Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Pepper Hamilton, L.L.P.

Pepper Hamilton Expands New York Office with Addition of Stephen G. Gorell, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Partner
Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Stephen G. Gorell, an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney with more than 27 years of experience, has joined the Employee Benefits Practice Group as a partner in the New York office. He is experienced in the employee benefits aspects of transactions, as well as the traditional aspects of employee benefits law.

“Steve has tremendous depth in employee benefits and executive compensation from which our clients will benefit immediately,” said James D. Rosener, the partner in charge of Pepper’s New York office. “He and his clients are excellent fits for the firm and our office. We are pleased to welcome him to Pepper.”

”I am excited to join Pepper and its sophisticated employee benefits practice,” said Mr. Gorell. “My clients and I will be well-supported here, and I believe my experience will serve a wide variety of existing Pepper clients. I’m looking forward contributing to the growth of the practice and the firm.”

Mr. Gorell joins Pepper from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. He focuses on employee benefit plans, including qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, and health and welfare plans from an ERISA and tax perspective. He has extensive transactional experience, and he is an authority on the design and implementation of sophisticated pension and retirement programs, pension plan termination issues, ERISA compliance, dispute resolution with the IRS, settlement negotiations, and spin-offs and mergers.

Mr. Gorell is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University (B.S. 1975) and Syracuse University College of Law (J.D. 1978). He received his LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law in 1979

05-02-2007

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Orrick LLP

Orrick Represents California Authority in Renewable Energy Deal
Orrick is representing the California Statewide Communities Development Authority in a proposed financing that is likely to be the first deal under Go-Solar, a new program that provides cost incentives for developing renewable energy.

The transaction is still being structured, and will most likely take the form of a taxable private placement, in which public-sector entities will lease energy facilities from the California Statewide Communities Development Authority. Under the terms of the deal, the local government agencies would have the option to buy the facility at fair market value after six years.

According to New York global finance senior counsel Michael Bacon, "The public agency gets the money to make this prepayment through a lease-leaseback. The local government agency leases real estate to the CSCDA and then the authority leases it back. The contractor develops and owns the energy facility on the property."

05-02-2007

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Nixon Peabody LLP

Nixon Peabody LLP Expands Global Finance Capabilities, Adds Three New Corporate Finance Partners to Growing Leveraged Finance Team
Mats Carlston, chair of Nixon Peabody’s global finance practice, said, “The addition of these partners enables Nixon Peabody to deepen our relationships with existing clients in the leveraged finance and structured finance areas, and to expand our services to encompass a one-stop approach to high-yield and bank debt for both our growing private equity client base and our banking clients. As innovation continues at a rapid pace in leveraged and structured finance, the depth and breadth of their experience, together with their vast knowledge of specialty areas that are increasingly converging within the industry, will be an asset to both our team and our clients.”

Robert B. Anderson represents both financial institutions and corporate borrowers in commercial lending, equipment finance, and project finance transactions, as well as in project development work. He has vast experience in the areas of commercial secured and unsecured lending, equipment leasing, and liquidity financings. Mr. Anderson joins Nixon Peabody from Buchalter Nemer in San Francisco, where he led that firm’s bank and finance group in Northern California. He graduated, cum laude, from Duke University and earned his J.D. from Hastings College of Law.

Benjamin W. Lau practices in the area of leveraged finance (bank loan and high-yield). He represents investment banks, commercial banks, and other financial institutions as well as corporate borrowers and insurers in structuring, negotiating, and documenting underwriting commitments, financing transactions, debt securities offerings, and investment activities. He joins Nixon Peabody from Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP in New York City. Prior to that, he was special counsel at Kmart Corporation, and vice president and senior counsel at Merrill Lynch & Co., where he served as high-yield trading counsel to Merrill’s global leveraged finance group. Mr. Lau earned a B.S., magna cum laude, from California State University and a J.D. from Fordham University.

Daniel G. Schmedlen, Jr., focuses his practice on corporate finance and capital markets transactions, including debt and equity securities offerings, securitizations, and structured financings. His finance and capital markets clients are private investment funds, institutional lenders, and asset originators. Mr. Schmedlen’s securities experience includes private placements and public offerings of asset-backed securities, subordinated debt, common stock, preferred stock, and warrants. He has particular knowledge of the insurance industry and insurance-related financial products. Mr. Schmedlen is a member of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association CDO Working Group. Mr. Schmedlen joins Nixon Peabody from Lord, Bissel & Brook LLP in New York City. He earned a B.A. from Yale University and graduated, cum laude, from Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he was the securities editor of the Washington & Lee Law Review.
About Nixon Peabody’s Global Finance Practice and Leveraged Finance Team

Nixon Peabody’s global finance group provides innovative counsel to clients involved in a broad range of complex financial transactions. Attorneys in this practice closely monitor changes in practices, laws, rules, and regulations that affect clients’ industries, and help them develop effective strategies for financing and achieving their institutional, transactional, and expansion goals. Attorneys structure, negotiate, document, and manage to completion and beyond all types of financial transactions relating to or involving institutional investors, commercial banks, corporate pension funds, portfolio investments, securitizations, and investment funds.

05-02-2007

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McGlinchey Stafford PLLC

McGlinchey Stafford Attorney Stephanie G. John Earns Board Certification from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Labor and Employment Law
After completing rigorous certification requirements, Stephanie G. John is now Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. To earn this certification, attorneys must have substantial experience in the field of Labor and Employment law, meet a minimum 60-hour requirement of courses approved by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in the specialty area and must receive a passing score on a day-long examination on the subject matter. Candidates for board certification are also evaluated by fellow lawyers and judges.

A member in McGlinchey Stafford’s Houston, Texas office, John practices in the areas of labor and employment law. She exclusively represents management, providing counseling and preventative advice to businesses and other organizations and defending employers in disputes with their employees and former employees. She also defends clients in employment discrimination and retaliation matters, tort and breach of contract claims, leave of absence and wage and hour matters, ERISA litigation, traditional labor and various administrative matters before federal and state courts and administrative agencies.

John frequently speaks to human resources professionals and attorneys on a broad range of topics such as complying with federal and state employment laws and regulations, drafting and enforcing effective employment policies and managing day to day issues that arise in the employer/employee relationship.
Actively serving the community, John is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Texas New Community Alliance/Lone Star HCS, Inc., the Montgomery County Society of Human Resources Management and the Montgomery County Women’s Center. She is also a member of Leadership Montgomery County’s Class of 2005.

Other McGlinchey Stafford Texas attorneys who are board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization are:

* Joel Mohrman, Board Certified in Civil Trial Law;
* Jill Panagos, Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law; and
* David Smith, Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law.

05-02-2007

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Kelley, Drye & Warren, LLP

Kelley Drye Helps Expand Government Study of Ethanol Fuels
On behalf of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (“OPEI”) and a coalition of concerned manufacturers and trade associations, Kelley Drye Environmental attorney William M. Guerry, Jr. teamed with members of the firm’s Government Relations and Public Policy group to expand the scope of an important study on the feasibility of ethanol fuel consumption.

By a voice vote, the Senate Energy committee unanimously agreed to add an amendment, proposed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), to Section 302 of the “Biofuels for Energy Security” Bill (S. 987).

“This is the first step toward generating the information needed to fill critical data gaps in this multi-faceted national dialogue,” said Mr. Guerry. “EPA, the Energy Department, and other federal agencies must fully protect the environment, consumers, and manufacturers of off-road engines, vehicles, and equipment from the unintended, adverse consequences that could undermine the future market for ethanol fuels.”

The amendment requires the Energy Secretary, in conjunction with the EPA Administrator and the Secretaries of Agriculture and Transportation, to study the environmental and economic impacts of “mid-level” blends of ethanol gasoline (ethanol levels between 10% and 40%). The amendment also calls for an evaluation of the potential impacts of these fuels on consumers; their boats, vehicles, off-road engines and equipment; and the retail fuel market.

“We have been and continue to be part of the solution to creating a better environment,” stated Bill Harley, president and CEO of OPEI. “We all want to carefully gain the public trust and not inadvertently injure the environment or poison the long-term consumer market for ethanol fuel blends.”

05-02-2007

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Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, LLP

$4 Million Settlement in Product Liability Case holds implications for U.S. business owners who buy parts manufactured overseas
In a settlement which could have lasting implications for business owners who rely on parts made overseas, a Richmond plaintiff has reached a $4 million mediated settlement for injuries he received when a defective hose nozzle manufactured in Asia exploded in his face.

Oscar D. Allen Jr. was performing an industrial cleaning job with a high pressure water hose in April 2005, when the 10-inch brass hose nozzle split apart, striking his face and causing extensive facial fractures, eye damage, dental injuries, traumatic brain injury and additional psychiatric injuries. According to his lawyers, Matthew Broughton and Gregory Habeeb of the Roanoke law firm Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, the nozzle was improperly cast, resulting in one wall being inordinately thick while the opposite side was less than two human hairs thick.

Subsequent testing of other nozzles distributed by Seal Fast, Inc. of Houston, Texas, and sold by Metrohose, Inc., of Farmville, Va., showed similar defects. The manufacturer of the nozzle, KCH Metal Industries, Ltd. of Taiwan, Republic of China, had since gone out of business.

The settlement will have far reaching effects for American businesses buying parts overseas. Because Asian countries often do not have the manufacturing regulations in place to certify product quality, the U.S. distributors and suppliers are required to shoulder at least part of that responsibility, says Broughton.

“Seal Fast and Metrohose were liable because they performed no due diligence to ensure the quality of this product,” he says. “Safeguards are available to American business owners looking to maximize their profits by buying parts overseas. But they’re required to take the steps needed to reasonably ensure that the materials and manufacturing processes meet appropriate standards.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Seal Fast will pay $3.5 million, with Metrohose responsible for the remainder, says Broughton. To date, there has been no recall.

Broughton says that concerns arise when products manufactured in the U.S. are outsourced overseas but then marketed as an equivalent substitute for an American-made product. In this case, Seal Fast had previously bought these type of nozzles from Powhatan Industries in Racine, West Virginia. However, in an attempt to save money, Seal Fast began purchasing the nozzle from various Asian manufacturers. The Asian nozzles, however, weighed approximately 50 percent less and were made of an alloy more like ornamental rather than industrial brass. In addition, the nozzle that injured Allen exhibited numerous manufacturing defects, including the severe core shift which resulted in walls that were not uniformly thick.

Experts in the areas of metallurgy, welding, electron microanalysis and injury biomechanics from Virginia Tech, as well as plastic and reconstructive surgeons and neuropsychiatrists, presented overwhelming evidence to support the case.

According to Greg Habeeb, the settlement should serve as a warning to U.S. companies that a price should not be the only determinant when considering whether or not to outsource parts production.

“We live in a global economy, and when it works correctly, it benefits both the business owner and the consumer,” says Habeeb. “But if the only goal as a supplier is to provide an inexpensive product with no respect for the consequences, that company is looking for trouble.”

05-02-2007

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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Gunhild Schäfer to be German High Court lawyer
Gunhild Schäfer, dispute resolution partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Frankfurt, has been admitted to the exclusive circle of lawyers at the highest German civil law court, the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), by the German secretary of justice (Bundesjustizministerium).

Less than 50 lawyers are currently admitted to represent clients in civil law cases at the High Court and admission is preceded by a rigorous selection procedure by the German Law Society and the High Court itself.

Manfred Finken, regional managing partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, commented on Gunhild Schäfer's appointment, saying, 'It is a great honour and distinction for Gunhild personally and recognition of her achievements as a lawyer to be admitted to the exclusive circle of BGH-/High Court lawyers. It is also an honour for our firm that a partner from our ranks has been granted that admission. We are very pleased for her and proud of her success.'

Gunhild Schäfer is well qualified for her new role as a lawyer at the High Court. She has been with Freshfields since 1993 and a partner since 1997. Gunhild is a member of the firm's dispute resolution practice group specialising in construction and engineering and commercial law disputes. After studying at universities in Munich, Venice, and Pennsylvania/US, Gunhild worked for several years as a district judge in Kempten/Bavaria. She is both a German and US-qualified lawyer.

According to the rules governing the admission of High Court lawyers, Gunhild will no longer be able to remain a partner at Freshfields and so will leave in the next couple of months.

05-02-2007

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