Seyfarth Shaw LLP Ranked As Leading Employment Law Firm in Illinois

SEYFARTH SHAW RANKED AS LEADING EMPLOYMENT LAW FIRM IN ILLINOIS

9 Chicago-Based Lawyers Selected for Chambers USA Guide, Highlights Firm’s Local Employment, Real Estate Capabilities

Chicago, June 14, 2004 –Seyfarth Shaw LLP and 9 attorneys have been recognized among the state’s best by their peers and clients in the second annual Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers. The survey, conducted by Chambers and Partners Legal Publishers, ranks America’s top law firms and legal practitioners annually.

“We are thrilled to be recognized as one of the state’s premier law firms, particularly by our clients and peers,” said Steve Poor, managing partner of Seyfarth Shaw. “Our rank as the number one law firm in the field of employment law, as well as our notable ranking in real estate, illustrates the excellent work we do on behalf of our clients.”

Survey respondents, citing Seyfarth’s employment team, calls Seyfarth “by far and away the best firm” and praises the firm’s “ability to handle work across a large geographic area.” Respondents likewise praised the firm’s “active real estate practice”, particularly its work in the pension investments.

The Chambers USA guide ranks individual lawyers and practice areas on a state-by-state basis; firm rankings are determined by the number of individual lawyers selected from each firm. In addition to the 9 lawyers ranked from Chicago, 9 other Seyfarth attorneys from across the nation were selected.

“Our strong showing, both on a local and national level, illustrates strategy of growing our national platform to consistently provide clients with outstanding service,” said Poor.

The entire results were recently published in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers and on the Chambers web site, www.chambersandpartners.com. The rankings are based on 7,000 interviews with lawyers and clients across the United States.

Individual Lawyers
The following lawyers from Seyfarth’s Chicago office were selected:

Kenneth R. Dolin, Employment. Dolin has experience addressing a wide variety of employment matters, including managing union relations, workforce reductions and harassment complaints.
Joel H. Kaplan, Employment. Kaplan has extensive experience in the area of traditional labor relations law, including significant NLRB case handling experience.
Thomas J. Piskorski, Employment. Piskorski concentrates on a wide range of employment and employee benefits matters, including collective bargaining, labor contract administration and arbitrations.
John W. Powers, Employment. Powers represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law.
Eric E. Boyd, Environmental. Boyd represents a wide variety of corporate clients in environmental regulatory compliance, litigation and transaction matters.
Joel D. Rubin, Real Estate. Rubin advises public and private pension funds, investment advisors and developers regarding significant investments in real estate.

About Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Founded in 1945, Seyfarth Shaw LLP now has more than 600 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States – including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. -- as well as Brussels, Belgium. True to its roots, Seyfarth Shaw has one of the largest labor and employment practices in the nation, and also provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of bankruptcy, workouts & business reorganization, business immigration, business law, real estate, construction, contracts, employee benefits, environmental, safety and toxic tort, intellectual property, litigation, tax, and trusts and estates.

Today, the firm’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include several of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as many other industrial and manufacturing 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.

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