Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP (K&L Gates) welcomes W. David Shenk to its intellectual property and patent litigation practice. Shenk comes to the firm from Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness.

Shenk has litigated patent and copyright cases involving database software, document management systems, digital devices, semiconductors, computer systems for integrating video with transactional information, inhalable antibiotics, architectural plans, and exercise equipment and sporting goods, including in-line skates, snowboard bindings, treadmills, and elliptical exercisers. His experience includes representations in state and federal court and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Shenk's practice also encompasses all aspects of trademark law, including client counseling, trademark clearance and prosecution, administrative proceedings, and litigation.

K&L Gates Seattle Administrative Partner Robert Mitchell said: "David's skills and experience with a diverse range of technologies help us advance K&L Gates' counsel to the world's leading companies. We are pleased to welcome him to the firm."

Kari Glover, K&L Gates' Global Integration Partner, said: "The addition of David to our firm follows many other recent high-profile additions to the firm's IP practice and demonstrates K&L Gates' commitment to providing top-tier IP counsel to clients as it continues to grow internationally."

K&L Gates comprises approximately 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices located in North America, Europe and Asia, and represents capital markets participants, entrepreneurs, growth and middle market companies, leading FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations and public sector entities. For more information, visit www.klgates.com.

Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that five attorneys from four of the firm's departments across offices in the United States and Europe were elected to the firm's partnership, effective April 1, 2007.  All five attorneys were previously of counsel with the firm.  This year the firm has admitted 31 new partners worldwide.

"We extend our congratulations to each of these outstanding new partners," said Robert M. Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins. "All have demonstrated impeccable client service, sound business judgment and strong technical expertise. Their election to the partnership recognizes their hard work, team play, commitment  and valuable contributions to the firm."

New Partners
Paris - Alexander Benedetti
Alexander Benedetti is a member of the Corporate Department. His practice focuses on private equity and mergers & acquisitions, with particular emphasis on LBOs. He regularly represents private equity institutions and equity sponsors in connection with leveraged buy-out acquisitions.  Benedetti received a law degree in 1994 and a post graduate law degree in 1995 from the University of Aix-en-Provence in France.

Los Angeles - Stacey L. Rosenberg
Stacey Rosenberg is a member of the Finance Department. Rosenberg has a broad finance practice and represents financial institutions, including commercial and investment banks, insurance companies and private investment funds.  She has acted as counsel to the lead bank on large syndicated credits for both investment grade and highly-leveraged companies. Rosenberg also regularly represents equity sponsors in connection with financing for leveraged acquisitions and companies in connection with leveraged recapitalizations and ongoing financing needs. She is regularly involved in financing, co-production and distribution transactions for the motion picture, television, theater and related entertainment industries. Rosenberg received her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996.

Brussels - Javier Ruiz Calzado
Javier Ruiz Calzado is a member of the Global Antitrust and Competition Practice and concentrates his practice on European Community (EC) and Spanish competition law, particularly in the area of cartel defense work and merger control.  Prior to joining Latham, he served for six years as senior law clerk to Judge García-Valdecasas at the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI). He played an active role in preparing the CFI's landmark judgments in leading cases in the field of competition, including Airtours/First Choice (one of the first ever annulments of a Commission merger decision) and Bayer-Adalat (a ground-breaking case interpreting the principle of unilateral conduct and the legality of parallel trade restrictions under EC competition rules). He received his J.D. from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona in 1987 and his LL.M from the College of Europe in Bruges in 1988.  He is fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan.

Washington, D.C. - Susan E. Seabrook
Susan Seabrook is a member of the Tax Department, and practices tax controversy law analyzing federal tax issues and resolving tax controversies at all levels of tax administration. Before joining Latham, Seabrook served as an Attorney Advisor with the Internal Revenue Service's National Office of Chief Counsel, Financial Institutions and Products, Branch 4, where she had primary responsibility for technical advice memoranda, private letter rulings and published guidance. She also was tax counsel to the Life Insurance Industry Specialization Program. Seabrook currently serves as Vice Chair of the Insurance Companies Committee of the Tax Section of the ABA.  Seabrook received her J.D. from Gonzaga University in 1985 and her LL.M from University of Denver in 1990.

New York - Jeffrey A. Tochner
Jeffrey Tochner specializes in intellectual property and technology matters in the firm's Corporate Department and is the head of the Technology Transactions Practice Group in the firm's New York office.  He is experienced in a wide variety of technology-related transactions including: outsourcing; joint ventures, strategic alliances and research and development; technology transfers; equipment manufacturing and installation agreements; software licensing and distribution; co-branding agreements; and e-commerce, internet and website agreements. He also routinely handles the intellectual property and technology aspects of mergers and acquisitions, as well as corporate finance transactions.  Prior to joining Latham in 1997, Tochner served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Emmett Ripley Cox, of the United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.  Tochner received his J.D. from the University of Florida in 1993.

About Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with more than 1,900 attorneys in 24 offices, including Barcelona, Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York, Northern Virginia, Orange County, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the Web site at www.lw.com.

Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that two attorneys in its Washington, D.C. office have been named 2007 "Super Lawyers" by Law & Politics Media, Inc.

The Foley attorneys named and their primary practices as classified by Law & Politics are Richard G. Stoll, environmental and administrative law and Jay N. Varon, antitrust litigation.

Richard G. Stoll is a partner and a member of the firm's Environmental Practice. Stoll concentrates his practice on federal administrative and environmental law matters. He counsels corporations and trade associations on environmental issues before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental agencies. He also represents clients in a variety of administrative law issues before other federal agencies. Stoll serves as an expert witness and arbitrator in environmental litigation and environmental disputes and handles EPA and state enforcement actions and rulemaking challenges.

Jay N. Varon is a partner in the firm's Antitrust Practice. He has litigated a broad cross-section of commercial cases around the country, including antitrust and unfair competition, consumer finance and deceptive trade practice involving matters relating to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 ("RESPA"), the Fair Credit Reporting Act, ("FCRA"), Truth In Lending Act ("TILA"), "fair lending" and related federal and state unfair trade practice and consumer protection laws, as well as cases dealing with trade secrets, employment, environmental, business tort, securities fraud, product liability and breach of contract issues. He is a former chair of the firm's Antitrust Practice and of its Washington, D.C. Litigation Department.

To compile the annual list, Law & Politics surveyed more than 17,000 lawyers practicing in the District of Columbia, asking them to vote for the best lawyers they have personally observed in action. The final list features the top five percent of Washington attorneys in more than 60 areas of practice and will be published in the June issue of Washington Law & Politics and in a special supplement in The New York Times. 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 law firm of Dilworth Paxson LLP has signed a 16-year lease for 72,000 sf in the East Tower of Centre Square. Executives of Comcast Corp. currently occupy the space on the three top floors and will vacate on completion of Comcast Center, now under construction at 1600 JFK Blvd.

Comcast now occupies approximately 400,000 sf in the 1.8-million-sf, two-tower Centre Square property, which is located at 1500 Market St. The Dilworth Paxson lease absorbs nearly 20% of that pending vacancy. The aggregate value and rent rate of the new lease are undisclosed. According to a report from the local office of CB Richard Ellis, the average asking rent rate in the Market West submarket closed 2006 at $25.10 per sf.

"The Center City office market is rapidly changing in a positive direction," Christian Dyer, a first VP in the local CBRE office, tells GlobeSt.com. He, EVP David Jarjisian, and first VP Nick Gersbach, represented the owner, HRPT Properties Trust, in the lease negotiations.

Of the entire Center City office market, Dyer adds, "In contrast to a couple of years ago, there are now very few large blocks of space available. Overall rent rates have increased about 10% within the past 12 to 18 months, and we expect another 10% increase over the next 12 months."

He says Center Square is currently 85% occupied, which includes the Comcast occupants. "Net, net, we’re already doing deals for that space," he says. Lincoln Financial, which now occupies two floors aggregating 58,000 sf in the complex, has announced that it will relocate some offices to suburban Radnor, but Dyer says the net loss is still unknown.

Newton, MA-based HRPT acquired Centre Square from Met Life for $183.5 million in 2002. A $25-million renovation is reaching completion at the complex, which is often called "the clothespin building," in reference to the Claus Oldenburg Clothespin sculpture at the front plaza that links the 40-story and 32-story, class A properties. They were built in 1973.

Dilworth Paxson will relocate from its current quarters at Mellon Bank Center, which is also owned by HRPT. Dave Campoli, HRPT VP, who is located here, says the law firm "has always been an important tenant in our Center City portfolio. We’re pleased that they elected to relocate to another HRPT building."

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP (K&L Gates) welcomes partner Andrew Petersen to the firm’s banking and finance group. Petersen will be joined by two associates. All three join the firm from Dechert LLP.

Petersen focuses his practice on real estate financing, advising lenders on secured and structured domestic and international debt, including corporate restructuring. He has experience in both U.S. and European secondary loan markets, acting for high-yield investors purchasing subordinated CMBS pieces, loan tranches, notes and mezzanine loans. His experience also includes acting for loan originators advising on CMBS origination through to securitization.

Tony Griffiths, K&L Gates’ London Administrative Partner, said: “Securitisation and structured finance is a complementary discipline to our existing strengths in finance and real estate. To recruit Andrew, who has published the leading work on European CMBS, is a tremendous step forward for our banking and finance group in London and worldwide and will enhance the firm's fast-growing securitisation, structured finance and banking capabilities.”

The hiring of Petersen’s team follows the September 2006 addition of Trevor Beadle, who also joined K&L Gates from Dechert.

Joel Jankowsky, chair of Akin Gump’s policy practice, stated, “Few practitioners have the range of experience developing and implementing international trade and economic policy positions at the highest levels of government. Hal, Greg and Steve are three who do know and understand firsthand the major players and dynamic relationships that are critical to clients’ interests in Washington. They will complement our policy group’s strengths in this area, providing our clients with an invaluable resource.”

Val Slater, chair of the firm’s international trade practice, added, "We are very excited to add Hal, Greg and Steve to our international trade policy team. These are three talented individuals who bring a wealth of experience and expertise and who will round out our ability to serve our clients in all aspects of international trade regulatory and policy matters. They are a terrific fit for our firm."

Mr. Shapiro joins the firm as a partner. He advises multinational companies, U.S. trade associations and foreign governments on international trade policy and international trade agreements, litigation of disputes before the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international dispute-resolution bodies, import and export matters, customs matters and federal civil litigation. He previously was a partner at Miller & Chevalier.

In 2000 Mr. Shapiro served as senior advisor for international economic affairs and senior counselor to the director of the National Economic Council at the White House, where he oversaw the development of administration international trade and economic policy positions with respect to international agreements, international trade disputes, pending legislation, executive orders, summit meetings between the president and foreign heads of state, and meetings of international economic bodies. He was the National Economic Council’s representative on the Trade Policy Staff Committee and the Section 301 Committee, the interagency bodies responsible for U.S. trade disputes and trade sanctions. He also specialized in U.S.-EU relations and in trade disputes. From 1996 to 1998 he served as associate general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where he represented the United States in WTO dispute settlement proceedings; oversaw U.S. litigation involving the trade representative; and was an advisor to the trade representative, the deputy trade representative and other senior administration officials in the formulation and implementation of U.S. trade policy.

Mr. Shapiro received his B.A. summa cum laude in 1988 from Columbia College and his J.D. in 1991 from Columbia Law School.

Mr. Mastel joins the firm as a senior advisor. His practice focuses on the formulation and implementation of international trade policy by the U.S. Congress and the executive branch. He advises and represents clients regarding trade and tax legislation and related regulatory developments, such as the ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations, free trade agreement negotiations, trade remedies and disputes, and other factors that may affect market access for goods and services in the United States and abroad. He also advises and lobbies for clients on a range of other legislative issues, particularly international taxation issues. He joins Akin Gump from Miller & Chevalier, where he was a principal in the International Department and chair of the Government Affairs Department.

From 2000 to 2003 Mr. Mastel served as the chief economist and chief international trade adviser to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, where he was responsible for developing all major international trade legislation that went before the Committee. Earlier in his career, he spent six years in various positions in the U.S. Senate, including chief of staff to Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), the current chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. During Mr. Mastel’s tenure, he played key roles in numerous matters before the Senate, including passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, extension of MFN trading status to China, and various tax and agricultural issues.

Mr. Mastel received his M.B.A. from the Edinburgh Business School in 1993 and is completing his D.B.A.

Mr. Kho joins the firm as senior counsel. He previously served for nine years in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, most recently as acting chief counsel on China enforcement. As the principal attorney on all China matters, he was responsible for developing disputes and advocacy positions related to China’s obligations in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Earlier, as associate general counsel, Mr. Kho was the lead USTR attorney on intellectual property and government procurement matters, leading the U.S. delegation in all related WTO and NAFTA dispute resolution proceedings. From 2002 to 2005 he was legal advisor at the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland, where he managed the WTO dispute settlement portfolio for the U.S. government.

Mr. Kho received his B.A. with honors from the University of Virginia in 1991, his J.D. with honors from the University of Maryland in 1995 and his LL.M. with distinction from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1998.

“I see Akin Gump as a rare combination of truly outstanding international trade, tax and government affairs capabilities,” said Mr. Mastel. “The firm provides us with the unique opportunity to improve and expand the services we provide our clients.”

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 900 lawyers with offices in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Dubai, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Taipei and Washington. The firm has a diversified practice and represents regional, national and international clients in a wide range of areas, including antitrust; appellate; banking and finance; capital markets; communications and information technology; corporate and securities; corporate governance; employee benefits; energy; entertainment and media; environmental; estate planning, wealth transfer and probate; financial restructuring; global security; government contracts; health; insurance; intellectual property; international trade; investment funds; labor and employment; land use; litigation; mergers and acquisitions; private equity; privatization; project development and finance; public law and policy; real estate development and finance; Russia/CIS; tax; and technology.