Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Acts as Transaction Counsel in Kazakh IPO on London Stock Exchange
Baker & McKenzie has acted as transaction counsel in the initial public offering (IPO) of GDRs for Kazakhstan Kagazy plc, a paper and packaging and real estate development company. The IPO was made pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S, and is expected to raise up to US$275 million.

Kazakhstan Kagazy plc runs Central Asia's largest producer of paper, corrugated board and packaging products through a Kazakh subsidiary, which was established in 2001. It also operates one of the leading commercial real estate development companies in Kazakhstan through Prime Estate Activities Kazakhstan LLP (Peak), which owns approximately 538 hectares of prime land, strategically located in a newly created industrial zone near Almaty, for construction of commercial warehousing and logistics infrastructure facilities.

Edward Bibko, Corporate Partner at Baker & McKenzie, said: ''This IPO is further proof of the increasing importance of Central Asian companies in international capital markets, and demonstrates London's ability to attract businesses from around the world. We have been active in this area for a number of years and are delighted to have been able to make use of our expertise both in London and in Almaty to assist Kazakhstan Kagazy plc.''

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by Corporate Partners Peter Magyar and Edward Bibko and senior associate Chris Gardner. Banking and finance advice was provided by partners Chris Hogan and Ian Jack and associate Gabrielle White. The Almaty team was led by partner Curtis Masters and associate Aidar Yegeubayev.

08-02-2007

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Acts on First Libyan Banking Privatisation
Baker & McKenzie has advised the Central Bank of Libya on the sale by Libya's Social Economic Development Fund ("SEDF") of a 19% stake in Sahara Bank to BNP Paribas for €145 million. The deal gives BNP Paribas the option to increase its holding to 51% within a three to five year period.

The Central Bank of Libya is the country's monetary authority and banking sector regulator. The sale by SEDF of part of its investment in Sahara Bank to a strategic foreign partner is part of an ambitious privatisation and modernisation programme of the Libyan banking industry being championed by the Central Bank of Libya. The disposal was achieved through a competitive international auction process and, in contrast to other privatisation programmes in the MENA region, was signed within six months.

BNP Paribas will immediately take over the operational control of Sahara Bank, making it the first foreign bank to develop full service banking activities in Libya.

Commenting on the sale, Bernd Ratzke, Corporate Partner at Baker & McKenzie, said: ''The privatisation of Sahara Bank to a strategic partner who is committed to the injection of its technical expertise and the introduction of banking products familiar to Europe - but thus far unknown to the local market - is a landmark development for the Libyan economy. The Central Bank of Libya is declaring its commitment to turning the Libyan financial sector into a modern, regulated system. Its commitment to the delivery of a transparent international bid process, run against a firm time table, was very impressive.''

The Baker & McKenzie team was led in London by Bernd Ratzke, assisted by associate Richard Essex. Partner Mohamed Ghannam and associate Khaled Moussa of Baker & McKenzie Cairo also advised. Other advisers to the Central Bank of Libya and SEDF on this transaction included Rothschild & Cie, McKinsey & Company and KPMG. Zahaf & Partners advised on Libyan law issues.

08-02-2007

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Advises UkrSibbank on US$200 Million Eurobond Offering
Baker & McKenzie announced today that it has acted as Ukrainian and English law counsel to the Joint-Stock Commercial Innovation Bank, UkrSibbank, the Ukrainian subsidiary of BNP Paribas and the third largest bank in Ukraine by assets, with respect to its US$200 million three-year Eurobond offering.

The transaction was structured as an offering of 7.375% loan participation notes due 2010, which are issued under Regulation S and listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. This is the fourth Eurobond offering by UkrSibbank beginning with its debut issue in 2004, on which Baker & McKenzie also advised.

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by partner Christopher Hogan in London and Serhiy Chorny and Glib Bondar in Kyiv. The team also included associates Andriy Nikiforov and Victoria Ischenko in Kyiv, and Laura Russell in London.

Commenting on the offering, Serhiy Chorny, head of the Banking and Finance Practice Group in Kyiv, said: “We were pleased to work with our client on this significant transaction. Baker & McKenzie has by now assisted UkrSibbank to draw over US$900 million in the international markets.''

Glib Bondar, Partner in the Kyiv office, added: ''Through our combined experience, as well as the coordinated work of the joint Kyiv-London team, we were able to successfully advise on this offering.”

BNP Paribas and HSBC were the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners of the issue, and were advised by Clifford Chance on English law matters and Sayenko Kharenko on Ukrainian law matters.

08-02-2007

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Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Former First Lady Honors Stan Jones
It is for people like Dianne that Atlanta Partner Stan Jones works the hardest in his volunteer roles.

Bipolar and on drugs, she was in and out of hospitals, eventually finding herself jobless and homeless. But with the help of Project Interconnections, "I made my mind up to try life again a different way."

The housing program Mr. Jones helped found provided her a secure place to live with dignity and respect. Now two years clean, she recently spoke out at a reception honoring Mr. Jones on how the model program helped her get her life on track.

"It has changed my life tremendously. Now I have goals, and I want to give back to the community," she told a group gathered in Atlanta to honor Mr. Jones as the program’s founding president.

Honorary Chairperson and Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter presented Mr. Jones with a friendship quilt and proclamation from the city of Atlanta for his 20 years of service to the housing program. She calls the project a model for the country.

"We can all tell by the 241 men and women who live in the four residences how great this program is. It provides them security and dignity, privacy and respect. They have help when they need a helping hand, and this is what makes our program so effective," she said.

Project Interconnections has developed four award-winning residences in Atlanta, including O’Hern House with 76 single room units and meals; Phoenix House with studio apartments and several two-to-four bedroom apartments for 79 people; Presley Woods with 40 studio apartments, 20 for the working poor and 20 for homeless adults with chronic mental illness; and Rosalynn Apartments, 56 studio apartments.

The projects have housed more than 800 people, who use the program as a stepping-stone into the community, Mrs. Carter said. Developing the residences required creating partnerships of public and private sectors to seek funding through state and federal programs. Rent comes from federal assistance programs and from the residents themselves, who pay 30 percent of their income toward rent. The cost is between $11,000 and $16,000 a year per resident.

Mr. Jones first became involved in mental health issues and the Carters when they asked him to serve on the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services for Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped Georgians in 1971, his first job out of college. Later they asked him to serve on the President’s Commission on Mental Illness. He has served as chairman of the Georgia Commission on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Service Delivery, and as vice president for Public Policy of the National Mental Health Association.

"Our jobs are to tear down the walls of stigma surrounding mental illness and to tear down the walls of the hospitals," Mr. Jones said. "Our medications are better, our resources are better, but our jobs are still huge."

Recent newspaper articles on deaths in Georgia’s state hospitals are leading to a new state commission on mental health and substance abuse. Mr. Jones wrote the authorizing legislation and has testified about the intense need for improvement in all the state systems that help citizens who suffer from mental illness.

"Stan is one of our country’s most compassionate and dedicated champions of people with mental illness, and he had a vision for a new way to provide support for people with mental illness. So many people told him it couldn’t be done, but he thought it could, and he pressed on with it. Without any paid staff he led the board and us in developing our first residence, which is now 17 years old," Mrs. Carter said.

"He’s been especially effective in communicating mental health issues to our state’s policy makers. He speaks from his heart on behalf of people with mental illness," she said.

08-02-2007

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Morrison & Foerster, LLP

Morrison & Foerster Adds Top Private Equity Lawyer Eric McCrath
Responding to strong private equity buyout activity and client demand, Morrison & Foerster LLP has added Eric McCrath, an experienced private equity attorney, as a corporate partner in its San Francisco office. Mr. McCrath joins Morrison & Foerster from the San Francisco office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Representing large- and middle-market private equity firms, Mr. McCrath’s experience focuses on the structuring and execution of leveraged acquisitions of domestic and international companies.

“The private equity market is thriving, and with our client base and prominence in the leading financial centers in Asia, the Pacific Rim, and Europe, Eric’s experience representing buyout firms will help us keep up with the surge in leveraged acquisitions in those regions,” stated Robert Townsend, Chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Global Corporate Group.

“Eric’s international experience, including working in Tokyo and representing private equity firms investing in East and South Asia, will complement our strong practice in Asia,” Mr. Townsend said.

In the past several years, the firm has also built a thriving private equity fund formation group. “We are replicating that success in the buyout area, and Eric’s arrival is one of many additions we plan to make to develop a strong private equity M&A presence,” Mr. Townsend added.

Mr. McCrath seconded that notion in explaining his move: “Morrison & Foerster has an extremely well-rounded corporate practice, with a strong international component and a track record of deal making in a number of cutting-edge industries and markets in addition to traditional segments,” he said.

“I’d been aware of the firm’s recent build-up of fund formation work and was excited to learn that they are rapidly building their team on the transactional side of private equity. Given the continued prominence of private equity firms in the M&A marketplace, Morrison & Foerster is poised to become an important player in the buyout business over the next several years,” he added.

Mr. McCrath’s extensive representation of private equity firms includes negotiating purchase agreements, as well as shareholder and limited liability company agreements, and general corporate advice in connection with domestic and international acquisitions and sales.

Before joining Kirkland & Ellis in 2005, Mr. McCrath was a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, where he worked in a variety of transactional settings, including underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, syndicated lending, and private equity. His clients included U.S., Canadian, Asian, and European public and private companies, investment banks, and private equity funds.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. McCrath was a corporate finance consultant based in Tokyo with former accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where he worked with both U.S. and Japanese companies on international transfer pricing and compliance work, giving him an early career perspective on cross-border deals.

Mr. McCrath received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar.

08-02-2007

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Jenner & Block LLP

Attorneys File Amicus Brief in Support of Free and Appropriate Education for Children with Disabilities
Parents of children with disabilities should have the right to reimbursement for private school tuition if their children cannot receive a free and adequate education in the public school system, even if the children did not first attend a public school, according to a Jenner & Block amicus brief filed recently in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Board of Education of the City School District of New York v. Tom F. The brief was filed on behalf of several public interest organizations, including the International Dyslexia Association (both the national organization and its New York Branch), Mental Health America, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

At issue in this case is whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) will provide reimbursement for private school tuition when a child with disabilities has not previously received appropriate services from a public school. The case involves a parent, Tom F., who enrolled his son Gilbert F. in a private school for children with special needs because the New York City public school district was unable to establish an adequate individualized education plan (IEP). After two years of receiving reimbursement for private school, he was asked to send his son to a public school or forfeit reimbursement from the school district.

Hearing examiners ultimately concluded that the New York public school placement was not appropriate for Gilbert F. The Board of Education argued in the lower courts that Tom F. should not receive tuition reimbursement under the IDEA because he did not first send his son to a public school.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected this argument and concluded that the main purpose of the IDEA is to provide a free and appropriate public education to all children with disabilities by “conferring broad discretion on the district court to grant relief as it deems appropriate to parents of disabled children who opt for a unilateral private placement in cases where the parents’ placement is determined to be proper and the proposed IEP is determined to be inadequate.”

As the brief explains, the New York City Board of Education had urged the Second Circuit and now urges the Supreme Court to strip the district courts of this discretion and to mandate that courts condition reimbursement under the IDEA on the child having first given the school district’s proposed placement a “try,” despite its inappropriateness, according to the Firm’s brief. The length of the “try” according to the authors, could take years before the IEP can be declared inappropriate through the administrative and judicial review process.

According to the brief, the goal of a free and appropriate public education is accomplished under the IDEA through a system in which each child with a disability is entitled to have an individualized education plan that is tailored to his or her particular circumstances. If the school district is unable to provide adequate education for the child, the brief says, parents should be entitled to enroll the child in a private school that is able to provide an appropriate education, with the right to seek tuition reimbursement from the school district, whether or not the child was initially enrolled in a public school.

The brief explained that adopting this “fail first” policy would have disastrous consequences for some children with disabilities as reading skills need to be taught in a child’s earliest years and effective early instruction is required for a child with a learning disability to learn how to read. “If children must first endure an inappropriate placement before they can receive the intensive and direct instructional assistance they may require, then there will be children who could learn to read, but do not,” the brief stated. “The Petitioner’s ‘fail first’ policy will only frustrate the congressional goal of helping children receive assistance at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Jenner & Block Partners Paul M. Smith and Harry Sandick as well as Associates Sandi J. Toll, Jessica Ring Amunson and Bradley A. Areheart authored the amicus brief.

08-02-2007

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Jenner & Block LLP

Jenner & Block Ranked Among Top Firms for Public Service
The American Lawyer recently included Jenner & Block on the “Leaderboard” of top law firms for pro bono work. The Firm was ranked third on the magazine’s annual report on the pro bono efforts among the country’s top law firms. The American Lawyer also noted that the Firm has placed among the top 10 pro bono law firms every year since 1990.

“This honor reflects the culture of public service at the Firm,” noted Partner Barry Levenstam, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee. “The American Lawyer’s pro bono ranking reflects a continuing effort by everyone at the Firm to be involved in these cases,” added Partner David W. DeBruin, Co-Chair of the committee.

The closely-watched report was based on an overall pro bono “score” for legal services provided during 2006, which was calculated by weighing the Firm’s average pro bono hours per attorney with the percentage of lawyers with more than 20 hours of pro bono work last year.

Jenner & Block attorneys averaged 127.5 hours of pro bono work each in 2006, with more than 80% of the Firm’s attorneys devoting at least 20 hours to pro bono work.

Among the Firm’s many pro bono efforts, The American Lawyer highlighted Jenner & Block’s representation of 17 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who are challenging the legality of their detention, and the Firm’s advocacy on behalf of the detainees by writing media commentaries, submitting amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, and testifying before Congress about the provision in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that stripped prisoners of habeas corpus rights. The report also highlighted the Firm’s over 5,000 hours of pro bono work for death penalty clients in California and Missouri in cases that challenge those states’ lethal injection procedures as a violation of the constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2006, Jenner & Block also handled pro bono cases helping residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina and helped numerous people seeking safety in the U.S. by obtaining asylum or withholding of removal.

08-02-2007

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