Seyfarth Shaw Elects Thirteen New Partners to Firm

Chicago, IL (March 29, 2006) - - Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full service law firms, is pleased to announce that thirteen attorneys have been invited to join the partnership effective January 1, 2006.  The new partners are: John T. Bergin, Michael J. Burns,  Samuel S. Choy, Catherine M. Dacre, Paul S. Drizner, Jennifer A. Kraft, Geoffrey S. Long, Christopher Lowe, Ameena Y. Majid, Kristin G. McGurn, Christopher F. Robertson, Daniel W. Tarpey and Jason Whong.

"We are pleased to welcome these attorneys to our partnership, each of whom has consistently demonstrated excellence and innovation in all aspects of their practice.  They are assets to the firm,” stated J. Stephen Poor, managing partner of Seyfarth Shaw.

John T. Bergin practices in the firm’s construction group and is resident in the Washington, D.C. office.  He focuses on resolving construction disputes arising in the private and public sectors. He has had extensive trial experience and has tried over fifty cases before state and federal courts and the American Arbitration Association.  In addition to litigation, he devotes a portion of his practice to transactional matters such as drafting contracts.  John is a graduate of Catholic University of America (B.A., 1990) and the American University, The Washington College of Law (J.D., 1993).

Michael J. Burns represents employers in all aspects of traditional labor and employment law and is resident in the San Francisco office. He specializes in the practice of traditional labor and employment law on behalf of management including litigation in federal and state court and before the National Labor Relations Board.  Michael also practices commercial and intellectual property litigation, and has experience with corporate, transactional and complex high-technology issues including Internet law, trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition, rights of publicity, and general corporate governance matters.  Michael is a graduate of Boston College (B.A., 1990) and the University of San Francisco (J.D., 1994).

Samuel S. Choy practices in the firm’s employee benefits group and is resident in the Atlanta office.  Sam’s work is focused in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation.  His experience includes qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, retirement plan audits and plan corrections, ESOPs, fiduciary matters, welfare plans, benefits considerations in corporate restructurings, acquisitions and divestitures, and benefit plans for not-for-profit organizations.  Sam is a graduate of  Emory University (B.A., 1988) and Temple University School of Law (J.D., 1992) and Emory University School of Law (LL.M., in Taxation, 1993).

Catherine M. Dacre is a member of the firm’s labor & employment group and is resident in the San Francisco office.  She has a 15-year history in litigation, representing both public entity and private clients through trial.  She successfully defends employers in discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation actions as well as wage and hour class action litigation in State and Federal court.  Her background also includes experience defending civil rights cases for law enforcement agencies. Catherine is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., 1982) and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D., 1989).

Paul S. Drizner concentrates his practice on federal and state taxation and corporate law; he is resident in the firm’s Chicago office  His experience includes structuring corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships to acquire a variety of investments and operating businesses, organizing not-for-profit corporations and representing these corporations in obtaining tax-exempt status, advising tax-exempt organizations concerning tax and transactional issues and assisting corporations and other entities in structuring acquisitions, sales, mergers, spin-offs and other reorganizations.  Paul is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.S., 1985) and Loyola University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1988).

Jennifer A. Kraft practices in all areas of employee benefits law, including executive compensation, qualified retirement plans and welfare benefit plans; she is resident in the Chicago office.  She regularly counsels clients on benefit plan design considerations, plan administration, fiduciary responsibility, claims procedures and disclosure requirements.  Jennifer has assisted clients in addressing compliance issues, and in mergers and terminations of a number of qualified plans and has also helped numerous clients in preparing and implementing severance plans and related release agreements.   She is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 1993) and the University of Minnesota, magna cum laude (J.D., 1996, Order of the Coif).

Geoffrey S. Long is in the litigation practice group where he handles a broad array of civil disputes; he is resident in the Los Angeles office.  His focus is primarily on the areas of complex commercial litigation, general business and contract litigation, unfair competition law, products liability, environmental litigation and real estate disputes. Geoff practices in both federal and state courts, and has experience in complex commercial and products liability class actions, multi-party and coordinated litigation.  He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, (B.A., 1992) and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, cum laude (J.D., 1996).

Christopher Lowe practices labor and employment law; he is resident in the New York office.  He represents companies in virtually all areas of employment law, with an emphasis on complex and multi-plaintiff litigation, including wage and hour collective actions and civil rights class actions.  Chris also provides day-to-day counseling and advice to clients concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Title VII, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).   He is a graduate of St. Michael's College, cum laude (B.A., 1992) and the Seton Hall University School of Law, cum laude (J.D., 1998); he has an M.B.A., W. Paul Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University.

Ameena Y. Majid practices exclusively in employee benefits law; she is resident in the Chicago office.  She has experience in all areas of employee benefits with a concentration in executive compensation and retirement plans, both qualified and non-qualified including preparing and assisting in the design of deferred compensation plans, stock option programs and other equity based arrangements.  Other executive compensation matters include the preparation of numerous employment, severance and change in control agreements, which extends to advising companies on their rights and obligations upon an executive’s departure from employment.  Ameena is a graduate of the University of Iowa (B.A., 1994) and Loyola University (J.D., 1998).

Kristin G. McGurn’s practice is in the area of commercial litigation, with emphasis on securities and employment litigation; she is resident in the Boston office.  Her commercial litigation practice focuses on assisting private and public businesses to negotiate and draft contracts and to prosecute and defend commercial disputes including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition claims.  Her securities practice involves the representation of national brokerage firms in the defense of New England-based informal and formal customer complaints pending in the state and federal courts and before self-regulatory organizations.   Kristin’s employment law practice encompasses employment counseling and litigation. She prosecutes and defends discrimination, harassment and business tort claims in state and federal court, as well as before administrative agencies.  Kristin is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, magna cum laude (B.A., 1987) and Northeastern University School of Law (J.D., 1991).

Christopher F. Robertson is a member of the litigation, securities and investment management practice groups; he is resident in the Boston office.  His areas of practice include complex commercial and financial litigation, securities litigation, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and internal investigations. Chris has defended and advised corporations, broker-dealers, investment companies, investment advisers and their officers and directors in connection with class actions, derivative and private litigation, as well as audits, investigations, arbitrations and litigation commenced by federal and state authorities, securities regulators, self-regulatory organizations and shareholders. He is a graduate of Harvard University, cum laude (A.B., 1987) and Washington & Lee University, cum laude (J.D., 1992).

Daniel W. Tarpey's practice focuses on all types of commercial and business related litigation including contract disputes, trade secrets, and non-compete litigation; he is resident in the Chicago office.  He has significant experience in defending consumer fraud class actions as well as mass toxic tort claims and the defense of other catastrophic personal injury claims.  Daniel handles a variety of matters on behalf of all types of the firm's corporate clients, ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to small businesses.  He has served as lead trial counsel in both federal and state courts across the country and has also represented clients in Alternative Dispute Resolution proceedings such as mediation and arbitration.  Daniel is a graduate of the University of Illinois, cum laude (B.A., 1994) and the University of Notre Dame Law School (J.D., 1997).

Jason Whong concentrates his practice in taxation, fund formation, general corporate and information technology law; he is resident in the San Francisco office.  He plans, negotiates and drafts corporate documentation related to forming, financing, operating and dissolving corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies.  Of particular emphasis in Jason’s practice is advising high net-worth individual and corporate clients on structuring tax-efficient transactions, maximizing tax controversy claims and estate planning.  Jason is a graduate of  San Jose State University (B.S., 1991), the Santa Clara University School of Law (J.D., 1996) and New York University School of Law (LL.M., 1997).

Seyfarth Shaw has over 650 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.  Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services.  The firm’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business community.  Clients include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, 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.

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