Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Robinson & Cole LLP

Robinson & Cole Land Use and Real Estate Lawyers Elected Fellows of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Dwight H. Merriam, a lawyer in R&C's Land Use Group, and Frank L. Baker III, a lawyer in R&C's Real Estate Group were recently elected Fellows of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). RICS is one of the most respected and high profile global ‘standards and membership’ organizations for professionals involved in land, property, construction and environmental issues. The institution originated in and is based in the United Kingdom but now has 120,000 regular members in more than 100 countries. Each year, only about 120 Fellows are elected worldwide.

08-02-2006

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Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Fulbright’s Austin Associates Gain Courtroom Experience
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. associates are gaining courtroom experience in Austin’s municipal courts by prosecuting criminal cases and helping to alleviate swelling dockets city prosecutors face daily.

“It has been terrific just to have two people come in and help out our prosecutors, who are really overworked,” said Anne Morgan, chief of litigation for the City of Austin. “It has eased the docket.”
The program also is providing the courtroom experience associates need to become the very best litigators.

“We wanted to get our associates as much courtroom experience as we could,” Fulbright partner Mary Dietz said. “Courtroom experience is integral to attorney development.”

Mrs. Dietz worked with the City of Austin to develop the program and has been among those working to support and establish similar programs in other cities where Fulbright has offices, including: Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio, New York, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. The firm’s first attorney loan program began in Plano, just north of Dallas, in 2000.

In Austin, Fulbright has provided more than a year of free legal services to the city through the attorney loan program. Two associates participate in the program at a time. They spend one week training and another 19 weeks prosecuting cases. The next pair of Fulbright associates is scheduled to rotate into the Austin municipal courts on August 11.

Fulbright associates Tom Nesbitt and Megan Hudgeons are currently prosecuting cases in Austin, where Nesbitt has handled cases ranging from a DUI by a minor to unsafe lane changes. Hudgeons says she’s prosecuted cases involving speeding and driving without insurance.

“Working with the city prosecutors and the municipal court judges has been a very interesting and eye-opening experience,” Ms. Hudgeons said. “The prosecutors and judges are in trial every day. They have provided valuable guidance and insight into the jury trial process.”

Mr. Nesbitt says the experience has taught him how to think on his feet and improvise. The municipal court cases allow minimal preparation time.

“It requires that you develop very quickly a theme that will appeal to the jury,” he said. “A great benefit of this program is learning to be comfortable in front of a jury. Although these cases always involve minor offenses, the interaction with the jury is just as substantial as in any jury trial.”

The municipal court trials typically last from one to four hours and occur almost daily.

“As our local bar association laments the vanishing of the jury trial, this program offers the possibility to have a jury trial almost every day,” Mr. Nesbitt said. “The municipal courts provide a wonderful opportunity to directly participate in the government of our city. Jurors find it an interesting way to serve their community.”

Ms. Morgan, the chief of litigation for the City of Austin, said the municipal docket is fast-paced and very heavy. Fulbright associates who have assisted the city have impressed those they’ve worked with, she said.

“It has been a really good match,” Ms. Morgan said.

08-02-2006

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Carlton Fields

Carlton Fields Shareholder, Daniel R. Vega, Board Certified in Construction Law
Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that Miami Shareholder Daniel R. Vega has recently received Board Certification in Construction Law from The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education. Certification identifies Vega as an attorney with special knowledge, skills, and proficiency in construction law and distinguishes him as a specialist in this area. He has an in depth expertise with the Florida construction lien law and contractor payment bonds.

Vega's areas of legal practice include construction and commercial litigation matters both in federal and state courts. He is admitted to practice in Florida, the Southern, Middle, and Northern Federal District Courts of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington D.C. Vega received his B.S. in Criminal Justice from Florida International University in 1994 and his J.D., cum laude, from the Florida State University College of Law in 1998, where he was a Notes & Comments editor with the Florida State University Law Review. He is a native of Santiago, Chile and speaks Spanish fluently.

08-02-2006

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Carlton Fields

Carlton Fields Shareholder, Laurel Lockett, Appointed to Vice Chair of the ABA Land Use and Environmental Group
Carlton Fields Tampa Shareholder Laurel Lockett was recently appointed to Vice Chair of the Land Use and Environmental Group of the American Bar Association for a two-year term.

Lockett practices in the areas of Environmental Law and Commercial Real Estate. She has experience dealing with issues such as industrial and domestic wastewater, storage tank regulation, landfill, used oil, and hazardous waste permitting and regulation; the negotiation of consent orders and remediation plans associated with the cleanup of hazardous waste, petroleum, chlorinated solvents and other contaminants with local, state, and federal environmental agencies, negotiation and oversight of consulting contracts, and environmental aspects of real estate and commercial transactions, including asbestos and indoor air quality issues, environmental insurance, and Florida Brownfields designation and redevelopment. Lockett received her J.D. from Boston University College of Law in 1984 and his B.A. in Geology, with honors, from Smith College in 1977.

08-02-2006

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie LLP Represents Société Générale in Financing of Panda Ethanol’s Biomass-Fueled Ethanol Facility in Texas
Baker & McKenzie LLP announced today that it represented Société Générale in connection with the debt financing of Panda Ethanol Inc.'s 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol facility currently under construction in Hereford, Texas. Panda's Hereford project is the first large ethanol project that will utilize manure to generate the thermal energy necessary to produce ethanol. The Hereford project is the first of a number of such projects that Panda Ethanol plans to build throughout the United States.

Société Générale arranged approximately $158.1 million of senior secured debt facilities, including a $50 million letter of credit that supports tax-exempt bonds issued by the project and a $5 million working capital facility. The financings closed on July 31, 2006.

Ethanol plants have historically been located in the ""corn belt"" of the U.S. Midwest, where they are close to sources of corn but far from the largest ethanol markets. Increasingly, developers of ethanol plants are building ""destination"" ethanol plants in states such as California and New York (the largest markets for ethanol) or in places such as Texas where energy costs are lower and costs of production can be minimized. Panda's Hereford plant further expects to lower its energy costs by gasifying more than 1 billion pounds of cow manure per year to generate the steam needed to manufacture ethanol.

""We are pleased to have worked with Société Générale in arranging the debt financing for the Panda Hereford project. The successful financing of this project proves that the financial community supports well-engineered, technologically-advanced ethanol projects where the economics justify their location outside of the U.S. Midwest,"" said Chris Groobey, a project finance Partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Washington, D.C. office.

Groobey added, ""With the successful closing of this transaction for Société Générale, we have now represented the lenders to the first plant in Texas and the first large-scale plant to use biomass as a fuel source, further strengthening the Firm's leading position as counsel to lenders and investors in the largest and most innovative ethanol projects in the U.S.""

In June, Baker & McKenzie represented the lenders to the first East Coast ethanol plant -- the Northeast Biofuels project in upstate New York. In April, the Firm represented the lenders to the first destination ethanol plant – the Pacific Ethanol project in Madera, California.

08-02-2006

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Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P.

New Partner Stephen Rahaim Expands Energy & Environmental Practice
Stephen Rahaim has joined Baker Hostetler as a partner in the Energy & Environmental Practice Group in its Washington, D.C., office. He will focus on environmental and energy law and toxic tort litigation. Prior to joining Baker Hostetler, Mr. Rahaim was a partner with Duane Morris LLP.

Mr. Rahaim has represented clients nationwide in various environmental litigation and regulatory actions. As a trained scientist with extensive experience in engineering and field operations, Mr. Rahaim has a special talent for translating complex technical concepts in judicial, regulatory and media settings. He has particular experience supervising, negotiating and litigating all aspects of site remediation under state and federal environmental programs.

In the area of toxic tort litigation, Mr. Rahaim has specialized in the development of expert testimony, for both plaintiffs and defendants, regarding the environmental effects of exposure to benzene, chlorinated solvents, ionizing radiation, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides and herbicides, mercury and other heavy metals and the historical development of remedial standards related to such agents.

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Rahaim worked for six years as an environmental scientist, first with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection overseeing CERCLA and hazardous waste remediation projects and subsequently as a senior project manager with a national environmental consulting firm where he supervised remedial design, ecological and human health risk assessments and provided litigation support in a number of toxic tort matters.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Stephen to Baker Hostetler,” said William Schweitzer, Managing Partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. “His exceptional and unique experience, as an environmental scientist and consultant prior to joining the legal profession, makes him ideally suited to expand our Energy & Environmental practice and he will be a valuable strategic advisor to our clients across the firm.”

Mr. Rahaim is not admitted in the District of Columbia but is authorized to practice in the District under the supervision of Melissa Maxman, Esq., while his application for admission is pending per Rule 49(c)(8) of the D.C. Court of Appeals.

08-02-2006

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Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Nutter ranks #1 Boston and among Top 5 nationally in associates survey
For the second year in a row, Nutter ranked first in Boston and among the top five firms in the country (#4) in The American Lawyer’s annual survey of mid-level associates.

This year the survey questioned over 6,500 attorneys from 197 firms across the nation of all sizes.

The survey was designed to examine key areas that contribute to job satisfaction, including relations with partners and peers, interest and satisfaction with work, training and guidance, management communication and attitude toward pro bono work.

08-02-2006

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