Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

Weil Gotshal Pro Bono Team Obtains Important Constitutional Victory
Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP obtained a significant constitutional victory in a pro bono matter on behalf of City of Dallas Municipal Court Judge Elizabeth Davis Frizell. The Dallas City Council attempted to remove Judge Frizell from her position as a Municipal Judge because she was concurrently running for a state judicial position in November. The Weil Gotshal team felt strongly that this action violated Judge Frizell's First Amendment right to run for public office - especially in Texas, where higher judicial appointments are unavailable and all judicial positions above the municipal court are elected.

Generally, all judges in Texas are allowed to run for office and maintain their current positions. However, based on a City of Dallas charter provision, a select pool of lower court judges, largely minority, were being forced to choose between their constitutional right to run for higher office and their current jobs as municipal court judges. Despite significant challenges presented by the city, the Weil Gotshal team won a preliminary injunction restraining the city from taking any further action to interfere with Judge Frizell's right to keep her job and run for office.

The Weil Gotshal team included Glenn D. West, Ralph I. Miller, Robert R. Summerhays, Lori M. Browne, Aaron D. Ford, and Meagan Martin. Also helping on specific issues were Yolanda Garcia, Erin Eckols, Adrian Azer, Carmen Bremer, and Brian D'Amico.

07-20-2006

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

Weil Gotshal Secures Asylum and Reunites Tibetan Family in the US
A team of Weil Gotshal lawyers from the New York and Shanghai offices secured asylum on behalf of a Tibetan Buddhist and his family, reuniting the entire family in the US more than five years after their separation. Our client, Sangay, fled Tibet, through Nepal, after being persecuted and imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for his religious and political beliefs. He arrived in the US in June 2001, leaving behind his wife and three young children with the promise that he would bring them to the US as soon as he could.

After obtaining asylum for Sangay, the Weil Gotshal team expected the derivative asylum process to be essentially pro forma. Unfortunately, Sangay’s application for derivative asylum benefits was denied multiple times by the Department of Homeland Security because the Chinese-issued birth and marriage certificates submitted as evidence of the familial relationship had to be certified by the Chinese government - the very government from which Sangay and his family were fleeing. Refusing to accept this unjust result, the Weil Gotshal team sought the assistance of Congresswoman Velazquez, representatives of the State Department and many other scholars and experts in Tibetan and Chinese affairs. As a result of Weil Gotshal's continued efforts, Sangay's wife and three children were finally granted permanent visas and arrived in New York.

The Weil Gotshal team working on this matter was supervised by Vernon S. Broderick and included Gabriel G. Matus, Sheryl Lynn Calabro, Caryn Cecelia Lederer, Elva Tang, Kevin K. Ban and Michael XunFei Wang.

07-20-2006

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Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.

V&E Congratulates ABA Silver Gavel Award Honorees & Outstanding Legal Journalism
Without coverage by the news media, Judge Minor Wisdom of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals once stated, public confidence in the American justice system would evaporate. ""The role of the media is to inform the citizenry as to what we do and why we do it,"" he said. ""The fear of negative press attention keeps judges honest and encourages courts to protect the rights of the oppressed and downtrodden.""

With Judge Wisdom's insight in mind, Vinson & Elkins LLP congratulates the 2006 winners of the American Bar Association's prestigious Silver Gavel Award, which honors journalists and media whose work helps improve public understanding of the law and the United States legal system. This year's Silver Gavel honorees are:

Yale Law Professor Akhil Reed Amar, who authored America's Constitution: A Biography, which tells the amazing story of the American Constitution, which at less than 8,000 words (including the 27 Amendments) is the oldest and shortest constitution in the world.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, which had 11 of its writers and editors spend hundreds of hours investigating the making of the U.S. Patriot Act following the terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001, and the impact the law has had.

Abby Ginzberg, a lawyer-turned-filmmaker, who produced Soul of Justice, a documentary that profile the life and career of U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who was hired by then-U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy to be the first black lawyer to serve as a civil rights lawyer in the U.S. Justice Department.

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, writers of The Exonerated, a Court TV movie that showcases the plight of six individuals who were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, only later to be determined to be not guilty of the charges.

Vinson & Elkins is a proud sponsor of the ABA Silver Gavel Awards. V&E Senior Communication Counsel Mark Curriden is a member of the ABA's Silver Gavel Committee and won the Silver Gavel Award in 2000 for his book, Contempt of Court: A Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched A Hundred Years of Federalism. For more information on his book, please visit http://www.velaw.com/resources/ContemptOfCourt.asp.

""These individuals have used television, movies, newspapers and book publishing to tell stories that educate the public about the people, policies and practices of our justice system,"" says Tom Leatherbury, a partner in V&E's Dallas office who represents media companies and journalists. ""Vinson & Elkins is honored to be a primary sponsor and supporter of the Silver Gavel Award. We congratulate the honorees of this award as well as the journalists who cover the legal system on a regular basis.""

The 2006 Silver Gavel Awards will be presented to the recipients on Tuesday, July 25, by ABA President Michael Greco at a special program at the National Press Club, which is located at 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. For more information about the ABA Silver Gavel Awards, the 2006 honorees and the awards presentation, please go to http://www.abanet.org/publiced/gavel/home.html.

07-20-2006

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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Skadden Represents Leonard Green & Partners and Texas Pacific Group in Their Leveraged Buyout of PETCO
Skadden is representing California-based Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. and Texas Pacific Group, which are both private equity firms, in their $1.8 billion leveraged buyout of California-based PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc. This is a going-private transaction. In 2000, Skadden represented Leonard Green & Partners and Texas Pacific Group in their acquisition of PETCO for about $600 million. In 2002, PETCO was taken public.

07-20-2006

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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Skadden Represents AmerUS in Its Acquisition by Aviva
Skadden is representing Iowa-based AmerUS Group Co. in its $2.9 billion acquisition by United Kingdom-based Aviva plc. Both companies are providers of insurance.

07-20-2006

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Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP

Seven Attorneys Named to Florida Legal Elite
Miami Partners John Barkett (Environmental), Cindy Hofmann (Appellate), John McNally (Environmental), and Ed Moss (Civil Trial), Of Counsel Nelson Bellido (Commercial Litigation), and Tampa Partner Jim Murphy (Commercial Litigation), have been named to the ranks of the “Florida Legal Elite” in this month’s edition of Florida Trend magazine. Miami Associate Dan Rogers (Tort) was named to the Legal Elite's ""Up and Coming"" list.

The Florida Legal Elite is an annual selection of the top attorneys in the state, as selected by attorneys from within the Sunshine State. More than 13,000 votes were cast to determine this year’s honorees.

Florida Trend, ""the magazine of Florida business,"" is the state's largest business magazine.
Miami Partners John Barkett (Environmental), Cindy Hofmann (Appellate), John McNally (Environmental), and Ed Moss (Civil Trial), Of Counsel Nelson Bellido (Commercial Litigation), and Tampa Partner Jim Murphy (Commercial Litigation), have been named to the ranks of the “Florida Legal Elite” in this month’s edition of Florida Trend magazine. Miami Associate Dan Rogers (Tort) was named to the Legal Elite's ""Up and Coming"" list.

The Florida Legal Elite is an annual selection of the top attorneys in the state, as selected by attorneys from within the Sunshine State. More than 13,000 votes were cast to determine this year’s honorees.

Florida Trend, ""the magazine of Florida business,"" is the state's largest business magazine.

07-20-2006

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Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP

Sedgwick Expands Commercial Practice
Sedgwick announces senior land use and environmental attorney David R. Hunt has joined Sedgwick as special counsel and member of the firm's Land Use and Natural Resources Practice Group. Hunt joins the Orange County office bringing over twenty years of experience serving public entities and development interests on the Central Coast of California.

""Law surrounding land use matters grows exponentially more intricate each year,"" said Curtis Parvin, managing partner of the firm's Orange County office. ""Our clients rely on Sedgwick to handle these complex legal needs because we offer attorneys such as David Hunt; attorneys who possess extensive experience managing all aspects of land development.""

Hunt, a graduate of the McGeorge School of Law, joins Sedgwick from his own practice in San Luis Obispo, California. He brings significant counseling and transaction experience, as well as broad trial and appellate experience to the Orange County office, where he will concentrate his practice on land use, natural resources, and environmental issues and real property title matters. Hunt has handled a wide range of trial and appellate cases involving multiple areas of public law, including tort claims, inverse condemnation, zoning and land use litigation, California Coastal Act and CEQA litigation. He has also represented clients in multiple administrative proceedings before the California Coastal Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board and the State Water Resources Control Board, and served for over a term of ten years as the city attorney of Morro Bay and Pismo Beach.

""I look forward to working with Sedgwick's sophisticated team of attorneys, who offer a comprehensive legal understanding of land use needs and the ability to deliver solutions,"" said Hunt.

07-20-2006

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