Montgomery Law Group Expands Its Practice With Addition of Partner Jonathan Noble Specializing in Representation of Emerging Growth Companies and Venture Capital Firms

MENLO PARK, Calif - Montgomery Law Group, LLP, a corporate law firm dedicated to helping clients build enduring, sustainable enterprises, today announced that Jonathan J. Noble has joined the firm as a partner in its corporate and securities practice. Prior to joining Montgomery Law Group, Mr. Noble founded the Noble Law Group in Palo Alto, California, and served as an attorney in the corporate and securities group of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP in Menlo Park, California.

"We are thrilled to have Jon as part of our team,” said John Montgomery, chairman of Montgomery Law Group. “His established practice closely aligns with ours and he brings a wealth of experience in corporate and business transactions, including representation of venture capital firms. His addition to our firm will enable us to better serve our clients and expand services to our growing practice.”

Mr. Noble’s practice focuses on the representation of private, emerging growth companies, which encompasses entity formations, private financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions, and the representation of venture capital firms in connection with their formations, fund raising and portfolio company investments. Mr. Noble graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with an A.B. in Legal Studies, a J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business.

About Montgomery Law Group, LLP

Montgomery Law Group provides legal and business counseling to emerging growth companies, entrepreneurs and professional investors. Montgomery Law Group is located at 525 Middlefield Road, Suite 250, Menlo Park, California, 94025, and can be contacted at www.MontgomeryLawGroup.com or by calling (650) 331-7000.

State Farm insurance company reached a settlement Tuesday with hundreds of Mississippi policyholders whose claims were denied after Hurricane Katrina, bringing an end to s trial that began January 9 in the US District for the Southern District of Mississippi. The agreement between State Farm and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood will award $80 million to the more than 600 named homeowners who filed the lawsuit. Hood, who compared negotiations to "a death roll with an alligator for the last two months," said the settlement also provides for an additional $50 million for thousands of other homeowners in Mississippi who did not sue State Farm after their claims were denied. That $50 million figure however, is just a minimum and could easily reach hundreds of millions, depending on the number of applicants.

Tuesday's settlement only applies to Mississippi litigants and State Farm as additional lawsuits against the insurance company still are pending in other states affected by the Katrina disaster. The settlement does, however, end Hood's investigation into allegations of fraudulent claim denials by State Farm, including allegations the company pressured its engineers to doctor their reports. In Mississippi, Hood also has also brought action against other insurance companies including Allstate and Nationwide.

"The attorney-general, with the agreement of the state attorney, reached the conclusion that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to indict the president," the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The scandal erupted last year when several former staffers filed complaints with police, accusing Katsav of sex crimes. The ministry said an indictment would include the charge of raping one of the four women who accused Katsav of sexual assault.

In the statement, Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz gave Katsav a last chance to present legal arguments before a final draft of the indictment, proposing a hearing at which he promised to hear the president's response with an "open heart and a willing soul".

Asked on Channel 10 television if Katsav intended to resign, his lawyer, Sharon Nahari, said: "I think it is too early to say. What is important is that this is a very difficult day for Israel. We hope all will become clear after the hearing."

The ministry said a date for the hearing would be set soon.

While serving as president, Katsav can be put on trial only if he is impeached by parliament. He has said he would suspend himself from office if indicted.

Katsav has been president since 2000 and is due to stand down in July.

Fenwick & West LLP is pleased to announce that Christopher J. Steskal is joining the firm as a partner in the Securities Litigation Group, and as the Chair of its White Collar/Regulatory Practice Group. Prior to joining Fenwick & West, Chris was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, working as part of the Securities Fraud Section and Stock Option Task Force of the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.

"The breadth of expertise in the Securities Litigation Group and range and volume of matters currently handled by Fenwick & West impressed me," said Steskal. "I was not actively looking to return to private practice when I was approached about the opportunity to join Fenwick & West. My tenure at the U.S. Attorney's Office has been tremendously rewarding and I am very proud of the work I have done for the United States over the past six years. However, I could not resist the unique opportunities available to me at Fenwick & West. The firm's reputation, platform and client base make it well positioned to develop a robust white collar practice. I am excited to add my skills and experience as a federal prosecutor to Fenwick & West's thriving securities litigation group. The firm is an ideal choice for my return to private practice."

Steskal joined the U.S. Attorney's office in 2001. During his tenure there, Steskal handled a wide range of matters, including trials, appeals and investigations involving stock option backdating, securities fraud, corporate fraud, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and public corruption. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Steskal was a litigation attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, and Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco. He is a former law clerk for Ninth Circuit Judge James R. Browning and U.S. District Court Judge Harry L. Hupp. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1992. Chris will be resident in Fenwick & West's San Francisco office.

"We are thrilled that Chris will be joining us, and believe he augments perfectly one of the top securities litigation practices in the country," said firm Chair Gordon Davidson. "Law firms across the U.S. are competing for attorneys like Chris, who have extensive investigation and trial experience relating to white collar crime and corporate governance issues. Chris will be joining our firm just as many of the ongoing internal stock option investigations move to the regulatory review stage by the SEC and DOJ. We are very pleased that Chris chose Fenwick & West."

A coalition of businesses and environmental groups on Monday called for federal legislation to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In a letter to President Bush a day before his State of the Union Address, the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) advocated a "cap and trade" system, in which companies whose emissions exceed mandatory limits could buy credits from companies that produce less pollution. "This approach will ensure emission reduction targets will be met while simultaneously ... stimulating investment and innovation in the technologies that will be necessary to achieve our environmental goal," USCAP wrote in A Call for Action, a 16-page report released by the group Monday. Specifically, USCAP recommended that Congress set short-term and long-term targets for cutting emissions, ranging from a 10 percent reduction within 10 years to as much as 80 percent by 2050.

Scientific research suggests that man-made greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. USCAP's 14 members include large corporations such as Alcoa, BP America, DuPont and General Electric as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the World Resources Institute [advocacy websites]. Its report is the culmination of a year-long effort. White House press secretary Tony Snow responded to the USCAP proposal  during his daily briefing, noting that although Bush opposes mandatory CO2 limits, he will discuss alternatives to fossil fuels in his address to Congress on Tuesday. AP has more. C-SPAN has recorded video of the USCAP press conference.