAD AKIN GUMP'S PRO BONO PRACTICE
Steven H. Schulman has been named as Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s first full-time pro bono partner, the firm announced today. Mr. Schulman will lead Akin Gump’s pro bono practice.

Mr. Schulman joins Akin Gump from Latham & Watkins, where as that firm’s first pro bono counsel he led what became the largest law firm pro bono practice in the world during his tenure (2001-2004). In addition to maintaining a substantive practice in many areas of public interest law – including human rights, landlord-tenant and predatory lending matters – he developed and implemented that firm’s signature Child Refugee Project, assisting unaccompanied alien children in the United States through individual representation, legislative counseling and systemic reform. Under Mr. Schulman's leadership, Latham’s pro bono practice achieved significant national recognition.

Mr. Schulman is a member of the Washington Council of Human Rights First and the legal advisory board of the Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. He served as co-chair of the ABA Section of Litigation Pro Bono and Public Interest Litigation Committee (2002-2005) and on the ABA Commission on Immigration (2004-2005). A cum laude graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, he is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Akin Gump has a long history of pro bono representation, and is currently engaged in significant pro bono matters in each of its 10 U.S. offices, from New York to California. Most recently, the firm filed an amicus brief on behalf of international humanitarian and journalist organizations in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, the 2005 Supreme Court case establishing a right of due process review for enemy combatants detained in the war on terror, and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the New York City Bar Association in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the 2006 Supreme Court case striking down the military tribunals that had been established to try and punish enemy combatants on grounds that the tribunals violate U.S. domestic law and the Geneva Conventions. The firm has also represented indigent defendants in death penalty cases, aided victims of human trafficking, handled political asylum cases and assisted the families of deployed troops in addressing legal issues. Akin Gump has earned recognition from numerous nonprofit organizations for its work in this arena, including—

2006 Frank W. Newton Award (State Bar of Texas) for its assistance in providing legal advice to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
2006 Exemplar Award (National Legal Aid and Defender Association) for litigation partner Mark MacDougall’s pro bono trial representation of indigent defendants facing the death penalty
2006 Rubicon Honors Award (Rubicon Programs of San Francisco) for its commitment to Rubicon and the community it serves
2005 Law Firm of the Year Award (Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program) for providing extraordinary pro bono services
2005 Community Service Award (National Association of Counsel for Children) for its work on a juvenile death penalty case and commitment to the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles.

In total, Akin Gump lawyers dedicated more than 42,000 hours to pro bono service in 2005. (For more information about Akin Gump’s pro bono practice, please click here.)
R. Bruce McLean, Akin Gump’s chairman, stated, “Our commitment to pro bono representation is unequivocal. Providing high-quality legal services to those who are unable to pay is critically important to our community, the firm and the legal profession. Steven is a well-known champion of pro bono representation with a proven track record in managing a successful firmwide program. We are very pleased to have him focusing on pro bono on a full-time basis.”

Mr. Schulman added, “The opportunity to join Akin Gump’s partnership to lead its pro bono practice on a full-time basis is a dream come true for me. The firm has a long and distinguished history of public service, and it is an honor to join my new colleagues at Akin Gump to grow and further strengthen the firm’s active and impressive pro bono practice.

08-07-2006

---

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Corporate Finance Attorney Arthur Rooney, II Elected Director of FNB Corporation Board
An article in the July 24, 2006, edition of The Wall Street Journal, as well as the July 20, 2006, edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, highlighted the election of Corporate Finance attorney Arthur J. Rooney, II as director of the board of First National Bank (FNB) Corporation. Rooney is of counsel in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Pittsburgh office.

FNB Corporation is a bank corporation based in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.

08-07-2006

---

Robinson & Cole LLP

Robinson & Cole Trial Lawyer Elected Chairman of American Association for Justice Group
R&C Trial Lawyer, Steve Rotman has been elected chairman of the Daubert Litigation Group for the American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly known as American Trial Lawyers Association.

More about AAJ
As the world's largest trial bar, AAJ promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, safeguards victims' rights--particularly the right to trial by jury--and strengthens the civil justice system through education and disclosure of information critical to public health and safety. With more than 56,000 members worldwide, and a network of U.S. and Canadian affiliates involved in diverse areas of trial advocacy, AAJ provides lawyers with the information and professional assistance needed to serve clients successfully and protect the democratic values inherent in the civil justice system.

08-07-2006

---

25383 matches |  20546-20552 displayed

1  2936 2937 2938 2939 2940  3627