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.