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Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

Bluffton Honors Graduates and Alumni During May Day Weekend
Warm weather and cheerful faces welcomed Bluffton University students, alumni and friends to the institution’s annual May Day and commencement festivities, May 4-6, continuing the 97-year-old tradition and concluding the academic year with the 107th commencement ceremony, during which Bluffton’s graduating class of 302—its second largest—received diplomas.

As the afternoon sun blazed high in the sky on Sunday, Salzman Stadium filled with graduates’ families and friends wanting to see their loved ones cross the stage and receive their hard-earned diplomas. President James M. Harder and commencement speaker Edward Diller ’69 paid tribute to the 2007 baseball team for its extraordinary courage and poise in the midst of tragedy. The parents of senior Tim Berta (Ida, Mich.), were on hand to represent their son and received a lengthy standing ovation from the crowd. Berta, a student-coach for the Bluffton University baseball team, remains hospitalized after the March 2 bus accident.

Ed Diller Addresses the Bluffton University Class of 2007During his address, Diller spoke specifically to those graduating, assuring them that they have been well prepared by Bluffton University to walk into their futures. “With the strong foundation that has been nurtured within you at this university, you have the confidence to stretch yourselves and the confidence to move through the anxiety caused by self-doubt, beyond the fear of failure and past the paralyzing grip of hopelessness,” he said. “In doing that, and in knowing that your ultimate calling is to play your role, however humble or however grand, in God’s universal kingdom, you will be free to use the gifts that God has given you, with power and with strength, in ways that will give meaning to your life, ways that will serve those around you and most certainly in ways that are now beyond your comprehension.”

Retiring faculty member Dr. Stanley Clemens was recognized for his 23 years of exemplary service to Bluffton and awarded faculty emeritus status. Clemens had previously been a mathematics professor for Bluffton University and chair of the mathematics department. In 1998, he accepted an invitation from then-president Lee Snyder to serve as vice president for advancement. Since 2005, Clemens has been serving as an assistant to the president for campaign planning, and has been an integral part of Bluffton’s current campaign planning.

Prior to commencement, graduating seniors and their families gathered for a baccalaureate service, which featured speeches by two graduating students, Hannah Kehr (Goshen, Ind.) and Jacob Slager (Hopedale, Ill.), as well as Dr. Perry Bush, professor of history and chair of the history and religion department. All speakers were chosen by the graduating class.

On Saturday, graduates, alumni and friends took in the annual Maypole dance, which has been part of Bluffton’s graduation weekend since 1910. Sixteen first-year students, wearing Germanic costumes, danced in pairs around the pole, weaving streamers together. The dance is symbolic of the weaving together of past, present and future; memories of the past, appreciation of the present and hope for the future are woven around the Maypole in a never-ending circle. A senior queen and king, elected by students, presided over the event, which recognized all graduating seniors. This year’s king and queen were Matthew Keeler (Bluffton, Ohio) and his wife Katie (Nussbaum) Keeler, originally from Dalton, Ohio.

After the ceremony, new graduates, their parents and alumni enjoyed reunion luncheons in Marbeck Center and under a tent on Centennial Hall lawn, with special recognition given to classes ending in “2” and “7.” The class of 1957 celebrated its 50th reunion on Friday evening and, as a class gift, donated $10,000 to upgrade the sound system in Founders Hall.

Other weekend activities included the spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors; the 28th annual four-mile May Day run/5K walk; the 40th annual juried student art show in Sauder Visual Arts Center; an honors recital by selected student performers; a Women’s Council Basket Sale; and a banquet for the graduates and their families, welcoming the graduates into the Bluffton University Alumni Association.

05-10-2007

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Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P.

Squire Sanders Adds Former Xcel Energy Lawyer, Former Head of Colorado Public Utility Commission to Global Energy Practice
Gregory E. Sopkin, former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and James D. Albright, former assistant general counsel for Xcel Energy Services Inc., are joining global law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. to launch a regional energy practice.

Sopkin and Albright will be based in Denver, Colorado and expect to serve clients in the Rocky Mountain region.

Robert I. White, who leads Squire Sanders’ energy practice, said Albright and Sopkin provide a powerful combination of in-depth client and energy industry knowledge, regulatory representation experience and reputations for excellence and integrity. “Although energy will be our springboard in Denver, our goal is to take full advantage of the many strengths Jim and Greg bring to Squire Sanders, not the least of which is Greg’s multidisciplinary experience at the PUC,” he said.

“Jim has spent the past 11 years as assistant general counsel for our client Xcel Energy and its predecessors, representing the company in numerous high profile cases and serving as the chief regulatory attorney for the company’s natural gas distribution business in Colorado and Wyoming,” White said. “Greg has completed a four-year term as PUC chairman, where he was responsible for guiding the agency in resolving cases governing utilities and for establishing regulations and policy that affected various sectors of Colorado’s public utility industry. Together they make an exemplary regulatory energy resource for our clients.”

“Squire Sanders is focused on our clients, and identifying client needs and creating solutions is our firm’s highest priority,” said R. Thomas Stanton, the firm’s chairman. “Xcel Energy is a major electric and natural gas utility that has emerged as an industry leader in the development of renewable energy resources and we are pleased to meet this client’s needs by bringing these two highly experienced and well-regarded energy lawyers to our firm to serve this and other clients in this important energy and business market.”

Albright was primary legal counsel on all natural gas matters for Xcel Energy’s Colorado and Wyoming operations from 1995 until now, serving as lead attorney on all major regulatory, legislative, transactional and litigation matters affecting the natural gas business. He represented the company before the Colorado PUC, the Wyoming Public Service Commission, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

He also has testified on industry issues before the legislative subcommittees of the United States Congress and the Colorado General Assembly. Before joining Xcel Energy, Albright was a senior attorney at Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company. He is a member of the Energy Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the National Lawyers Association, the Denver Bar Association, the American Gas Association Legal Committee and the Christian Legal Society. He received his J.D. in 1989 from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and his B.S. in 1979 from Albright College.

Sopkin was chairman of the Colorado PUC from January 2003 until this year. While chairman, Sopkin presided over numerous Phase I and II electric cases as well as integrated resource planning cycles; investigated service outages; guided the redrafting of the Commission’s electric, gas and transmission rules; implemented a renewable energy initiative; and oversaw transmission line disputes, the electric price response pilot program, high cost fund administration and the Qwest deregulation case.

Previously he represented energy and telecommunications clients at Gorsuch Kirgis LLP and represented the Colorado PUC as an assistant attorney general in the Colorado Attorney General’s office. He taught at the University of Colorado and, during his chairmanship, was a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, serving on the telecommunications, energy and critical infrastructure committees; a member of the Federalist Society, serving on the telecommunications and electronic media practice group executive committee; and was director of the Federation for Economically Rational Utility Policy. He received his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Colorado School of Law, where he was on the University of Colorado Law Review, and his BS, with high honors, in 1988 from the University of Illinois.

Jim and Greg are located at Hudson’s Bay Centre, Suite 1550, 1600 Stout Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-3160.

05-10-2007

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Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP

Simpson Thacher Obtains Dismissal of Claims Against Viacom, Sumner Redstone and Blockbuster
The California Superior Court granted summary judgment on the last remaining claims against Viacom and Sumner Redstone, and Viacom's former subsidiary, Blockbuster, in what has been a nearly eight-year succession of antitrust litigations. This litigation, which alleged that the major Hollywood studios and Blockbuster had conspired to give Blockbuster favored terms for the motion pictures it rented in its video stores and to disadvantage all of the independent home video stores in the United States by not giving them comparable terms, started as a putative class action in Texas state court in 1999. We removed the case to federal court in San Antonio and tried the claims to a jury for nearly three weeks until the court dismissed the claims at the end of plaintiffs' evidence. The Fifth Circuit affirmed; the Supreme Court denied cert. In 2001, Plaintiffs filed a virtually identical case in California state court in Los Angeles. The California court denied class certification and later granted summary judgment, which plaintiffs appealed. The Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of the core antitrust conspiracy claim, but reversed on a price discrimination claim. The most recent decision has dismissed those remaining claims as to Viacom and Sumner Redstone, represented by Simpson Thacher, and Viacom's former subsidiary, Blockbuster; the case continues against the co-defendants.

The Simpson Thacher team included Ken Logan, Kyle Lonergan, Deb Stein, John Anderson and Steven Frankel.

05-10-2007

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Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP

Simpson Thacher Advises Information Services Group, Inc. in $280 Million Acquisition of Technology Partners International, Inc.
The Firm is advising Information Services Group, Inc. (“ISG”) in its announced acquisition of Technology Partners International, Inc. (“TPI”), a global leader in sourcing advisory services, for $280 million in cash. ISG is a blank check company that raised $258 million in an IPO on February 1, 2007 and is led by members of the former management team at The Nielsen Company (formerly VNU). ISG was formed in 2006 to build through one or more acquisitions a high-growth, industry-leading information services company. TPI is the largest sourcing advisory firm in the world focusing on the design, implementation and management of sourcing strategies for major corporate clients.

The Simpson Thacher team working on this deal includes: John Finley, Ed Chung and Tom Lamprecht (M&A); Andrea Wahlquist (Employee Benefits); Rob Holo and Peter Rosen (Tax); Robyn Rahbar (Intellectual Property); Michael Naughton (Antitrust); Jay Ptashek (Credit) and Olimpia Pallares-Labadia (paralegal).

05-10-2007

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Proskauer & Rose, LLP

Proskauer Rose Represents York Capital Management in Financing of Internet Commerce Corporation's Acquisition of EasyLink Services
Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm with over 700 lawyers worldwide, has represented York Capital Management in its agreement to provide financing for Internet Commerce Corporation's (ICC) acquisition of EasyLink Services Corporation for an aggregate of approximately $67 million.

ICC's acquisition of EasyLink will bring together two market leaders committed to helping organizations of all sizes improve the flow and exchange of essential data and business documents.

The Proskauer team representing York Capital included Adam Kansler, Alak Goswami, and Leila Zahedani.

05-10-2007

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Piper Rudnick, L.L.P.

DLA Piper's Pro Bono legal advice to Cutty Sark Trust secures essential lease
Michael Cassidy from DLA Piper, has successfully helped the Cutty Sark Trust to secure a site lease with Greenwich Council. With the lease secured the Trust will now receive its first instalment of the £11.75 million it was awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund in September 2006. The lease was finalised on 5 April 2007.

Michael, who was working as part DLA Piper's continuing commitment to provide pro bono legal support to the Cutty Sark Trust, also secured the delivery of the corresponding development agreement. The agreement defines how development work on the Cutty Sark Conservation Project will progress in harmony with the local community and environment - another essential element which was required for receipt of lottery funding monies.

DLA Piper's involvement with the project, together with the much needed grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will help to ensure the conservation and regeneration of the world's most famous ship and sole surviving tea clipper.

Michael said: "I have very much enjoyed working with the Cutty Sark Trust. Securing the lease and the development agreement was absolutely vital to the Trust, so that it receives the lottery funding it needs to preserved the Cutty Sark for future generations."

Richard Doughty, CEO of the Cutty Sark Trust, said: "DLA Piper's assistance has been extremely wide-ranging; it has been reassuring to know that one has such an exceptional team on hand to deal with the many complexities that this world class project inevitably throws up. I can't express strongly enough the Trust's gratitude for DLA Piper's support and guidance."

Over seven DLA Piper lawyers have worked closely with the Cutty Sark Trust for nearly three years, advising on key planning, employment and contractual issues to assist with the conservation plans. Most notably, a team helped with the quick and successful purchase of specialised timber from India for the conservation project.

DLA Piper will continue to provide the Cutty Sark Trust with pro bono legal advice across a number of areas, following the success of the lease and development agreement sign-off. A team of lawyers are now in the second phase of work with the Trust and are reviewing the current and future legal requirements for the project.

05-10-2007

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Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Reed Hollander Receives 40 Under 40 Leadership Award
The Triangle Business Journal has selected Reed Hollander as a 2007 40 Under 40 Leadership Award winner, an annual distinction that recognizes the Triangle’s most influential and highly accomplished young business people.

According to the publication, all honorees were under 40 years of age on April 27, 2007; have attained significant leadership roles in their organizations; achieved a significant career milestone in 2006; and have had substantial involvement in community service.

Mr. Hollander is a Raleigh office partner who handles a broad range of litigation, including contract disputes, business torts, unfair competition, administrative law, state and local tax litigation, eminent domain and condemnation, technology, trade secret law, intellectual property, and constitutional and First Amendment issues. He has tried jury and non-jury cases in state courts and before administrative agencies. He has litigated in federal district courts and has appealed cases to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Supreme Court, and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Hollander is the 2006-2007 chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section. He is a member of the American Bar Association (Tort/Insurance and Litigation Sections), the North Carolina State Bar, and the North Carolina Bar Association (Constitutional Rights and Litigation Sections).

He served from 2001 to 2005 on a pro bono basis as legal counsel to the North Carolina Jaycees.

In 1996, Mr. Hollander earned a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Duke University School of Law where he served as director of the Domestic Violence Advocacy Project. In 1993, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, with honors and distinction, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Triangle Business Journal will publish an in-depth special section on the 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards in its May 25 edition that will feature interviews with all 40 winners.

05-10-2007

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