Latham & Watkins Admits Six New Partners Worldwide

New York, March 23, 2005 - Latham & Watkins LLP¹ is pleased to announce that six attorneys worldwide representing three of the firm’s departments and five offices in the United States and Europe, were elected to the partnership, effective April 2005. All six attorneys were previously of counsel with the firm. This year, the firm has admitted thirty-seven new partners worldwide.

"We are delighted to welcome these outstanding new partners to our partnership," said Robert M. Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins. "All are superb lawyers and have demonstrated their deep commitment to client service and teamwork which is a hallmark of the firm’s culture. We extend our congratulations to each and look forward to working together to continue servicing our clients throughout the firm."

Matteo Bay, who resides in the firm's Brussels office and spends a significant amount of time in the Milan office, is a member of the Global Antitrust and Competition Practice and concentrates on EC and Italian competition and telecommunications law. He regularly represents clients from a variety of industries, including telecoms, media, paper, chemicals and consumer goods, in investigations conducted by the European Commission and the Italian Antitrust Authority. Bay has handled important cartel and merger related litigation matters before the EC Courts in Luxembourg and in the Italian Courts. He also advises clients on other aspects of EC law. Immediately prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Bay served for three years as a senior law clerk (référendaire) first to European Court of Justice Judge Antonio La Pergola and then to Advocate General Antonio Tizzano. He received his J.D. in 1989 from the Università degli Studi of Milan (Italy), where he graduated summa cum laude, holds two LL.M. degrees from The College of Europe and Harvard Law School and is a Fulbright alumnus. Fluent in Italian, French and Spanish, Bay is admitted to the bar in Italy and New York.

Thomas Heiden is a trial lawyer specializing in high-stakes energy, utility, resource and business tort disputes nationwide and has tried cases in every region of the United States. Among the clients he has represented in complex litigation in recent years are Gen Corp, WPPSS/BPA, Commonwealth Edison, New England Power, Ford Motor Company, Meridian Automotive Systems, Novartis, Kaiser-Hill and Westinghouse. He is also a frequent CNN commentator on high profile trials. Heiden received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1971.

John Sorkin practices corporate law specializing in domestic and cross-border transactions, including public and private mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, tender offers, exchange offers and representation of financial advisors in a wide range of corporate transactions. Some of his recent noteworthy matters have included representing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. in connection with its acquisition by an investor group led by Sony Corporation of America, representing Leonard Green & Partners, L.P., in connection with its leveraged buyout of Varsity Brands and representing the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Southern Peru Copper Corporation in connection with its proposed acquisition of Minera México, S.A. de C.V. from Grupo México, S.A. de C.V. He is currently representing Beverly Enterprises, Inc., in its proxy contest with Appaloosa Management and Formation Capital. Sorkin received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1994.

Philip Clifford specializes in international arbitration, litigation and mediation. His broad practice embraces many areas, from construction and power projects to joint ventures, supply contracts and fraud. Some of his recent noteworthy matters include, a US $1.5 billion ICC arbitration in Singapore relating to a multi-purpose power project, an LCIA arbitration in London between shareholders concerning a Chinese joint venture, a UNCITRAL arbitration in London over the construction of a US $5 billion Asian oil refinery, an English High Court litigation for three nuclear power companies and a major fraud investigation. Clifford has Masters Degrees in Jurisprudence and Construction Law and Arbitration from Oxford University and King's College London.

Lene Malthasen practices finance law with a focus on equity and debt capital markets representing underwriters, issuers, trustees and collateral managers on debt issues, MTN programs and ECP programs, high yield issues, structured finance transactions, as well as GDR and other equity offerings. Recently, she has represented The Royal Bank of Scotland on the high yield offerings by EMI Group and the Baxi Group, Sistema JSFC on its IPO in the form of GDRS listed on the London Stock Exchange, as well as the Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development on its debut issue of loan participation notes. She also represented Autostrade on their €10 billion global MTN programme, and Brescia, Gruppo Editoriale l’Espresso and Lottomatica on their debut bond issues. Malthasen received her Law Society Final Exam from The College of Law, Guildford in 1991, and first class honors degree from the University of Sussex in 1990.

Christopher Yates’ practice spans a variety of complex litigation matters, including antitrust and IP litigation for high technology companies. Recently, he was one of the trial counsel for Oracle in United States v. Oracle, a case in which the United States Department of Justice unsuccessfully attempted to enjoin Oracle’s $10+ billion acquisition of PeopleSoft. At the month-long trial and during the expedited pre-trial phase, Yates was responsible for developing and presenting evidence concerning Oracle’s competitors, other market participants and customer witnesses. He also played a key role in the successful defense of Genentech in a patent and antitrust case brought by MedImmune. Yates currently represents Apple Computer in a series of cases brought by Apple resellers alleging antitrust violations, unfair competition and theft of trade secrets, based upon Apple’s opening of retail stores. Yates received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1992, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

This election adds four new partners to Latham & Watkins’ Litigation Department and one to both the firm’s Corporate and Finance Departments. Latham’s Litigation Department has over 450 litigators in major jurisdictions throughout the United States and Europe. Latham’s Corporate Department represents on a local, regional and global basis in a variety of M&A, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital transactions. The firm’s Finance Department provides banking, project finance and infrastructure, real estate and insolvency services to a wide array of financial institutions and corporations worldwide.

Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with more than 1,600 lawyers and 21 offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Moscow, New Jersey, New York, Northern Virginia, Orange County, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. www.lw.com .

Robert M. Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner, 415-391-0600

Peter Kerman, Global Chair, Corporate Department, 650-328-4600

Vicki Marmorstein, Global Chair, Finance Department, 213-891-8340

Peter Wald, Global Chair, Litigation Department, 415-395-8006

^{1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with an affiliate in the United Kingdom and Italy, where the practice is conducted through an affiliated multinational partnership.}