Law Firm News

---

Law Firm News

Firm Name

News Title

News

News Date

25383 matches |  9850-9856 displayed

1  1406 1407 1408 1409 1410  3627

---

Irell & Manella LLP

Irell Completes $4 Billion in Transactions in 2006
Irell & Manella LLP’s Transactions Group handled a varied group of transactions in 2006 totaling more than $4 billion.

Irell's corporate work was for companies in a wide variety of industries, from gaming and restaurants to aviation, energy-technology services, home construction, and entertainment. The firm even advised on some of the largest acquisitions of fine art works this past year.

Examples of some of the firm’s 2006 corporate and transactional engagements include:

* Irell represented a private equity sector fund co-formed by GFI Energy Ventures LLC and Oaktree Capital Management in the sale of SPL Worldgroup, an energy software provider, to Oracle Corp; as well as the sale of Genscape, a provider of real-time energy generation and transmission data; and the sale of Cannon Technologies, a software-hardware firm for electric utilities. Aggregate value approximately $500 million.
* Irell advised fast-growing Las Vegas gaming company Pinnacle Entertainment on multiple deals in 2006, including Pinnacle’s acquisition of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City from entities affiliated with financier Carl Icahn, as well as the acquisition of various Louisiana assets from Harrah’s Entertainment and concurrent sale of a casino site in Biloxi, MS to Harrah’s. The firm also advised on an acquisition of a riverboat casino in Missouri. On the finance side, Irell represented Pinnacle in both a common stock offering and an enhanced credit facility. These combined transactions totaled more than $900 million. Earlier in 2006, Irell advised Pinnacle as co-counsel in connection with its $2.5 billion bid to acquire Aztar Corp. in which Pinnacle was ultimately outbid but received a substantial break-up fee. Irell represents Pinnacle in connection with its efforts to collect on an approximately $345 million insurance claim for property damage and business interruption arising out of severe damage to Pinnacle's Biloxi, Mississippi casino as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
* Irell advised emerging ultra-light jet manufacturer Eclipse Aviation in private placements of convertible debt and preferred stock to institutional investors in transactions totaling $250 million. Eclipse is a pioneering developer of low cost, high performance jet aircraft – Irell represents the company in a variety of areas, including intellectual property, corporate and litigation.
* Irell served as co-counsel for entertainment and intellectual property matters on the acquisition by Viacom/Paramount Pictures of film studio DreamWorks SKG, which was followed up by advising as co-counsel on the sale of DreamWorks' live-action film library to Soros Strategic Partners LP. The aggregate value of the two transactions was $2.5 billion.
* Irell advised Kerry Foods International, owner of national restaurant chain Del Taco (461 restaurants; $1.2 billion in sales), and its majority shareholder, in the sale to restaurant operator Sagittarius Brands, owned primarily by a private equity consortium.
* Irell, through its art law practice, negotiated or consulted on the sale, consignment and purchase of fine art and high end collectibles totaling approximately $575 million, an incredible single-year sum in what has become a burgeoning specialty. Particularly notable was Irell's representation of Maria Altmann and other heirs of the Bloch-Bauer family on the sale five recently restituted oil paintings by Austria’s leading painter Gustav Klimt that had been seized by the Nazis during World War II. Irell represented the Bloch-Bauer heirs in the sale of the most expensive painting ever sold. Irell also handled numerous other private sales and purchases and arranged loans and consignments of other fine art and collectibles.
* Irell represented the family-owned electronics company Bourns Inc. in the acquisition of three businesses for consideration totaling approximately $120 million.
* Irell represented leading residential home construction company William Lyon Homes in connection with the acquisition by controlling shareholder William Lyon of the outstanding publicly held stock in company, a deal valued at $270 million.
* Irell represented leading television writers and directors agency Broder Webb Chervin Silberman in its sale to ICM, a large, diversified talent agency.
* Irell represented CPI International, which is a leading provider of microwave and radio frequency products for defense, communication, medical, scientific and other applications, in its initial public offering on NASDAQ, valued at $120 million.
* Irell represented Psychological Services, Inc., a private company that develops and administers pre-employment selection tests and professional licensing and skill certification tests for businesses, state governments and professional associations, in the sale of the company to affiliates of ABRY Partners, LLC, a private equity group with more than $7 billion of assets under management.
* Irell represented leading financial advisor Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin in connection with the rendering by Houlihan of certain financial opinions in connection with the issuance of cross-border income trust securities and income deposit securities for issuers in a wide range of industries, with offering amounts aggregating more than $2.5 billion.
* Irell advised fund affiliates of three institutional investment fund managers, including, among others, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, in connection with the financing of the construction and development of a casino and resort in Mississippi.
* Irell represented Mapleton Communications, one of the fastest growing radio operators in the Western Region of the U.S., in connection with the sale and issuance of senior preferred units to Corporate Partners II, a Lazard Alternative Investments fund.
* In addition, Irell has been on the cutting edge of developments in the options backdating field, assisting companies and committees of public company boards conducting investigations of historic practices. The work has involved extensive analysis of corporate governance issues, options accounting issues, as well as tax issues under sections 162(m) and 409A of the Internal Revenue Code, and assisting issuers and boards in implementing "best practices" for option grants and other practices and procedures. Our work has included counseling numerous companies in connection with public disclosures relating to their investigations.

“This has been an enormously satisfying year for our group, given the breadth of deals and financings we’ve participated in and also the caliber of clients we’ve had the good fortune to represent on transactional matters,” said Ashok Mukhey, head of Irell & Manella’s Transactions Group.

“We’re in a good place in that we can handle virtually any assignment, from a large-scale merger with lots of moving parts to the creation of a new kind of structured debt instrument. We also have the ability to structure and negotiate investment capital for entrepreneurial, envelope-pushing companies, such as our work for Eclipse Aviation,” Mr. Mukhey added.

02-23-2007

---

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo P.C.

Mintz Levin Expands San Diego Office to Include Real Estate Expertise
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., a full-service, 480-lawyer AmLaw 100 firm with offices throughout the U.S. and in the U.K., announced that Scott Biel has joined the firm's San Diego office as a Member in its Real Estate practice.

Mr. Biel has spent his career in San Diego. Prior to joining Mintz Levin, he managed the Real Estate practice in the San Diego office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, and subsequently practiced in the Del Mar Heights office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. His practice focuses on representation of owners, developers, tenants and lenders in all aspects of real estate transactions, with a special emphasis on the financing, development and leasing of office, research and manufacturing facilities for corporate users in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and telecommunication industries. Mr. Biel has significant experience in corporate campus financing and development partnerships.

"Scott's expertise in handling complex real estate transactions speaks for itself. His career focus on the pharmaceutical, biotech and high tech sectors, will provide enormous benefit to Mintz Levin clients here in San Diego, throughout California and nationally," said Craig Hunsaker, Managing Member of the San Diego office. "With Scott's arrival, Mintz Levin's San Diego office has more than tripled in size since opening last June. The strategic expansion of our practice to now include real estate, in addition to bankruptcy, corporate, employment and intellectual property, coupled with the firm's expertise in these and other areas, enables us to address all of our clients' business needs."

Mr. Biel is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1992.

Mintz Levin has been representing clients in sophisticated, large-scale real estate development, financial and leasing transactions throughout the United States for over 25 years. Combining professional skills and resources with practical judgment and political acumen to advance its clients' real estate interests, the Real Estate Section takes a multidisciplinary approach that involves attorneys and resources from other practice sections within the firm as necessary, including tax, environmental, telecommunications, health care, biotechnology, business and finance, and corporate securities law. Mintz Levin's extensive experience includes analyzing and structuring complex deals, coordinating projects of significant scope and complexity, and providing strong negotiation throughout the development process as well as the range of other real estate matters and transactions.

02-23-2007

---

Lathrop & Gage LLP

Sarah E. Millin Joins Lathrop & Gage as an Associate
Sarah E. Millin has joined the Kansas City, Mo., office of the Lathrop & Gage L.C. law firm as an associate in the insurance practice area.

Prior to joining the firm, Millin focused her practice on personal injury litigation. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 2000 and her juris doctorate from University of Kansas School of Law in 2003. Millin was a National Moot Court Member in 2002-2003, was the ABA Representative for the Student Bar Association in 2002-2003, and was a member of Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity.

02-23-2007

---

Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC

Eckert Seamans Expands Boston Litigation Group with Addition of Attorney Ursula Knight
The national law firm of Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott, LLC today announced that attorney Ursula Knight has joined the firm as a member.

Ms. Knight began her career in prosecution and for a decade served as both an assistant district attorney and an assistant attorney general. Throughout her tenure in public service she prosecuted a full range of felonies from crimes against children to crimes committed over the Internet to homicides. Before joining Eckert Seamans, Ms. Knight was engaged in civil practice litigating medical malpractice cases. In that role, she served as co-counsel on the largest personal injury verdict in Massachusetts history. She received her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Boston University. Ms. Knight is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She resides in Hingham, Massachusetts.

02-23-2007

---

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

Edmund J. Novotny Named to Georgia Super Lawyers Listing
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC is pleased to announce that Edmund J. Novotny, a shareholder in the Firm's Atlanta office, has been named to Georgia Super Lawyers. Georgia Super Lawyers identifies the top 5 percent of attorneys in each state, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics.

Mr. Novotny, a 1989 graduate of Emory University School of Law, concentrates his practice in business transactions and relations litigation. He has extensive experience in state and federal courts handling complex civil litigation, including class actions, in the areas of commercial litigation, employment law, constitutional law and mass torts. He also has substantial experience with litigation involving religious non-profits, including clerical malpractice and First Amendment issues.

02-23-2007

---

King & Spalding

King & Spalding Wins FDA Clearance for Client Lexington International
King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, announced today that the firm recently obtained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a home-use device that promotes hair growth in men with mild to moderate baldness and fair to medium skin, on behalf of client Lexington International LLC, of Boca Raton, Fla. The device, called the HairMax, is a hand-held laser comb that the company says is the only drug-free product for treating baldness with marketing authorization from the FDA.

Additional details about the clearance can be found here:
http://www.lasercomb.net/popups/InTheNews/lasercombfdaclearance.htm

The King & Spalding legal team representing Lexington International consists of lead partners Edward M. Basile and Laurie A. Clarke, and associate Elizabeth T. Valentine. They are members of the firm’s FDA/Healthcare practice in Washington, D.C.

King & Spalding has the largest dedicated FDA/Healthcare practice in the United States.

02-23-2007

---

King & Spalding

Thomson Financial Ranks King & Spalding's Capital Markets Practice Among the Nation's Best in Year-End Survey
King & Spalding announced today that Thomson Financial has ranked the firm’s capital markets practice among the best in the United States.

In Thomson's final survey of 2006, King & Spalding ranked 14th in the category of US Preferred Stock (Issuer Legal Advisor) and 15th for US Investment Grade Corporate Debt (Issuer Legal Advisor). The firm's representation of SunTrust Banks, Inc. on a $500 million preferred stock offering in September and substantial corporate debt issuances on behalf of companies such as Home Depot, Inc. and Embarq Corp. played a significant role in the firm's ascension in this year's rankings.

King & Spalding has been among the most active and highly regarded national law firms for many years in the area of corporate finance. The firm's corporate finance team consists of more than 40 lawyers in its Atlanta, Houston, New York and Washington offices., and represents both issuers and underwriters, including all of the major investment banks, in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities.

02-23-2007

---

25383 matches |  9850-9856 displayed

1  1406 1407 1408 1409 1410  3627