Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Le Boeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae, L.L.P.

LeBoeuf Lamb Advises CNOOC on its Largest International Transaction to Date
13 January 2006, London) – The international law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae has advised CNOOC Ltd on the acquisition of a 45% stake in the offshore Akpo field in Nigeria from South Atlantic Petroleum. The value of the acquisition is $2.3 billion, making it CNOOC's largest international transaction and the second largest overseas investment by a Chinese oil and gas company to date.

The Akpo oil and gas field is 200 km off Nigeria’s west coast and is operated by Total. Total has a 24% stake in the field, Petroleo Brasileiro a 16% stake and, after completion, South Atlantic Petroleum will have the remaining 15%. Production is expected to begin in late 2008, with an estimated output of 225,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

LeBoeuf Lamb fielded a team advising CNOOC from its Beijing and London offices. The team was led by Beijing managing partner, Ingrid Wenying Zhu-Clark and London partner, Keith Hughes. They were assisted by Paul Dufays (London associate). Other lawyers who are involved in the transaction include London partner Tony Richmond and Beijing associates Chris Flood and Gang Yuan.

01-13-2006

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Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

KILPATRICK STOCKTON PARTNERS NAMED TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATION
ATLANTA (January 13) -- Women in Technology (WIT), the leading association devoted to the development of Georgia's businesswomen in the technology industry, announced the 2006 Board of Directors, which includes Kilpatrick Stockton partners Jamie Greene and Brenda Holmes. Both practice in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Ms. Greene will serve as the board’s Secretary and Ms. Holmes will serve as Legal Director.
WIT works to accelerate the growth path of women in technology through initiatives that promote visibility and opportunities for success in the industry. The organization's theme for 2006 is "Growing with Valued Partnerships" and the Board will concentrate their efforts on building upon this theme both within the organization itself and throughout the greater Atlanta technology community. Ms. Greene’s practice concentrates in the procurement of domestic and foreign biomedical and chemical patents, particularly in the areas of biotechnology, pharmacology and immunology. Prior to entering the legal profession, Ms. Greene was a research scientist at the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and Boehringer Ingelheim, Ltd.
Ms. Holmes’ practice focuses on intellectual property management and procurement. She assists clients in building and managing their patent portfolios. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Holmes was an engineer with IBM, working in the areas of system development and memory controller chip design.
About Women in Technology (WIT) Women in Technology, Inc. (WIT) is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit association promoting the advancement of women in the field of technology. WIT is a founding society of the Technology Association of Georgia, an umbrella membership organization that serves more than 5,000 members of the Georgia technology community. For more information on WIT, visit www.witinc.org.
About Kilpatrick Stockton
Kilpatrick Stockton LLP is a full-service international law firm with more than 470 attorneys in nine offices across the globe: Atlanta and Augusta, GA.; Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, NC.; New York, NY; Washington, D.C.; London, England; and Stockholm, Sweden. Kilpatrick Stockton's delivery of innovative business solutions provides results-oriented counsel for corporations, from the challenging demands of financial transactions and securities to the disciplines of intellectual property management. Collaboration among Kilpatrick Stockton's corporate, litigation and intellectual property attorneys provides knowledgeable and proactive guidance for companies at every stage of the business life cycle.

01-13-2006

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Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Katten Muchin Rosenman Expands Employee Benefits Practicewith Addition of Two Attorneys
CHICAGO – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to announce the continued expansion of its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice, with the addition of Partner, Shannon Skinner Anglin, and Special Counsel, M.C. Tania Balthazaar. Ms. Anglin will be based in the Firm’s Chicago office and Ms. Balthazaar will be based in New York.
“The depth of employee benefits and executive compensation experience that Shannon and Tania bring to our practice make them valuable additions to the Firm,” said William B. Duff, chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice. “We are thrilled to add their considerable legal talents to our growing practice.”
Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Anglin spent about four years as an associate in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in Chicago. She also served as an Employee Benefits associate in the Tax Department of Proskauer Rose LLP in New York from 1999 until 2002.
Ms. Anglin focuses her practice on advising clients regarding regulatory, operational, prohibited transaction and fiduciary requirements of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She frequently represents executives and employers with respect to the negotiation and implementation of executive compensation arrangements, severance agreements and change of control agreements. Ms. Anglin also assists clients in developing various types of equity-based incentive plans for both public and private companies. Additionally, she often provides advice regarding tax, securities and other legal considerations resulting from recently-enacted deferred compensation legislation and Sarbanes-Oxley, including board and committee duties and compensation, SEC disclosure of executive compensation arrangements and insider trading considerations.
Ms. Anglin received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Carolina University in 1992 and her juris doctor, cum laude, from the Tulane University School of Law in 1998. Additionally, she earned an LL.M. in taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1999.
Ms. Balthazaar has spent the past six years as an associate in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York. She also served as an Employee Benefits associate in the Employee Benefits Department at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia from 1997 through 1999.
Ms. Balthazaar concentrates her practice on advising clients regarding regulatory requirements applicable to the design, operation and administration of qualified, nonqualified, welfare and equity plans. She also counsels clients with respect to the negotiation and drafting of employment and severance arrangements, and on issues arising in mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, she handles issues relating to executive compensation and employee benefit plan liabilities in bankruptcy restructuring, reporting and disclosure obligations under ERISA and securities law disclosure requirements applicable to employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements.
Ms. Balthazaar earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1990 and her juris doctor, magna cum laude, from the Indiana University School of Law in 1995. She also received an LL.M. in taxation from the New York University School of Law in 1996.
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (www.kattenlaw.com) is a national, full-service law firm with offices in the nation's largest centers of business, government, finance and technology and an associated entity in London. The Firm’s 600 attorneys in more than 40 practice areas provide timely and cost-effective counsel to clients in numerous industries. They serve as business advisors and advocates for a wide range of public and private companies - from entrepreneurial, emerging-growth, and middle market firms to global Fortune 100 corporations - as well as government entities, non-profits, and charitable and cultural organizations.

01-13-2006

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Haskell, Slaughter, Young & Gallion, L.L.C.

China's growth draws local interest
Kelli M. Dugan, Staff Reporter, Birmingham Business Journal
With commercial activity in China expanding at rates that dwarf the rest of the world's,
the city of Birmingham is renewing its efforts to cultivate business relationships there.
In its first official exchange since recommitting to its sister city partnership, Birmingham
will dispatch a University of Alabama at Birmingham business professor and an
intellectual property attorney to Anshan, China, in July for a for month long teaching
assignment.
F. Lane Finch Jr. of Birmingham's Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker LLC will join
K.C. Pang, an instructor in UAB's department of management, marketing and industrial
distribution, at Anshan Normal University, where they will conduct courses on American
business law.
"China is a huge economic force, and it's only getting bigger," Finch says, noting that the
country has 10 times more cities with a million people or more than one finds in the
United States.
He says China also currently boasts more English-speaking residents than the United
States.
"China is eager to join the world economic community, and they're working really hard to
revise their laws to be more consistent with Western business law, especially in the area
of intellectual property, because they're beginning to recognize people won't want to do
business there if they cannot be guaranteed the same (copyright and trademark)
protections," Finch says.
China, he says, began to enact some intellectual property protections in the 1980s, but it
wasn't until the country joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001 that a
major revision occurred.
Winning attention for Alabama
"As a result, there are still some gaps and loopholes in their laws and counterfeiting and
infringement are huge issues," Finch says. "That's where I come in, trying to protect our
clients on the front end before anybody starts to infringe on their trademarks or
copyright."
The exchange is also designed to arouse interest among Chinese businessmen to
reciprocate in 2007 with a comparable visit to UAB. "The idea is to stimulate the concept
of doing business in the Southeast and particularly in Alabama," Finch says.
Frank Young, a senior partner with Haskell Slaughter who participated in the
Birmingham delegation's visit to Anshan in July 2005, has taken a lead role in the firm's
growing international law practice.
"No matter what kind of business you're in, if you're not at least beginning to think about
China and how its marketplace can impact your business, in the next 10 years you may be
missing out on a huge opportunity," he says.
Young says he returned from China confident "there could certainly be a specific cultural
business exchange," and he says the teaching and networking stint should help Finch and
Pang "make business contacts and continue relationships with city officials toward
developing more exchanges and trade between our two areas."
Sister city framework praised
"Anytime you have a formal sister city relationship in place, you have a built-in
mechanism by which you have cooperation and a network to help promote education,
culture and business exchanges," Young says. "Particularly in China, where a strong
relationship with the government is crucial to doing any form of business, the sister city
relationship becomes of paramount importance."
He likens the sister city relationship with Anshan to a marriage that has been strained at
times. Working through the cultural and political friction ultimately has strengthened the
bond.
"We think that this relationship with Anshan, going back more than 10 years, gives us a
solid foundation for the kind of business education and networking that Birmingham
companies and professionals need to get a foothold in China," Young says. "There's a
history and a commitment, and there's a group of contacts, and that's a good place to
build."
Young says Finch was an obvious fit for the post because of both his intellectual property
expertise and his interest in teaching and furthering his own relationship with UAB.
Haskell Slaughter has been part of an international legal network, known as TAGLAW,
since 2000, and participation in its networking activities piqued the partners' interest in
launching an international law practice.
The practice group formed officially in 2004, and partnerships with China seemed a
natural fit given both the existing sister city relationship and the country's growth rates,
which Young calls "staggering."
Haskell Slaughter used its TAGLAW contacts to establish a relationship with
representatives of Indianapolis-based Baker & Daniels LLP, one of fewer than 40 U.S.
law firms licensed to practice in China.
Working for the long term
According to the Baker & Daniels' Web site, the firm leverages its lawyers in Beijing and
Qingdao "to provide American, Chinese and international clients with comprehensive
service including legal advice and the identification of business partners, manufacturing
sources, key personnel and plant site locations."
Along with advising clients who are interested in the Chinese market, Haskell Slaughter
is working with Chinese entities interested in doing business in the United States.
Young says Alabama companies' success in establishing significant contacts in China
depends, as one might expect, on whether the niche their companies occupy in their
respective industries are attractive to Chinese partners.
"Some go to take advantage of the growth, some choose to take advantage of the lower
price structure, others simply want to sell their products in that marketplace," Young
says.
Long-range goals for the law firm's international practice focus on helping clients build a
lasting presence in China so that their first projects there aren't their last. The firm has
begun crafting a cultural education program for one client that is very close to landing a
multimillion-dollar industrial contract.
The idea, Young says, is to create a cultural training program for all of the company's
employees who will be involved with the project -- about 30 people -- enabling them to
"hit the ground with a fundamental knowledge" of how to distinguish themselves as
workers who understand the culture and marketplace.
"It's our intent to have our people sufficiently trained in such a way that the Chinese
notice on every level our people are better prepared and know more about the business
structure and the culture than other foreign workers ...," Young says
At the same time, the program should help potential transplants identify and avoid
potential cultural clashes, he says.

01-13-2006

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Hanify & King, P.C.

David C. Kravitz on NECN's Good Morning Live
Hanify & King lawyer David C. Kravitz was on the NECN show "Good Morning Live" giving an overview of the Alito confirmation hearings and discussing what lies ahead.

01-13-2006

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Gray-Robinson, P.A.

Geraci Appointed to Fifth Circuit Judicial Nominating Committee
CLERMONT, Fla. (January 13, 2006) -- Anita R. Geraci, an attorney with the law firm of GrayRobinson, has been appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Fifth Circuit Judicial Nominating Committee.

Geraci will serve a term through July 1, 2007. The Judicial Nominating Committees are responsible for interviewing candidates for appointment to judgeships and submitting slates of nominees to the Governor.

Geraci concentrates her practice in the areas of litigation, real estate law, and homeowner association law. Prior to joining GrayRobinson, Anita was a Prosecutor in the Fifth Judicial Circuit from 1995 to 2002. She prosecuted juveniles, handled domestic violence cases and adult felony dockets during her years as a prosecutor. Anita's experience includes over thirty jury trials, over fifteen non-jury trials and hundreds of court hearings. She obtained her law degree from the University of Miami in 1995.

GrayRobinson (www.gray-robinson.com) is one of Florida's fastest growing law firms. The 36-year-old, full service firm provides legal services for Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses, lending institutions, local governments, developers, entrepreneurs and individuals across Florida, the nation and the world. The firm has offices in Tampa, Tallahassee, Orlando, Naples, Melbourne, Lakeland, Key West, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Clermont.

01-13-2006

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Graham and Dunn

Graham & Dunn Welcomes Two New Attorneys--Susan M. Johnson and M. Owen Gabrielson
Graham & Dunn is pleased to announce the addition of Susan M. Johnson and M. Owen Gabrielson.

Susan M. Johnson joins the firm as Of Counsel. She has broad experience in both liquor licensing and general business law. She primarily represents alcoholic beverage manufacturers, breweries, wineries, restaurants and hotels in liquor licensing, distribution, production and regulatory matters. She has also worked with local chefs, designers and restaurant owners on lease negotiations and new business formations, planning, and other transactions. Susan eventually will serve as the head of the firm’s Beverage practice group, working closely with R. Corbin Houchins, currently the team’s leader. Susan and Corbin will work together with Stephanie J. Meier, law clerk, and Mark N. Ludwig, paralegal, to provide additional value-added services for the firm’s beverage industry clients. Susan received her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1995.

M. Owen Gabrielson will join the firm’s Financial Services Team as an associate in February, 2006. He has experience in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, title insurance and escrow litigation, and commercial litigation and appeals. Owen earned his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2003, where he was associate editor of the Oregon Law Review.

01-13-2006

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