Cleary Gottlieb Announces 10 New Partners and Counsel Worldwide

International law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced today that it has elected eight new partners and two new counsel, effective January 1, 2009.

The elections will bring Cleary Gottlieb’s total worldwide partners to 196 and counsel to 50.

“I am extremely proud to introduce these new partners and counsel of Cleary Gottlieb,” said firm Managing Partner Mark Walker. “Their experience spans 15 practice areas and a number of geographic regions, and they will enhance our ability to offer our clients the best possible legal advice across a range of sectors and countries.”

The new partners and counsel have experience in a broad range of practice areas, including: banking and financial institutions; bankruptcy and restructuring; capital markets; competition and antitrust; corporate governance; derivatives; energy; intellectual property; joint ventures; litigation and arbitration; mergers and acquisitions; private equity; securities enforcement and white-collar defense; sovereign governments and international institutions; and structured finance. The lawyers are admitted to practice in the United States, Italy, Switzerland and Brussels, and are also active in our European Union, Italy, Latin America and Middle East practices.

“Bringing together talented legal minds from across the world has always been our tradition at Cleary Gottlieb,” said Mr. Walker. “The new partners and counsel demonstrate the qualities of character, leadership, intelligence and legal skills that will enable them to contribute significantly to the firm’s practice over the long term, and they evidence our dedication to strengthening the firm primarily through internal growth.”

Biographical information for the new class is below.

David Aman, partner, joined the firm in 2000 and is a resident of the New York office. From 2000 to 2001, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Stanley Marcus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. His practice includes a broad range of financial, regulatory and insolvency matters, including financial institution insolvency, the effect of insolvency on structured transactions, broker-dealer and margin regulation, and the structure and documentation of derivatives and other structured products. David has advised on the insolvency, regulatory and structural aspects of a number of significant matters, including the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Refco, the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs’s acquisition of subprime mortgage loan servicer Litton Loan Servicing, and Grupo Petersen’s acquisition of a $2.2 billion stake in YPF. Recently, David has been working with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on projects relating to the provision of liquidity to financial institutions and the market. He is a member of the Bar in New York.

Marco D’Ostuni, partner, advises on European Community and Italian antitrust law, and telecom and energy regulation. Marco joined the firm’s New York office in 2000 and transferred to the Rome office in 2001, where he is now based. He has extensive experience representing companies in the telecommunications and energy industries, including winning an appeal before the Regional Administrative Court in Rome on behalf of energy giant Eni regarding an alleged exclusionary abuse in the management of a pipeline, annulling the largest antitrust fine ever issued in Italy. Marco has also represented Telecom Italia, Italy’s largest telephone operator, in a number of antitrust and regulatory matters, including successfully advising the company in its request for an interim order forbidding a major international operator from launching new home-phone services in Italy that use fixed-line numbers on a mobile network. He also successfully defended the company in a case related to an interim order requested by an internet service provider requiring that Telecom Italia modify its internet services wholesale pricing plan and is currently assisting the company on negotiations with the Italian Communications Authority about equal treatment commitments for the management of the fixed-line phone network. He is a member of the Bar in Naples and New York.

Adam Fleisher, partner, focuses on various aspects of corporate law, including international and U.S. capital markets transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. He has worked on public and private offerings involving a variety of sectors, including financial institutions, energy, pharmaceuticals, insurance, information technology and telecommunications. Adam joined the firm’s New York office in 2000 and was a resident in the firm’s London office from 2001 to 2005, when he returned to New York. In the capital markets arena, he has advised on initial public offerings, including by GP Investments, BankMuscat and VMware, one of the largest tech IPOs to date. Adam also has counseled on numerous rights offerings, including by Arcelor, ABB, Ahold, Burhmann, Clariant and Foamex International. He recently advised Citigroup on 10 concurrent equity offerings totaling $19 billion, including private placements of convertible preferred stock to sovereign wealth funds and individuals. Adam has extensively counseled private equity firms in both strategic and capital markets alternatives, and also has played a substantial role in the preparation of the firm’s treatise, U.S. Regulation of International Securities and Derivatives Markets. He is a member of the Bar in New York.

Thomas Graf, partner, focuses on European Community law, including antitrust, regulatory affairs and intellectual property law. Thomas joined the firm in 2000 and is a resident of the Brussels office. He has counseled companies on a variety of high profile matters. He was recently part of the team that won an appeal before the Court of First Instance on behalf of Sony Corporation of America and SONY BMG regarding the formation of the SONY BMG music joint venture. He also played a role in successfully defending SONY BMG in an antitrust investigation by the European Commission of SONY BMG’s online music download agreements with Apple. He was a key member of the team that represented RealNetworks, as well as co-counsel to the European Committee on Interoperable Systems and the Software & Information Industry Association, in the European Commission’s case against Microsoft, resulting in a landmark decision finding Microsoft’s software tying practices an abuse of dominant position. Thomas is admitted to the Bar in Switzerland and is a member of the European Union-list of the Brussels Bar. He has published widely on antitrust matters.

Joon H. Kim, partner, joined the firm’s New York office in 1997. From 1996 to 1997, he clerked for the Honorable Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. His practice focuses on litigation and arbitration, particularly securities litigation, internal investigations, and white-collar criminal defense. From 2000 to 2006, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he investigated and prosecuted cases involving fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. While serving in the Government, he tried 12 jury trials and briefed and argued numerous appeals before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Recently, Joon authored amicus curiae briefs in the district court and the court of appeals on behalf of our clients International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in the CSX case. The case, which has drawn wide interest, concerns the public reporting obligations of holders of “long position” in total return swaps referencing equity securities of public companies. A member of the Bar in New York, he returned to the firm’s New York office in May 2006.

Elizabeth Lenas, counsel, joined the firm in 1999 and is a resident of the New York office. Her practice focuses on private equity fund formation and private equity investments. She is recognized as a “leading individual” in the field of private equity fund formation by Chambers USA. She regularly counsels private investment firms, including TPG, Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs, and recently represented TPG in the formation of TPG Partners VI, L.P., TPG’s largest private equity fund with commitments of approximately $20 billion. She is a member of the Bar in New York.

Glenn P. McGrory, partner, joined the firm’s New York office in 2000. He was resident in the firm’s Frankfurt office during 2001, and resident in the firm’s London office from 2003 until 2006, when he returned to New York. His practice focuses on corporate transactions, particularly domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. He recently represented The Hartford in connection with a $2.5 billion capital investment by Allianz and First Reserve in connection with its gold and uranium mining joint venture with Harmony Gold in South Africa. He also advised Ricoh Co. in its acquisition of IBM’s printing systems division, American Express Company in its acquisition of GE’s Corporate Payment Services business, and Euronext in its groundbreaking merger with NYSE Group, creating the first-ever transatlantic securities exchange company. He represented The Midland Company in its $1.3 billion merger with Munich Re Group. He is a member of the Bar in New York.

Pietro Merlino, counsel, joined the firm’s Rome office in 1999 and was a resident of the firm’s Brussels office from 2001 until 2003, when he returned to Rome. His practice encompasses most aspects of European Community and Italian competition law, including market dominance, merger control, restrictive practices, cartel investigations, licensing and distribution, and intellectual property. Recently, he represented concrete producer Xella International in winning an appeal of fines and structural remedies imposed by the Italian Antitrust Authority over Xella’s alleged participation in an anticompetitive scheme. He also successfully represented Merck & Co. in a two-year investigation before the Italian Antitrust Authority concerning an alleged abuse of market dominance. He is currently representing Edison in an appeal before the EC Court of First Instance against a Commission cartel decision. Pietro has advised on the antitrust aspects of a number of mergers and acquisitions, including AEM’s €4.1 billion acquisition of Edison S.p.A. and Banche Popolari Unite’s merger with Banca Lombarda e Piemontese—creating one of Italy’s largest banking networks. He is a member of the Bar in Naples.

Christopher Moore, partner, joined the firm in 2000 and is a resident of the New York office. He focuses on complex civil litigation matters, including intellectual property and commercial disputes as well as international litigation and arbitration. He is currently representing Citigroup in connection with an intellectual property dispute and in connection with litigation related to the destruction of 7 World Trade Center. Christopher has taken a leading role in the firm’s representation of the Republic of Argentina in many high profile sovereign debt cases, including advising Argentina in a number of lawsuits brought by holdout creditors relating to the country’s recent debt restructuring. In addition, he advised the Argentine Province of Mendoza in its defeat of attempts by a Bermuda-based hedge fund to block the Province’s restructuring. He also represented the Republic of Nicaragua on litigation aspects of its external commercial debt cash buyback offer. Christopher has also handled high profile pro bono litigation, including obtaining the release of an improperly held detainee from Guantánamo and successfully obtaining asylum relief for our client at a hearing in Albania. He has also represented Ducati in intellectual property infringement and misappropriation cases. He is a member of the Bar in New York.

Sean A. O’Neal, partner, joined the firm in 2000 and is a resident of the New York office. His practice focuses on corporate restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy, and related litigation matters. He is currently representing Hellman & Friedman in connection with its bid, with Bain Capital, to acquire certain assets of Neuberger Berman and the Investment Management Division of Lehman Brothers. He is also representing Apex Silver Mines Limited in its restructuring efforts and UBS Securities as plan investor in the Delphi bankruptcy. Recently, he advised Goldman Sachs in connection with its acquisition of Litton Loan Servicing and the related restructuring of Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization (C-BASS), and advised D. E. Shaw, Goldman Sachs and other backstop providers in the Chapter 11 rights offering of Foamex International. Additionally, he has represented Chapter 11 debtors, including Covanta Energy, in their successful reorganizations. He is a member of the Bar in New York.

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About Cleary Gottlieb

Founded in 1946 by lawyers committed to legal excellence, internationalism and diversity, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a leading international law firm with approximately 1000 lawyers around the world. The firm received a number of accolades this year, including its selection as: “Latin American Law Firm of the Past 20 Years” by LatinFinance; “Belgian Law Firm of the Year” by Chambers Europe; and “French Law Firm of the Year” by International Financial Law Review. The firm’s capital markets and mergers and acquisitions practices were also recently named: “Global Capital Markets Law Firm of the Year” by Chambers Global; “Equity Team of the Year for the Americas” by International Financial Law Review; “Strongest U.S. Firm in European M&A” by LegalWeek; and “African M&A Advisor of the Year” by Acquisitions Monthly. Both JUVE and Acquisitions Monthly also named Cleary Gottlieb “Competition Law Firm of the Year.”

The firm has ranked in the top 10 of the American Lawyer’s A-List, a comprehensive ranking based on revenue, pro bono, associate satisfaction and diversity, since the lists’ inception in 2003. Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms ranked the firm number one in overall diversity and diversity for minorities, and the firm was named the “Best Firm to Work For” in 2008. Working Mother Magazine named the firm a “Best Law Firm for Women” and Minority Law Journal ranked it number one in diversity. Cleary Gottlieb has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Paris, Brussels, London, Moscow, Frankfurt, Cologne, Rome, Milan, Hong Kong and Beijing.