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.

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

Stephen Ball, Chief Executive Officer of Mourant du Feu & Jeune, said,

“This is a very significant development for the offshore legal world. New York is a vital feeder market for the Cayman Islands, and we’re very excited to be the first Cayman law firm to open an office there.

It will be a key element in the business development strategy for our enlarged Cayman practice, following the merger with Quin & Hampson announced on 19 February.”

Senior associate Simon Felton is relocating from Mourant’s London office in April. He will be Mourant’s first foreign legal consultant in New York and will not be practicing New York law. He will be based at the firm’s existing Manhattan office, which has grown to a team of 35 people since opening in March 2005. It provides third party fund administration and tax compliance services to some of the highest profile private equity funds in North America.

The firm has ambitious plans to grow the new office along the lines of its hugely successful four- partner London office, one of the largest offshore practices in the City.

Mourant is a specialist professional services group serving top international corporations, financial institutions, fund managers and high net worth individuals. It currently operates from offices in Jersey, Guernsey, London, Luxembourg, Cayman, New York, San Francisco and Dubai.

Mourant’s three divisions are Mourant du Feu & Jeune, one of the world’s leading offshore law firms, it specialises in providing offshore legal advice to the International finance and funds markets. Following its intended merger with Quin & Hampson, it will have 34 partners and a total of some 110 lawyers.

There is also Mourant International Finance Administration, a leading international provider of fund and corporate administration services, with over $100 billion in fund assets under its administration.

Mourant Private Wealth, provides lawyer-led independent wealth structuring for clients. It enables high net worth individuals and families to protect the wealth and welfare of present and future generations.

Throughout the years, the organisation has won numerous awards including a 2005 award for Offshore Law Firm of the Year (The Lawyer) and 2006 Jersey Law Firm of the Year (Who’s Who Legal).

www.mourant.com

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP today announced the opening of the law firm's Shanghai office, marking a natural expansion of the firm's U.S.-based East Asia practice. The new office, Sheppard Mullin's first international location, is housed in the Platinum Tower in Shanghai's Luwan District, near several of the firm's existing clients.

Sheppard Mullin represents 55 of the U.S. Fortune 100 companies, most of which have significant business operations in greater China. The new office in Shanghai marks the next step in Sheppard Mullin's strategic growth plan, which saw the opening of offices in Washington, D.C. in 2003 and New York in 2005. As with Washington and New York, the decision to open in Shanghai was driven by the needs of existing clients.

"Many of our clients have operations in China and are pursuing aggressive growth plans there. It is natural for us to establish a footprint in China to provide the support and guidance that our clients require on both sides of the Pacific," said Guy Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin. The firm has well established China and Korea teams handling outbound as well as inbound investment matters in a variety of industry sectors, including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, infrastructure, entertainment/media, and hospitality.

Opening in Shanghai is also a natural expansion of the firm's other international practices, which include the successful prior launch of Latin America, Italy, and Israel teams. "Several of our domestic and international practices focus to a significant degree on Chinese companies looking to raise capital or develop markets outside of China, and our new Shanghai office allows us to expand the services that we provide to those clients," said Halgren.

The Shanghai office opens with four seasoned China hands positioned to immediately handle a full range of investment, intellectual property, real estate, trade, financial restructuring, and international disputes matters. Partner David Huebner has relocated from Los Angeles to Shanghai to head the China practice and lead the new office. Also relocating to Shanghai is special counsel Xudong Ni from the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Special counsel William Zheng and senior legal consultant Michael Zhang have joined Sheppard Mullin from China's AllBright Law Firm.

In addition, partners Edward Tillinghast and Jerry Gumpel will remain integral members of the Shanghai team and will anchor the U.S.-side of the firm's greater China practice from their offices in New York and Del Mar, California, respectively.

Huebner, a former chairman of Coudert Brothers LLP, specializes in intellectual property and international dispute resolution. He has represented governments and corporations in various sectors including pharmaceuticals, technology, entertainment/media, telecom, and construction. Huebner is a solicitor in England & Wales as well as a member of the Bars of California, New York, and D.C. He is a graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and Yale Law School, and worked earlier in his career in Tokyo as a policy advisor to a member of the Japanese Diet. He sits on the ICC Commission on Arbitration and has handled numerous disputes in and related to greater China.

Ni, a native of China, has many years of experience handling foreign investment and trade matters, and helped found one of China's first private law firms. He also has prior experience at a Virginia-based business strategy consulting firm. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Peking University School of Law, and earned an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has particular expertise in strategic planning for foreign companies doing business in China, as well as deep industry experience in the aviation and banking sectors.

Zheng focuses his practice on foreign direct investment in the greater China region and has extensive experience in advising clients in various matters relating to intellectual property, corporate law, M&A, and venture capital in China. He worked earlier in his career for one of the Big Five accounting firms. He received his bachelor degree from Brandeis University and J.D. from Pace University School of Law. He is a member of the New York Bar.

Zhang has broad experience in intellectual property and corporate law, with a focus on advising clients on structuring investments and protecting intellectual assets. He has handled a wide range of matters in China for U.S. Fortune 100 companies and other international clients. He is a graduate of the Law School of the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade.

Tillinghast specializes in financial restructuring, cross-border insolvencies, creditors' rights litigation, distressed mergers and acquisitions, and advising distressed asset investors. Former head of Coudert Brothers' Global Insolvency and Restructuring practice, Tillinghast has written and spoken widely on the challenges of cross-border restructurings, and represents U.S. and greater China-based clients in cross-border matters in the U.S. and China.

Gumpel, the leader of the firm's International group, is a cross-border investment and M&A specialist. He represents U.S.-based multinationals and non-U.S. companies that have invested in the U.S.

About Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 490 attorneys in 10 offices located throughout California and in New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanghai. The firm's California offices are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Century City, Orange County, Del Mar Heights and San Diego. Founded in 1927 on the principle that the firm would succeed only if its attorneys delivered prompt, high quality and cost-effective legal services, Sheppard Mullin provides legal counsel to U.S. and international clients. Companies turn to Sheppard Mullin to handle a full range of corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.

www.sheppardmullin.com

Kent Slater, retired Illinois Appellate Judge in the Third District, has joined the Joliet law firm of Spesia, Ayers and Ardaugh, effective immediately. He will focus his areas of concentration on appellate practice, civil litigation and mediation.

Slater, a graduate of the University of Illinois with a BS degree in agricultural science, served as an officer in the Army, stationed in Vietnam. He received his law degree from John Marshall Law School, where he served on the law review and graduated first in his class in 1975. He later received his Master of Law (LL.M.) degree from the University of Virginia in 2001.

From 1975 to 1988, Slater practiced law in Macomb, with the general practice law firm of Lucie, Heiser and Slater. Elected in 1984 to the House of Representatives, Slater served two terms in the Illinois General Assembly before being elected circuit judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Illinois.

In 1990, Slater was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, Third District, a position he held for 16 years. Prior to his retirement from this post in 2006, he served for three years as the court's presiding officer.

Slater is a member of the Will County and McDonough County Bar Associations, Illinois Judges' Association and Illinois State Bar Association.

Weil Gotshal helped improve the law for disabled veterans in a major way when it successfully represented two nonprofit groups dedicated to the interests of disabled veterans, the Disabled American Veterans and the National Veterans Legal Services Program, as amici. In an appeal before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal, disabled veterans prevailed on every issue, reversing the anti-disabled veteran state of the law in two key areas. First, disabled veterans seeking to vindicate their rights under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act are now entitled to have their case heard by the Board Of Veterans Appeals if they miss the filing deadline as a result of a severe disability or other good reason. Second, disabled veterans who have suffered from discrimination are now entitled to a hearing before the Merits Systems Protections Board if they appeal a denial of benefits under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

The Weil Gotshal team working on this matter consisted of Edward Reines, Jeff Homrig and Sonal Mehta.

www.weil.com