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MEMBER NEWS

LAW Adds Norwegian Member

We are pleased to announce the newest member of Lawyers Associated Worldwide:

Founded in 1975, Rime & Co has 4 partners, 4 counsel and 11 total lawyers and staff. The firm’s practice includes corporate law, real estate, construction, estate planning and litigation, but it has a particular expertise and a substantial practice in insolvency and restructuring. For further information, contact:

Rime & Co Advokatfirma DA
Øvre Slottsgate 12b
Oslo
NORWAY

Phone: + 47 23 00 34 00
Fax: + 47 23 00 34 01
Web Site: www.rimeco.no
Primary Contact: Niels R. Kiær
Email: kiaer@rimeco.no

Cayman Islands Firm Relocates Its Offices

Nelson & Company, our LAW member in the Cayman Islands, is pleased to announce a move. Beginning in May, the firm can be reached at:

Number 31, The Strand
46 Canal Point Road (off West Bay Road)
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

For further information, contact amurray@nellaw.com or info@nellaw.com

Ulmer & Berne LLP Ranked One of the Top 5 Best of the Best by Midwest Real Estate News

Ulmer & Berne LLP, one of the Midwest’s fastest growing law firms and our LAW member in Ohio, is pleased to announce that Midwest Real Estate News magazine has named the firm 4th on its list of 2006 Top 25 Real Estate Law Firms. Ulmer jumped 10 spots in the ranking, up from its 2005 ranking of 14. Rankings are determined by the number of real estate transactions in the previous year and the dollar amounts related to those transactions above $5 million. “We are extremely pleased and honored that the Real Estate Group at Ulmer & Berne continues to be recognized for its achievements locally and nationally,” stated Bill J. Gagliano, chair of the firm’s Real Estate Group. “The value and services we regularly deliver to our clients are the reasons for this incredible 4th place ranking.”

Johns & Associates Representation of Hospitality Industry Grows

In the last year, Peter Johns, Senior Partner of Johns & Associates, our LAW member in Paris, has represented several major clients in the hotel and resort industry as well as three famous Michelin Stars chefs, assisting in successfully setting up new hotels, resorts, spas and restaurants. These recent projects are in several different countries and include:

• London: “the Barrio Latino Restaurant” (under construction); “the Buddha Bar” (opening June 2006); “Aubaine” (opened 12 months ago); “L’atelier et la table” de Joël Robuchon (3 stars Michelin – opening June 2006)
• New York: “the Buddha Bar” (opened in April 2006)
• Las Vegas: “Joël Robuchon”
• Evian (France): “Buddha Spa at the Hilton” (under construction)
• Oman: “Buddha Hotel Resort and Spa” (under construction)
• Prague: “Buddha Hotel & Spa” and “Buddha Bar Restaurant” (under construction)
• Bahrain: “Buddha Resort Hotel & Spa” (under construction)
• Dubai: “Buddha Bar Restaurant” (opened September 2005)

The 11 sites represent an approximate total investment of 510 million Euros. Peter is also currently representing a client in the negotiation and financial and legal structuring of hotels/resorts in Qatar and the USA.

Jacoby Donner Opens Office in Virginia and Expands Construction/Real Estate Practice

Jacoby Donner, our LAW member in Philadelphia, is pleased to announce the opening of its Virginia office. While many smaller boutique firms in the city have struggled or merged with larger firms, Jacoby Donner continues its expansion path. Jacoby Donner, celebrating its 75th anniversary, is known nationally for its construction law practice and will provide advice to all sectors of the real estate and construction industry in Virginia through its new Portsmouth, Virginia office. The office will be headed by Elise Walthall, a construction industry lawyer. For more information, contact B. Christopher Lee at: chris.lee@jacobydonner.com.

Patricia Lebow Elected as University of Richmond Trustee

Patricia Lebow, managing partner of the West Palm Beach office of Broad and Cassel, our LAW member in Florida, was recently elected to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Richmond. Lebow founded Broad and Cassel’s West Palm Beach office in 1983, building it into the firm’s second largest office in the state, with 26 lawyers and 40 support staff. A practicing attorney for more than 30 years, Lebow’s areas of practice include estates and trusts, litigation, and alternative dispute resolution.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Forum Brings Together Law Firms in CIS Region

The Russian-Ukrainian Legal Group, P.A., our LAW member in Kiev, Ukraine, is pleased to announce the first large-scale meeting to bring together the international legal community and law firms from the CIS region. The Forum, entitled “Know Your Local Counsel—Recognize an Opportunity,” will include local law firms from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The Mission of the Forum is to "bring together the CIS and international legal communities with the aim of creating joint business opportunities and long-term cooperation." The number of Forum delegates will be limited to 180, anticipating an approximately equal split between representatives of the international legal community and of the CIS legal community.

The Forum is a non-political and non-partisan gathering of lawyers who share the Mission of the Forum and wish to expand their practices and business opportunities through new personal contacts. It will be held in Kiev on June 29 and 30, 2006. For further information, visit the following link: http://www.rulg.com/cisforum/index.asp.

LAW to Participate in Swedish-American Entrepreneurial Days

LAW is sponsoring the Swedish-American Entrepreneurial Days August 21-23, 2006, in Lidköping, Sweden, the Swedish-American Chamber’s major annual event. Together with participation by SOLON Attorneys and Advokatfirman Kjällgren, two of our LAW members in Sweden, LAW will have a booth at the business convention that will present LAW as a legal resource to the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce’s members and other business people.

We urge U.S. LAW members who are contemplating a visit to Europe in the late summer to consider attending the meeting. LAW hopes to have at least two Americas representatives in attendance, as well as members from Norway and Denmark. For further information, visit: www.sacc-usa.org/lidkoping2006/ or contact the members of the LAW Executive Committee coordinating the event: Seymour Mansfield (smansfield@mansfieldtanick.com) or Björn-Anders Feijen (bjorn@solon.se).

LAW MEETINGS

Las Vegas Site of Western North America Regional Meeting

On March 31 through April 2, 2006, the first Western North America Sub-Regional Meeting of LAW was held in Las Vegas at the Nevada MGM Grand Hotel. The meeting, organized and attended by Howard N. Gould, of Finestone & Richter, LAW member in Los Angeles, was also attended by: John Klinedinst, Klinedinst PC (San Diego, CA); Paul Sharek, Emery Jamieson LLP (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada); Bob Wilson, Berenbaum, Weinshienk & Eason, PC (Denver, CO); and Charlie Winch, Stewart & Winch (West Vancouver, B.C, Canada). Jeffrey Silver of the Las Vegas firm of Gordon and Silver attended as an observer.

In addition to presentations about each firm in attendance, the group discussed:

• Marketing by individual firms and marketing through LAW, and specifically how referrals could be increased among firms in the sub-region
• Management issues
• Recruiting within the sub region, developing as targets Calgary, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Monterey, Mexico
• The results of the member survey

Everyone agreed that holding future sub-regional meetings would be beneficial, as would meeting as a sub-region at each regional meeting and the AGM of LAW.

According to Howard, the dinners were spectacular and so was La Reve, the show attended by the group.

“Think Globally, Act Locally”

At a conference that I recently attended, the leader of a 2,000 plus global law firm, headquartered in the U.S., described the secret to his firm’s international success. He dubbed it, “Think Globally, Act Locally.” The phrase really had a ring to it. It succinctly described the rationale for an international legal network like Lawyers Associated Worldwide.

I listened as the large, global firm partner described the strategy that his firm initially pursued as it tried to build foreign offices by staffing them with U.S. expatriates. There was no real traction at the local level; turnover of professional staff was frequent, and the local offices (and clients) often questioned the firm’s long-term intention to stay and build its “branch office” in the foreign country. Things changed dramatically for this firm once it realized that the best way to build a global organization was to find the best local lawyers with the best local practices and representations, make them partners in the firm, and allow them to use their skills (and the global firm’s resources) to grow their “local” practices. Combine that thinking with “home schooling” of the local associates by offering them the opportunity to work for a year or two in other top offices in the firm, wherever those offices are located. Follow a strategic plan that has been adopted in an open process to achieve maximum buy-in from all participants, regardless of location. Finally, adopt a global branding program that identifies the high quality legal services that you provide. And, oh yes, all of your offices must consistently provide the highest levels of client service.

In many ways an association like Lawyers Associated Worldwide is a global law firm without the added overhead. If we have done our recruiting properly, we have found local member firms in each jurisdiction with excellent reputations and connections; firms that are highly respected for their ethics and expertise; firms of various sizes that have the capability and the desire to serve the local needs of our global middle-market clientele and do so in an efficient and cost-effective manner; and firms that have bought into our strategic plan and have willingly complied in all respects with LAW’s Service Standards.

I hope that every reader of this column believes that the characteristics cited in the above paragraph describe his/her firm. I hope that we are all doing our best to build our local practices and reputations. I hope that you all think that it is important to maintain uniform quality and service standards that will identify our “brand.” I also hope that the collegiality and mutual respect that you experience as a LAW member makes it feel like this is one large, global partnership – one family.

We need to do all that we can to work together to build a worldwide brand for the middle-market that is based in fact, that has substance, and that we can each apply to our best advantage in our local markets. If there are places where the reality of a local jurisdiction does not match up with our aspirational goals, we need to face that too, and address any shortfalls responsibly. That is what is expected of a good “partner,” and that is what is necessary to build a believable global brand.

“Think Globally, Act Locally.” I really like that phrase. I wonder if anyone has tried to file a service mark application…

Sincerely,

Christopher C. McCracken, Chairman
Ulmer & Berne LLP
Cleveland, Ohio USA

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Request from LAW’s Public Relations Firm, Exponential

Public relations is the art and science of presenting a client at their best and spreading the word. Exponential has been writing about you—LAW—at your best and presenting you to the world. But we can’t share your news unless you are sharing it with us.

A great example of sharing LAW news is the recent release for SATO Corporation. That press release came about because Howard Cohen (Chicago, Illinois) provided the information and received permission from the client to release it. It provided rich information about LAW’s ability to cohesively conduct global multi-million dollar transactions. Exponential continues to gather information from LAW’s membership for press releases. Last month, Nancy Eiler attended the Americas meeting in New Orleans and met with members regarding their firms and media contacts. At the meeting, David Mosier (Erie, Pennsylvania) gave us an article he authored and which ran in the Erie Times-News. This is incredibly helpful to public relations. The more details we know about you, the more we can find stories to tell.

There may be details that you believe are not important, but sometimes the story is in those details. Regional meetings always provide valuable content for press releases, but we are interested in hearing about the sub-regional meetings too, especially before they happen. If you have sub-regional meetings planned in the months ahead, please send the information to us for consideration for future releases.

Making sure the news gets to right publication and editor is also important. LAW’s media database continues to grow as Exponential researches media contacts and receives publication information from LAW members. When you send us your contacts, it is extremely valuable in sending the releases to the right media outlet. We want to increase the contacts of European, African, Asian and Central and South American publications. If there are legal or business publications in your region for LAW press releases, please send the name and type of publication (business, legal or other), a contact (editor or reporter), and an email address for each contact. Please send the information to neiler@exponentialresults.com.

And remember -- wear your best clothes.

Nancy B. Eiler
Exponential
19885 Detroit Rd., #176
Cleveland, Ohio 44116
P: + 440.527.0208
F: +440.527.0218
NEiler@ExponentialResults.com