Seyfarth Shaw Announces Establishment of Interdisciplinary Legal Team to Address the Madoff Crisis

Specialized attorneys help clients understand their rights and potential exposure as the fast-moving situation unfolds in various venues.

New York, NY (January 9, 2009)—Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, today announced that it has established an interdisciplinary “Madoff Team” to assist clients in understanding, negotiating, and addressing the various legal issues raised in connection with the alleged misconduct of Bernard L. Madoff and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BMIS”) as described in the complaint in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bernard L. Madoff and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08 Civ. 10791 (LLS) (SDNY), and in the related criminal and bankruptcy proceedings. The team will help clients understand and preserve their rights vis-à-vis the claims process and other potential litigation, as well as analyze and defend any potential fiduciary or other exposure in connection with the investment of monies with Madoff and BMIS. The firm’s attorneys have extensive skills to address the wide variety of issues that are arising, from providing fiduciary duty advice, to defending claims made against third parties or intermediaries involved (and/or their officers, directors, and trustees), to issues faced by investors themselves.

The Madoff Team will work under the direction of Brian S. Cousin, Co-Chair of the firm’s ERISA and Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group, and William L. Prickett, Chair of the firm’s Securities and Financial Litigation Practice Group. Cousin has over twenty years experience in complex commercial litigation, including directors and officers liability litigation (including claims for advancement of legal fees and indemnification), ERISA litigation (including claims for breaches of fiduciary duty), fiduciary litigation, professional liability litigation, and securities litigation. Prickett’s twenty years of practice focuses on securities litigation, including directors and officers liability litigation, shareholder and corporate governance litigation, hedge fund litigation and other complex business litigation.

“Seyfarth Shaw is well-positioned to help clients evaluate their potential exposure in connection with the fallout from Madoff,” Cousin said. “Drawing on our experience in fiduciary and securities litigation, class action litigation, bankruptcy, and tax, we are ready to meet the needs of our clients with respect to this ever developing story.”

Cousin and Prickett are joined by other attorneys in various practice groups, including litigators Kent Sinclair, William J. Factor, and Jonathan Evan Goldberg. The firm’s Madoff Team consists of senior partners and other attorneys from the firm’s Securities and Financial Litigation, Class Action, Bankruptcy, Tax, Corporate, Real Estate, ERISA, and Fiduciary Litigation Groups across the Firm’s nine U.S. offices.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 750 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States including Chicago; New York; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco and Sacramento; as well as Brussels, Belgium. The firm provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of business services, employee benefits, litigation and labor and employment. Seyfarth Shaw’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, technology, hotels, health care organizations, airlines and railroads. The firm also represents a number of federal, state, and local governmental and educational entities. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com.