Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Fowler, White, Boggs & Banker, Attorneys At Law

John Cacomanolis Joins Fowler White
John Cacomanolis has joined the law firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker as an associate in the firm’s Ft. Lauderdale office.

Mr. Cacomanolis practices in the firm’s Business Transaction and Corporate Law Practice Group where he has extensive experience in all facets of corporate and transactional practice, including advising both private and public companies with mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, debt and equity financings and corporate governance. Prior to joining Fowler White Boggs Banker, Mr. Cacomanolis was the Assistant General Counsel for Global Signal Inc. in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Cacomanolis received his B.A. in Criminology from Florida State University, and his J.D. from New York University School of Law.

08-31-2007

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Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Jeff Blumberg Named One of 40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch
Jeff Blumberg, a partner at Drinker Biddle Gardner Carton, has been selected as one of 40 Illinois lawyers under the age of 40 to watch by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company. Blumberg, who represents hedge funds and other investment management industry clients, joined the firm in 2000 and made partner in less than five years. Before joining the firm, he worked for one of Chicago’s largest insurance brokerage firms, something that clients continually recognize as giving him an advantage in this industry. He is also a guest lecturer at Northwestern University School of Law and speaks regularly at
industry events.

“We are thrilled that Jeff is being recognized in this way,” said Edwin A. Getz, regional partner in charge of Drinker Biddle’s Chicago office, “However, I can’t say we are surprised. He has been an invaluable asset to us since the day he started.” This is the eighth year the Law Bulletin Publishing Company conducted this annual survey to determine whom lawyers believe are the future leaders of law in Illinois. Only an Illinois lawyer can make a nomination. Self-nomination or firm nomination is not permitted. More than 900 nomination forms were received and reviewed.

08-31-2007

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Clark Hill PLC

Clark Hill Attorney Michael Antovski Appointed Vice Chairman of the Tax Law Committee for the Oakland County Bar Association
Clark Hill Attorney Michael Antovski has been appointed Vice Chairman of the Tax Law Committee for the Oakland County Bar Association, effective immediately.

Antovski is a Senior Attorney with Clark Hill’s Birmingham office, and focuses his practice in the Business Practice Group. Antovski concentrates his practice in the areas of tax planning, acquisitions and dispositions, and general corporate matters, and regularly advises clients on tax planning strategies involving corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships.

He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University, his J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy, and his L.L.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

08-31-2007

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Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Bradley Lard Joins Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP
Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP is pleased to announce that Bradley W. Lard has joined as a partner in the Birmingham office and is a member of the Estate and Trust Planning Practice Group. Mr. Lard is engaged primarily in estate planning and administration with emphasis on income, estate and gift tax issues. His practice also involves representing fiduciaries in estate and trust administration matters.

08-31-2007

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Thompson & Knight LLP

T&K is Again Honored by The Legal 500 US
Leading Law Firm is Prominently Ranked Among U.S. Real Estate and Tax Firms

Texas - The global law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP is proud to announce the Firm has been ranked in the fourth volume of The Legal 500 US. This issue is dedicated to ranking Real Estate, Labor and Employment, and Tax attorneys and firms in the United States.

The Firm has been ranked in the following three categories: Real Estate (Texas -transactions and finance), Real Estate (Texas - land use and zoning), and Tax (Domestic tax - central).

Real Estate (Texas - transactions and finance)
The Firm is listed in this category among eleven total firms who are ranked in the region. Alfred M. Meyerson, Andrew A. Ingrum, and Mark M. Sloan are featured in the Firm's profile and are noted as "dedicated and easy to work with." Additionally, the Firm is recognized as being "on the move" and received "glowing reviews from clients."

Real Estate (Texas - land use and zoning)
Thompson & Knight is listed as one of three firms in this category and recognized for "having the versatility to approach special-use projects." James C. Morriss III and Gregg C. Davis are featured in the Firm's profile and recognized for their "consistent work."

Tax (Domestic tax - central)
R. David Wheat and Kevin Thomason are featured in the Firm's profile and are credited with their "excellent job of advising on US domestic tax matters." The Firm is listed among 10 firms for their tax work.

"We are honored that The Legal 500 US has once again recommended the excellent work of our attorneys and ranked the Firm in their fourth U.S. guide. We believe this ranking demonstrates our Firm's client-focused approach to legal services and are proud to be included," says Pete Riley, the Firm's Managing Partner.

The Legal 500 provides commentaries on law firms in more than 90 countries worldwide and considers itself a guide to 'the best of the best' - the pre-eminent firms in the world's strongest and most competitive legal markets. Their team of researchers speaks to thousands of law firm commercial clients every year, and their law firm recommendations are based on what those clients tell them. In addition, they acquire as much information as possible about the client lists of major firms and the transactions/deals they have been involved in to accurately report on each firm. The firms are then ranked on this information by the editorial staff, and the tables of recommendations are divided into groups: firms are listed in groups in order of priority, and alphabetically within the groups.

08-31-2007

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Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP

Morgan Lewis Expands Its Litigation Team in Houston
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is pleased to announce that Denise Scofield has joined the firm as a partner in its Litigation Practice, resident in the Houston office. Having successfully represented numerous Fortune 500 corporations as plaintiffs and defendants in complex business disputes, Ms. Scofield has gained a reputation as a rising star in the Texas legal community.

“Denise brings a degree of experience that is the right fit for our burgeoning national product liability and toxic tort practice,” said James D. Pagliaro, head of Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. “Her impressive skills and existing relationships expand our reach and build upon our size, depth of bench strength, and range of industry expertise.”

Morgan Lewis’s Litigation Practice consists of a 700-litigator contingent across 18 offices, whose creativity, sophistication, and cross-practice capabilities have resulted in a mounting number of calls from Fortune 100 firms. Ms. Scofield’s practice will focus on product liability and toxic tort defense and commercial litigation, broadening the firm’s reach in the Texas market. The firm opened its Dallas office in 2004 and established its Houston office earlier this year.

“We are delighted to have someone of Denise’s caliber join our Houston team,” said Brady Edwards, managing partner of Morgan Lewis’s Houston office. “Her impressive skills and experience are matched only by her commitment to the broader Texas community.”

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. Scofield was partner in a Houston-based boutique litigation firm, having previously gained high-profile litigation experience at two national firms and in an in-house capacity for a major oil and gas corporation. She currently serves as first vice president of the Houston Bar Association and a director of Lone Star Legal Aid, an organization devoted to providing pro bono legal services to low-income Texans.

Also joining the Houston litigation team this week is associate Beth Hughes. Ms. Hughes will focus her practice on complex mass tort, toxic tort, and personal injury litigation.

08-31-2007

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Jones Day, P.C.

Jones Day Successfully Obtained Political Asylum for a Family of Liberian Citizens
Charles Taylor is the first former African president to be charged with crimes against humanity. He will be tried at the International Criminal Court at the United Nations under the jurisdiction of the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in January 2008. The story of an individual we refer to as "W" is one of persecution and torture that represents precisely the type of crime against humanity for which Taylor will be tried.

Jones Day represents W and his nine family members, all of whom are Liberian citizens, in their efforts to obtain political asylum and protection in this country under the Convention Against Torture. In the summer of 2003, Betsy A. Miller, Russell J. Upton, and Constance M. Dougherty, lawyers in the Washington Office, were retained by W and Human Rights First to represent W and his family in their quest for asylum.

W fled Liberia in 2003, after learning that then-Liberian President, Charles Taylor, was targeting W for execution. This last death threat was simply one event in W's two-decade history of persecution and torture at the hands of Charles Taylor and his rebel forces. W's history as an enemy of Taylor dates back to the 1980s, when W played an instrumental role in the investigation leading to Taylor's arrest for embezzling millions of dollars from the Liberian government while Taylor served as the Director General of the General Services Administration. Following Taylor's arrest for this crime, he escaped from prison and fled to Ghana, where he gathered forces and planned a rebellion against Liberia's incumbent Doe government. While in exile, Taylor also plotted revenge against former Doe government employees, including those such as W, who had been responsible for the investigation leading to Taylor's arrest.

By 1990, Taylor's forces had invaded Liberia and controlled most of the country. Knowing that he was a target, W attempted to flee Liberia's capital city of Monrovia with his family as Taylor's forces closed in. At a Taylor-controlled checkpoint, W was identified by a Taylor soldier, who was a former work colleague of W's in the Doe government. At first, W refused to admit his own identity, but the soldier recognized him and his eldest son. As punishment for lying about his identity, the soldier pulled W's son out of line and brutally executed him – shooting and then disemboweling the child – in the presence of the W, his wife, his children, and several hundred bystanders. Soldiers then beat W's pregnant wife, ultimately causing her to suffer a miscarriage. While W's wife and children were permitted to pass through the checkpoint, W was taken to a makeshift prison where he was interrogated, starved, tortured, and raped. W escaped from the prison only after a rival faction passed through the area and killed the prison guards. He fled into the jungle and ultimately made his way to a village outside Monrovia where he was reunited with his wife and children.

During the 1990s, while a provisional government attempted to keep peace after the years of violent civil war, W attended and graduated from law school. There, W was befriended by a professor and prominent politician, Charles Brumskine, who became his mentor and protector. In 1997, when the provisional government ceded control to Taylor, who had been elected President, W's mentor was appointed president pro tempore of the Liberian Senate. During his campaign for President, Taylor had promised the people of Liberia that he would forgive past political differences and that he would put an end to human rights abuses. Shortly after the election, however, Taylor's enemies began to "disappear." When Brumskine initiated an investigation into the accusation that Taylor was responsible for these disappearances, his life was threatened and he was forced to flee Liberia. Without Brumskine's protection, W and his family lived in constant fear. The last straw came in January of 2003, when W was woken in the middle of the night by a childhood friend who warned him that, because of his support for Brumskine, he was on Taylor's execution list. W was forced to escape from Liberia immediately, with no choice but to leave his wife and children behind.

Shortly after his arrival in the United States, Jones Day agreed to represent W at the request of Human Rights First and began the asylum petition process. On September 8, 2003, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") granted W's asylum application based on his past torture and legitimate fear of future persecution. Within days, the Jones Day team began the process of petitioning for derivative asylum status for W's wife and eight children. After 18 months of ongoing efforts to overcome obstacles relating to the derivative applications, USCIS granted the applications of W's wife and only two of his children. W's six remaining children required additional efforts. Finally, on July 15, 2005, after filing supplemental briefs and evidence in support of the remaining children's applications, the remaining members of W's family were granted asylum.

At that point, USCIS transferred W's family’s files to the State Department for the issuance of the necessary travel documents for W's family to travel to the United States. In what has become standard practice, the United States Consular in Monrovia, Liberia did not simply issue the requested travel documents. Instead, they questioned whether W's children were in fact his, a determination that had already been made by USCIS. Over the next two years, Jones Day fought to satisfy the Consular's demands as they effectively readjudicated W's case, in the process overcoming numerous obstacles and bypassing several apparent dead ends. This effort required inquiries from two United States Senators and the submission of additional evidence including various affidavits, multiple medical examinations, and DNA tests to prove W's paternity. Finally, at Dulles International Airport on August 27, 2007, more than four and a half years after W fled Liberia, a long-awaited and tearful reunion between W and his wife and children took place.

08-31-2007

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