Paul Hastings Adds High-Profile Latin America Focused Corporate Team in New York

May 16, 2012

New York, NY (May 16, 2012) - Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that four partners, Michael Fitzgerald, Taisa Markus, Joy Gallup and Arturo Carrillo, have joined the Corporate practice in its New York office. The lawyers, widely recognized as leading global capital markets and finance experts, join from Dewey & LeBoeuf, where they were partners in the Latin America, Corporate Securities and Corporate Finance practice groups. Mr. Fitzgerald will serve as chair of the Latin America practice at Paul Hastings. The team has experience throughout the region and enjoys a particularly prominent position in Mexico and Brazil.

The team advises Latin American, United States and other international corporations and financial institutions on a wide range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private debt and equity offerings, bank financings, restructurings, general corporate representation and SEC reporting.

"With their high-profile, substantial capital markets and other transactional experience and diverse client base, this market-leading group will provide capability in a fast-growing region, while reinforcing the strength of our global capital markets and finance practices," said Elizabeth Noe, chair of the Corporate practice at Paul Hastings. "We are looking forward to working with such a talented group of lawyers, who bring new experience and expertise to our global network," she added.

"This team is an excellent addition to our growing New York office," said Barry Brooks, chair of the New York office. "The groups broad range of skills and clients will augment the growth and momentum of our New York Corporate practice by expanding our client base and enhancing and supplementing our expertise and bench strength," he added.

Michael Fitzgerald

Mr. Fitzgerald served as chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf's Latin America and Corporate Securities practices, and was global co-chair of the Corporate Finance practice. He has represented a wide range of international and domestic underwriter and issuer clients in debt and equity financing transactions and merger and acquisition activities. He has been especially active in Latin American financial markets. He was one of the first U.S. corporate lawyers to focus on capital markets work in Latin America.

Taisa Markus

Ms. Markus was a partner in Dewey & LeBoeuf's Latin America and Corporate Finance practices and vice chair of the Corporate Securities practice. Her practice handles cross-border securities offerings, cross-border bank finance and M&A, and general securities law matters. Ms. Markus has significant experience representing both financial institutions and issuers, particularly in the Latin American and European capital markets, as well as in-depth knowledge of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital securities across jurisdictions. Ms. Markus speaks Spanish and Portuguese and has focused on Latin America for 21 years.

Joy Gallup

Ms. Gallup was a partner in Dewey & LeBoeuf's Latin America, Corporate Securities and Corporate Finance practices. She has extensive experience representing underwriters and domestic and international issuers in private and public offerings of debt and equity securities. Her areas of concentration include Rule 144A/Regulation S high-yield, project bond and structured debt offerings and other structured products Ms. Gallup also has expertise in liability management transactions, corporate restructurings, secured lending transactions and general corporate matters, including SEC reporting requirements. More recently, Ms. Gallup has focused her efforts on complex, cross-border debt restructurings in Latin America.

Arturo Carrillo

Mr. Carrillo was a partner in Dewey & LeBoeuf's Latin America, Corporate Securities and Corporate Finance practices. He has represented private and state-owned foreign companies, investment banks, bank groups and sovereign states in cross-border capital markets and liability management transactions, structured financings, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions, with a particular emphasis on Latin American matters. In addition, he has significant experience with European corporate and capital markets transactions, as he was based in Rome, Italy from 2001 through 2004. Mr. Carrillo speaks Spanish and has been focused on Latin America throughout his career.

Paul Hastings LLP is a leading global law firm with offices in Asia, Europe, and the United States. We provide innovative legal solutions to financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Please visit www.paulhastings.com for more information.