Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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King & Spalding

King & Spalding Cross-Office Pro Bono Projects Assist in Liberian Stabilization Efforts
As part of the its ongoing pro bono efforts, King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, has taken a lead role in two projects that will assist in the post-civil war rebuilding of Liberia. A cross-office team of more than 25 attorneys in Atlanta and New York are contributing to this significant undertaking.

In conjunction with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and as part of a larger nationwide initiative, an Atlanta-based King & Spalding pro bono team is spearheading an effort to take statements from individuals who fled Liberia during its 14-year civil war. Many Liberian refugees resettled in the metro Atlanta region, and their firsthand accounts will be used by the TRC to investigate human rights violations, make recommendations for institutional and societal change, and construct a more accurate account of what transpired during the conflict.

To coordinate the effort, King & Spalding has also provided the TRC’s Atlanta project coordinator with office space at the firm’s 1180 Peachtree Street location.

The firm is working with a coalition of institutions on the statement-taking project, including The Carter Center, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. The King & Spalding pro bono team involved in this project consists of 5 lawyers, and is led by King & Spalding partner and Atlanta pro bono committee chair William E. Hoffmann and associate Shelby S. Guilbert.

Simultaneously, King & Spalding lawyers in both New York and Atlanta are participating in the Liberian Constitution Commentary Project and assisting in drafting the first-ever commentary on the Liberian Constitution. The objective of this undertaking is to afford all Liberians an understanding of fundamental Liberian law. Through the promotion of constitutional literacy, the project aims to provide a strong foundation on which Liberia can rebuild after spending the better part of two decades entrenched in civil war.

When finalized, the commentary will be produced in three versions:

* The complete commentary designed for lawyers, judges, and legislators;
* A condensed version designed for community leaders and activists; and
* A very short version designed for broad distribution to the general public.

King & Spalding’s role in the project is to provide briefings on Liberian case law relevant to the Constitution, which will form the basis of the final commentary. This cross-office pro bono effort is led by partner Andrew M. Metcalf and associate Amin M. Husain of the firm’s New York office, and involves nearly 20 additional King & Spalding lawyers.

King & Spalding is working on this project in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Democracy in Plural Societies at Indiana University, which seeks to study and promote constitutional democracy in countries marked by ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other divisions. It focuses its efforts on the constitutional aspects of democratic reform, enabling plural societies to peaceably provide meaningful self-governance to all their citizens.

King & Spalding regards pro bono representation as a community obligation and a professional responsibility of its lawyers. Among the areas in which the firm has contributed pro bono work are prisoners' rights and prison reform, domestic violence, human rights, animal rights, family law and consumer protection. In 2006, more than 500 King & Spalding lawyers contributed more than 28,000 hours of pro bono service.

09-18-2007

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Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Katten Adds Ariel Dybner as Partner in New York Real Estate Practice
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to announce that Ariel M. Dybner has joined the Firm as a partner in its Real Estate Practice. Mr. Dybner will be based in the Firm’s New York office.

Prior to joining Katten, Mr. Dybner was a partner in the New York office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP.

Mr. Dybner concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate finance with a focus on construction finance as well as Latin American finance. His lending practice includes acquisitions and refinancings, as well as condominium financing, construction financing, conventional financing, non-recourse financing, Shari'ah-compliant financing, mezzanine financing, 144A financing, and private placement financing. Mr. Dybner has represented institutional lenders, investment banks, insurance companies and finance companies in connection with financings in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean. He also has significant experience in managing acquisitions and dispositions of real estate and the real estate aspects of complex corporate and finance transactions.

Mr. Dybner received his B.A. from Amherst College and his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He also holds an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

09-18-2007

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Hunton & Williams, LLP

Hunton & Williams LLP Scores a Victory for Pfizer
the Hunton & Williams litigation team scored a major win on behalf of its client, Pfizer, when a Pennsylvania judge vacated a $1.5 million jury verdict in favor of a woman who alleged the company’s hormone replacement therapy drug Provera® caused her breast cancer.

New York partner Greg Little argued the motion for posttrial relief on September 5, on behalf of the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer subsidiary harmacia & Upjohn LLC. Judge Nitza Quiñones Alejandro, of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, granted the motion and ordered that judgment be entered in favor of Upjohn, less than four months after the jury found that the company negligently failed to warn Merle Simon, 65, about the risks associated with taking Provera.

The case, Simon v. Wyeth, et al., is one of thousands filed nationwide by women alleging that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) caused their breast cancer. However, it is the first HRT case against Upjohn to go to trial.

“It was a privilege to be selected by Pfizer to try the first HRT case to go to trial and we are delighted that the first trial resulted in a win for our client,” Little said. “This victory should establish a powerful precedent for the remaining thousands of cases.”

Little and Sidley Austin LLP partner Debra E. Pole represented Upjohn during the four-week trial in Philadelphia. The Hunton & Williams trial team also included partner Catherine B. Stevens and associate Paulo R. Lima.

The jury concluded that Upjohn was liable, but found that codefendant Wyeth had adequately warned Simon of the risks associated with taking its HRT drugs Premarin® and Prempro™. Simon took Premarin, combined with Upjohn’s drug Provera, from 1992 through 1996, then switched to Prempro from 1996 through 2002. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002.

Little and Kaye Scholer LLP partner William Hoffman argued that the verdict should be overturned for several reasons, but Judge Quiñones lejandro did not issue an opinion stating the basis for her order. Should the plaintiffs appeal her decision, she will be required to write an opinion.

09-18-2007

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Fox Rothschild LLP

Comprehensive School Reform as Applied to Public Policy
Jeffrey T. Sultanik, Chair of the Education Law Practice, taught a three-hour class at the University of Pennsylvania with Professor Theodore Hershberg entitled "Comprehensive School Reform as Applied to Public Policy, Part 3: School Funding, Governance, Charters, and Choice." This is the second year in a row that Sultanik has taught this class.

09-18-2007

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Ford & Harrison LLP

60 Ford & Harrison Attorneys to be Listed in the 2008 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America®
0 attorneys from 15 offices of the national labor and employment law firm of Ford & Harrison LLP, have been have been named to the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. 57 lawyers were listed in the Labor and Employment Law category, two in Employee Benefits Law and one each in Immigration Law, First Amendment Law, Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation.

Ford & Harrison lead all other law firms in the labor and employment rankings in the states of Florida and Georgia as well as in Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey and lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

09-18-2007

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Fenwick & West, LLP

Fenwick & West Represents NCREX in Acquisition of MLS Providers, Creating a Revolutionary Step for the Real Estate Industry
Fenwick & West LLP represented Northern California Real Estate Exchange (NCREX) in its recently announced acquisition of MLS (multiple listing systems) providers RE InfoLink and the MLS assets of the Central Valley Association of Realtors. With the acquisitions, RE InfoLink brings over its popular consumer web portal, MLSListings.com, a residential home search engine allowing consumers to search listings quickly and easily. The portal will be enhanced to actively refer potential buyers to NCREX subscribers for free. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. NCREX is a mutual benefit corporation leading the consolidation of regional Northern California MLSs. NCREX premiers 23,000 subscribers and a $20M annual operating budget, making it one of the largest MLSs in the country.

The Fenwick & West transaction team included corporate attorneys Craig Menden, Blake Stafford and Mariana Antcheva; antitrust attorney Mark Ostrau; trademark attorney Karen Marie Kitterman; and copyright attorney Mitchell Zimmerman.

09-18-2007

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Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Drinker Biddle Partner Mercedes Meyer Named Vice Chair of AIPLA Biotechnology Committee.
Mercedes Meyer, a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, has been named vice chair of the Biotechnology Committee of the 17,000 member American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). Meyer focuses her practice on patent portfolio development for biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. She will be concluding her two-year appointment and current position as chair of AIPLA’s Women in IP Law Committee at the organization’s fall meeting on Oct. 16-20.

Meyer earned her Ph.D. in virology and assists her clients in protecting their patent rights over a wide range of biotechnology-related areas, including antibodies and immunological compositions, viral vectors, genomics, vaccines, stem cell research, gene therapy, cancer therapeutics, and enzymatic synthesis of ethanol.

“We’re very pleased that our colleague Mercedes Meyer has been selected for this honor,” said Drinker Biddle Chairman, Alfred W. Putnam, Jr. “It reflects the leadership position she has taken in the practice of intellectual property law and the exceptional counsel she provides to our clients.”

AIPLA was formed in 1897 with the goal of improving intellectual property law and how it is interpreted by the courts. The chief responsibility of the Biotechnology Committee is to review all significant decisions made by the federal courts and the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, along with evaluating proposed legislation, and report to AIPLA’s board of directors as to how each will affect the biotechnology and the biopharmacology
sectors of intellectual property law.

09-18-2007

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