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The National Law Journal Names Prominent Judges, Attorneys and Academics to Editorial Board
[November 29, 2004]

The National Law Journal Names Prominent Judges, Attorneys and Academics to Editorial Board

NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 29, 2004 -- The National Law Journal(R) today announced the formation of a new editorial board, designed to advise the newspaper's editors, provide feedback on news, analysis and opinion, and to serve as a source of occasional contributions to the paper's Opinion section. Twenty-three prominent current and former judges, practicing attorneys and professors at the nation's top law schools have agreed to serve on the editorial board. In addition, the NLJ announced that it would add staff-written editorials on key legal issues to the newspaper on a regular basis. A complete list of editorial board member biographies is attached to this release.



"Our new board will give us a more nuanced ear for the full chorus of voices in the legal community, and represents an important part of the expanded efforts to fulfill our 25-year-old mission as the weekly newspaper for the legal profession," said Rex Bossert, editor in chief of The NLJ. "We're extremely pleased that these distinguished individuals have agreed to share their insights and suggestions with us."

The National Law Journal's editorial board members are:


R. Lawrence Ashe Jr., Partner, Ashe, Rafuse, & Hill LLP, Atlanta, Ga.

Robert B. Barnett, Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C.

David Boies, Managing Partner, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Armonk, N.Y.

Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston & Bird Professor of Law, Duke Law School, Durham, N.C.

Mary B. Cranston, Chair, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, San Francisco, Calif.

John J. Gibbons, Partner, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., Newark, N.J.

Roscoe C. Howard Jr., Partner, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, Washington, D.C.

Anastasia D. Kelly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MCI, Ashburn, Va.

Judge Alex Kozinski, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Pasadena, Calif.

Bill Lann Lee, Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, San Francisco, Calif.

William S. Lerach, Partner, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Diego, Calif.

Nancy A. Lieberman, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York, N.Y.

Walter L. Metcalfe Jr., Partner, Bryan Cave LLP, St. Louis, Mo.

Abner Mikva, Schwartz Lecturer and Senior Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Ill.

William H. Neukom, Chair, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, Seattle, Wash.

William B. Payne, Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, Minn.

Carter G. Phillips, Partner, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, Washington, D.C.

Judge Jed Rakoff, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, New York, N.Y.

Patricia Lee Refo, Partner, Snell & Wilmer LLP, Phoenix, Ariz.

Harry M. Reasoner, Partner, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., Dallas, Texas

Deborah L. Rhode, Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, Calif.

Neal R. Sonnett, Partner, Neal R. Sonnett, P.A., Miami, Fla.

Dan K. Webb, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, Ill.

Founded in 1978, The National Law Journal has the largest paid circulation of any weekly publication serving the legal community. The newspaper is published by American Lawyer Media, Inc. (ALM).

Headquartered in New York City, ALM is a leading integrated media company, focused on the legal industry. ALM currently owns and publishes 35 national and regional legal magazines and newspapers, including The American Lawyer(R) and The National Law Journal. ALM's Law.com(R) is the Web's leading legal news and information network. ALM's other businesses include book and newsletter publishing, court verdict and settlement reporting, market research, production of legal trade shows, conferences and educational seminars and distribution of content related to the legal industry. ALM was formed by U.S. Equity Partners, L.P., a private equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP. More information on ALM, its business and services is available on the Web at www.americanlawyermedia.com.

List of biographies of The National Law Journal Editorial Board Members (in alphabetical order):

R. Lawrence Ashe Jr., Partner, Ashe, Rafuse, & Hill LLP, Atlanta, Ga., has served as lead defense counsel in a number of large employment discrimination cases and is recognized for his class action experience.

Robert B. Barnett, Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C., is widely recognized as a leading representative of authors, members of the media, and former politicians, and is a member of his firm's executive committee.

David Boies, Managing Partner, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Armonk, N.Y., is a nationally recognized litigator. He represented the United States Department of Justice in its antitrust suit against Microsoft, and served as lead counsel for former Vice President Al Gore in connection with litigation relating to the election 2000 Florida vote count.

Erwin Chemerinsky, Durham, N.C. is Alston & Bird Professor of Law at Duke Law School and previously served as Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science at USC Law School. The author of four books, he has frequently argued appellate cases before the United States Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals.

Mary B. Cranston, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, San Francisco, Calif., serves as Chair of her firm. She has litigated over 300 class actions in state and federal courts, and is an expert on class action procedural and trial issues, as well as all aspects of class action settlements.

John J. Gibbons, Partner, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., Newark, N.J., served for 20 years as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Gibbons is a past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, a life member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Roscoe C. Howard Jr., Partner, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, Washington, D.C., formerly served as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, the largest U.S. Attorney's Office in the country and the only U.S. Attorney's Office responsible for prosecuting both local crimes and enforcing federal laws. He also served as a law professor at the University of Kansas Law School.

Anastasia D. Kelly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MCI, Ashburn, Va. has served in that position since 2003. Formerly, she was general counsel for Sears, Roebuck and Co., and before that, Fannie Mae. She is a director of ACC, the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Judge Alex Kozinski, Pasadena, Calif., has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1985. Prior to that, he was Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Claims and clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Bill Lann Lee, Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, San Francisco, Calif., is a litigator, specializing in employment and international and human rights cases. He served as assistant attorney general for civil rights under the Clinton administration and, prior to that, as western director for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

William S. Lerach, Partner, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Diego, Calif. is one of the leading securities lawyers in the United States. He has served as chief counsel in many of the largest and highest profile securities class action and corporate derivative suits in recent years, including Enron, Dynegy, Qwest and WorldCom.

Nancy A. Lieberman, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York, N.Y., serves as a partner of her firm, specializing in merger and acquisition transactions, including negotiated and contested acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, tender offers, recapitalizations and restructurings. Ms. Lieberman also advises corporations on corporate governance issues.

Walter L. Metcalfe Jr., Bryan Cave LLP, St. Louis, Mo., serves as a partner of his firm, with an active corporate practice, as well as representation of many civic organizations. He has also been involved in numerous professional sports transactions, including the sale of the New England Patriots franchise, the acquisition of the St. Louis Blues and construction of St. Louis' 70,000-seat public stadium.

Abner Mikva, Schwartz Lecturer and Senior Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Ill., was White House Counsel from 1994 to 1995. For ten years, he was Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he had served since his original appointment in 1979. Before coming to the bench, he was elected to Congress for five terms and served on both the Ways and Means and the Judiciary Committees.

William H. Neukom, Chair, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, Seattle, Wash., re-joined the firm in 2002, from his position as executive vice president of law and corporate affairs at Microsoft, where he spent 17 years managing the company's legal, government affairs and philanthropic activities. He was elected chair of the firm in 2004.

William B. Payne, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, Minn., is a partner of the firm and chairs its mergers and acquisitions group. He specializes in the practice of corporate and securities law.

Carter G. Phillips, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, Washington, D.C., serves as managing partner of his firm's Washington, D.C. office. He has argued more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court, as well as numerous cases in the courts of appeals, and served as Assistant to the Solicitor General for three years. He clerked for both Judge Robert Sprecher on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Jed Rakoff, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, was appointed to the bench in 1996. Previously, he had been a private practitioner, and also served as chief, business and securities fraud prosecutions and assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District of New York.

Patricia Lee Refo, Snell & Wilmer LLP, Phoenix, Ariz., is a partner in the firm, specializing in appellate cases and complex commercial litigation. She was recently appointed as chair of The American Jury Project of the ABA, an initiative to produce a single set of modern jury standards that can be proposed as a national model.

Harry M. Reasoner, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., Dallas, Texas, is a partner, specializing in complex civil litigation. He has served as lead trial counsel in litigation and arbitration involving antitrust, securities, insurance, contract and tort claims in the billions of dollars. He has also handled the appeals of multimillion dollar verdicts, including antitrust, insurance, oil and gas, RICO and securities law issues.

Deborah L. Rhode, Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, Calif., also serves as director of the Stanford Center on Ethics and has been a member of Stanford's faculty since 1979. Professor Rhode is an expert in sexual harassment cases and represented the Democrats as a minority counsel with the House Judiciary Committee during the Clinton impeachment. She is also a past president of the Association of American Law Schools.

Neal R. Sonnett, Partner, Neal R. Sonnett, P.A., Miami, Fla., is a leading criminal defense attorney, specializing in white-collar, corporate and complex crimes litigation. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Division for the Southern District of Florida and has taught and lectured extensively.

Dan K. Webb, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, Ill., is a litigation partner with a national trial practice in major commercial, civil, regulatory and white-collar criminal cases. He successfully prosecuted retired Admiral John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair; spearheaded the "Operation Greylord" investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County, Ill., as the U.S. Attorney in Chicago; and most recently represented Philip Morris in connection with its tobacco-related litigation in Florida, Texas and Washington state.

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