Paul Hastings Names Thirteen New Partners

November 16, 2005

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (Paul Hastings), a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce today that Erika Collins, Bruce Depaola, Robert Grados, Stephen Harris, Eric Keller, Alexander Lee, Peter Meier, Christian Platt, Liubomir Rogelov, Scott Saks, Richard Schoenstein, Deyan Spiridonov, and Sana Swe have been elected to the firm partnership. The election of these 13 talented attorneys to the partnership reflects the broad cross section of our core practice areas and our international reach," said Seth Zachary, Chairman of Paul Hastings. We are delighted to welcome these attorneys to the partnership and are confident that they will continue to make tremendous contributions to our firms growth and success in the years ahead. The following attorneys have been elected Partner: Erika Collins, a member of the Employment Department, resident in the New York office. Ms. Collins provides strategic advice and counseling to employers on a wide range of employment matters, with a specific focus on international employment issues. Bruce Depaola, a member of the Real Estate Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. Depaola represents real estate developers, commercial landlords, real estate investment trusts and institutional lenders in real estate transactions including the acquisition, development, disposition, leasing and mortgage secured financing of a number of signature multi-use facilities in New York and across the country. Robert Grados, a member of the Real Estate Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. Grados represents a variety of national and regional financial institutions, venture capital firms and institutional investors in structured finance transactions including, without limitation, syndicated, securitized and single lender real estate-based transactions, construction and permanent loans, corporate credit facilities, and mezzanine, equity and subordinate credit facilities. Stephen Harris, a member of the Employment Department, resident in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Harris focuses on employee benefits matters, executive employment and reductions in force including providing fiduciary counsel to public retirement plans; designing, implementing, interpreting, and litigating qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, executive contracts, stock option and other equity plans, severance plans, and vacation plans. Eric Keller, a member of the Employment Department, resident in the Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Keller represents clients in all aspects of executive compensation and employee benefits law. In this regard, he advises clients regarding tax, labor (including ERISA), financial accounting, securities and litigation issues. Alexander Lee, a member of the Tax Department, resident in the Orange County office. Mr. Lee concentrates his practice in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and recapitalizations of corporations, with an emphasis on complex international corporate transactions. Peter Meier, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the San Francisco office. Mr. Meier represents clients in complex and mass tort litigation, including class actions and toxic tort litigation. He has obtained complete defense verdicts in consumer arbitrations, and has successfully defended unfair competition class actions in California courts. Christian Platt, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the San Diego office. Mr. Platt focuses his practice on handling patent litigation and patent licensing disputes, primarily in the fields of biotechnology and medical devices. Mr. Platt has also represented clients in other fields, including telecommunications, computer hardware, computer software, and networking technologies. Liubomir Roglev, a member of the Corporate Department, resident in the Paris office. Mr. Roglev focuses on advising corporate clients (companies and banks) and individual entrepreneurs (mainly shareholders or managers) on corporate finance and project finance matters. Scott Saks, a member of the Corporate Department, resident in the Paris office. Mr. Saks has extensive corporate transactional and securities experience representing underwriters, financial institutions and U.S. and non-U.S. corporations in international and U.S. public and private securities offerings. Richard Schoenstein, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. Schoenstein facilitates the resolution of commercial disputes through investigation, case assessment, negotiation, mediation and, where necessary, adversary proceedings in arbitration or the judicial system. Deyan Spiridonov, a member of the Corporate Department, resident in the San Diego office. Mr. Spiridonov practices in the area of mergers and acquisitions and has represented public and private companies in the telecommunications, semiconductor, software, technology-related defense contracting, biotechnology and financial industries. Sana Swe, a member of the Employment Department, resident in the San Francisco office. Ms. Swe represents clients in harassment and discrimination litigation, wage and hour and general contract litigation, and in proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, California Labor Commissioner, California Unemployment Appeals Board, and the State and Federal Courts. Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP, founded in 1951, is a leading international law firm with 1,000 attorneys in 17 offices. The firm serves a diverse client base including many of the top financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies, supports clients in all of their legal needs and offers deep capabilities in Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate/M+A, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, Project Finance, Investment Management, Real Estate, Labor and Employment and Tax Advisory Services. For additional information, please visit our website at www.paulhastings.com.