Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that government relations attorney Jonathan Kilman has joined the firm's Orlando and Tallahassee offices in its Government & Public Affairs Practice.

Kilman will focus his practice on representing public and private clients in public affairs and government relations, community relations, litigation, appellate and administrative matters. He has broad experience representing private clients and state agencies, including advising the State Technology Office in procurement matters, and representing the Florida House of Representatives in litigation and appeals related to the redistricting of Florida's state and federal legislative districts. In 2004, he represented the Florida Secretary of State in state and federal election litigation and appeals. Most recently, Kilman served as legal counsel for the Charlie Crist for Governor Campaign. As such, he advised the campaign on a host of issues.

"Jonathan's experience advising government agencies will be a great resource in growing and developing the firm's Public Affairs Practice in Florida and beyond," said Orlando Managing Partner Michael Gay. "His experience providing legal services in litigation and government matters will be a great resource for our Florida business clients."

The announcement comes on the heels of Republican lobbyist Michael Harrell and former Department of Management Services Secretary Robert Hosay and Chris Kise, head of the firm's Appellate Practice, joining the firm's Tallahassee office in July. Kise has since left to serve within the Crist Administration as Counsellor to the Governor.

Kilman comes to Foley from GrayRobinson, P.A., where he was elected the youngest shareholder in the firm's history and serve as a member of the government, litigation, technology business law and technology licensing practices. Previously, he worked as an associate in the Boston office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, where he represented clients in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing and intellectual property. Kilman also clerked within the U.S. Attorney's Office and the District of Massachusetts.

Kilman earned his juris doctorate from Harvard Law School and his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida.

Foley & Lardner LLP provides the full range of corporate legal counsel. Our attorneys understand today's most complex business issues, including corporate governance, securities enforcement, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property counseling and litigation, outsourcing and information technology, labor and employment, and tax. The firm offers total solutions in the automotive, emerging technologies, energy, entertainment and media, financial services, food, golf and resort services, insurance, health care, life sciences, nanotechnology, and sports industries.

The Towson law firm Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz has lost a partner and had a name change.

With the recent departure of partner Louis Ulman, the firm has officially become Hodes, Pessin & Katz.

"After 15 years with us, Lou has decided to move on to greener pastures," said founding partner Michael Hodes. "It's not every day that a name person (in a firm) moves on."

Hodes started the practice in Towson in 1988 as a one-man operation called Michael Hodes PA. Today, the firm has nearly 50 attorneys working from offices in Towson, Columbia, Bel Air, Bethesda and Cambridge.

Hodes said that with Ulman's departure, the law required the name of the firm to change.

"Unless a partner either dies or retires, you have to change the name," Hodes said.

"It's very amicable," Hodes said of Ulman's departure. "Lou is one of my closest friends. We were partners at another firm for many years before I started this firm. We have had a very great relationship forever."

On March 2, Ulman, a Howard County resident, became a senior partner in the Howard County offices of Offit Kurman, a firm with offices in Baltimore County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Harford County and Philadelphia.

Ulman, who specializes in estate planning, elder law and asset protection, said he left Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz on friendly terms. He said he wanted to practice law in a larger firm where he could draw the individual areas of expertise of a larger staff of attorneys.

Ulman also cited his own roots and family ties to Howard County as a reason for the change. His son, attorney Ken Ulman, is county executive in Howard County.

"It was very difficult to practice in a small satellite office, and I wanted to be in a bigger office," he said. "We have 25 attorneys here," he said of Offit Kurman's Howard County office."

Even though the Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz moniker has become ingrained in the public imagination through effective marketing, Hodes said, this is just the latest in a string of name changes his firm has undergone as it has expanded from one attorney to nearly 50.

"It seems to happen every January," he said. "Nothing has really changed except our name."

A New Jersey jury awarded a plaintiff $20 million in the latest Vioxx litigation on Monday. The jury found that the drug, distributed by Merck, caused the plaintiff's heart attack and that had the plaintiff's doctor known of the risks associated with Vioxx he would not have prescribed it to the plaintiff. During the first phase of the trial, the jury found that Merck had not adequately warned doctors and consumers about the increased risk of heart attack associated with the drug.

Last week, a New Jersey Superior Court upheld a separate jury verdict that found Merck adequately warned physicians of the risks associated with Vioxx. Merck faces more than 27,000 lawsuits from people who say they were harmed by the once $2.5 billion-a-year drug before it was pulled from the market in September of 2004. Merck has set aside $1 billion to fight every Vioxx court challenge. In November 2006, a federal judge declined to certify a national class action suit, ruling that it made more sense to try the cases in their respective states of origin.

SIMON H. BLOOM has left Powell Goldstein, where he was a partner, to launch his own shop, the Bloom Law Firm. Bloom is bringing along a Powell Goldstein associate, Stephanie E. Dyer, to his firm, which is in the Equitable Building at 100 Peachtree St.

Bloom said his firm focuses on real estate disputes. He represents owners, developers, builders, contractors and brokers. “Our shop will be able to take a piece of dirt from entitlement through any aspect of development of the property and litigation,” he said.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to go out on my own and offer my services to a wider market,” said Bloom, 35, of his decision to open his own firm. He had practiced at Powell Goldstein since 1997. He explained that big firm rates were pricing him out of what he sees as a “huge middle market.”

He said that at Powell Goldstein he billed clients $385 an hour, adding that his rate there was about to increase to $405 an hour. “Only the Fortune 1000 could afford my rates—and there are only so many of those clients to go around that have real estate issues,” he said.

His new rate is $295. “If you want a Powell Goldstein-quality trial lawyer, you’re not going to get a better deal,” he said.

“It used to be that you went to the biggest firms if you had an important case. Now you have other options. … There are specialists in smaller firms who can do just as good a job without the overhead and higher rates.”

Bloom said he brings “a healthy percentage” of his clients to his new firm, but declined to name them.

On April 24, Cravath will be honored by the Innocence Project at its inaugural benefit, "A Celebration of Freedom & Justice", at Gotham Hall in New York City.

The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent further injustice. Cravath will be honored for its support of the organization, including its work as the Innocence Project's corporate counsel and its assistance in establishing the Exoneree Emergency Fund.

The event's other honorees include Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States; Showtime Networks and Matthew C. Blank, its Chairman and CEO; and Calvin C. Johnson, Jr., exonoree and author of Exit to Freedom.

http://www.cravath.com

Ahter Kutadgu, head of corporate communications for Turk Telekom, told the Anatolia news agency his company had been notified of a court decision to lift the ban.

Kutadgu did not elaborate on the court's reasoning.

"As soon as the court decision lifting the ban reached us, we immediately opened YouTube," he said.

The Istanbul court that ordered the site blocked on Wednesday had said it would lift the ban as soon as it ascertained that videos insulting Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, were removed.

The ban had been condemned by the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders and drew attention to Turkey's shaky record on permitting free expression.

It is illegal in Turkey to insult Ataturk, a revered figure whose image graces every denomination of currency and whose portrait hangs in nearly all government offices.

Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness."