Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Dechert LLP

Dechert LLP Expands London Real Estate Finance Practice With Hire of Kathleen O'Donnell
Dechert LLP announced today that Kathleen O'Donnell will be joining the firm as a partner in its Finance and Real Estate group. She will be based in the firm's London office as of 4th December 2006. She was previously a partner at Lawrence Graham.

Kathleen specialises in bilateral and syndicated real estate finance (both development and investment) and mortgage finance. She also has experience in the funding of corporate acquisitions/MBOs, social housing finance, derivatives and general banking transactions. Representative transactions include:

- Advising the Bank of Scotland in connection with the provision of senior and mezzanine loan facilities of £170m;
- Advising GMAC Commercial Mortgage Europe (now Capmark) in respect of senior and mezzanine facilities totalling £77m;
- Advising Topland Group Holdings regarding their £373m refinancing of a portfolio of Marks & Spencer stores;
- Advising Regents Inns plc in relation to its credit facility for the acquisition of Spirit Managed (Old Orleans) Ltd.

Ciaran Carvalho, head of Dechert's London Finance & Real Estate group, said: "Kathleen represents an important addition to our team. She adds to our strength servicing clients she already knows well. Her extensive real estate and mortgage finance experience is important for the continued growth of our European practice.

11-29-2006

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Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, LLP

Curtis Partner Philip von Mehren wrote an article entitled “Private Equity Investment in Latin America” that was featured in Mid-Market Buyouts Soaring, Private Equity and Venture Capital Series 2006, volume 2
Curtis partner Philip von Mehren wrote an article entitled “Private Equity Investment in Latin America” that was featured in Mid-Market Buyouts Soaring, Private Equity and Venture Capital Series 2006, volume 2 (Financing Worldwide, Ltd., Birmingham, United Kingdom). Contributors to the article included Curtis attorneys Guillermo Ulke, Rodrigo Valverde, Felipe E. Creazzo, Ana I. Gallo, Thomás Gurmendez, Matías Mori and Peter von zur Gathen.

Mr. von Mehren was also quoted in volume 3, Liquidity and Depth of Knowledge Drives Buyouts, in an article entitled “Target Identification and Fund Deployment.

11-29-2006

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Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP

GARDERE PARTNERS EARN LEADING LAWYERS HONORS
Marshall Doke Jr. and William Matthews of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP have been recognized among Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America. Mr. Doke practices in the firm’s Dallas office, while Mr. Matthews is in the Houston office.

Lawdragon is a quarterly publication and Web site focused on the legal industry. It publishes guides to the country’s top lawyers and judges, and provides an online rating guide for attorneys. The 500 Leading Lawyers in America includes those individuals who have had the greatest recent impact on the legal world. Profiles of Mr. Doke and Mr. Matthews are included in the magazine’s Fall 2006 issue.

“Working alongside Marshall and Bill, we as a firm certainly place both of these attorneys among the very finest in the country in their fields,” says Gardere Managing Partner Steve Good. Mr. Doke is a government contracts partner at the firm. Mr. Matthews is a business litigation partner. “This recognition shows that their peers agree.”

To compile the 500 Leading Lawyers list, the publication conducted online balloting and independent research involving interviews with lawyers nationwide, narrowing the list to the Lawdragon 3000. Those selected from that list as part of the 500 Leading Lawyers represent less than one-half of one percent of the legal profession, placing them among the most elite group of legal professionals.

In addition to the honors earned by Mr. Doke and Mr. Matthews, Gardere had 10 attorneys named to the Lawdragon 3000. They include, from the Dallas office: Mark Bayer, Curtis Frisbie Jr., Kenneth Glaser, Kevin Kelley, Cym Lowell, Richard Roberson, Deirdre Ruckman, Larry Schoenbrun and Peter Vogel; and from the Houston office: Allen Craig III, John Pearson and Frank Putnam.

11-28-2006

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

NYMEX Holdings IPO
Davis Polk & Wardwell advised J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Incorporated as joint book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters on the initial public offering by NYMEX Holdings, Inc. and certain selling stockholders of 7,475,000 shares of common stock for approximately $441 million. The shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NMX.”

NYMEX, based in New York, New York, is the largest physical commodity-based futures exchange and clearinghouse in the world, the third-largest futures exchange in the United States and the largest exchange in the world for the trading and clearing of precious metals.

The Davis Polk team included partner Richard A. Drucker and associates Jeff S. Ramsay, Brianne M. Lucyk and Prachi Mehta. Partner Michael Farber and associate Alon Gurfinkel provided tax advice. Counsel Lanny A. Schwartz provided financial institution regulatory advice. The NASD team included counsel Marcie A. Goldstein and legal assistant Peggy Ann Petercsak. Nathan Iacovino was the legal assistant on the transaction. All members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.

11-28-2006

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Schnader Attorney At Law

John Britton Named Managing Partner of Washington, D.C. Office
Washington, D.C.: Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP has named John B. Britton as the managing partner of the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, effective December 1, 2006. The current managing partner, Martin Mendelsohn, will be retiring from the Firm effective January 1, 2007.

“As managing partner, Marty – who was always a first-rate attorney – has proven himself to be a sure, effective leader, and we will miss him,” said Chairman Ralph Wellington. “However, I am excited that John has accepted the position and I anticipate that he will bring great energy, enthusiasm, and direction to our Washington office.”

Britton is a member of the Firm's Litigation Services Department with substantial experience in environmental and land use law. He has litigated issues under the Clean Air, Clean Water and National Environmental Policy Acts, as well as other legislation related to environmental and transportation issues in federal and state courts and administrative agencies. Britton also provides advice and litigation services with respect to land use and development and has appeared before numerous boards and committees on these issues.

In addition to Britton’s professional accomplishments, he is very active within Washington, D.C. and the surrounding community. His work includes: serving as a commissioner of the City of Rockville, Maryland Planning Commission; serving as a member of Rockville’s Zoning Ordinance Revision Committee; and serving as a voting member of the Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee of the Council of Governments. He has been a member of several other land use organizations including the Washington Smart Growth Alliance and the Maryland Smart Growth Policy Collaborative, the latter of which was tasked to develop smart growth public policy for the Maryland Governor’s Office. He is an active member of the Congress for New Urbanism, currently co-chairing one of the planning committees for the 2007 Congress in Philadelphia, Pa. Britton also works with nonprofit organizations, including serving as general counsel to the Close Up Foundation.

Formerly, Mr. Britton served with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, Thailand, and Khartoum, Sudan, coordinating refugee protection rights activities and relief operations. He graduated with a B.A. from Rider College, Lawrenceville, N.J. in 1975, attended the Russian Language Studies Program at Norwich University, Vermont in 1979, received an M.A. in International and Russian Studies from the George Washington University, School of Public & International Affairs, Washington, D.C. in 1980, and received his J.D., with honors, from the National Law Center, George Washington University in 1989.

Marty Mendelsohn, who has enjoyed a distinguished and successful career in the legal profession, focused his practice primarily on trade and commercial issues between the United States and the emerging economies of post-Soviet Europe. Mendelsohn has represented both U.S. and foreign firms that have established commercial beachheads in eastern and central Europe. During his career, he has served as foreign policy advisor to a United States senator and has been consulted by foreign governments on politics and economics, sharpening his ability to negotiate international contracts and agreements. He also has experience and background as a trial lawyer.

Mendelsohn has written and lectured extensively on international issues, and has been honored and recognized for his contributions by a wide variety of organizations. He has also been recognized by several nations for his dedication to public service and for his work as part of a team that negotiated approximately $7 billion in compensation from various countries to Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazism throughout the world, including: the Czech Republic, which awarded him the Medal of Honor in 2005; the Republic of Austria, which awarded him the Grand Decoration of Honor in 2002; and, the Republic of Poland, which awarded him with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit in 2000.

11-28-2006

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Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Beth Mitchell elected president of Real Estate Finance Association
Beth Mitchell, partner in the Real Estate and Finance Department and co-chair of the firm’s Commercial Finance practice, was elected 2007 president of the Real Estate Finance Association (REFA) on November 28.

Beth served as REFA president-elect in 2006. Her past leadership roles with REFA include the Boston Executive Committee and co-chair of the Fall Conference, Education, Membership, and Luncheon Committees.

REFA is an industry leader in bringing together influential people and information in real estate finance. The organization also provides education programs and networking opportunities for real estate professionals throughout the Greater Boston area.

11-28-2006

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Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP

CRAVATH REPRESENTS IBM IN ITS ACQUISITION OF VALLEN
Cravath represented IBM in its acquisition of Vallent Corporation, a privately held company based in Bellevue, Washington. Vallent is a leading supplier of network performance monitoring and service management software for wireless service providers. The lawyers involved in this matter are partner George F. Schoen and associates Catherine A. Stephen and Charles H. Heenan on corporate matters; partner Andrew W. Needham and associate Rebecca M. Kysar on tax matters; and associates Rolf Zaiss and Jin Hee Kim on executive compensation and benefits matters. The deal was announced on November 28, 2006.

11-28-2006

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