DC partner Nicholas Allard was quoted in a July 21, 2011 article in The Hill on 2011 lobbying revenues to date. In the article,  Mr. Allard said growing revenues were mainly due to technical regulatory work in the non-lobbying area. Patton Boggs’ 2011 lobbying revenue surged over 2010’s figure, measured at the same time last year.

DC partner Kevin O’Neill was quoted in a Politico article the same day, also regarding lobbying revenues. According to Mr. O’Neill, many are “anxiously awaiting the resolution of the debt ceiling negotiations.”

On Wednesday, April 27, 2011, Patton Boggs partner Carolyn McIntosh and associate Travis Seegmiller attended a ceremony held by United Brownsville and Imagina Matamoros for the signing of a joint proclamation establishing the intent of both organizations to form a Zone for Bi-National Economic Development (Bi-NED) aimed at fostering economic development and enhancing border security along the United States-Mexico border. Earlier in the month, Patton Boggs was retained by United Brownsville, with support from the City of Brownsville, the Brownsville Public Utilities Board and the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation/Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, to assist in its efforts to develop and implement the border initiative.

The ceremony took place at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art and featured speakers such as United Brownsville Board President Fred W. Rusteberg, Imagina Matamoros’ Sergio Arguelles and former U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity project coordinator, Dr. Juan Hernandez. Ms. McIntosh also addressed the audience of distinguished community leaders and Bi-NED advocates.

Denver partner Carolyn McIntosh addressing attendees at the signing ceremony for the Bi-NED proclamation in Brownsville, Texas. Photo courtesy of Brownsville TV.

Patton Boggs chair Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. and partner Rodney Slater are featured in Destiny-Pride's November Spotlight discussing a range of topics including the firm's history, race in politics and the genesis of their lives and legal careers. Destiny-Pride, a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, was formed with the goal of facilitating and providing collaborative support, resources and services through a variety of educational and social programs, to promote the social welfare of children, youth (including those with social-emotional barriers to learning) and the families from which they come. Destiny-Pride is also a pro bono client of the firm's.

To read the full Spotlight, click here.

Matthew Berry, Monica Desai and Robert Quicksilver, partners in the firm's Washington office, were featured in an articles in The Hill and RCR Wireless in October 2010, highlighting their arrival to the firm’s Technology and Communications practice.

Richard Andreano, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in the September 2010 RESPA News Monthly, discussing how to best simplify mortgage disclosure forms to give consumers more clear-cut and comprehensive information needed to make important financial choices.

To comply with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is required to combine the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) form and the Truth in Lending form. Simplifying these two forms has been an issue for years between regulators and mortgage industry professionals.

“There are key issues that will need to be addressed in combining the RESPA and TILA disclosures,” Mr. Andreano said. “In particular the statues are not coordinated. Congress is taking a bottom-up approach instead of a top-down approach in which you first coordinate the underlying statutes and then develop integrated disclosures.” 

Scott Deatherage, a partner in the firm’s Dallas office, was featured in an article in Law360 on September 7, 2010, discussing his recent arrival as a partner at the firm, and his focus on advising clients on a growing array of climate change and renewable energy issues.

Patton Boggs was listed as an “Awesome Opponent” in a Law360 article on September 3, 2010, discussing the law firms that in-house counsel fear the most as opponents in the courtroom. The results were determined by a recent survery that asked 240 corporate counsels which firms they feel are the most formidable litigation opponents for BTI Consulting Group's 2011 Litigation Outlook report.

Michael Dino and Matt Knoedler, senior public policy advisor and public policy adviser, respectively, in the firm’s Denver office, appeared on ColoradoBiz TV on August 26, 2010, discussing Colorado’s post-primary politics.

David Tafuri, a partner in the firm's Washington office, wrote an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal on August 25, 2010, that addresses a recent trip he made to Gaza and the West Bank with Google executives.

The op-ed examined how this region, because of its restrictions, views the Internet as the most promising sector for job creation.  Many West Bank companies have already generated revenue from Internet-focused businesses and are drawing in foreign investment, but the impact goes beyond economics. 

"Perhaps most significant, however, is that Palestinians' isolation—and inability to travel and import or export goods—means that the Web is their main way to connect with the outside world," Mr. Tafuri wrote.

Nicholas Allard, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared on a Voice of America (VOA) three-part lobbying series from August 23 – 25, 2010 discussing the issues surrounding the practice of lobbying including its role in U.S. government policymaking, ethics and rules regulating the practice and international interest and involvement.

George Schutzer and Paul Rubin, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in The Gray Sheet on August 16, 2010 discussing the medical device excise tax that will be implemented in 2013.

The provision, stemming from the health care reform legislation, will institute a 2.3 percent tax on most medical device sales in the U.S. Many medical industry professionals would like to repeal or revise the measure, while some attorneys advise those in the industry to seek answers from the government on how implementation will happen. Some concerns surrounding the provision focus on questions regarding the types of devices that will be exempt from the tax, according to the article.

“Before Treasury actually begins to do anything, it is a lot easier to have informal conversations,” Mr. Schutzer said. “This is really a good time to go in and broadly discuss the nature of the problems and ... the procedures that might be used by Treasury.”

Medical devices considered by the Treasury as “generally purchased by the general public at retail for individual use,” such as hearing aids and eyeglasses are exempt from the tax. Determining which devices will be exempt is a cause for concern to some in the industry and attorneys.

“There are many classes of products that are only medical devices if you make certain claims for them,” Mr. Rubin said. “These types of ‘dual use’ products - capable of regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as consumer products, or FDA as medical devices, depending upon claims - are potentially subject to the excise tax.”

Jay Darden, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in The New York Times on August 13, 2010, about a broad federal investigation into whether major drug and device makers have made illegal payments to health professionals and doctors in foreign countries to encourage them to order or prescribe their medications.

Manyforeign countries, forbid doctors from marketing drugs and medical devicesas they can in the United States. If payments to doctors by drug and device makers are not disclosed to the governments, there may be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Drug companies need to be remindful to their foreign subsidiaries not to make bribes to local officials and doctors, according to the article.  

“They should set a tone at the top that makes it clear to a company’s international sales force that these types of payments are unacceptable,” Mr. Darden said.

Greg Johnson, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was featured in an article in Planet-Profit Report on August 3, 2010, about NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, offering primer on financing cleantech projects.

The association recently held a form titled “Financing Renewable Energy & Clean Technology Facilities,” in Denver that focused on complexities of alternative energy taxation and financing. Mr. Johnson explained how federal tax credits can be used as leverage to finance a large renewable energy production project, according to the article.

“[I]t seeks to monetize credits, meaning they want to create a structure whereby they use other people’s money -- people who do want credits -- and the structure monetizing those credits brings cash to the table to allow the sponsor of the renewable energy project to use that as equity as part of their overall capital program,” Mr. Johnson said.

Vinoda Basnayake, an associate in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful People article on July 28, 2010.

Mr. Basnayake focuses his practice on legislative and policy matters for international and domestic clients. He finds time to promote nightclubs and musicians through The Nightlife Agency, an entertainment business he launched with friends. Mr. Basnayake is also devoted to the P90X workout regime. He says he has come a long way from his childhood to be named among the 50 most beautiful people by The Hill.

“Two things South Asian parents do is overfeed their kids and insist on dressing you,” Mr. Basnayake said. “So up until about the fifth grade, I was fat and dressed by my mother. Now I like to work hard on my personal style.” 

Michael Dino, a senior public policy advisor in the firm’s Denver office, was featured on WSCOtv.com and WSCO 9 on July 27, 2010, in a story about Charlotte’s bid to host the next Democratic National Convention.

Mr. Dino played a crucial role in Denver hosting the DNC in August 2008. Charlotte hopes to bring the next DNC to the North Carolina city. Denver and Charlotte are both up and coming and easy to get around cities, making them appealing places to hold conventions, Mr. Dino said.

Mr. Dino was the CEO of the Denver Host Committee when the convention took place in the mile-high city in 2008. He believes Charlotte has a good shot to host the next DNC.

“From an infrastructure point of view, I can’t think of any reason why Charlotte would be at a deficiency,” Mr. Dino said. “I think Charlotte needs to prove it can raise the money to support the convention production.”

Bill McGinley, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in National Journal on July 26, 2010, about the politics behind the DISCLOSE Act, the congressional response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that opens the door for more corporate and union political spending.

National Journal reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “mounted an aggressive public relations and lobbying campaign to kill the legislation, labeling it a partisan power grab by Democrats.” The bill would require unions and corporations to publicly report the top donors paying for their political ads. But it includes controversial spending bans for government contractors and for substantially foreign-owned corporations that became “flash points for criticism,” according to National Journal.

“This bill is clearly designed to change the rules at the last minute to protect the traditional soft-money allies of the Democratic Party,” Mr. McGinley said. “[It’s] a bill that touches every actor in the political process.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article on Bloomberg Businessweek on July 23, 2010, about mortgage investors urging bond trustees to help end practices that damage their holdings, such as lenders repurchasing bad loans.

Last year, the Mortgage Investors Coalition was formed to lobby against a legal “safe harbor” that Congress created for servicers changing debt under a federal program’s guidelines, according to the article. Mr. Green and a former Patton Boggs partner worked on policy issues when the coalition was formed.

“[We] worked very closely together on the investor issues when the Mortgage Investors Coalition was formed last year to focus on the public policy issues on Capitol Hill,” Mr. Green said.

Thomas Boggs, Jr., chairman of the firm, was featured in an article in Politico on July 23, 2010, in the publication's annual 50 Politicos to Watch issue.

Among the 50 politicos named are politicians, bureaucrats, administration officials and others. Mr. Boggs was named among “The Fixers” category. His feature states Patton Boggs is the largest federal lobbying firm in the nation and that Mr. Boggs and the firm played a role on the lobbying side with the auto bailouts, health care reform and financial regulatory reform.

Patton Boggs, Kevin O’Neill and Nicholas Allard, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in articles in The AmLaw Daily, The Hill, Roll Call and National Journal during the week of July 19, 2010, about second quarter Lobbying Disclosure Act results.

Patton Boggs maintained its position as the top lobbying revenue generator and posted double-digit gains over the first half of 2009. Patton Boggs reported earning $20.8 million in lobbying fees thus far this year. The healthcare reform, energy bill and Wall Street regulation contributed to the increase of revenues for many lobbying firms in the first half of 2010.

“I think there is a growing realization in the business community that everything that impacts their bottom line and daily activities is impacted by an extraordinarily activist government in Washington. They need to be engaged on many levels going forward,” Mr. O’Neill said.

The National Law Journal article notes Patton Bogg’s recent purchase of the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group and how the acquirement can help the firm keep its top ranking in lobbying.

"We just put Patton Boggs on steroids by bringing [Breaux and Lott] in," said Nick Allard, a partner and the chair of the firm's lobbying, political, and election-law practice. "They just give us the ability to provide top-drawer service with two of the most respected and effective lobbyists in the U.S."

Patton Boggs was featured in an article on Balkans.com on July 22, 2010, about the Albanian government contracting Patton Boggs to explore privatization options for Albpetrol.

Albpetrol, Albania’s state-owned oil company, will start freely selling its own crude oil on the market to strengthen the company before privatizing. This change will end the monopoly of oil sales in the country. Albpetrol’s valued assets, which includes its crude transport system and wells, is $497 million.

Jay Darden, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in Main Justice on July 16, 2010, about the largest enforcement action against health care fraud.

The 94 defendants allegedly conned the government health care program out of $270 million. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams, which included 360 agents mainly from the FBI and Health and Human services, obtained and executed eight search warrants and arrested defendants in Miami, Detroit, Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn. The Obama administration has requested $90 million for fiscal 2011 to expand health care strike force in up to 13 cities.

“This diverse group of cities illustrates the department’s commitment to continuing to fight fraud in places where strike forces have existed for some time, but also shows the willingness of the department to simultaneously expand into other areas,” Mr. Darden said.

Michael Schaengold, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in The Government Contractor on July 14, 2010, about the Department of Defense’s institutionalization of operational contract support for overseas operations.

A recent subcommittee report found that contractors working in combat zones paid Afghan warlords and militia commanders to provide supply-chain security, according to The Government Contractor. The Department of Defense has said that they have little visibility into the inner-workings of how the subcontractors operate.

An interim rule was implemented that, according to the article, requires contractors to report executive compensation and first-tier subcontractor awards on contracts expected to be worth $25,000 or more, except classified contracts and contracts with individuals.

The rule “creates the significant risk of public scrutiny not only for contractors and subcontractors, but for the individual personnel,” Mr. Schaengold said. “Contractors should be alert to Government attempts to impose modifications on them (to add this clause) to existing contracts, which could lead to the potential for contractor requests or adjustment in contracting price.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in Reuters on July 15, 2010, about a new Wall Street lobbying campaign in light of the Senate’s approval of financial reform.

The lobbying campaign is aimed at regulators who now have the duty to translate the regulation into rules. The Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are among the agencies responsible to write concrete rules due to the overhaul of the nation’s financial reform.

“The legislation leaves many policy issues to the regulators to decide, almost turning the regulatory process into a virtual extension of the legislative process,” Mr. Green said.

Benjamin Chew, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in The Washington Post on July 13, 2010, about a controversy between the Army Navy Country Club and Arlington County over a proposed bike bath the county wants to build on the eastern edge of the club’s golf course.

Arlington County agreed to allow a new clubhouse at the country club to be built 20 feet higher than zoning rules allow, and in exchange the club would allow the county to build a public bike path on the edge of the gold course. The bike path proposal didn’t sit well with some of the club’s members who fear the bike path will attract loiters around the golf course. Fourteen members of the club sued the club’s leaders saying that their agreement with the county violates the clubs bylaws because there was no vote on the proposal by the members.

Mr. Chew represents the members suing the club. “All our clients want is due process and a vote. That's as American as it gets,” Mr. Chew said.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an Advanced Trading article on July 14, 2010, about the uncertainty of the Volker Rule as the Senate prepares to pass a reform of the nation’s financial regulations.

The uncertainty over the Volker Rule stems from confusion over the definition of proprietary trading within the Rule. Under the Rule, banks would be prevented from making high risk bets with proprietary trading accounts and limit their investments in hedge funds or private equity funds, according to Advanced Trading.

“There is a definition in there that says it’s about a trading account in a range of different assets, but there’s an awful lot left to interpretation,” said Mr. Green. “I’d guess you know it when you see it. Because that’s what we’re hearing from a lot of regulators right now, that there are dozens and dozens of such interpretations.”

News that Patton Boggs has acquired  the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group appeared in the National Law Journal; The New York Times; The Hill; The Washington Post; Roll Call; National Journal’s Congress Daily; Washington Business Journal; Dallas Business Journal; Politico; Denver Business Journal; The Huffington Post; New York Observer; Radio Television Business Report; The Independent Weekly; The Biloxi Sun Herald; The Clarion-Ledger; CEOSelf; DS News; Fox Business News; Law Week Colorado; Law360; SGFinance; and Radio Business Report.

Former Louisiana Democratic Senator John Breaux and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., join the firm’s Washington office as special senior counsel with their sons, John Breaux, Jr. and Chester Trent Lott, Jr.; three public policy advisers; and three staff members.

The acquisition signals an aggressive growth plan for Patton Boggs as it continues to maintain its top spot in legislative work while expanding its footprint in major regulatory areas. Combining these two highly recognizable public policy firms will lead the firm in their strategic initiative of having bipartisan leadership to solve client problems at a time when it has never been more difficult to navigate Congress.

“This acquisition is a strategic coup and a cornerstone for our bipartisan growth,” said Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of Patton Boggs.

Matthew Oresman and Penelope Farthing, an associate and senior counsel respectively, in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in an article on July 1, 2010, in the ABA Journal, about  a growing trend of attorneys becoming successful lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

According to the article, law firms are well-represented among the top 20 lobbying firms in Washington. In 2009, Patton Boggs was the top lobbying law firm in terms of total expenditures bringing a total of $40.1 million, according to financial disclosure records The firm is on track to once again place at the top in 2010.

Many attorneys start their careers working for government agencies or members of Congress, leading them on a path to pursue lobbying. Their ability to draft and read legislation, and navigate the complexities of government, make them hot commodities for both law and lobbying firms.

“I stumbled into it. I ended up finding the perfect fit,” Mr. Oresman said. . “You are very rarely doing the same thing twice. You are always on the cutting edge of the law. The problems I get presented with on a daily basis are problems that no one has been presented with before.”

Mark Savit, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was featured in BNA's Occupational Safety and Health Reporter on June 24, 2010, about the launch of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s severe violators enforcement program.

The program, which took effect June 18, 2010, will bring additional enforcement to employers who endanger their employees by exposing them to serious hazards. Violators could be subjected to enhanced enforcement, including mandatory follow-up inspections; increased company and corporate awareness of OSHA enforcement; corporate-wide agreements, where appropriate; enhanced settlement provisions; and federal court enforcement, according to the article. The severity and/or probability of an injury or illness from a specific violation are determining factors for the punishment.

Not everyone, including Mr. Savit, believes the overhaul is necessary.

“I don't know that anyone has yet demonstrated that the current sanction regime is, in itself, inadequate to deal with workplace safety issues,” Mr. Savit said. “And I think that before anyone goes ahead to implement brand-new regulations, there first has to be some study of whether those regulations really will address the issue.”

Nicholas Allard, a partner and head of the lobbying practice in the firm’s Washington office, appeared on NPR’s On Point radio show on June 24, 2010,  to talk about the nuts and bolts of how lobbying works on Capitol Hill.

The radio segment, entitled “Lobbyist on the Loose in Washington – Raising the Current on Lobbying,” focused on the crucial role that lobbyihng plays in Washington and the public’s perception of lobbying and those who participate in it.

Mr. Allard defended lobbying, saying there are “good” and “bad” lobbyists. Lobbyists play a vital role in Democracy, he said, because they offer analysis, advice and expert advocacy.

“Money doesn’t buy results,” Mr. Allard said. “Lawmakers have to do what makes public policy or political sense. There has to be a public policy justification.”

Martha Kendrick, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by The National Law Journal on June 21, 2010, about how a growing number of clients are seeking legal counsel about the new health care reform law.

Clients are turning to law firms with Washington regulatory practices and health care specialties to help them, “navigate and influence rulemaking going on at federal agencies,” including at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to The National Law Journal.

Fraud and abuse provisions, investment opportunities, bids on public contracts and changes to the Medicare Advantage program are among the issues law firms are assisting clients with stemming from the health care reform law.

Ms. Kendrick, who specializes in health care and previously worked for HHS, said the law leaves "an incredible amount of discretionary authority" to the agency. "We have some clients who have come to us who have technical issues, where the drafting of certain provisions is either unclear or silent and they have a stake in the way the agency interprets the statutory language," she said.

Ms. Kendrick and several other lawyers said they are looking at regulations that will govern accountable care organizations, an entity created by the law that will be responsible for improving quality and finding new efficiencies in the health care system. Among the issues yet to be determined, she said, is how any savings from the improved efficiency would be calculated and shared between the new accountable care organizations and the government. "The basic rules of the game have to be established," she said.

James Muchmore, an attorney in the firm’s Denver office, was featured in an article in Colorado Energy News on June 21, 2010, about the launch of The Renewable Energy Trust Initiative. The launch event, held on June 17, 2010, was hosted at the firm’s Denver office.

The goal of the initiative is to raise $350 billion in clean energy investments through employee 401(k) and IRA plans. During the official launch, discussions focused on the lack of renewable energy funds available for employees to choose from in their 401(k) and IRA portfolios. The initiative hopes to provide educational outreach about benefits from increased renewable energy investments to Colorado’s 500,000 employees who enroll in retirement plan, according to Colorado Energy News.

Mr. Muchmore, a board member of  the initiative, discussed opportunities that the group  hopes to create for employees to allow them to choose renewable energy investments.

Carol Van Cleef and Rory Adams, a partner and associate, respectively, from the firm’s Washington office, co-authored an article on June 15, 2010, in The Prepaid Press, about the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.

Entitled, “The Assault Continues - Prepaid Cards Included in Senate’s Financial Services Reform Bill,” the article predicts greater scrutiny in the prepaid card industry once the legislation becomes law. The House and the Senate must hammer out a compromise between the two bills before President Obama can sign the bill into law.

 “The bill could impact the future evolution of the product: it affects statutes and regulations that helped foster the rapid development of the industry in recent years and will probably eliminate a regulator that oversees some of the key players in prepaid card programs,” the article states.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was named a 2010 Top Lobbyist by The Hill. Mr. Green is a former co-CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and represents a wide range of financial interests in complicated products, such as derivatives and high-frequency trading.

Kevin O’Neill, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in a Bloomberg article on June 10, 2010, about corporate political action committees’ donations to political incumbents’ campaigns.

Democrats have benefited from the donations far more than Republicans, according to Bloomberg. Corporate PACs have given Democrats $5.2 million, 14 times more than Republicans in the midterm congressional elections. AT&T Inc., Boeing Co. and Honeywell International Inc. are among the top corporate PACs donating to the Democratic incumbents.

“Most PACs are inclined to first focus on incumbents that they have relationships with,” said Mr. O’Neill, vice chair of the firm’s public policy practice “If you’re going to invest money in somebody challenging an incumbent, you better feel pretty good about their prospects before you do it.”

Nicholas W. Allard, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was honored by the National Law Journal on June 7, 2010, as one of the city’s leading “visionaries.”

The NLJ’s Visionary Award is bestowed on a handful of attorneys each year “whose business or legal acumen have been key to expanding their firms, improving government or advancing the law.”

Mr. Allard was selected for promoting lobbying as an “honorable profession.”

“With lobbyists under attack by politicians of all stripes and the Obama administration trying to curb their influence, Allard has become the most outspoken defender of their honor, giving dozens of speeches on the subject and publishing articles in Newsweek and the Stanford Law & Policy Review,” the National Law Journal wrote.

David Frederick of Washington's Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, told the NLJ that Mr. Allard’s leadership has filled a void “in a very scholarly and practical way.”

John McGahren and John Corbett, a partner and of counsel, respectively, in the firm’s New Jersey office, co-authored an article on June 7, 2010, in New Jersey Law Journal, about important developments in the rapidly evolving field of vapor intrusion.

Vapor intrusion is the potential for volatile organic compound or petroleum vapors to travel into building interiors from groundwater or subsurface soils. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appear ready to take further action on guidance for vapor intrusion. This spring, ASTM International announced a major revision to its screening tool for vapor intrusion in real estate transactions, according to the article.

Mr. McGahren and Mr. Corbett advise New Jersey property owners, developers, manufacturers, lenders and insurers to stay well informed about vapor intrusion regulations and guidance. The expected actions by various departments and agencies on vapor intrusion signal that regulations and guidance will only intensify in the coming years. Real estate professionals are encouraged to anticipate and prepare for future action in order to implement changes and strategies before new regulations occur.

James Tyrrell Jr., a partner in the firm’s New Jersey office, was featured in articles on June 4, 2010, in Law.com and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, about attorneys handling disputes with third-party litigation funding.

The practice of third-party litigation financers is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. In the past, third-party funding tended to focus on consumer disputes, including personal injury. Recently, the practice has shifted toward commercial claims with companies filing suits against other companies.

In the last three years, two litigation funds, Juridica Investments Limited and Burford Capital Ltd., have initiated public offerings in search of litigants who will accept their funding. In return, the litigation funds would receive a portion of any settlement or judgment, according to Law.com.

Mr. Tyrrell acts as an outside counsel to both Juridica and Burford. “It is not a coincidence that interest in investing in litigation picked up just as the U.S. economy began to bottom out,” Mr. Tyrrell told Law.com. “With the failure of the derivative and mortgage-backed securities markets, sophisticated investors were hunting for a new source to generate huge returns. There’s a lot of money out there that’s looking to find a home.”

Richard Andreano, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article on June 4, 2010, in RESPA News Monthly, about a notice published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regarding the Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act’s “required use” provision.

The “required use” provision states that buyers must use a specific settlement service provider to obtain access to a particular service or property. HUD published the notice seeking public comment on the “required use” provision after receiving consumer complaints concerning homebuilders who want to refer business to their affiliated mortgage and title companies, according to RESPA News Monthly. Mr. Andreano said HUD is examining an “expansive analysis” of the provision.

“HUD is asking parties to comment on a wide range of issues including, has economic incentives to use affiliated lenders facilitates inflated appraisals or lowered underwriting standards; has required use played any role in creating recent situations in which borrowers are more likely to be ‘underwater;’ is there evidence that buyers using affiliated lenders pay higher rates of interest or higher closing costs than buyers using unaffiliated lenders; and is there evidence that costs of incentives are or are not included in the cost of homes,” Mr. Andreano said.

Christina Guerola Sarchio, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article on June 3, 2010, in the Texas Lawyer Blog about concerning the legal representation of R. Allen Stanford, who is accused of fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors who purchased $7 billion in certificates of deposit sold through a bank that bears his name.

During a three-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas of the Southern District of Texas asked all of Stanford’s current and former lawyers about the work they’ve done for the jailed Houston businessman either in his criminal case, United States v. Robert Allen Stanford, et al., or in a civil action pending against Stanford in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stanford International Bank Ltd., et al.

Ms. Sarchio, who was present at the June 3 hearing, told the judge that Patton Boggs intends to file a motion to withdraw from representing Mr. Stanford in the Securities and Exchange Commission civil action suit, according to Texas Lawyer Blog. Ms. Sarchio noted “irreconcilable differences” with the “current criminal counsel.”

William J. McGinley, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article on June 3, 2010, in The Daily Caller about proposed legislation that would limit the impact of a controversial Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to donate money to political campaigns. The new law, commonly called the DISCLOSE Act, would change all references of the term “communication” to “public communication” to ensure that political blogs are not under the regulatory supervision of the FEC, according to The Daily Caller.

The term “communication” is used in a  provisionof the act that specifies the type of campaign-related publications the Federal Elections Commission can regulate. Political bloggers proposed the term be changed to “public communication” to clarify its meaning.

“[The act] as currently drafted [does] not contain the term ‘public communication,’” Mr. McGinley said. “Rather, each provision uses the term ‘communication’ – a term undefined by the Federal Election Campaign Act and Federal Election Commission Regulations. Therefore, internet communications, including blog posts are not excluded from [the requirements under the DISCLOSE Act].”

Jay Darden, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article in the Daily Journal on June 2, 2010, about the Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) creating challenges in China.

Under the act, it is illegal for U.S. companies and companies that issue securities in U.S. markets to pay foreign officials for business, according to the Daily Journal. Recently, some well-known companies have faced penalties and prosecution as a result of paying money and/or gifts to foreign officials in exchange for business.

Employees of state-owned enterprises can be considered foreign officials under the interpretation of the FCPA used by U.S. prosecutors and regulators, meaning any money, expenses or gifts given to those employees can be considered a violation of the FCPA. Making matters more delicate is China’s concept of guanxi, a widely practiced act of exchanged favors and gifts to strengthen personal relationships, according to the Daily Journal.

Stricter enforcement of the FCPA has resulted in an alarming number of prosecutions in the past several years. In 2005 there were five prosecutions with $16.4 million in criminal penalties, with those numbers jumping to 34 prosecutions and $435.3 million in penalties in 2009, according to Department of Justice statistics.

“As the global marketplace has expanded, as the world has gotten smaller, you have more and more companies that are doing business overseas, and, as a result of that, you have more and more companies that are subject to the jurisdiction of the FCPA,” said Mr. Darden. 

Mary Kimber, Chief Marketing Officer in the firm’s Washington Office, was featured in an article by The National Law Journal on May 31, 2010, about Facebook’s new community pages and the challenges they present for law firms.

Facebook’s new feature automatically aggregates information from its usersprofiles to create community pages. This can result in some not so favorable pages for law firms. For example, information from a profile of an employee of a firm that lists their position as “slave” could create a community page for slaves of that law firm, according to NLJ. However, the majority of community pages created for law firms come from legitimate positions such as an attorney or paralegal.

Facebook’s community pages present a yet another hurdle law firms must face in the realm of social media. While many law firms choose not to engage in social media, Patton Boggs actively uses Facebook and Twitter to keep clients, employees and the public updated on alerts, events and news.

“We want to be not only where our clients are, but where people who are interested in the firm are,” Ms. Kimber said. “Our clients are there, our recruits and law students and alumni are there. We want to be where our folks are. There's no downside.”

Ms. Kimber noted the firm will review its social media policies in response to the new Facebook community pages. “We'll be going back to our employees and making sure they're aware of how the community pages are being automated,” she said. “We're trying not to take it too seriously....But it's a reminder that whatever you put on your Facebook page, don't put it there unless you want to read it in The New York Times.”

Christina Guerola Sarchio, Jay Darden and Scott Stewart, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in an article in The Washington Post on May 31, 2010, about the recent trend of law firms hiring attorneys with backgrounds in government investigations.

Firms have hired attorneys with regulatory enforcement, government investigations and white-collar crime, according to The Washington Post. Amid financial and environmental controversies, the government is expected to increase enforcement and scrutinize these industries. Law firms with experienced attorneys in those fields are positioning themselves as top firms to represent these cases, according to the article.

In May 2010, Patton Boggs brought onboard Mr. Darden, who previously investigated and prosecuted health care fraud while working at the Justice Department. The firm also added Mr. Stewartlast fall. Before joining Patton Boggs, Mr. Stewart worked at the Justice Department investigating and prosecuting pollution abatement cases with federal agencies.

“Environment, energy, heath care, financial fraud…those are the areas the government is taking a hard look at and we want to be well-positioned,” Ms. Sarchio said.

News that Jay Darden, a high-ranking Justice Department fraud prosecutor joined Patton Boggs was featured in National Law Journal; MainJustice.com; National Journal; Corporate Compliance Insights; Washington Post; and Financial Fraud Law from May 17-31, 2010.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Darden spent four years as the assistant chief of the fraud section of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department. In that role, he supervised the investigation and prosecution of health care fraud and anti-kickback violations.

Mr. Darden will work in the firm’s Washington office, where he will practice in the litigation department, specializing in healthcare fraud and abuse and white-collar crime. He will also spend time advising companies on how to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

“Patton Boggs is a firm known for its entrepreneurial spirit and for its use of creative solutions to serve client needs,” Mr. Darden said. “I am honored to join the Patton Boggs team.  I look forward to using my expertise to assist clients with their compliance needs and to defend them against criminal allegations.”

Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, wrote an article on May 16, 2010, for The Prepaid Press about new federal rules on pre-paid cards.

In May 2009, President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, a law that attempts to protect consumers from hidden fees and rate hikes. The law also contains a “gift card” provision. A major challenge of this new regulation, which becomes effective on August 22, 2010, is the compliance burden it will impose on card issuers, managers and merchants that sell the cards, according to Van Cleef.

According to The Prepaid Press article, “the regulation (1) prohibits the imposition of dormancy, inactivity, or service fees unless certain requirements are satisfied, (2) prohibits their sale or issuance if they have an expiration date of less than five years, and (3) mandates certain disclosures.”

Gift certificates, store gift cards and general-use prepaid cards are covered underthe new law, with each of these terms carefully defined to determine which products are subject to the new regulation.

“In light of these definitions and exclusions, everyone in a product’s distribution chain should be prepared to determine whether a product is a gift certificate, a store gift card, or a general-use prepaid card,”  Ms. Van Cleef wrote.

Russ Randle, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article by msnbc.com on May 11, 2010, about the growing competition for compensation from the oil spill in the Gulf.

Even as oil continues to gush out of the damaged Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, everyone from Louisiana fisherman to Florida condo owners are already beginning to vie for compensation from oil company BP, according to MSNBC.

BP executives have said the company will have to spend more than the $75 million cap on that type of liability payment, a cap set by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Mr. Randle, author of a 1991 legal guide to the Oil Pollution Act for the Environmental Law Institute, told MSNBC that raising the liability cap would make it nearly impossible for anyone but the largest companies to afford to run offshore drilling operations.

Randle, who is updating his guide to the act, noted that the $75-million cap does not include cleanup costs and would not apply if BP was found to have committed gross negligence, willful misconduct or a violation of federal health and safety standards.

“BP may decide for very good reason that it’s not going to stand on its rights about that because it’s got bigger issues to address,” Mr. Randle said.

Michael Waldron, a partner in the firm’s Dallas office, and Doug Mishkin, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in an article published by the Dallas Business Journal on May 7, 2010, about the impact of the Labor Department’s new interpretation of how overtime laws apply to mortgage lenders.

The Labor Department now says that people who originate mortgage loans should be compensated as hourly employees — and are entitled to time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

Mr. Waldron told the newspaper that the reassessment could have a wide-ranging impact in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which has developed into a national hub for mortgage originators and servicers.

“This impacts anyone that does origination activity, regardless of the channel by which they originate loans,” Mr. Waldron said in the interview.

In addition, loan servicers — companies that collect payments from borrowers and pass on payments to the owners of a mortgage — could soon see a portion of their workers reclassified.  That would come as servicers modify existing mortgages, and effectively “originate” new loans, according to the newspaper.

Mr. Mishkin told the newspaper that the change is part of a larger regulatory shift that began when the Obama administration took office.

“This administration has made clear, across the board, it’s going to be more aggressive than its predecessor,” Mr. Mishkin said.

The new interpretation on mortgage originators also is an attempt to clear up conflicting opinions previously issued by the Labor Department, Mr. Mishkin said.

“This is an area that’s more ripe than ever for litigation,” he said.

Partner’s Doug Mishkin and Michael Waldron were featured in the Dallas Business Journal on May 7, 2010 in a story about how new overtime rules affect the financial industry.

The recent laws regarding overtime are part of a larger regulatory process put in place by the administration. The Department of Labor is enforcing a set of laws which will require that employees who originate mortgage loans will be required by law to be compensated as hourly employees.

“This administration has made clear, across the boards, it’s going to be more aggressive than its predecessor,” Mr. Mishkin said. “The new interpretation is an attempt from the Department of Labor to clear up conflicting opinions.”

Mortgage-related business is booming in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to the Dallas Business Journal’s report.

 “The reassessment could have a wide-ranging impact on the area, which has developed into a national hub for mortgage originators and servicers,” Mr. Waldron said. “This impacts anyone that does origination activity, regardless of the channel by which they originate loans.”

Financial companies have begun to see uproar in lawsuits and investigations. The impact of reclassification and assessment will be felt by companies big and small, including the investors. It is just the beginning, according to Mr. Mishkin.

“You’re going to want to figure out, ‘Are you buying into a substantial liability?” Mr. Mishkin asked.

William J. McGinley, of counsel in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in Politics Magazine and the Tribune News Service on April 29-30, 2010, in stories about new legislation filed in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited corporate and interest group spending on advertising.

The bill, filed in response to the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, would impose extensive disclosure requirements in an effort to shine a light on any role that corporations, trade unions or special interest associations could play in financing elections following the high court’s, according to the Tribune.

Mr. McGinley, a Republican campaign finance attorney, told Politics Magazine that if the disclosure provisions prove to be so excessive that they discourage political speech, they could also be challenged.

“Disclosure,” he told the magazine, “can be used to chill political speech.”

Mr. McGinley told the Tribune that the bill was “carefully tailored to protect the Democratic majority in Congress and their soft money allies, the unions.”

News that Suedeen Kelly, a former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has joined Patton Boggs as a partner was featured in the Washington Post; The Hill; Law360; EnergyDaily; Renew Grid; Houston Business Journal; JD Journal; The National Law Journal; Politico; AmLaw Daily; Washington Business Journal; and Politico.

Ms. Kelly spent six years working for both the Bush and Obama administrations on electricity, natural gas, smart grid and transmission system issues. She will co-chair the firm’s Energy practice group.

“This is an exciting move,” Ms. Kelly said. “Patton Boggs is a highly acclaimed leader in every area of law that will be part of my practice—policy and regulatory, business, litigation and intellectual property. I am proud to be joining this superb organization.”

Mark Savit, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was quoted by BNA’s Occupational Safety & Health Reporter on April 22, 2010, in a story about Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announcing that she will ask 10 cities for input on a pilot construction program to identify unsafe work conditions.

Under the program, the cities would work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to train building inspectors to notify the department when they observe unsafe work conditions.

Mr. Savit told the Occupational Safety & Health Reporter that the new program sounded “inappropriate.”

“OSHA has established state enforcement programs and relationships with state safety and health agencies, and a well-developed network of means by which employees can contact them or contact others of unsafe conditions,” Mr. Savit told the publication.

“The building inspector’s job is to ensure that the building code is met. Rather than dilute the building inspector’s job, or add more people with marginal training, I think they would be better served to stick with the established program that they have,” Mr. Savit told the publication.

William J. McGinley, of counsel in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in Bloomberg-Business Week on April 20, 2010 in a story examining the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The decision provoked condemnation as a decisive breach of the ramparts protecting American politics from the influence of corporations and big labor. The concern may have been hasty Bloomberg-Business Week reported.

So far, though, it has not resulted in corporations rushing to set aside fresh money for campaign attack ads, according to Bloomberg-Business Week.

But the ruling has brought business to election law lawyers like Mr. McGinley.

“Our phones are ringing off the hook,” Mr. McGinley said. “Pretty much every player in this town is trying to figure out what the decision means for them.”

Kevin O’Neill, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured by Roll Call on April 20, 2010, about his pro-bono work for the nation’s two largest umbrella groups for fraternities and sororities, the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the National Panhellenic Conference.

Mr. O’Neill, vice chair of the firm’s public policy practice, told the newspaper that there are 141 Members of Congress who have pledged into the Greek system. Mr. O’Neill, a Lambda Chi Alpha at Syracuse University, told the newspaper that he hoped to use that common bond when current students and alumni of the Greek system lobby Capitol Hill.

The group is seeking to enact tax legislation that it says would help restore aging Greek houses and bring them into compliance with updated safety standards.

The group’s biggest priority is passing a bill that would address the disparity between universities and nonprofit organizations, such as fraternities and sororities, for the creation and improvement of college infrastructure, according to Roll Call.

Universities are allowed to accept tax-deductible charitable donations for college infrastructure improvements, such as dorms. Fraternities and sororities, as well as religious-affiliated organizations, cannot.

Ugo Colella, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in AMLaw Daily, JD Journal, CityBiz, and National Law Journal on April 19 - 20 , 2010, announcing his return to Patton Boggs.

Mr. Colella recently returned to the firm as a litigator after spending 3 1/2 years at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. Mr. Colella has extensive experience litigating before state and federal courts and as a civil litigator at Patton Boggs. He will counsel clients on commercial disputes and mass torts.

“Patton Boggs feels like home,” Mr. Colella said. “I’m glad to be back among my friends and colleagues. I look forward to this exciting opportunity to add to the first-class litigation team.”

Jennifer Richter and Kevin O’Neill, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were featured in The Hill  on April 19, 2010, in a story about the growth of regulatory work in the lobbying industry.

The newspaper noted that Ms. Richter is the first non-lobbyist to co-chair the firm’s public policy practice. This “underscores how firms are looking to have a greater say with federal regulatory agencies in addition to twisting arms and bending ears on Capitol Hill,” the newspaper said.

As the Obama administration proposes a flurry of new legislation, there has been a marked uptick in regulatory work and law practices. Law firms that specialize in lobbying suggest they are better advisers for clients on compliance issues because of the overall understanding on what the federal agencies expect and have in place, the newspaper noted.

“We’re seeing a surge in both the short-term and long-term opportunities in the regulatory arena,” said Kevin O’Neill, vice chair of the firm’s public policy practice.

The Hill noted that the firm has added major “stars” over the past few months such as Kevin Martin, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to do telecom work, and Suedeen Kelly, a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to help lead its energy practice. Both bring regulatory expertise.

Bill McGinley, of counsel in the firm’s Washington office, was featured on April 1, 2010, in UCLA Magazine about his work at the “powerhouse firm Patton Boggs.”

The article, published by UCLA Magazine Online, focused on five “Beltway Bruins” who are “heeding their calling.” Mr. McGinley, a political blogger and expert in campaign finance law, spoke about how modern day technology impacts campaign efforts.

“The nature of campaigns has changed; it’s faster than when I arrived, the messaging is much faster,” Mr. McGinley said. “You have to be able to respond at a moment’s notice, and I think that has definitely changed the nature of the town. Politics has become a contact sport.”

Mr. McGinley mentioned that he finds the impact of the digital age on the Capitol fascinating, especially during the more recent campaigns where technology has advanced from YouTube to Facebook and he certainly would not begin to predict what would be next. He also believes that the new uses of technology in government such as guidelines allowing government to utilize social media, enhances the ability for people to interact with their government.

Micah Green and Richard Andreano, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were quoted by American Banker on March 31, 2010 discussing the impact of the Obama administration’s new plan to help “underwater homeowners” stay in their homes.

The Home Affordable Modification Program's most recent iteration would help borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth refinance their debt into Federal Housing Administration loans.

Mr. Green, who represents the Association of Mortgage Investors, supports the administration’s plan. He predicted that lenders would get servicing fees, additional compensation and new refinance business to drive origination volume.

“If this program is successful at attracting large-scale refinancing, it could generate significant refinancing volume for lending institutions,” Mr. Green said.

Mr. Andreano said a remedy is needed to help homeowners.

“Until we address the number of underwater loans, the economy probably won’t recover,” Mr. Andreano said.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by The Hill newspaper on March 30, 2010, about his work with the Association of Mortgage Investors to stave off home foreclosures across the country.

The association’s message: Mortgage investors on Wall Street have the same interests as homeowners on Main Street. Washington needs to do more to push banks to modify loans and write down principal to reduce foreclosures.

The Hill documented how the association’s message is starting to resonate on Capital Hill.

“We happen to believe the needs of the homeowners are very interestingly aligned with the needs of the investors,” said Mr. Green, who helped the association launch last year. “Both find that they’re in a mortgage that they shouldn’t be in and don’t need to be in.”

Investors favor loan modifications because they can recoup a greater portion of their investment than if the loans headed to foreclosure.

The association supported the Obama administration’s decision last week to provide greater incentives for mortgage modifications and refinancings.

Mr. Green predicted that the Obama administration’s recent plan would provide greater incentive for mortgage modifications and refinancings.

“In my view, the program has a great deal of promise,” Mr. Green said. “We believe first lien investors will participate in the program. But it’s also incumbent on other lien holders and other creditors to participate.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters on March 30, 2010, about efforts to overhaul the asset-backed securities market in a manner that will ensure private sector demand for mortgages in the future.

The Association of Mortgage Investors, which represents a wide array of institutional investors and asset managers, released a white paper this week that outlines the necessary steps to restore the beleaguered securitization market.

Mr. Green, who represents the association, told the Wall Street Journal and Reuters that the overhaul of the asset-backed securities market is crucial to the recovery of the global economy.

“It is important for the government to consider the policy recommendations of investors, whose participation and capital are needed for there to be a viable mortgage-backed securities market,” Mr. Green told Reuters.

The association wants new rules to address conflicts of interest by servicers, including when companies ask lenders to buy back loans that failed stated requirements. Servicers appear to have been delaying the put-backs to help their affiliates avoid losses.

“Investors provide the capital that make securitization markets work,” Mr. Green told the Wall Street Journal. But, “the lessons learned over the last three years demand greater transparency and empowerment of investors for them to be comfortable buying mortgage products in the future,” he said.

Among other things, the association called for more information on individual loans that are put into pools of mortgages backing securities and more time for investors to review that data before making decisions.

Richard Andreano, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted in a RESPA News article about a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act case in the Western Ohio federal court. The consolidated cases involve two sham title insurance companies which have violated sections of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

“While the plaintiffs still can pursue their claims individually, the time and expense of doing so must be weighted against damaged being limited to the individual claims,” Mr. Andreano said.

“While, as the court notes, RESPA Section 8 provides for attorney’s fees, the plaintiffs would have to prevail in their individual claims to be able to receive an award of attorney’s fees,” said Mr. Andreano. “The ruling will be welcome news to industry members and their counsel, and viewed unfavorably by the plaintiffs’ bar.”

Bob Bearman, managing partner of the firm’s Denver office, was featured in a managing partner roundtable by Law Week Colorado on March 15, 2010. Denver law firms had a challenging but solid year in 2009, according to Law Week.

Mr. Bearman was selected along with four other local managing partners to join the roundtable to discuss both short and long term strategic goals. The article covers a vast array of subjects including office openings, culture, structure in compensation and lateral hiring.

During the roundtable discussion, Mr. Bearman emphasized that the Denver office was largely focused on clean tech and environmental issues and that having the Washington, DC office as its home base keeps a policy connection and clients appreciate that relationship.

He also mentioned that the culture at Patton Boggs is one thing that he is most proud of. During his 11 years at the firm he has witnesses the creation and implementation of the summer associate program; which has proved itself very vital for firm morale and brings a greater understanding of what the bigger picture is. The associate mentor program, which was establish a few years back has improved a great deal and has also, proved that being flexible with billable hours is important for overall balance.

“People want to have balanced lives,” Mr. Bearman said. “So, yes we need to be flexible in our billing arrangements, and we need to be flexible in how we deal with our people. I think that’s a continuing learning experience. I know it is for me.”

The discussion also touched on each firm’s compensation process and Mr. Bearman expanded on the firm’s compensation committee and that the firm is very transparent about compensation with associates – in particular about where the firm is and where it wants to go.

In closing, Mr. Bearman expressed that the firm is very careful in the selection of new hires and growing in general. “We look at the historical book as a major component of the evaluation, but what’s really more critical to us is whether they can use the Patton Boggs platform and whether they’ll be successful.”

Kevin Martin, a partner in the firm’s Washington office and former FCC chairman, was featured by BroadcastEngineering on March 15, 2010, addressing the authority of the FCC in regards to mobile device applications, metered broadband and spectrum.

“The further it is [networks and applications] pushed out the more difficult it is for the commission to address it,” Mr. Martin said. “The FCC’s core regulatory authority is on wireless and carriers, so its direct authority is less and less the further out you go.”

Mr. Martin expressed that the FCC will not be able to regulate the efforts of wireless carriers or ISPs in introducing metered wireless broadband, unless the service providers try to create a service bundle. He also, suggested that larger fiber connections and broadcasters relinquishing excess spectrum to mobile broadband service providers would be beneficial for the broadband industry – but would require congressional approval.

Patrick McManemin, a partner in the firm’s Dallas office, was quoted in DSNews on Monday, March 8, 2010, about a recent surge in mortgage-related litigation.

Patton Boggs, working in conjunction, Mortgagedaily.com created its Fourth Quarter Mortgage Litigation Index, based on active cases covered by the Web site from October 1 through December 31, 2009.

During this period, 134 mortgage-related lawsuits were tracked, up from 76 cases documented during the third quarter of 2009. This was the highest quarter on record since MortgageDaily.com began tracking mortgage litigation in 2007. The driving force behind this increase was loan modification cases, which more than doubled from the third quarter.

“State and federal agencies are aggressively cracking down on modification scammers with severe criminal and civil penalties,” Mr. McManemin said. “The upward trend in related fraud litigation is likely to continue.”

Rosemary Becchi, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by Business Week on Monday, March 8, 2010, in an article about how lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are pressing Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax that they tried to kill.

The groups have changed positions in a bid to head off higher taxes on the horizon: Unless Congress acts, current law would raise the tax next year to 55 percent on estates after they exceed $2 million per couple, from nothing this year, according to Business Week.

The clock is ticking on estate-tax changes because, as 2011 nears, so does the prospect that congressional inaction would start to bring in billions of dollars to help reduce trillion- dollar deficits.

“That’s the real fear,” Ms. Becchi told Business Week. “Then it becomes extremely difficult to change it.”

Eric Foster, a partner in the firm’s New York office, authored an article published in Complinet’s Spring 2010 issue of Informer discussing why U.S. and European legislators may differ in their approaches to over-the-counter derivatives reform.

“It seems unlikely that there will be a fully consistent approach by Washington and Brussels in regards to enacting a new statutory regime for the over-the-counter derivatives markets,” Mr. Foster wrote. “The reason is simple: the upcoming elections in the U.S. will mean legislators will be more interested in obtaining ‘payback’ from the big banks it had to recapitalize than in ensuring New York and Chicago operate at a level playing field with London.”

Robert B. Dove, former parliamentarian of the Senate and now an attorney in the firm’s Washington office, was featured by Time, MSNBC, Roll Call, and NPR from March 1 – March 3, 2010 about a parliamentary maneuver called the reconciliation process.

Mr. Dove was the Parliamentarian of the Senate and assisted in the writing of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. The act contained a provision which allowed the majority party a way to bypass a filibuster- to pass legislation. Mr. Dove is familiar with the reconciliation process, which is rarely used. During 1995, he was involved in a reconciliation, in which he threw out 300 plus amendments.

Lisa Ann T. Ruggiero, a partner in the firm’s New Jersey office, was featured in an article in the March 2010 issue of New Jersey Business that examines the pathways of successful female attorneys and the hurdles they have faced.

Ms. Ruggiero noted the difficulty female attorneys, particularly litigators, have in reaching the partner level at law firms. “They were women who had to fight their way to the top...you can tell it was a hard road for them,” she said. “But now you do see a big change. There are a lot more female partners.”

The article highlighted Ms. Ruggiero’s extensive experience before state and federal courts while managing and defending toxic tort and product liability cases for major chemical, industrial, medical and consumer product manufacturers.

John McGahren and John Corbett, attorneys in the firm's New Jersey office, authored an article published by the New Jersey Law Journal on March 1, 2010, about New Jersey’s recently completed agreement with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. With this agreement, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Environmental Radiation now has sole licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement authority for certain radioactive materials formerly under the nuclear commission’s direction.

“New Jersey's newly-conferred agreement state status means that New Jersey firms terminating licenses and decommissioning facilities with source materials, subcritical mass special nuclear material and its byproducts and naturally occurring and accelerator-produced byproducts now deal with regulators closer to home, but face considerably tighter state regulatory standards and scrutiny in doing so,” stated Mr. McGahren and Mr. Corbett.

Companies in New Jersey are encouraged to adapt their legal and technical approaches toward their licenses, termination and remediation accordingly.

Carolyn L. McIntosh, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was featured in Litigation Commentary Review’s January/February 2010 issue. The article explores Ms. McIntosh’s extensive background in environmental compliance matters and environmental litigation.

Ms. McIntosh has a wealth of experience in handling compliance and permit matters, according to the feature story. She also spends a good deal of time working on training and remediation strategies and litigation efforts in regard to hazardous waste, air quality, land use for facilities and policy work with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Before joining Patton Boggs, Ms. McIntosh served as assistant attorney general in Colorado and as a special assistant attorney general in Montana. Ms. McIntosh has also served on numerous local boards and as the mayor of Lafayette for four years. She continues to work with both the state and local governments to better appropriation issues.

News that Rosemary Becchi has joined Patton Boggs as a partner in the firm’s Washington office was featured in Politico and Roll Call on February 24, 2010. Ms. Becchi, former counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, will work with the firm’s financial services and tax groups.

Before coming to Patton Boggs, she spent time exploring the financial industry via the private-sector and through government. While work on the Senate Finance Committee, she helped create the 529 college saving account and the Coverdell education savings account; she also worked at Fidelity Investments where she launched the government relations office and Citigroup and Arthur Anderson.

“Rosemary’s combination of government and private-sector experience gives her the ability to effectively advocate on behalf of corporations on a number of tax and financial service matters,” said Stuart M. Pape, managing partner of the firm.

Vinoda B. Basnayake, an associate in the firm’s Washington office, was selected as one of “the most influential Washingtonians under 40” for 2010 in Washington Life magazine.

“Our annual Young & The Guest List feature is known for containing the names of accomplished, dynamic, and successful Washingtonians, all under 40 and devoted to making the nation’s capital a place that attracts (and keeps) the best and the brightest,” Washington Life wrote on Febraury 19, 2010.

Mr. Basnayake was featured among the elite of Washington in the magazine’s fifth annual compilation. The list includes White House heavyweights and other “change makers” from the government, along with major players in the arts and sciences, journalism and business as well as the non-profit and philanthropic sectors.

News that Dick Thompson had joined Patton Boggs as senior counsel in the firm’s Washington office was featured in Politico; JDJournal; The Hill and National Law Journal on February 18, 2010. Mr. Thompson will work closely with the firm’s healthcare group on health and pharmaceutical policy issues, utilizing the experience he gained working as a top executive at Bristol-Myers and his work as a staff director and chief counsel to the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill.

“Patton Boggs has long been regarded as the premier public policy firm in the country, and I am excited to join such an exalted team,” Mr. Thompson said. “I look forward to utilizing my experience at Bristol-Myers Squibb to help clients from the pharmaceutical and other industries achieve their strategic business and policy objectives.”

Christina Sarchio, a partner in the firm’s Washington office and Shannon Conway, an associate in the firm’s Dallas office, were featured in National Law Journal on February 18, 2010 discussing their motion to dismiss the Securities and Exchanged Commission’s suit against Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.

Ms. Sarchio, the lead lawyer on the case, argued that the SEC should dismiss the ruling because it failed to establish jurisdiction over the certificated of deposit issued by the Antigua-based bank formerly operated by Mr. Stanford.

The motion to dismiss also contends that the SEC’s complaint against the embattled billionaire is not specific enough and that the agency “provides no basis” for filing the case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Financial Times on February 16, 2010, in an article about the mortgage banking crisis.

Mr. Green, who works for a group of mortgage investors called the Mortgage Investors Coalition, told the Financial Times that investors are trying to find practical solutions to fix the mortgage problem.

Even though many investors are prepared to shoulder losses by reducing in the size of mortgages to reflect negative equity in homes, Mr. Green said, such private sector principal reduction plans may require support from the government which has backed mortgage refinancing programs.

“Philosophically, there are no investors who do not still believe that first lien holders should not take losses until second lien holders have,” Mr Green told the Financial Times. “From a practical standpoint, however, some investors are now proposing that first lien and second lien mortgage holders take proportional reductions in principal.”

Nicholas Allard, head of the firm’s lobbying practice, authored an opinion piece published by Newsweek on February 12, 2010, about why lobbying is an honorable and necessary profession.

The lobbying industry has unfairly come under fire in the court of public opinion, according to Mr. Allard.

“Instead of trying to limit the use of expert advocacy, we need to find ways to give the less advantaged more access to legislative muscle,” Mr. Allard wrote. “Lobbying provides a check on undue influence, power and favoritism. It keeps lawmakers accountable.”

Mr. Allard wrote that nearly all Americans have a lobbyist working for them in some sense including, teachers, fireman, police officers, soldiers, entrepreneurs, doctors, nurses and kids.
Lobbying requires a great deal of knowledge and understanding, all which ultimately benefit the people, Mr. Allard argued.

In this article, Mr. Allard expressed how important it is that the people truly understand the reality of the job and how a greater sense of support will provide access to a better and stronger government.

In regards to setting industry goals for lobbying, Mr. Allard sites both the legal industry and the Teach for America program as strong models to follow.

“We need more lobbying, not less,” Mr. Allard wrote. “The wealthy and well-connected will always have other arrows in their quiver – and the Supreme Court decision may have added another. For the less fortunate, however, lobbyists are among their best ways to be heard.”

Katie Biber, an associate in the firm’s Denver office, was featured in an article by Law Week Colorado on February 11, 2010, discussing how she juggles her clients in Washington while living in Colorado.

Ms. Biber has a strong political background, having worked on the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign; as press secretary to former Attorney General John Ashcroft; general counsel to presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. After working as a summer associate at Patton Boggs, she told Law Week Colorado that she knew Patton Boggs is where she wanted to be.

“I had my eye on Patton Boggs because of Benjamin Ginsberg,” she said. “He’d represented the Bush campaign in 2000 and 2004, and I had my eye on working for him.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal on February 9, 2010, in an article about how the mortgage crisis has brought activists and investors together to avert home foreclosures.

Activists and investors have formed a loose coalition to prod banks into sharply cutting the amounts owed by borrowers whose loans far exceed the depressed values of their homes, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper quoted activists and investors saying that principal reductions are the best incentive for borrowers to keep making monthly mortgage payments.

The newspaper reported that BlackRock Inc., a major mortgage-bond investor, is “pushing the controversial idea of letting bankruptcy judges restructure shaky mortgages.” Black Rock proposes that judges eliminate credit-card debt and second liens, mostly held by banks, before touching the first liens often held by investors.

Mr. Green, who represents some large investors in mortgages, told the Wall Street Journal that BlackRock`s idea is good in principle but may not be politically feasible given bank lobbying. Banks, which have been offered Treasury incentives for easing the terms on second liens, should work with investors to help put consumers into "new, properly sized'' loans, Mr. Green told the newspaper. "Everybody's going to have to give a little for it to work," he says.

Samuel Rosenthal and Barry Reiferson authored an article published by Law360 on February 8, 2010, about deferred prosecution agreements and, specifically, their role in a recent case against North American Money Transfer Inc. in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Deferred prosecution agreements with the federal government, as authorized by the Speedy Trial Act, allow judges to approve written agreements providing for deferral of prosecution while a defendant demonstrates good conduct. Under the agreement, the government halts prosecution in exchange for the defendant's concession on various items.

"The agreement in this case provided for the dismissal of all charges against NAMT in favor of a one-year probationary period, in exchange for NAMT's payment of a $25,000 fine and agreement to cooperate with the government in its larger investigation," wrote Mr. Rosenthal and Mr. Reiferson on NAMT's deferred prosecution agreement. There was also no indictment of NAMT's corporate officers, directors or employees.

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the use of deferred prosecution agreements has been on the decline in recent years, having been replaced by a greater number of corporate prosecutions. However, the NAMT case demonstrates that corporate defendants may still achieve success using these agreements, resulting in small concessions and dismissal of criminal charges.

Norma Krayem, a senior public policy advisor in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted in National Journal magazine on February 6, 2010, in an article about what it takes to be an effective lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

Ms. Krayem listed among the nation’s top lobbyists for her smooth style.

Being able to focus under pressure is key to success, Ms. Krayem told National Journal. Lobbying can be a challenging pursuit, she said. “It’s a four dimensional chess game played on water with no chess pieces.”

Ms. Krayem told the magazine that it is important to think fast, to consider the mind-set of members and staffers and to speak their language.

“One of the most important things we do is try to translate what a client wants from private-sectorspeak,” Ms. Krayem said. “If your audience doesn’t understand what you’re talking about, even if it’s the smartest thing that’s ever been said, it doesn’t matter.”

Ms. Krayem cited jargon such as “ROI” as an example.

“It’s not that the government doesn’t understand ‘return on investment.’ It’s just [that] their decisions are affected by other externalities,” she said. “Depending on who you’re talking to, you have to phrase it a different way.”

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office and former senior counsel to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, appeared on Fox News' Happening Now to discuss the controversy surrounding the White House's handling of terror plot suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on February 4, 2010.

When questioned on the political attacks White House officials have been countering since Abdulmutallab's arrest as a civilian, Mr. Weber recommends patience, noting that "knee-jerk reactions" could jeopardize either the prosecution's case or ongoing efforts to gather evidence.

"National security should be a bipartisan effort and we should make sure that we do everything we can to protect the civilians of this country," stated Mr. Weber.

Click here to access the video.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, was featured in the New York Times on January 26, 2010 and in the Associated Press on January 29, 2010, to discuss his father’s role in bringing the Saints’ to New Orleans.

News that the New Orleans Saints’ will be advancing to their first Super Bowl drove the coverage. Now, more than four decades later, New Orleans and the Saints have their chance at the championship. This is in large part to former Majority Whip Hale Boggs and Senate Democratic Whip Russell Long. Their support back in 1966 resulted in the N.F.L expansion to New Orleans.

David Tafuri, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, wrote an opinion piece published by The Washington Post on January 29, 2010, that addresses the changing role of Americans in Iraq.

The op-ed examined how American businesses and the military have embraced the people and culture of Iraq, strengthening business relations and helping decrease violence in the process. Despite this partnership, Iraq will still face major hurdles, including the national elections set for March, causing periodic setbacks.

“But as the U.S. has begun to treat Iraq more like a sovereign nation that is, despite setbacks, on a path toward stability and security, there is a growing recognition within Iraq that America could be a friend and ally,” Mr. Tafuri wrote.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in the Wall Street Journal on January 28, 2010, in an article about how the Obama administration is trying to streamline paperwork to assist homeowners who want to lower their mortgage payments to avoid foreclosure.

As of Sept. 30, about 7.5 million households—about 14% of those with home loans—were behind on payments or in the process of foreclosure, according to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.

any of those struggling borrowers owe far more to their lenders than the current value of their homes—a condition known as being "underwater"—and wonder whether it is worthwhile to keep paying, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Green, who represents some large investors in mortgages, told the newspaper that the administration should revamp the program to put more stress on reducing principal owed by borrowers who can show that they would be able to stay current on a smaller, refinanced loan.

In many cases, that would require the holders of both a first- and a second-lien loan to accept a write-down of the amount owed, a complicated process, Mr. Green said.

News that Kenneth B. Reisenfeld joined the firm’s Washington office as the head of its international arbitration practice was featured in the Global Arbitration Review; Washington Post; JDJournal; Forbes.com; Atlanta Business Chronicle; and Washington Examiner; CityBiz and National Law Journal among other publications January 19-29, 2010.

“This is a major coup for the firm’s international team,” said managing partner Stuart M. Pape. “This move deepens our expertise in helping clients resolve international disputes – a growing need in this ever-global economy.”

Mr. Reisenfeld, considered a leader in the international arbitration industry, will play a key role in the firm’s sovereign representation, energy sector, defense, national security and international trade regulatory practices. He has spent more than three decades in international commercial and investment arbitration and foreign trade compliance investigations. He has litigated complex international disputes in nearly every major venue in the world.

“I am delighted with the opportunity to work with such a strong, client-centric team on international commercial and investment arbitrations and compliance investigations,” Mr. Reisenfeld said. “I hope to build upon the firm’s world-class capability to assist companies and governments resolve their international commercial and treaty disputes.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the New York Times on Friday, January 22, 2010, in a story about how the Obama administration plans to overhaul its $75 billion program aimed at preventing homeowners from foreclosure.

The administration plans to do this by streamlining the documents required of borrowers seeking lowered payments, according to the New York Times.

The newspaper reported that “throughout the financial system and within government, a sense is taking hold that the only effective way to stem foreclosures is to write off loan balances.”

“Investors are willing to put real money on the table toward refinancing borrowers from bad mortgages into good mortgages,” said Mr. Green, who represents a consortium of institutional mortgage holders.

Legal Bisnow featured the firm’s nine new partners in a feature story published on January 22, 2010.

The new partners in the Washington office are: Gregg S. Buksbaum; Edward D. Gehres III; Joshua C. Greene; Robert S. Kapla; and Norah D. Molnar. The firm elected Adam S. Connatser and Eric M. Pfeifle from the Dallas office and Alan M. Noskow from the Northern Virginia office. In addition, R. Brian Hendrix joined the partnership last May.

“We are proud of the accomplishments that these attorneys have made on behalf of clients and the firm,” said Stuart M. Pape, managing partner of the firm. “It is a testament to their hard work and dedication that they have achieved the level of partner at Patton Boggs.”

Benjamin L. Ginsberg and William J. McGinley, both from the firm’s Washington office, were prominently featured in an array of articles and TV broadcasts including the New York Times; Wall Street Journal; Bloomberg Business Week; Politico; CQ/Roll Call; National Journal; ABC; CBS about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday, January 21, 2010, to strike down decades-old limits on political spending by corporations during elections.

The decision “is going to flip the existing campaign order on its head,” Mr. Ginsberg told the New York Times in an article published on Jan. 22nd.

“It will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are increasingly dominating campaigns,” said Mr. Ginsberg, a Republican campaign lawyer who has represented both candidates and outside groups. “Candidates lose control of their message. Some of these guys lose control of their whole personalities.”

Mr. Ginsberg told Bloomberg Business Week that the political playing field will be “dramatically altered.”

“We can expect much more spending, a virtual cascade of spending, by outside groups,” Mr. Ginsberg said both publications.

Mr. McGinley commented on how the ruling would impact political parties.

“Taken together, the recent federal court decisions demonstrate that the government cannot regulate individuals, corporations and other entities that wish to speak out about candidates in the upcoming midterm elections,” Mr. McGinley told the Wall Street Journal.

The decision applies to unions and corporations equally.

“This decision helps the side with the greatest enthusiasm factor,” Mr. McGinley told National Journal. “You can have the ability to speak, but if you're not motivated to speak, that doesn't mean anything.”

“The question,” Mr. McGinley said told National Journal, “is going to be, who is going to step on this battlefield? Who has the motivation to get on the field and play?"

In addition, Mr. McGinley was quoted by CQ/Roll Call in a story published on January 22nd about how Democratic leaders are considering legislation to mitigate the higher court’s ruling. Mr. McGinley applauded the court for preserving the First Amendment right to free speech.

“The justices decided that more information from more speakers in the political marketplace is good,” said Mr. McGinley, former general counsel at the NRSC. “The court doesn’t want to limit the number of speakers in the marketplace.”

Patton Boggs ranked at the top of all the nation’s lobbying firms despite the economic downturn, according to The Hill and Roll Call.

A large majority of K Street firms reported growth within the past fiscal year, according to the news reports, but Patton Boggs exceeded them all.

Experts credited the surge in revenue and the Obama administration’s aggressive legislative agenda. The firm earned more than $40 million in lobby fees which is a 4 percent growth over the previous year and almost doubled the amount of its closest rival.

Richard J. Andreano, Jr., a partner in the Washington office, was quoted in American Banker on Thursday, January 21, 2010, discussing the ramifications of the recent policy changes set forth by the Federal Housing Association.

Mr. Andreano said tighter guidelines would primarily affect borrowers. “Many new-home sales are made possible through seller contributions, so it may have an adverse impact on the housing industry and should be analyzed,” Mr. Andreano said.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office and former senior counsel to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, appeared twice on Fox News in recent weeks to address growing concerns over terrorist threats following the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror plot.

On January 21, 2009, Mr. Weber was featured on Live Desk to discuss the questioning of intelligence officials before Congress on their handling of terror plot suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

“You lose his [Abdulmutallab] statements if you subsequently try him in civilian criminal court,” said Mr. Weber, referring to the decision to try Abdulmutallab as a civilian. “However, if you keep him as enemy combatant status, you're able to get as much intelligence as possible.”

Mr. Weber continued this discussion on America's Newsroom on January 26, 2009, where he noted that a growing number of lawmakers wanted President Barack Obama to release Abdulmutallab into military custody.

"For an individual like this, I think you really want to concentrate him for intelligence -- to find out who was part of his network, who was he training with, who was he talking to -- and try to thwart and prevent future attacks,” Mr. Weber said.

Henry Chajet and Scott E. Stewart, partners in the firm’s Washington office, wrote a feature article published in the January 2010 issue of Coal Age, discussing the enhanced clean water act enforcement set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The article serves as a guide for how the EPA’s new Clean Water Act action plan would affect federal and state enforcement efforts. The restrictions were published in October 2009 after the Obama administration ranked water quality as a high priority. The agency identified three “high priority” areas: large land sites with poor water quality; strengthening permit restrictions and stepping up enforcement. The action plan will be implemented by new documenting systems.

Due to increased enforcement, companies should regularly review their federal permits in detail, Mr. Chajet and Mr. Scott wrote. They stressed that facilities nationwide should make every effort to comply with the new rules and be prepared for inspection.

Patton Boggs' Twitter feed is the most followed among AmLaw 100 law firms, according to an article in the January 2010 issue of American Legal Technology Insider based on research conducted by myCorporateResource.com. The article stated, "Patton Boggs had the largest number of followers (1336), while 13 firms had less than 200 followers." The data compiled for this article was last updated on December 17, 2009.

For the latest information on public policy, legal developments and firm news, please follow Patton Boggs on Twitter and Facebook.

The news that Michelle White Suarez was tapped to become the new managing partner of the firm’s Dallas office was featured in Citybizlist on January 12, 2010.

The firm cited Ms. Suarez’s extensive experience in the Dallas business and financial communities and her leadership ability to generate strategic alliances as the driving force behind the promotion.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead our Dallas office as we continue to successfully implement the firm’s long term strategies,” Ms. Suarez said. Her predecessor Stanley O. Mayo, served as managing partner for nearly four years.

Suarez has worked at Patton Boggs since 1997. She became partner before the age of 30. Before taking on the role of managing partner, Suarez was best known for legal work in corporate and commercial financial transactions.

“Michelle Suarez possesses the key ingredients to oversee an expected growth in our Dallas office,” said Stuart M. Pape, managing partner of the Washington office.

Carol R. Van Cleef, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured by ComplianceAdvantage.com in an article published on January 12, 2010, about the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism finance industry.

Ms. Van Cleef, regarded as an industry leader, addressed how pending “alert” regulations would impact financial institutions and help them detect tax evasion. She also discussed the new rules for Money Services Businesses.

“For anti-money laundering professionals, there are a lot of questions about what they will be required to do and what kind of resources and costs will be involved,” Mrs. Van Cleef said.

Ms. Van Cleef also said that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new rules for MSBs would have a dramatic effect on international models, particularly on prepaid cards and not just models like general credit cards but for foreign MSBs doing business in the United States.

William L. Nash III, managing partner of the firm’s Abu Dhabi office, was quoted in the Khaleej Times on January 11, 2010, about the firm's new internship program.

The story features a new agreement between Patton Boggs and the College of Law at the United Arab Emirates University to launch an internship program. The program gives law students hands-on experience to hone their legal skills and enhance their understanding of law.

The program is an effort to help inspire and train a new generation of Emirati legal professionals, Mr. Nash said.

“We are hopeful that our collaboration will result in a training program that furthers the academic goals of the College and inspires and educates the student participants,” Mr. Nash told the newspaper.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office and former senior counsel to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, appeared on FOX News several times over the past week to discuss airline and homeland security issues after the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack.

In order to effectively secure the United States and all flights to and from the country, particularly given reports of 25 individuals out of the Yemen area looking to perpetrate similar terror plots, Mr. Weber cites the need for swift, actionable intelligence to be distributed to operators out in the field who are trying to prevent further terrorist attacks; the continued problem being connecting the dots among the millions of pieces of information received.

In his latest interview, Mr. Weber addresses the importance of increased communication and security measures within the international community. Given the persistent, and not altogether new, problems with airline security, Mr. Weber recommends that "...a comprehensive and layered approach is what we need to continue to pursue." This layered approach would involve looking at patterns and behaviors, such as how the individual approaches security, whether they have checked luggage, the method in which the ticket was purchased, where the individual's flight originated from, where the individual has traveled to recently and how long a period of time they spent there.

Click here to watch the full interview.

Robert Tompkins and Douglas Mishkin from the firm’s Washington office authored an article published by Law360 on January 4, 2010, about the federal government enforcing the Service Contract Act.

“Several recent developments make clear that contractors providing services to the federal government should be on high alert,” wrote Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Mishkin about increased enforcement of the law.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis recently announced that the Labor Department added 250 new investigators in the Wage and Hour Division, the office responsible for examining alleged abuses of the law.

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report entitled, “DHS Contracts with Low Wage Payments.” This report found that the Labor and Homeland Security departments are failing to take sufficient steps to ensure that required wages and fringe benefits are being paid under the Service Contract Act’s covered contracts and subcontracts. This will likely prompt further oversight, the article states.

“Anecdotally, our Service Contract Act working team, which includes members of our government contracts and employment law practice groups, has seen a considerable increase in SCA investigations in our practice in the last year, and we expect more to come,” Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Mishkin wrote.

Deborah Swanstrom and Meredith Jolivert recently authored an article in the December issue of the prestigious Energy Law Journal that addresses recent legislative, regulatory and litigation developments affecting the siting of transmission projects across the country.

The article examines remaining barriers to infrastructure development, actions being taken to overcome those barriers and factors affecting the development of new transmission projects post-Energy Policy Act of 2005, including the downturn in the U.S. economy, access to and the cost of capital, transmission rate incentives, the availability of federal grants or loans, the siting process, cost allocation disputes, renewable energy standards and regional transmission planning.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, was prominently featured by Xinhua News in an article about cyber security warfare on December 19, 2009. The article looks at how cyber security issues have taken on increased importance as the United States engages in bilateral talks with Russia and prepares to speak next month with the United Nations' committee on disarmament and international security.

In the past, the U.S. has kept all cyber-talk limited to the U.N.’s economic forum, noted Xinhua News, one of the largest news agencies in China. Moving the discussions into a realm of security is necessary, said Mr. Weber, the former counsel to former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with the news agency.

"It is a very important acknowledgment, that above all the spectrum of hazards that a country would need to deal with, whether it’s a hurricane or a terror attack…cyber-attacks happen almost on a daily basis,” Mr. Weber told Xinhua News. “But we've almost become numb to it because it's so frequent.”

For nations to admit that cyber-attacks happen frequently is akin to “airing one's dirty laundry," Xinhua News reported. "No country wants to openly talk about it for fear of giving away national security secrets to those who might be the perpetrators.”

Mr. Weber told Xinhua News that nations “must walk a fine tightrope and perform a charade in the delicate balance of sharing information while not giving away top-secret defense and offensive strategies.”

David Tafuri, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in an article about investing in Iraq that was published by fDiMagazine.com on December 14, 2009.

"There are several issues investors need to think about when opening a business in Iraq," said Mr. Tafuri, in an interview with fDi Magazine, a publication of Financial Times.

As the former State Department's Rule of Law Coordinator for Iraq, Mr. Tafuri worked with Iraqi judges, lawyers, police chiefs and prison heads in Baghdad to help establish a new legal system in the aftermath of the 2003 war.

It is important for companies to have good counsel and to be aware that the political situation could change and, if that happens, what the ramifications would be for a company’s investments, Mr Tafuri advised.

“Iraq is a tough place to invest in and a tough place to travel to,” Mr Tafuri told fDiMagazine.com. “Like other Middle Eastern nations, you need to spend time building relationships, but the foundations are there for good business opportunities and there are going to be a lot of good prospects.”

Laurence J. Freedman, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in BNA’s Medicare Report on December 4, 2009, in an article about President Obama’s recent executive order aimed at preventing improper Medicare payments.

The Nov. 20th executive order attempts to reduce overpayments by federal departments and agencies by posting the information on the internet and naming names, according to BNA Medicare Report.

Under the executive order, the director of the Office of Management and Budget must identify federal programs in which the highest dollar value or majority of government wide improper payments occur.

“The administration wants to make a public point that it is doing all it can to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse in health care by increasing pressure on the Department of Health and Human Services to identify and recover improper payments,” Mr. Freedman said.

It's not the first time the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has looked at error rates in a comprehensive fashion. But, President Obama’s executive order “does add a high profile layer of accountability, transparency and reporting to the agency inspector general and to the public,” Mr. Freedman told BNA Medicare Report.

“This shows the extremely strong OMB interest in attacking health care overpayments,” Mr. Freedman said. “OMB wants to make clear that there will be no adverse impact on beneficiary access or payment to providers.”

Deborah Swanstrom and Lodie White, both of the Washington office, co-authored a chapter on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission compliance programs for the Compliance Guide published by LexisNexis in November 2009.

The Compliance Guide is a compilation of work written by distinguished authors in a variety of industries.

In 2005, Congress armed FERC with substantial new statutory authority to prevent and punish violations of its rules and regulations, including violations of rules prohibiting market manipulation and standards to maintain the reliability of the electric transmission system. The central objective of FERC’s enforcement program is to ensure compliance with its regulatory requirements. The chapter distills the requirements of FERC’s requirements and provides a succinct step by step approach to avoid or limit FERC penalties.

An article authored by Robert M. Bearman, managing partner of the firm’s Denver office, and Shawn M. Turner, was featured in Executiveview.com on November 30th, 2009.

The article looked at the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on corporate boards in America. The article contends that current global economic troubles have increased the risk of litigation against directors of American corporations.

“Directors face increased scrutiny and pressure from stockholders, regulators and creditors, as well as other stakeholders, such as community leaders and politicians,” the article states. “Persons designated by private equity or venture capital funds to serve on boards of directors of companies doing business in the U.S. face even greater scrutiny and should be aware of recent U.S. corporate governance developments.”

Robert Bearman, the managing partner of the firm’s Denver office, appeared on ColoradoBizTV on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, in a broadcast about the firm donating hats and scarves to students at the Garden Place Academy in Denver. Two legal secretaries, Gloria Meyerle and Sharon Martinez, hand-knitted some 350 hats and scarves for the students. The story described how Mr. Bearman read the beloved tale, “The Gruffalo" to the children and showcased the importance of giving to others during the holiday season.

ColoradoBiz called the event a “festive example of business supporting education with time, money and yarn.” The firm works with Garden Place Academy through the Denver Public Schools’ School Partners Program, which recruits businesses willing to provide volunteers, in-kind contributions and financial resources to city schools.

“Patton Boggs is a great example of the business community stepping forward, stepping to the plate to help us out,” said Happy Haynes, chief engagement officer of the Denver Public Schools. In addition contributing “Hats from the Heart,” Ms. Haynes commended the firm's Denver office for volunteering their time to help students succeed.

Todd Harrison, a partner in the firm’s New York City office, was quoted by Bloomberg on November 11, 2009 in a story about the acquittal of two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge-fund managers in a subprime-mortgage fraud case that relied heavily on e-mail evidence.

Mr. Harrison told Bloomberg that the acquittal would give the government “pause” before moving forward with indictments in similar cases.

“For those kinds of cases that are more market driven, as the Bears Stearns was, it’ll give the government a lot of pause,” said Todd Harrison, a former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York.

The acquittal of the Bear Stearns managers on fraud and conspiracy charges also may damage a related Securities and Exchange Commission suit against the two men, according to Bloomberg. Additionally, prosecutors backed off previous statements that the defendants may face a wire fraud charge in Manhattan federal court.

Ralph Cioffi, the portfolio manager for the Bear Stearns funds, and Matthew Tannin, its chief operating officer, each faced as many as 20 years in prison. The Brooklyn trial was the first stemming from a U.S. probe of the collapse of the subprime mortgage-market, which cost investors as much as $396 billion.

The SEC case, still awaiting trial, requires a lower standard of proof than a criminal conviction.
Even after the acquittals, the defendants might decide to settle the SEC’s claims because a lawsuit carries a lower burden of proof and the stakes won’t be as high, said Mr. Harrison, who concentrates in white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, compliance matters and complex civil litigation.

“It certainly gives them much more leverage in the SEC case, to point to the criminal case and say ‘Look, a jury didn’t buy it there,’” Mr. Harrison said.

Christina Guerola Sarchio, co-chair of the firm’s government investigations and litigation practice, was featured in Legal Bisnow on Monday, November 9, 2009, in a story about how she was able to help persuade a federal judge to overturn a jury verdict in favor of a client who had been accused of fraud for selling an educational program that taught people how to trade stocks.

The rare ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia overturns a May 7, 2009 jury verdict that found the defendant and a co-defendant guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and having committed wire fraud.

Ms. Sarchio and attorney Mark E. Schamel, a partner at Schertler & Onorato, represented the pair at trial and in post-trial pleadings leading up to the ruling. Without their intervention, the pair faced up to 262 months in prison, noted Legal Bisnow.

Jeffrey Cohen, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was quoted by Business Week on November 8, 2009, in a story about how J.P. Morgan Securities agreed to a settlement with the Securities & Exchange Commission regarding the bank’s alleged involvement in a “pay-for-play” scheme that helped Morgan secure the rights to some of Jefferson County Alabama’s sewer bond offerings. While Morgan admitted no wrongdoing, it has agreed to pay the financially strapped county $50 million and drop a $647 million claim for termination fees, according to Business Week.

Mr. Cohen told Business Week that he was not convinced that the settlement would solve Jefferson County’s long term problems.

“It has a nice splash in the media,” said Mr. Cohen, who has served as an adviser to some of Jefferson County's creditors. “But it really has very little effect.”

The roughly $700 million windfall puts only a minor dent in the more than $3 billion in bond debt the county owes, Mr. Cohen said. Jefferson County got mired in debt because it relied on complex interest rate swaps to protect sewer bond issues against a jump in interest rates. When the economy turned sour last year, the swaps backfired, and chaos ensued. The state so far has refused to throw the county a lifeline, according to Business Week. That leaves just two options: declaring bankruptcy or renegotiating the debt with creditors.

In order to avoid cuts in the budget that would affect living standards, Mr. Cohen recommends that the county immediately declare bankruptcy. “The county would be much better off filing bankruptcy, proposing a plan for all of its debts, and providing the investment community with some certainty,”Mr. Cohen told Business Week. “[Further delay] could eat into the [county's ability] to provide services to its citizens, which is why governments exist.”

News that Patton Boggs landed top Justice Department litigator Scott Stewart as a partner in its Washington office was featured by Reuters; Law360; Green Energy Reporter on Wednesday, October 15, 2009. Mr. Stewart’s arrival at the firm was also featured in LegalBisnow on Monday, October 19th and Politico on Tuesday, October 20th. It was also covered by the National Law Journal and Main Justice on November 4, 2009.

Mr. Stewart brings extensive experience from eight years at the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division where he enforced the nation's environmental laws including the Clean Water Act; the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

On a number of significant cases, Mr. Stewart was the lead litigator for the government, prosecuting cases against such companies as Chevron Pipe Line Co. and EPEC Polymers Inc. He received a Department of Justice meritorious award for continuous superior performance for his work on the Chevron Pipe Line case.

Mr. Stewart told Law360 that was one of the more memorable and challenging cases he worked on for the government.

“The issues were intellectually stimulating, and both sides were very firm that their side was right,” Mr. Stewart said. Mr. Stewart also has extensive experience negotiating resolutions to complex environmental enforcement actions.

David Farber, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in the October issue of O’Dwyer’s PR Report in a story about the “hype” surrounding the congressional effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

“Angst surrounding the current health care debate is whipping the American people into a frenzy of fear,” O’Dwyer’s PR Report reported. The magazine took a look at how companies have used marketing to recoup sky-rocketing research and development costs. As this happened, consumers and lawmakers developed “well-entrenched” impressions, the magazine reported.

“Congressional leadership has great appreciation for guarding the innovation-based biopharmaceutical sector,” Mr. Farber told O’Dwyer’s PR Report. “Too often, companies wait to approach their congressional representatives and staff until there is a blazing issue they need to tackle. By that point, everyone is playing catch-up. The opportunity still exists to educate decision makers proactively on how discovery resolves big health problems.”

William McGinley, a lawyer in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in a story in Roll Call on Thursday, October 22, 2009, in a story about the Federal Election Commission abandoning a court battle involving the reproductive rights group Emily’s List, a move that could increase the financial play by outside groups in elections.

What the agency’s decision to drop the EMILY’s List case means exactly for the 2010 election cycle remains to be seen, Roll Call

Mr. McGinley, a Republican, told the newspaper that “the FEC’s decision not to seek a rehearing of EMILY’s List is yet another indication that independent speech could be a major factor in next year’s election.”

News that Patton Boggs continues to outpace the rest of K Street lobbying firms in 2009 was featured by The Hill Newspaper on October 20, 2009, and National Journal’s Under the Influence blog on October 21.

The firm's more than 100 lobbyists posted fee income of $29.2 million for the first nine months of the year, which is about $6 million more than its closest competitor, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which posted lobbying fee income of $23.6 million, according to National Journal’s tally.

Patton Boggs reported earning $10.8 million in the 3^rd quarter alone, a 17 percent surge from the same time period last year.

“We saw some pretty big pieces of legislation moving through Congress on health care, financial services, cap-and-trade,” said James Christian, a partner at Patton Boggs, in an interview with The Hill. “There is a lot of activity going on.”

Scott Louis Weber was featured in Security Debrief, a must-read homeland security blog, on October 16, 2009. In this article, "26-0, For How Long," he discusses the recent disruption of three terror plots surrounding the 8th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on America and the importance of the private sector's role in the detection, prevention and mitigation of terrorism.

Mr. Weber also focuses on the 26 publicly known terror plots disrupted since the attacks , some of which have been a direct result of the private sector reporting strange activity to law enforcement officials. As an example, he cited a specific instance in which a terror plot to attack Fort Dix was discovered due to an alert Circuit City clerk who did not like what he saw on a video.

News that former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is joining Patton Boggs in early October was featured by USA Today; Reuters; Washington Post; The Washington Post’s Post I.T. blog; Communications Daily; Washington Business Journal ; National Law Journal; National Journal; Huffington Post; Law 360; The Hill newspaper; Multichannel News and Roll Call.

Mr. Martin will oversee the firm’s technology and communications practice with Jennifer L. Richter. Mr. Martin served on the FCC for eight years, including four as the agency’s chair. Mr. Martin served as chairman during a pivotal time in the telecommunications industry, a time when the industry underwent unprecedented change as a result of rapid growth and innovation.

Mr. Martin created a regulatory environment that led to exponential growth in technological innovation, wireless infrastructure and coverage for Americans. Americans are now reaping the benefits of innovative technology at declining prices as a result of Mr. Martin’s market oriented and consumer focused policies.

William McGinley from the firm’s Washington office was quoted by Roll Call on September 28, 2009, and the Wall Street Journal on September 29, 2009, about the Federal Election Commission ruling that limited liability companies are not political committees when they team up with political consultants to run television ads.

Mr. McGinley, who requested the ruling on behalf of the political consulting firm Black Rock Group, said the ruling is a positive move.

“It’s going to open up an avenue for individuals who wish to support or oppose federal candidates,” Mr. McGinley told Roll Call.

The ruling is a sign that the FEC continues to loosen restrictions on money in politics, the Wall Street Journal noted.

“Now wealthy individuals have another way of expressing their views. Now they can seek professional assistance to shape their messages,” Mr. McGinley told the Wall Street Journal.

In the past, wealthy individuals were allowed to form LLCs to influence elections. But many shied away from using LLCs to wage campaigns because it was unclear if they could hire the same political consulting firms, the Wall Street Journal noted.

John Jonas, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted on September 24, 2009, by the New York Times in a story about the partisan battle over how best to fix the nation’s healthcare system.

“For major legislation that could affect every American, the audience in the hall and milling outside has been smaller than might have been expected,” the New York Times reported.

Technology has “taken the circus-like atmosphere away,” Mr. Jonas told the New York Times.

Mr. Jonas told the New York Times that it was a far different pictue than what he saw as a former employee of a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. That panel’s oversize hearing room had crowds that often spilled into the halls on contentious issues.

Mr. Jonas said he continued to show up because the Finance Committee room was “still a good place to catch key staff” — and he was fresh off a conversation with a committee lawyer, the newspaper noted.

David Tafuri, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured on Fox News on September 23, 2009, about the best ways to conduct business in war-torn Iraq.

Mr. Tafuri, who spent 15 months in Iraq and recently returned from a business trip there, provided tips for corporations interested in developing business in the oil rich country.

“There’s a great window of opportunity right now for U.S. companies to invest in Iraq,” he told Fox.

Covering a similar topic, Mr. Tafuri's article "Doing Business in Iraq: 10 Smart Rules" was published by BusinessWeek.com on September 14, 2009. The article explains why businesses might want to look at investing in Iraq and important details for potential investors to consider.

To watch the video, click here.

Patton Boggs Partner David Tafuri talks about the best ways to invest in war-torn Iraq with David Asman of FOX Business.

Click here to watch the video.

Richard Andreano, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by MortgageDaily.com on September 22, 2009, in a story about how impending regulatory changes for high-cost loans “spell the end of hard-money lending.”

Come Oct. 1, higher-priced mortgages will be subject to new Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act requirements.

Mr. Andreano told MortgageDaily.com that under the new rules, hard-money loans—high-yield mortgages made based only on the loan-to-value—are prohibited.

“When people start trying to go back to the old practices, this rule will stop them,” Mr. Andreano said. However, loans with terms of 12 months or less and short-term construction loans are exempt from the new rule, he said.

William McGinley, a lawyer in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by Roll Call on September 22, 2009, in a story about how the Federal Election Commission is contemplating whether it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a campaign finance case that could increase financial involvement by outside groups in future elections.

At issue is a recent decision by the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The appellate court agreed that EMILY’s List and other nonprofit groups may use unlimited contributions from individuals to pay for television advertisements and independent expenditures. In the lawsuit, the pro-abortion-rights group that supports Democratic women running for office argued that FEC regulations limiting political spending by outside groups was unconstitutional and an infringement on free speech, according to Roll Call.

Mr. McGinley told the paper that the ruling “a very big decision.”

“If allowed to stand, it really has the potential to alter the political landscape next year,” Mr. McGinley told Roll Call.

Mr. McGinley was also quoted in The Hill newspaper on September 18, 2009, about the case.

The opinion relies heavily on First Amendment grounds in striking down FEC regulations covering political spending by outside organizations, The Hill reported. This is significant because it essentially guts regulations that governed how independent groups could pay for voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, administrative costs and generic advertisements supporting one party or another.

“It’s another indication that independent speech could be a major factor next year,” said Mr. McGinley, who specializes in election law issues. He told the newspaper that the ruling means that “people can engage in independent speech without being regulated by the FEC.”

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm’s public policy practice, was featured in a front-page story in the Washington Post on September 5, 2009, about the state of Washington’s lobby industry as special interest groups battle over healthcare and energy legislation.

Despite the intensity of legislation duels on Capitol Hill, spending on lobbying has leveled off for the first time in a decade. The economy is the primary reason for the slump, the Post reported.

“If you can't make payroll, and you can't get bridge loans like you used to, you have to make a choice: Do you want to pay people to represent you in Washington or delay laying people off?” Mr. Allard told the Post. “In tough economic times, it tends to depress the traditional lobbying services.”

Alan Dickey, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in National Law Journal’s BLT blog on September 4, 2009, about a victory he scored on behalf of the Qatar National Bank in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In a summary judgment ruling, Senior Judge Gladys Kessler sided in favor of Qatar National Bank in a case that spawned from a mixup between the bank, news network Al Jazeera and Washington-based Winmar Construction. Al Jazeera hired Winmar in 2005 to renovate its DC office. The deal eventually went sour, but not before Al Jazeera wired $474,000 to the company as part of an initial payment, according to the BLT.

In January 2006, after the contract was terminated, Al Jazeera asked Qatar National to confirm whether the original payment had actually been made. The bank misinterpreted the instructions, and instead wired a second $474,000 payment to Winmar, the BLT reported. After realizing its mistake, the bank asked the construction company to return the money. Winmar said no,” according to the blog.

The lesson of this case? “If a bank accidentally sends your company money and then asks for its cash back, don’t try to keep it,” the BLT stated.

News that Patton Boggs added Jeffrey Cohen and his team of associates to the firm’s Denver office was featured in the Denver Business Journal and the National Law Journal’s BLT blog on September 1, 2009.

Mr. Cohen, considered among the nation’s top municipal finance attorneys, represented creditors of 1031 Tax Group in its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in New York. Dozens of Coloradans lost millions when the company filed for bankruptcy. Its founder, Miami businessman Edward Okun, was sentenced last month to 100 years in prison for fraud, the Denver Business Journal reported.

Mr. Cohen currently is lead adviser to one of the nation’s largest municipal bond mutual funds in a federal case involving $4.6 billion of Alabama revenue bonds that are in default.

The Daily Bankruptcy Review, a subscription-only Dow Jones publication, called Mr. Cohen a “municipal finance guru” and featured him as the publication’s “Mover of the Week” on September 18, 2009.

The lesson to be learned, Mr. Cohen told the Daily Bankruptcy Review, is that slices of municipal debt are often divvied up and spread around with little investigation into what they actually mean. And in today’s economic climate that could spell big trouble for the mutual funds and individuals that invest in them, the magazine reported.

“As the tide goes out, you see all the garbage that’s really underneath,” Mr. Cohen told the Daily Bankruptcy Review, explaining that the recession has revealed many of the financial system’s weaknesses. “Unfortunately, a lot of municipal deals are very speculative.”

Richard Andersen, a partner in the firm's New York office,  authored the article "The impact of the Obama administration's international tax proposals on U.S. and overseas multinationals," that was featured in the August 2009 issue of Financier Worldwide. In the article, Mr. Andersen identifies trends from the limited information provided in the Greenbook provisions concerning the Obama administration's budgetary proposals affecting the U.S. international tax regime.

"The Greenbook provisions generally targeting U.S. multinationals have two major prongs: (i) modifications to the rules for crediting their foreign income taxes against their tentative U.S. tax liability and (ii) limitations on the benefit of deferring U.S. tax on income earned through overseas  subsidiaries," Mr. Andersen wrote in the article. 

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted in Forbes, Roll Call and The Hill on August 26, 2009, in articles remembering the life and legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy following his death on August 25, 2009. Mr. Allard also appeared, along with other friends and colleagues of the late senator, in video vignettes put together by Politco and 'PBS Nightly Business Report'.

The Hill and Roll Call articles highlighted the many successful former aides who worked for Senator Kennedy, in addition to the many interest groups, lobbying organizations, unions and business associations he worked with during his 47-year career in the Senate. Mr. Allard, who served as Senator Kennedy's legal counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the mid-‘90s, spoke of the "very talented, very competitive and often aggressive individuals" the late senator surrounded himself with, noting that it was no coincidence former aides had risen through the ranks on K Street and elsewhere. "His passion and energy and hard work is something we all took away," he said.

"There is no such thing as an ex-Kennedy staffer," Mr. Allard told The Hill. "I'm thinking of the Michael Corleone line from 'The Godfather,' 'Every time you think you are out, you get pulled back in.' He leaves behind a very large family and we are all thinking about him today."

In addition, Mr. Allard commented on Senator Kennedy's bipartisan approach to dealmaking in Forbes. "He loved the art of the deal," he stated. "The word 'compromise' doesn't capture it."

The late senator was credited with being courteous, respecting his fellow senators and genuinely attempting to view the situation from their perspective. He was also well-known for keeping his word. "If he made a deal he'd stick with it," Mr. Allard told Forbes.

Patrick McManemin, a partner in the firm's Dallas office, was quoted by the National Law Journal and DSNews.com on August 25, 2009, following the release of the Second Quarter 2009 Mortgage Litigation Report. 

The report, produced by MortgageDaily.com in conjunction with the firm's Mortgage Banking Practice group, found that legal fights over loan modifications, appraisals and foreclosures were the driving forces behind a 54 percent second-quarter spike in mortgage-related lawsuits. This year's first and second quarter activity totaled 206 cases, nearly matching last year's 207 cases.

There appears to be a direct correlation between an increase in legislative and regulatory activity and a pronounced upswing in litigation, Mr. McManemin told NLJ.

"As industry members continue to survey the new landscape and navigate their way through implementational and operational hurdles, issues will need to be litigated to clear up gray areas, and address grievances," he said.

Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, authored the article, “Federal Financial Regulatory Reform: New Proposal Includes Prepaid Products,” that was published on August 13, 2009 in The Prepaid Press. In this article, Ms. Van Cleef discusses the possible creation of a new financial regulatory agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), and its potential impact on the prepaid industry.

In the article, Ms. Van Cleef explains, “There appears to be little question that the administration intends to subject prepaid or stored value products and services to the new agency’s review. Under the proposed legislation, “deposit taking activities,” the “sale or issuance of stored value,” “money transmitting,” and “acting as a money services business” would all be overseen by the CFPA, as would the prepaid debit card industry.

Jonathan Yarowsky, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in the must-read BLT blog published by the National Law Journal on August 13, 2009, for his successful advocacy effort on behalf of the Federal Judges Association.

President Obama signed a law on August 12 establishing a special open enrollment period for judges to enroll in the Judicial Survivors' Annuities System, “a victory for judges’ groups that had lobbied for the legislation,” according to the National Law Journal.

The Federal Judges Association, together with one group representing U.S. magistrate judges and another representing U.S. bankruptcy judges, hired Mr. Yarowsky to inform lawmakers about their concerns.

The open enrollment period was one of the groups’ priorities, the National Law Journal reported. Previously, the only opportunity judges had to elect to participate in the plan, which pays an annuity to their surviving dependents, was when they were confirmed to the bench or promoted, according to the report.

Patton Boggs’ August 3 announcement that mortgage banking partners Michael Waldron, John Socknat and Richard Andreano and three associates have joined the firm was featured in Legal Times’ “The BLT,” Washington Business Journal, and trade publications DS News and MortgageDaily.com.

The six lawyers were all lured away from Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider and will operate out of the firm’s Washington and Dallas offices.

T. Michael Guiffré, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by Nature on July 30, 2009, in an article about the Homeland Security Department’s recent decision to replace national biosecurity lab Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York State with a new $650-million National Bio and Agro Defense facility at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.

Nature reports that the Government Accountability Office has called this decision into question, citing “unrepresentative accident scenarios,” “outdated modeling” and “inadequate” information in the department’s assessment of the potential risk posed by an accidental release of pathogens from such a facility. Many opponents to the department’s proposal call for an alternate location of the facility, Nature reports.

As the representative of a consortium seeking to site the facility in San Antonio, Mr. Guiffré applauded the GAO report and advocated a comprehensive study of the safety merits of each potential location, stating, “if a thorough risk assessment was completed that analyzed the relative risks of conducting this research at various sites, the ultimately the DHS would conclude that Texas is the safer location.”

John Jonas, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured in Business Week on July 29, 2009, in a story about how K Street lobbyists are adjusting their “playbooks” to comply with new lobbying rules.

At a time when lobbying is under assault, Business Week reported that the most effective practioner is someone who technically isn't a lobbyist.

“There's more of a premium on strategic thinking now,” said Mr. Jonas, who established the health care practice at Patton Boggs.

T. Michael Guiffré, a partner in the Washington office, was quoted in a front page story published by the Washington Post on July 27, 2009, about how the Department of Homeland Security relied “on a rushed, flawed study to justify its decision to locate a $700 million research facility for highly infectious pathogens in a tornado-prone section of Kansas."

The department's analysis was not "scientifically defensible" in concluding that it could safely handle dangerous animal diseases in Kansas — or any other location on the U.S. mainland, according to a Government Accountability Office draft report obtained by the Washington Post.

Mr. Guiffre represents a Texas consortium that hoped to build the DHS facility in San Antonio rather than Kansas. He told the Post that the agency wasted millions of dollars trying to justify its choice. The GAO's findings show that the selection method was “preposterous,” he said.

“They call it 'Tornado Alley' for a reason,” Mr. Guiffre said. "This really boils down to politics at its very worst and public officials who are more concerned about erecting some gleaming new research building than thinking about what's best for the general public.”

Graham Wisner, of counsel in the firm’s Washington office, appeared on a broadcast of Russia Today on July 24, 2009, to discuss Vice President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Georgia and the administration’s efforts to forge diplomatic ties to the former Soviet Republic and Russia.

Mr. Wisner also appeared on Russia Today on July 27, 2009, to dissect negative remarks that Vice President Biden made in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Wisner said that there are times when the White House would prefer that the vice president use more restraint. There are also times when the vice president, in his role as second in command, is used to float ideas that the president does not want to make, Mr. Wisner told Russia Today.

“But make no mistake, Joe Biden is also a very smart man. He sometimes makes mistakes, but often times he has a lot of experience in foreign policy and gives a feeling of various dissident elements inside the administration about feelings they might have,” Mr. Wisner said.

Mr. Wisner said in his conversations within the Obama administration, officials have been clear that President Obama wants reconciliation with Russia. The United States has a lot in common with Russia, including the recent showdown with Iran, addressing global warming, preventing international disease and exploring space, he said.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted on July 23, 2009, in a story published by Bloomberg about new government guidance that states that mortgage servicers reworking loans under the U.S. modification program should treat as a loss any part of borrowers’ debt exempted from interest and principal payments when passing on funds to bond investors.

The guidance “matches common sense with sound accounting principles,” said Mr. Green, who represents a mortgage-investor group of 11 money managers with $200 billion of assets under management. Forborne debt might not be paid out to investors for 40 years, “so it has very little economic value.”

James Reeder and Michael Guiffré, partners in the firm’s Washington office, were quoted on July 21, 2009 in a story published by Roll Call about their effort to stop the Department of Homeland Security from erecting a multimillion dollar bio-agra defense research facility smack in the middle of one of the most tornado-prone areas of the country.

The firm is working with the Texas Biological and Agro-Defense Consortium, a group that is trying to press lawmakers to overrule the department’s decision to move the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility from Plum Island, N.Y., to a proposed site in Kansas. The Texas group has pushed for San Antonio.

If allowed to build the facility in Kansas, it could become “a Kansas Chernobyl,” Mr. Reeder told the newspaper, referring to a meltdown of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant in 1986 that killed 56 people and sickened thousands.

Citing court reocrds, Roll Call reported that government scientists are expected to conduct research on African swine fever, classical swine fever, foot and mouthdisease, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, Nipah and Hendra viruses and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.

“Outbreaks of highly contagious Foot and Mouth Disease, in recent years in the United Kingdom and in the United States in the 1950s, have had a crippling impact on the cattle industry, requiring the mass slaughter of millions of animals,” Patton Boggs attorney Michael Guiffre argued earlier this year in a failed court complaint filed on behalf of the Texas team. “Manhattan, Kan., is located in close proximity to the heaviest concentration of cattle in the nation.”

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm’s public policy practice, was quoted in Roll Call on July 21, 2009, in a story examining the latest lobby disclosure reports that place Patton Boggs as the highest earning lawyer-lobbyist firm in Washington.

The firm posted an 18 percent increase in business between the first and second quarters of 2009, bringing in $18.5 million for the year to date. “I am cautiously optimistic that it’s going to sustain, but it’s too early to tell,” Mr. Allard told Roll Call.

Patton Boggs outperformed every other lawyer-lobby firm in Washington during the first half of 2009, according to lobby disclosure reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. News about the firm’s success was published by The Hill, Roll Call and Politico.

John Jonas, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Washington Post on July 21, 2009, in a story about Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus’ effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

Mr. Jonas, the head of the firm’s health care practice, told the newspaper that the Montana senator is "key to getting anything done" when it comes to health care legislation.

"This is not an overwhelmingly liberal Congress, and it's certainly not a liberal Senate," said Jonas, whose clients include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Northwestern Mutual. "I think Max is uniquely situated to try to accomplish that, because he's more of a centrist and moderate Democrat than others are." 

“This is an opportunity to make some bridges to help people better understand and respect what they do and not just do it with a few champions,” Mr. Yarowsky told the newspaper. “There's no need to erect a concrete wall between the branches. There can be a firm wall, but it can permit positive interaction. That is a big goal.”

Michael Guiffré, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Associated Press on Friday, July 17, 2009, in a story about the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to build a multimillion dollar bio-agra defense laboratory in the middle of a tornado-prone area of Kansas. The story was picked up by newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News and Washington Post.

Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissed a lawsuit filed against the government, saying it was premature. She dismissed it without prejudice, opening the way for the Texas Bio- and Agro-Defense Consortium to refile the lawsuit later if the department breaks ground on the facility in Kansas, the Associated Press reported.

The Kansas Board of Regents has agreed to provide the land, but the Homeland Security Department has not signed that agreement. “Instead of saying ‘no,’ the court simply said ‘not yet,’ ” said Mr. Guiffré, who represents the Texas group. “We’ll be right back where we started as soon as DHS figures out what it is doing.”

The Texas group had contended that the department ignored the region’s high risk of tornadoes and that the site selection had been tainted by politics.

Ambassador Frank Wisner, foreign affairs advisor in the firm’s New York City office, was prominently featured in The Hindu newspaper on July 15, 2009, in an article that focused on President Obama’s commitment to fulfill the nation's civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi.

President Obama is as committed as the previous administration to fulfilling the obligations of the nuclear deal with India, said Ambassador Wisner, speaking at a conference.

“This administration has all the markings of the eight-year run (under President George W. Bush). I do not share the view that one administration supports India and the other does not,” Ambassador Wisner told The Hindu.

In addition, Ambassador Wisner commented on international relations with Pakistan and China and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s upcoming trip to India.

American Lawyer’s AM LAW PRO BONO 100 covered PB partner John McGahren and Caroline Bartlett for their pro bono work done for Stephanie Harris, a New Jersey resident, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora and two public interest organizations, where they challenged Sequoia AVC Advantage and the malfunctioning of its Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines used in New Jersey's 2004 presidential primary election.

Apparently the fourth time was a charm, as Ms. Harris’ vote was finally registered by the touch-screen voting machine—at least that is what an election worker told her. Still, she never received a confirmation that her vote counted, as the DRE—one of over 10,000 machines used during the election—didn’t provide her with a paper record of her vote.

Challenging the DREs' constitutionality on the grounds that they are unreliable and susceptible to hacking, Mr. McGahren and Ms. Bartlett represented Ms. Harris, Assemblyman Gusciora, the Coalition for Peace and the New Jersey Peace Action Coalition, in a lawsuit against New Jersey seeking to have the DRE machines decommissioned throughout the state. Because the DRE machines do not provide a paper record of each ballot cast, it make recounts impossible.

"If Al Franken had lost in New Jersey, he would've been out of luck," Mr. McGahren said, referring to the U.S. Senate candidate whom a Minnesota court has declared the winner of the November 2008 election on the basis of a recount. "It's vital that there's an independent voter paper trail, so [people] know their vote has been directly cast and accounted for," McGahren says.

The trial wrapped up in April, and though both sides are still giving post-trial briefings, Mr. McGahren expects a decision by November.

Anthony Laura, a partner in the firm's Newark, NJ office, was interviewed by Channel 9 News (My9 News) about a New Jersey commercial truck driver who received a $1,000 fine for speaking Spanish while driving through Maryland. The story explored whether or not the driver's civil rights had been violated.

Maryland has a statute that mirrors a federal law that essentially states if you drive a commercial truck, you must be able to speak English. Within the past year, this law has been applied 20,000 to 25,000 times.

In his interview, Laura stated, "You have to think of it more as a public safety issue. You do want truck drivers who are driving large vehicles to be able to understand road signs clearly."

Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on July 8, 2009, about how the prepaid card industry hopes to avoid being swept under the umbrella of the proposed new consumer watchdog agency.

While Congress and the Obama administration have yet to work out details on which sectors will fall under the proposed agency’s supervision, the Wall Street Journal reported that leaders of the prepaid card industry believe that new regulations giving force to stricter state laws would make it more difficult and costly to operate the cards nationwide. Consumer groups countered that prepaid users, who often use the payment cards in lieu of traditional credit cards tied to bank accounts, shouldn’t receive fewer protections than any other card holders, according to the report.

Ms. Van Cleef told the Wall Street Journal that the larger question may be how much regulation is necessary to protect the consumer but still encourage financial innovation.

“The prepaid card product may serve as a very good case study as they're trying to work out the details,” Ms. Van Cleef said. “It is still a developing product and it's evolving very quickly.”

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, and Mark Salzburg, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in a CNN article on July 6, 2009 about the government’s acquisition of a controlling stake in General Motors Corp. through bankruptcy. The pair represented a group of individual bondholders in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Mr. Richman was also quoted in a July 6 article in BusinessWeek about the bondholders’ decision not to appeal a federal judge’s decision to allow the sale. Mr. Richman told the magazine that his clients believe they have a case to appeal the ruling, but they thought it would be too expensive to fight.

The firm’s three clients collectively held $2.3 million in GM debt. But they were in frequent contact with noteholders of up to $500 million in debt. None of them thought the fight would be worth the money, the magazine reported.

“It’s disappointing. I’d like to carry on the case,” Richman said. “I think the appeals court could act different [than in the case of Chrysler, which preceded GM into bankruptcy] because there is no Fiat buying the company to run it.”

Mike Dino, partner and senior public policy advisor in the Denver office, gives his analysis in an article about the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce's Colorado Legislative Scorecard. The Denver Post covered the Chamber's release of the first of what will be annual legislative ratings.

As the former CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Host Committee, Mr. Dino was philosophical in his commentary when reflecting on the “scoring” of politicians: “…there is always some organization that praises you and some organization that doesn't," he said.

Greg Johnson, a partner in the firm’s Denver office, was quoted by the Denver Business Journal on July 3, 2009, in a story about a June 30 seminar focused on finding stimulus money that was co-sponsored by Patton Boggs and CORE (Connected Organizations for a Responsible Economy), a Denver-based nonprofit, sustainable business group. Mr. Johnson, along with fellow Patton Boggs partners Mike Dino, Josh Greene, and Carolyn McIntosh, spoke to about 50 business people on “The Nuts and Bolts of Stimulus Funding: What Type Applies to Your Business?” They were joined by panelists from state and local government, as well as representatives from the private sector.

Mr. Johnson’s segment of the presentation was highlighted in the article, and his suggestions of how to approach and apply for funding through the Department of Energy were summarized. In addition, he gave tips on how to balance stimulus versus private money.

“There is no free money,” Mr. Johnson told the paper. “The Department of Energy grant programs have embedded in them…the idea that they’ll have equity in the project they fund. That could run counter to the desire of other creditors and lenders.”

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, appeared in CNN Money on July 2, 2009 in a story about the pending sale of General Motors Corp. Lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments in the GM bankruptcy case, opening the way for the judge to decide whether to approve or deny the sale of the automaker's assets to a “new GM.” Mr. Richman, representing GM's unsecured bondholders, argued that the bondholders’ interests should be considered by the court. The Treasury Department’s July 10 “drop dead deadline,” was using a “my way or the highway” attitude in refusing to consider alternate means of restructuring, Mr. Richman told CNN.

Representing a group that calls itself the “Unofficial Committee of Family and Dissident GM Bondholders,” Mr. Richman argued that the proposed deal had not been negotiated as a legitimate sale to an independent party, according to a Reuters story published by the Washington Post on July 2, 2009.

Instead, Mr. Richman said the government determined what would be needed to make a “settlement offer” to “favored parties” like the United Auto Workers union, and then it decided on the price of the sale on the back end of the negotiations, according to Reuters.

Richman said “it's not credible” that the U.S. government would turn on GM after providing the company with billions of dollars in support. He asked the judge to “call the bluff” that the government would walk away from the automaker if a deal were not closed by July 10.

Mark Salzberg, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in a story on June 30, 2009, published by American Lawyer’s AmLaw Daily about the case.

The instrumental role that Patton Boggs played in convincing Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to pardon an American citizen from a Belarus prison was featured in the National Law Journal-Legal Times on July 2, 2009.

The story of what happened to Emanuel Zeltser, a New York lawyer, is something akin to a James Bond movie, the newspaper noted. Mr. Zeltser was abducted, drugged and taken from London to Belarus last March. He was convicted in a closed-door trial of attempted economic espionage and using false documents—crime he did not commit.

A team of Patton Boggs lawyers that included Thomas Hale Boggs Jr.; Joseph Brand; Darryl Nirenberg; Scott Thompson and Kristen Johnson, worked with the State Department and members of Congress to secure Mr. Zeltser’s freedom.

Zelter's release is “a shining moment for international diplomacy and simply doing the right thing,” Mr. Boggs said. “The government of Belarus has restored the freedom of a man who was wrongly convicted.”

Mike Dino and Greg Johnson, partners in the Denver office, were both quoted in a ColoradoBiz Online article about the June 30 event that focused on contract and grant possibilities for CleanTech companies. The three-and-a-half hour workshop was co-sponsored by Patton Boggs and CORE (Connected Organizations for a Responsible Economy); a Denver-based nonprofit, sustainable business group.

In addition to outlining funding opportunities, and giving examples of private sector investment, both Mr. Dino and Mr. Johnson stressed the attention to detail that is required to get through the stimulus funding request process.

Mr. Dino warned that Colorado is one of 16 states under special scrutiny by the General Accounting office. “If any money is distributed in partnership with the public,” Mr. Dino said, “you can count on the government being very careful in that whatever money goes to the private sector can be vouched for.”

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, was quoted on Friday, June 26, 2009, by AmLaw Daily about the battle waged by individual General Motors Corp. bondholders to be heard in the car company’s bankruptcy case.

Mr. Richman told AmLaw Daily that he was undeterred by a federal judge’s recent rejection of his request to form an official committee of dissident bondholders to act alongside the court-appointed committee of unsecured creditors.

Mr. Richman intends to fight on. He told AmLaw Daily that about 2,000 bondholders holding about $500 million of GM debt have reached out to him via a Web site for bondholders.

Mr. Richman argues that the creditors committee fails to adequately represent the interests of the smaller bondholders because it appears to be going along with a plan to sell GM that could jeopardize those bonds—or wipe them out almost entirely, the newspaper reported.

Stuart M. Pape, the firm’s managing partner, was quoted on June 26, 2009, by the Wall Street Journal in a story that examined how new legislation would require food companies to give Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors greater access to internal inspection records. The story comes in the wake of an E. coli outbreak from cookie dough produced at a Nestlé USA plant.

Proposed legislation now advancing through the House would require food companies to keep more records and give FDA inspectors access to all records during inspections. The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved the measure. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, appeared in an extensive interview on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on June 24, 2009, in a story that examined how Washington is replacing Wall Street as the nation’s financial capital.

The segment, entitled "The New Capitol of Capital," is part of a series of reports by award-winning business correspondent Anthony Mason about the impact of the federal stimulus packages on the nation’s economic recovery.

With the country's banking system rocked by the economic crisis, Wall Street isn’t the country’s financial center anymore, CBS reported. American businesses looking for capital are turning from Wall Street to K Street.

"How long is this going to be the financial capital?" Mason asked Boggs.

"Well, I would say it's going to certainly be the financial capital for the next five, six or seven years," Boggs said.

In addition to interviewing Boggs, CBS interviewed Digital Bridge Communications, a client of the firm, about how the company hopes to use stimulus funds to bring broadband services to rural Virginia.

Coupled with the broadcast story, CBS posted the more extensive interview with Boggs on its Web site.

A federal bankruptcy judge denied a request by a group of dissident GM bondholders for special status in the case, according to press reports published on June 24, 2009, in the New York Times; Washington Post; Bloomberg; Reuters; American Lawyer; Automobile Magazine; Boston Herald; Washington Times; Law360; Associated Press; and Detroit News.

Obtaining such status would have required the automaker to pay the committee's legal expenses during their contest of the company's proposed restructuring.

The "Unofficial Committee of Family & Dissident GM Bondholders," represents the interests of some 2,000 individual GM bondholders with about $500 million of GM debt. Michael Richman, chair of the firm's national bankruptcy practice, argued its members were unable to participate in GM's bankruptcy process and were not being represented adequately by the car company’s official committee of unsecured creditors.

The official committee status was necessary because Mr. Richman’s clients — many of them retirees and individual families — had limited means and that the bondholders were a large disparate group.

“Some people think we are insane to be standing in the way of this process, but this is about adequate representation,” Richman told the court, according to Reuters.

U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Gerber rejected the group’s request, saying he believed the group’s interests were adequately represented by the company’s 15-member official unsecured creditors’ committee.

After the hearing, Mr. Richman told the Washington Times that he was not surprised by the judge’s decision.

“We knew it was a long shot going in,” Mr. Richman said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the merits of our objection.”

Mr. Richman said the dissident bondholders have every right to continue as an ad-hoc committee.

Michael Richman, chair of the firm's national bankruptcy practice, was quoted by Automobile Magazine on June 22, 2009, about his representation of a group of GM bondholders concerned about how the company will emerge from bankruptcy.

The article noted new court filings in the case. A group of bondholders known as “The Unofficial Committee of Family & Dissident GM Bondholders” claimed in court documents that GM's plan to sell its best assets would force the bondholders to face “disproportionate losses,” the article states.

AutomotiveNews, Bloomberg and Reuters also wrote about Mr. Richman’s defense of the GM bondholders on June 22, 2009.

The articles noted that bondholders were balking because bondholders would receive only stock in the new GM for their debt. Unhappy creditors were unable to prevent Chrysler's quick emergence from bankruptcy, but GM bondholders say their situation is different, Automotive News reported.

General Motors is not under the same time crunch to complete its bankruptcy as Chrysler, Richman told Automotive News.

In the case of Chrysler, Fiat set a June 15 deadline to complete the sale, Richman said. A delay past that date could have led to Chrysler's liquidation. By contrast, GM is under no such time pressure. The proposed Section 363 sale is being dictated by the government “merely as a device to transfer assets” that could be handled instead through a traditional bankruptcy process, Richman said.

Michael Richman, a partner in the firm's New York City office, was quoted in an article published by United Press International on June 18, 2009, about the possibility that General Motors Corp., will emerge out of bankruptcy ahead of schedule.

"The main issue is that the ownership of new GM should be allocated in accordance with the bankruptcy code and not negotiated as a matter of a private deal," said Richman, who is representing a group of GM bondholders.

Patton Boggs was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal story on June, 16, 2009, about work that Jennifer Richter, a partner in the Washington office, is doing on behalf of PureWave Networks Inc. The article described how Gideon Ben-Efraim, CEO of PureWave Networks, a wireless telecom firm, scrapped plans to sell equipment initially in emerging markets.

Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was featured in a cover story article in Prepaid Press on June 15, 2009. The story looked at how the nation may look back on May 2009 as the beginning of a new era for stored value (including prepaid cards and other stored value products) – an era marked by increased federal regulation of a wide range of such products.

Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by the Dow Jones Newswire in an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 15, 2009, about new guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the Treasury Department, that seeks to clarify the scope of information that financial institutions can share in order to be eligible for "safe harbor" protection from civil liability for exchanging that information with one another.

Proceeds from certain fraudulent acts, such as mortgage fraud, often become subject to money laundering, Van Cleef told Dow Jones. The new guidance, she said, will help financial institutions establish a link between money laundering and fraud. "It's a very important step they're taking here to make better use of the tools that are available to financial institutions," Van Cleef said.

Michael Richman, chair of the firm's national bankruptcy practice, was featured in both the Am Law Litigation Daily and Am Law Daily on June 15, 2009, in stories about how GM bondholders selected Patton Boggs over White & Case to represent their opposition to General Motors' plan to emerge out of bankruptcy.

Richmantold reporters that he's already trying to differentiate his strategy from the way his competition handled the Chrysler bankruptcy plan. "We don't want to delay or prevent the transfer of assets from 'old GM' to 'new GM,'" Richman said. "Our issue is not with that reorganization plan, it's with the effort by the parties who put the plan together to dictate the capital structure and ownership of the company outside of a bankruptcy plan."

Michael Richman, a partner in the firm's New York City office, was featured in the Wall Street Journal's Bankruptcy Beat blog on June 12, 2009, in a feature story about his rock band, the Indubitable Equivalents. The article noted that from Monday to Thursday, Richman is "submerged in a world of court documents and conference calls, leading the charge to form an official committee of non-institutional bondholders in General Motors’ Chapter 11 case. But by Friday night, he’ll have just one objective: to rock out."

Michael Richman, chair of the firm's national bankruptcy practice, was quoted by Bloomberg on June 11, 2009, in a story about how a group of individual General Motors Corp. bondholders plan to protest the planned sale of most of the carmaker’s assets to a spinoff entity.

"GM is completely different from Chrysler on the essential facts, and the Supreme Court made no decision other than to reject the appeal in Chrysler, so it has no precedential effect on our situation," said Mr. Richman, who represents an unofficial three-person committee of the bondholders.

The Detroit Free Press featured the firm's legal work on behalf of the group in a story published on June 11, 2009. The Unofficial Committee of Family and Dissident GM Bondholders alleged in court documents that large institutional bondholders were not looking out for the little guys in their negotiations with GM and the U.S. Treasury last month.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, appeared in a cover story article in the Georgetowner newspaper on June 3, 2009, about the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival's fifth anniversary celebration. Boggs was also mentioned in a New Orleans Times Picayune feature about the festival on June 5, 2009.

Deborah Lodge, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by Financier Worldwide in the magazine's June edition, about the importance of intellectual property rights in M&A transactions. Investors should seek to ensure that the IP is adequately secure, as failing to do so can ultimately destroy value, Ms. Lodge told the magazine.

"The target’s privacy policies and data security procedures are often overlooked," Ms. Lodge said. "However, these can be critical, especially if the target sells to consumers, collects or reviews consumer data, is a financial institution, or provides services to a financial institution. While not ‘traditional’ IP, consumer data can be valuable assets." Of course, it very much depends on the deal – during the due diligence process, the ‘one size fits all’ rule does not apply, Ms. Lodge told the magazine.

Tom Russo, senior counsel in the firm's New York office, was featured on June 1, 2009 in Corporate Counsel magazine. Mr. Russo discussed his experience as the chief legal officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and how that experience will help him advise clients on securities, commodities law and other financial services issues.

Norma Krayem, a senior policy adviser in the firm's Washington office, appeared on ID World TV on May 28, 2009 to discuss domestic homeland security issues.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted on May 26, 2009 in the Washington Post about the Obama administration's effort to revive a stalled government foreclosure prevention program called Hope for Homeowners. The program has some potential stumbling blocks, particularly in how first- and second-lien holders are treated, Green told the Washington Post. The firm represents a coalition of mortgage investors with more than $100 billion in mortgage-backed securities.

Aubrey Rothrock III, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted on May 25, 2009 in the National Law Journal about the growth in tax lobby work as a result of recent proposals to overhaul the tax code. Rothrock told the newspaper that the need for companies to have sophisticated tax lobbyists on the payroll is growing.

"While corporations are subjecting lobbying budgets on nonessential matters to a critical eye, tax lobbying will increasingly be characterized as a core business function," Rothrock said.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was featured in a story published on May 19, 2009, by CNN Money about President Obama's legislative efforts to fix the economy. The Obama administration's effort to push so many pieces of complex legislation at one time is relatively unprecedented yet necessary because of the financial crisis, CNN reported.

Benjamin Ginsberg, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted by Politico in a story published on May 18, 2009, about the court battle between Al Franken and Norm Coleman on who would become the next senator from Minnesota.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted by Politico in a story published on May 15, 2009, about how lawmakers raise money for their political campaigns.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., the chairman of Patton Boggs, and Washington-based partnersNicholas W. Allard, Edward J. Newberry, and Jonathan R. Yarowsky were among the best lobbyists in town in a story published by The Hill on May 14, 2009.

Timothy May, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was featured in Legal Bisnow on May 8, 2009 in a story about the Council of Court Excellence.

News that Charbel Maakaron was admitted to the Qatar Bar was covered by the Gulf Times, Peninsula, and Zawya newspapers on May 8, 2009. Patton Boggs, the first American law firm to be licensed to operate in Qatar, said that Mr. Maakaron's in-depth experience with Middle Eastern commercial laws, particularly on Qatari and Lebanese laws, will strengthen the firm's service to clients.

"Patton Boggs is deeply honored by the selection of Charbel Maakaron into the prestigious Qatar Bar," said Robert A. Hager, the managing partner of the firm's Doha office.

Christina Sarchio, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by the Associated Press on May 7, 2009 about the conviction of two stock-picking experts who persuaded consumers on late-night infomercials to buy software and other products to play the market. The pair was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ms. Sarchio represented one of the defendants. AP reported that during the trial, defense attorneys acknowledged that the defendants occasionally "misspoke or embellished in their sales pitches," but said the two were being held to an impossibly high standard, especially because the law distinguishes between fraud and "puffery" or sales talk.

The verdict "has a chilling effect on salespeople everywhere," Ms. Sarchio said.

Jennifer Richter, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by Communications Daily on May 6, 2009 in a story about wireless broadband. Ms. Richter told the newspaper that wireless broadband has finally hit its stride after decades of preparation.

"If you go to New York to any of these investment conferences where the investment banks and venture capitalists talk about where they're investing their money, they'll tell you they're investing in wireless broadband," Ms. Richter told Communications Daily. "They think that's the best big wave of growth for our communications industry."

Ms. Richter noted that of the 75 or so substantial comments filed at the FCC on its rural broadband strategy, about one third focused on wireless broadband. "That's really surprising," she said. "It's a great validation of what we've been doing the last couple of decades."

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm’s New Jersey office, appeared on the Fox Network show "Your World with Neil Cavuto” on May 6, 2009 to discuss the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan. Weber, who has significant experience with homeland security as the former senior counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said the Taliban's growth has gone undetected for too long.

Stuart M. Pape, the firm's managing partner, was featured in Real Estate Bisnow on May 1, 2009 which covered the online newspaper's conference about the state of the legal, tech, medial, and real estate industries.

Compliance Reporter published an interview with Thomas Russo, senior counsel in the firm's New York office, on May 1, 2009.

Micah Green, a partner in the Washington office, was quoted by Dow Jones on April 15, 2009; Reuters on April 16, 2009; Bloomberg on April 23, 2009; and the Financial Times on April 24, 2009, about the firm's effort to remove a provision in advancing legislation that would protect banks and loan servicers from investor lawsuits if they perform loan modifications.

"The problem with the safe harbor is that it encourages any type of modification, including those involving fraud and misrepresentation," said Mr. Green, speaking on behalf of a new coalition of mortgage investors who are opposed to the "safe harbor" provision in the bill.

Christina Sarchio, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by the Associated Press on April 13, 2009 in a story about her defense of a Teach Me To Trade salesman who allegedly pretended to be a successful investor to defraud victims.

Prosecutors are blurring the line between salesmanship and fraud, Sarchio told a federal jury in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia. "There's a difference between being a salesman and a fraudster," Sarchio said.

News that Patton Boggs hired Thomas A. Russo as senior counsel in its New York City office was prominently featured by Bloomberg news on Thursday, April 9, 2009. The story was also featured by the Legal Times' BLT blog, Law 360, the Washington Post, and the Washington Business Journal.

Mr. Russo will blend his vast knowledge of market structures with his strategic litigation experience to help clients address the numerous regulatory changes that are expected from executive branch agencies and Congress.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Russo was vice chairman of Lehman Brothers Inc. and chief legal officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings. “Mr. Russo brings a unique blend of business and legal acumen to the firm,” said Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., who has known Mr. Russo for more than three decades.

“Tom Russo has one foot in the legal world and another on Wall Street,” Mr. Boggs said. “That experience combined with his extensive tenure in Washington will prove pivotal to clients trying to sort out the multitude of new regulations that are coming. We are delighted to have someone with such deep knowledge of both worlds join the firm.”

Mr. Richman will lead the firm's national bankruptcy practice, which includes practitioners in the firm's New York City, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Northern Virginia offices.The team will advise clients on virtually every aspect of financial distress and bankruptcy, including out-of-court restructurings and the prosecution and defense of creditors' rights litigation, including preference and fraudulent conveyance cases.

Click the links below to access online coverage:
Biz Journal
Washington Post
Legal Times
Law 360

Nicholas W. Allard and Mitchell R. Berger were quoted in a story by The Hill on March 24, 2009 in a story about how to prepare a witness to face the klieg lights of a Congressional investigation. Mr. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, told the newspaper that being prepared is the “No. 1 Golden Rule.” Preparation involves getting a sense of what questions will be asked from lawmakers and staff, as well as walking clients through their answers. “If your lawyer/lobbyist has not prepared you for the questions, then you need a new one,” Mr. Allard said.

Mr. Berger, co-chair of the firm's litigation practice, told the paper that the No. 1 mistake is thinking that a Congressional hearing is equivalent to a legal proceeding. “It’s not,” Berger said. “It’s a political proceeding.”

To read the story, click here.

Anurag Varma, an of counsel attorney at Patton Boggs, was featured in Legal Bisnow and Associated Press on March 11, 2009 about his long-standing legal effort to help Native American farmers fight decades of alleged discrimination at the Department of Agriculture. Varma is part of a legal team that filed a class action lawsuit against the Agriculture Department alleging that thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers have been denied equal access to loans and loan servicing at the department.

To read the story, click here.

Scott L. Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, was featured in “Security Debrief,” a must-read homeland security blog, on March 4, 2009. Mr. Weber discussed the undetected threats of of cyber terrorism. "The continued and growing reliance on networked operations, wireless systems and the globalization of information make a cyber attack a growing concern for the private sector and government," Mr. Weber told “Security Debrief."

"Cyber attacks of computer systems and telecommunication networks are highly developed and increasingly used as a way to gain an advantage in the commercial sector, as well as a viable tool for terrorists seeking to cause economic destruction and ways to fund their operations. As business trade secrets and customer information become more vulnerable, it is clear that the public can wait no longer for cyber security standards," Mr. Weber said.

Anthony Laura, a partner in the firm's Newark office, was quoted in a March 2009 New Jersey Business article on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination entitled, "Protecting the Disabled."

"Traditionally, the New Jersey LAD has provided much broader protection to plaintiffs who allege disability discrimination than the ADA has provided," Mr. Laura told the publication. "Much of the ADA's focus has been on the federal court's interpretation that in order to be a disability worthy of protection, it must impair or substantially limit a major life activity. That has never been a requirement under the New Jersey LAD. Therefore I think anyone who has ever practiced in this area would agree: the LAD has traditionally gone much further in protecting all types of disabilities than the ADA has in the past. New Jersey employers should recognize the LAD as a far-reaching act, especially in the disability and discrimination area, and continue to treat it as such."

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on PBS’ “Nightly Business Report” on Friday, February 27, 2009 discussing the government's ownership of Citigroup shares. PBS reported that American taxpayers now own 36 percent of the financial services giant, after the U.S. government changed the terms of its bailout loans. Reporter Stephanie Dhue asked Mr. Green, the former president and co-CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, about the terms of the loan.

Here's an interchange from the interview:

Stephanie Dhue: In the past when the Treasury injected capital into Citigroup, the government set the price. But by converting preferred shares to common shares today, it used the market to set the price. Attorney Micah Green says doing that may set a new standard.

Micah Green, Partner, Patton Boggs LLP: They basically said, the Treasury will not pay any more than the best price gotten by a private investor who is putting capital in as part of this transaction.

Dhue: Green says the Citi action underscores the government's commitment to the nation's largest banks.

Green: Right now it's not just about a single institution and whether or not it's technically too big to fail, it's also about confidence in the system.

To read a transcript of the entire interview, click here.

Stuart M. Pape, the firm's managing partner, and Edward J. Newberry, the firm's deputy managing partner, were featured in a Legal Times story published on February 23, 2009 about how the firm is overhauling its compensation plan for partners. The story was picked up by the National Law Journal and American Lawyer publications, both sister publications of Legal Times.

Under the new structure, which will be phased in starting next year, partners will have a percentage of their pay set by an 11-member compensation committee. The committee will examine how well partners refer business to each other and will also weigh involvement in associate mentoring and training and whether partners closing in on retirement are transferring clients to the next generation of lawyers at the firm, Legal Times reported.

"What we’re doing here is trying to provide some compensation incentive for doing things that are supportive, collaborative, and productive," Mr. Pape said.

Patton Boggs has posted strong returns in recent years, Legal Times reported. The firm reports firm-wide revenue of about $348.7 million for 2008, a 12.45 percent increase over 2007. Profits per partner were $783,000. Under the firm’s current partner compensation model, the highest-paid partner at Patton Boggs made 16 times more than the least.

Mr. Newberry told the newspaper that Patton Boggs, "needed a system that kept some of the same entrepreneurial incentives."

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, appeared in a February 20, 2009 article published by the Associated Press. The article, which was distributed nationally, discussed the impact of the massive economic stimulus bill on the lobbying industry. The article stated that many companies, cities, institutions and others need K Street lobbyists to "help navigate the process and gain an edge."

Mr. Allard told AP about the vital role that lobbyists play to help clients benefit from the bill." A lay business person can't just read the naked text of this legislation and figure out necessarily what the opportunities are," Mr. Allard told AP.

The Ron Brown Scholar Program, a pro-bono client of the firm, was featured on February 20, 2009 in an article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle spent months following the program's scholars, describing how all 241 scholars have graduated from college, many moving on to graduate school and successful careers. The program is named after former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who was also a much admired partner at Patton Boggs.

"Now 241 strong, the Ron Brown scholars — named after the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce who died in a plane crash in 1996 — are showing what an education, when combined with a supportive peer group, dedicated mentors, and networking opportunities at the highest levels, can yield," the Chronicle reported.

"These young adults, selected for their intellect, leadership skills, service, and financial need, are finding success in the law, government, science, business, medicine, and the arts. Yet they remain tied to the scholarship program, contributing to its continued success by donating money and volunteer hours to create opportunities for others," the Chronicle reported.

"This culture of philanthropy is helping the Ron Brown program grow in strength and scope. Unlike more-traditional scholarships whose main objective is awarding money, the creators of this program envisioned a community of scholars linked for life and motivated to give back — to society, each other, and the program — as members moved ahead in their professions. Their motto: "the value of one, the power of all."

To read the whole story, click here.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, was featured on February 19, 2009 in a Q&A article posted on Forbes.com discussing the growth of lobbying in Washington over the past four decades. “K Street. It's a much bigger enterprise than it was 20 years ago," Mr. Boggs told the magazine's Washington bureau chief. “The lobbying industry is also set for some dramatic changes due to the government's involvement in the private sector,” he continued.

Here's an interchange from the interview:

Forbes: How do you see the world of lobbying changing under the Obama administration?

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr.: “It's not so much the Obama administration. Washington's going to change dramatically because of what's happening in Washington. Most lobbying activities in this town are sort of generic type of issues: labor versus business on card check [proposed legislation that makes it easier to join a union]. Business versus lawyers on tort reform. Free traders versus the labor unions on free trade agreements. Under the current circumstances, Washington's become the banking center of the world. So it's now, 'What can I get from Washington specifically, not generically,' which is very different. Individual companies and groups and organizations are seeking their own particulars specifically. And that's far, far different than it's ever been before.”

For the full article, which was published online February 19, 2009, click here.

James B. Christian, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" on February 5, 2009, to discuss the provisions included in the 1995 Lobby Disclosure Act. Mr. Christian explained how the law works.

Click here to access the full broadcast.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Joseph Brand, Darryl Nirenberg, Kristen Johnson, and Scott Thompson were featured in Legal Bisnow on February 4, 2009 about their efforts to free Emanuel Zeltser, an American lawyer who was taken against his will on March 12, 2008 to Belarus where he was allegedly tortured and held in a KGB detention cell.

Click here to read the full article.

Christopher Hellmich, a partner in the firm's Washington office was quoted in American Lawyer magazine on January 30, 2009, about the firm's significant victory for small merchants against credit card giant American Express. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a clause in AmEx's standardized contract with some merchants violates the Federal Arbitration Act. The contract between AmEx and merchants whose customers transact less than $10 million per year on AmEx cards contains an arbitration clause that includes a "class action waiver." This waiver forced smaller merchants to sign away their ability to join together with similar merchants and pursue class action against AmEx.

The decision reversed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that dismissed the case and sent it to arbitration. The higher court ruling stated "the class action waiver ... cannot be enforced in this case because to do so would grant Amex de facto immunity from antitrust liability by removing the plaintiffs' only reasonably feasible means of recovery." The ruling's impact will likely be felt by all businesses that have standardized contracts containing arbitration provisions with similar class action waivers.

"It's a breath-taking victory," said Mr. Hellmich who worked on the case with Read McCaffrey, a partner in the firm's Washington office. "It is going to have some far-reaching impact."

An opinion piece written by Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, was featured in the must read "Security Debrief" blog on Friday, January 30, 2009. In the op-ed, Mr. Weber urges Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations, and the Obama administration to press the international community to address cyber warfare, saying it is a pernicious threat.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, was featured in the January 26, 2009 edition of Business Week about Washington's so-called "uber lobbyists," public policy professionals who are expected to "wield big influence in the New Washington." The magazine stated that Mr. Boggs "could well be the most influential Washington icon who never held elected office."

"It's hard to top Boggs, once an economist advising President Lyndon B. Johnson, for sheer door-opening, policy-swaying clout," Business Week reported. "Analyses of campaign contributions, lobbying expenses, and other money flows, together with a social networking study of Washington lobbying done by prominent American University professor James Thurber, suggest that Boggs' law firm, Patton Boggs, has more combined influence inside the Beltway than any other lobbying outfit."

Click here to access the full article.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, appeared on CNBC on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 to discuss the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Mr. Allard, who has extensive experience working on presidential campaigns, as well as on the Hill for former Sen. Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) discussed the impact that Obama would have on K Street and Congress.

"It's a new day," Mr. Allard said. "It won't be business as usual."

Click here to watch the interview.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., chairman of the firm, appeared in the Washington Post on Monday, January 19, 2009, in an article about employment challenges facing many of President Bush's political appointees during a tight economy. High-ranking White House loyalists have deluged Washington headhunters with pleas for jobs and corporations and nonprofit organizations have stopped hiring, according to the Post.

"If they're star-type people, we're certainly interested in them," Mr. Boggs told the Post. "But it's going to be a lot worse than it was eight years ago because of the economy."

Click here to access the full story.

Mary Kimber, the firm's chief marketing officer, appeared in the January 15, 2009 edition of CQ Politics discussing the unique ways Patton Boggs is marketing itself during the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The firm is "offering free information and tools both for those optimistic about the dawning Obama era and those who are worried about the challenges it faces," CQ reported.

Patton Boggs has published a 70-page report on what the new president can expect in the 111th Congress on its Web site. In addition, the firm worked with Qorvis to launch a free mobile phone application that inaugural visitors can download onto their smart phones and Black Berry Bolds. The application provides location-aware information about inaugural galas and events and delivers details in real time about where to eat, what Metro line to take, and how to find museums and other places in Washington.

"We wanted to do something that was useful ... was novel, and would really would set us apart and differentiate us from the clutter," Ms. Kimber said.

To read more, click here.

Patton Boggs and Qorvis released the latest version of a new inauguration mobile application on January 13, 2009. It was featured in a number of publications including:

• Government Computer News: GPS for inauguration-goers
• Wall Street Journal Washington Wire: Inauguration Watch: How Not to Get Lost in D.C.
• Washington Post: Inauguration Watch: Free Phone Application for BlackBerrys, iPhones to Help Navigate Washington
• ABC’s "THE NOTE": http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/01/wed-must-read-1.html
  Video of the App with a Charlie Gibson Introduction
• CNN.com - Web Tools for the Inauguration
• Johnnyjet.com: Website of the Week
• Qorvis Communications : Navigate Washington With Free App: Version 2.0 of Inauguration Mobile App From Qorvis and Patton Boggs

Joseph Brand, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared in Legal Times' "BLT" blog on January 8, 2009, about the firm's attempt to release Emanuel Zeltser, an American citizen, from a penal colony in Belarus.

The firm has filed an urgent complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee alleging that the Belarusian government is violating the civil and political rights of Mr. Zeltser, a 55-year-old New York resident.

Mr. Zeltser recalls only that on March 12, 2008, he was sipping coffee at a café in London. His next memory is waking up and finding himself on a private plane bound for a KGB-monitored detention center in Minsk, according to the 21-page document filed with the United Nations demanding his immediate release.

Over the past nine months, Mr. Zeltser has faced physical beatings, inhumane and unsanitary treatment, according to the complaint. Belarusian authorities have continuously withheld physician-prescribed medications to treat his debilitating diabetes, heart problems and severe arthritis. At one point, they even withheld a mattress. A witness said his handcuffs were so tight that there was "no blood circulation," according to the complaint.

The firm filed another complaint on January 8, 2009 with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture.

"I wouldn’t have thought in the 21st century we’d be doing a James Bond movie like this," Mr. Brand told the Legal Times. Mr. Brand, who leads Mr. Zeltser’s representation to the United Nations, calls the case "Kafka-esque." "This is the Soviet Union at its worst."

Click here to access the full article.

Carol R. Van Cleef, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared in the January 5, 2009 edition of The PrePaid Press. Ms. Van Cleef discussed how the economic crisis has sharpened the focus on store value cards.

"As the economic crisis continues to evolve, the prepaid/stored value card industry finds itself under increased scrutiny on several fronts," Ms. Van Cleef said. "While observers remain generally confident about the industry’s long term prospects, the recent bankruptcies of several high profile retailers, among others, highlight concerns that have emerged about the safety of cardholder funds when the card-issuing retailer declares bankruptcy or the banking institution holding cardholders’ funds fails."

To read more, click here.

Laurence J. Freedman, a partner of the firm's health care group, was quoted in the Dec. 2008 edition of the Rx Compliance Report. The issue focuses on Siemens' recent Foreign Corrupt Practice Act settlement. The Rx Compliance Report is an analysis of Rep. Henry Waxman's latest assault on drug marketing. The far-reaching views of his senior aide, Ann Witt, regarding off-label promotion are also examined as well as the recent revisions to PhRMA's guidelines. In addition, Mary Riordan, senior attorney for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers advice to drug and device companies on effective, proactive compliance.

Following is an excerpt from the article: “The Siemens resolution is striking in its global reach and level of cooperation among law enforcement agencies,” says former Department of Justice attorney Larry Freedman. “It breaks the sound barrier.” At the same time, Freedman says that DOJ’s recognition of, and reward for, the company’s internal investigation and compliance efforts, and its interest in not debarring Siemens, should be directly applicable to health care FCPA matters.

Joseph L. Brand, a partner in the firm's Washington office, is leading the mission to release Emanuel Zeltser, an American lawyer, from prison in Belarus. Mr. Brand recently filed an urgent complaint on behalf of the American citizen with the United Nations demanding his release. The Patton Boggs team also includes Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Darryl Nirenberg, Scott Thompson, and Kristen Johnson.

The 21-page complaint describes "harsh and abusive treatment" that Mr. Zeltser has received since being arrested in March 2008 in Minsk and taken to a KGB detention center. The complaint states that Mr. Zeltser was taken to Belarus against his will. The last memory he had was having coffee in London before finding himself detained in Belarus, according to BelaPan, a news agency that has covered the case extensively.

"Since the arrival, he says, he has been subject to physical beatings, deprived of his prescriptions, suffered severe pain and mental deterioration, and denied proper medical treatment," according to the news report about the complaint.

The State Department and several leading members of the House have called for the release of Mr. Zeltser on humanitarian grounds. Mr. Zeltser was sentenced to three years in prison on Aug. 11 on charges that he allegedly "attempted industrial espionage" and used fake documents. The Minsk City Court held the trial behind closed doors and no details of the case were disclosed to the public, according to BelaPan.

To read more, click on these two stories:

http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/12/23/ic_articles_259_160483/

http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/12/11/ic_articles_259_160308/

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on December 19, 2008 in a story discussing how President-elect Obama plans to redesign the nation's financial regulatory system. Green, the former head of the trade group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said the timing of the president-elect's announcement before the president-elect's cabinet is complete was "extraordinary." He told the Wall Street Journal that it "speaks to the priority of the issue." Mr. Green said their focus will likely be on establishing a new regulatory framework to watch over the flow of money.

To read the story, click here.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted by Bloomberg News on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 in a story about the possibility that Caroline Kennedy will replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate when the New York senator becomes secretary of state.

Kennedy’s appointment would have the added benefit of soothing rival factions in New York’s Democratic Party, Mr. Allard told Bloomberg. "The fact that she could rise above a field of so many talented public officials in New York says a lot about her personal power even though she’s never held elective office," said Mr. Allard, who has worked for former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Caroline’s uncle.

Click here to access the full story.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr.. chairman of the firm, was the focus of a front page story in the Legal Times on Monday, December 15, 2008 examining how the 1979 bailout of the Chrysler Corporation compares with the current attempt to provide a financial lifeline to automakers today.

Mr. Boggs played a pivotal role in convincing Congress and President Carter to approve the $1.5 billion loan guarantee back in 1979 for Chrysler. He is playing a key role in helping the auto industry save more than 5 million jobs this time around too. Here's an excerpt from the interview:

Legal Times: What were some of the key similarities between the auto industry bailout negotiations and discussions of today and the way they were handled in 1979 for Chrysler?

Thomas Boggs: First off, back in ’79, it was very unusual to provide anyone with anything. We had one big bailout and that was for the Continental bailout and that was without congressional legislation. It was a concept Congress was not familiar with or enthusiastic about.

The bailout for Chrysler in ’79 was going to be a tax bailout and that didn’t fly well with the Treasury. They were going to convert net operating losses from taxes to tax credit, but that would be a direct drain on the government. Under the loan guarantee, it’s an obligation to the government. So, the loan guarantee was really a second choice for Chrysler.

Click here to access the full article.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, appeared on Federal News Radio on Friday, December 12, 2008 to discuss the appointment of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to run the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Weber, the former senior counselor to Secretary Michael Chertoff, discussed the challenges the new department chief will face.

Rodney Slater, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on two Fox Network programs on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 to discuss the effort by the Big Three Detroit automakers to win $34 billion in federal aid from Congress to resuscitate the industry during the current economic crisis.

Mr. Slater appeared on the network's "Studio B with Shepard Smith" and then that evening, he appeared on the network's "America’s Nightly Scoreboard with David Asman".

"This is a very important industry," Mr. Slater said in support of the auto industry. "It is the largest purchaser of steel, aluminum, copper, and things of that nature. This is a main street industry, an industry that has served as the epicenter for the development of our middle-class over the years. It is also important from a national security vantage point as well. I think it is too important to fail. They're asking for a bridge loan. They're hoping that with those resources, they can recover and help rebuild over time."

Stephen Diaz Gavin, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted on December 2, 2008 in the Miami Business Review in a story about Pedro Castillo, the former head of Banco Dominicano del Progresso. Castillo was found liable of civil theft and now faces at least $80 million in damages. It was a significant victory for the firm, which represented Banco Dominicano.

The Review reported that Castillo "diverted millions of dollars from the plaintiffs' accounts to himself or to others on his behalf through hundreds of transactions he personally directed," according to the 23-page ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mary Barzee Flores.

"It was quite a scheme that basically involved the creation of fictitious assets on the balance sheet and hiding it from members of the board of directors, from regulators, from shareholders," Mr. Gavin told the Review.

Read McCaffrey, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted in the Legal Times blog "BLT" on December 1, 2008 in a story about how Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Mary Barzee-Flores ruled that the former President of Banco Dominicanodel Progreso, S.A. -- Banco Multiple is liable for civil theft, converting bank funds for personal use, breaching his fiduciary duty to the bank and defrauding the bank. Pedro Castillo now faces at least $80 million in damages.

In addition to luxury condos in Florida and Vail, Colo., yachts, and even a helicopter, Mr. McCaffrey told Legal Times that Castillo also spent the bank’s money on "a horse in Michigan, and he rented a plane and had it specially outfitted to fly the horse from Michigan to the Dominican Republic." Mr. McCaffrey said that expenditure was "the piece de la resistance."

Click here to access the full story.

Marek Gootman, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted in Politico on December 1, 2008 in a story about how the nation's mayors are vying to get federal help for local projects in the current economic downturn. Local officials are looking for Washington to take aim at three areas: infrastructure, budget relief and help from the Federal Reserve and Treasury in accessing capital, Mr. Gootman told Politico. One of the keys, Mr. Gootman said, is to ensure that the final stimulus plan steers money directly to local governments without stopping first at the states where it could be held for state priorities.

Click here to access the full story.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, appeared on the Fox News show "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 to discuss how the nation finds itself in a vulnerable state as it welcomes a new president and rescues a battered economy. History shows that terrorists use times of transition to strike their enemies, Mr. Weber said.

To watch the full interview, click here.

Micah S. Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on the Fox News show "America's News HQ" on Saturday, November 22, 2008 to discuss President-elect Barack Obama's selection of Timothy F. Geithner as the new secretary of the Treasury.

Mr. Green, who has experiences working with Mr. Geithner in his role as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spoke about the apparent secretary's strong capabilities to run the department and his ability to address the economic crisis afflicting Wall Street and Main Street. Mr. Green also discussed the state of the economy and the markets.

Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, recent op-eds appeared in "Security Debrief," a must-read blog featuring top officials and experts about homeland security risks, on Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

Mr. Weber has been asked to become a regular contributor on the blog, which is routinely picked up by other national security blogs and news reporters.

PR guru John Hellerman cited the firm's magazine Capital Thinking magazine as a public relations tip to help firms during challenging economic times in Bisnow on Tuesday, November 18, 2008.

Click here to access Bisnow's full article.

Nicholas W. Allard, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on National Public Radio on Monday, November 17, 2008 to discuss how President-elect Barack Obama's tight ethics restrictions might affect the appointment of officials for the new administration.

Click here to hear the report.

Vincent E. Frillici, a senior policy advisor in the firm's Washington office, was quoted in the Flint Journal on Saturday, November 15, 2008 in a feature story about his rise to prominence in the nation's capitol. The newspaper noted that Mr. Frillici is not an elected official, but he still likes to solve people's problems as a lobbyist. Mr. Frillici, a native of Flint Township, "has been on the biggest stage in politics, serving as national finance director of one presidential campaign and working on others," the newspaper noted.

"I've just always been the guy trying to help people solve problems," Mr. Frillici told the paper. "I like being a problem-solver. I like putting people together to solve problems."

To read more, click here.

Nicholas W. Allard and Benjamin L. Ginsberg, chairs of the firm's public policy practice, appeared on London-based Telegraph TV on Monday, November 10, 2008 to discuss how President-elect Barack Obama would handle the economic crisis in the United States.

Eric L. Foster, a partner in the firm's New York City office, appeared on Bloomberg TV on Monday, November 10, 2008 to discuss the economic crisis on Wall Street.

Mr. Foster, former counsel in the legal group with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told Bloomberg that Congress wanted the Fed to be the lender of last resort.

"When everyone else falls down, the Fed needs to remain standing. We had a banking crisis in the early 20th Century. The Fed did what they were supposed to do. I think they are fed up. You are going to see a lot of changes in Congress and calls for more transparency. Some heads will roll at the end of this," Mr. Foster said.

Nicholas W. Allard and Benjamin L. Ginsberg, chairs of the firm's public policy practice, appeared on CNN International with host Juanita Phillips on Monday, November 10, 2008, to discuss how the historic election of Barack Obama as president of the United States would impact Congress, the political agenda and international relations.

Stuart M. Pape, the managing partner of the firm, was quoted by CQ Politics on November 6, 2008 about what the historic election of Senator Barack Obama as president of the United States means for lobbyists. Mr. Pape said President-elect Obama could consider creating new disclosure requirements for lobbyists seeking an audience with executive branch officials. Under current law, firms and individuals who lobby political appointees are required to register with the House and Senate. But lobbyists seeking to influence career civil servants are not, CQ reported.

"You’ll see by executive order maybe a requirement for disclosure of lobbying of executive branch officials that will in a rough way parallel what goes on now with congressional officials," said Mr. Pape during a Web briefing sponsored by Patton Boggs and Qorvis Communications the day after the election. “It’s the easiest thing for an administration to do that has obviously taken a negative tack toward lobbying and public policy.”

Click here to access the full article.

Market Watch featured Richard Andersen, a new hire in the firm's New York office on November 6, 2008. Mr. Andersen brings to the table more than two decades of experience in both domestic and international transactional tax matters. He has counseled U.S. and international clients on a number of general corporate, partnership, financial products and international tax matters.

Nicholas W. Allard, chairman of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted in The Hill on November 5, 2008 in a story about how lobbyists will fare under President-elect Obama. Mr. Allard said that Obama’s insistence on keeping his administration lobbyist-free could do more harm than good by forcing him to rely on a staff inexperienced with Washington.

“You don’t want only virgins and academics in your administration,” Mr. Allard said in a recent interview. Now more than ever, Mr. Allard told The Hill, people with expertise and experience — especially in banking and financial services — are needed.

Click here to access the full article.

Darryl Nirenberg, deputy chair in Patton Boggs public policy department, was quoted in The Deal on November 5, 2008 discussing the impact of the election of President-elect Barack Obama on the GOP. The loss of seats to Democrats could mean the ouster of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) or GOP Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), The Deal reported. Possible replacement candidates include Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), 38, and Eric Cantor (R-Va.), 45, both lawmakers that led a high-profile ultimately unsuccessful effort to topple Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion government purchase plan. Mr. Nirenberg, speaking during a webinar sponsored by the firm and Qorvis Communications, said Cantor and Ryan may see the losses in their party as an opportunity to step up.

Click here to access the full article.

Darryl Nirenberg, deputy chair of the firm's public policy department, was quoted in CQ Politics on November 5, 2008 in a story about the prospects for the lobbying industry in President-elect Obama's administration. Nirenberg noted that it will be a busy season in Washington when the newly-elected Congress convenes come January.

“It’s clear members of Congress have a lot on their plate and will move very quickly,” Mr. Nirenberg said. He predicted that lobbying over the next several months “is going to be very labor intensive.”

Click here to access the full article.

The firm's effort to ensure that the 2008 presidential election included as many voters as possible was featured in the "BLT", the must-read blog of the Legal Times on November 4, 2008. Up to 30 lawyers at the firm's Washington office fielded nationwide voter inquiries today, including voting registration problems. The firm was one of 40 private law firms around the country offering pro bono legal advice on a hotline administered by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Legal Times reported.

A "swat team" of staff set up the call center within 24 hours after a last-minute request from the Lawyers’ Committee on Thursday afternoon. “Late in the game, they said, look, we’ve got more need than we have capacity," says public policy and lobbying partner, Rodney Slater, former secretary of the Transportation Department. "Can you do this … and can you do it by yesterday?”

Second year associate, Caitlin McCormick told the newspaper, "I think after the last couple of elections people seem to be much more passionate about voting,” she says. “They’re much more willing than they might have been in previous years to say, ‘I’m sticking it out because my vote needs to count.’”

Click here to access the full article.

Norman Antin and Kevin Houlihan, both partners in the firm's Washington office, were quoted in the Wall Street Journal on November 3, 2008 in a story about a spurt in publicly held institutions applying for government investments in coming weeks out of concern that failing to do so, could make them losers in a banking sector reshaped by the Treasury's $700 billion rescue plan.

Mr. Antin said he is in constant contact with bank regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Houlihan said the firm's banking and regulatory group now spends half its time on the rescue effort. Last week, after Treasury reemphasized that only healthy banks would qualify for the program, five bankers contacted him in a day. He encouraged them all to apply.

"It's cheap capital, cheap insurance and a bonus for the institutions that are participating," he said.

Stuart Pape, the firm's managing partner, and Vincent Frillici, a senior public policy advisor at the firm, were quoted in a November 3, 2008 National Law Journal story about how law firms are hiring lawmakers and top congressional staffers without law degrees in anticipation of overhauls in how the nation pays for multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects and regulates financial services.

"You don't have to have a law degree to be smart and capable,'' Mr. Pape told the legal journal. "This may be a Washington phenomenon because here we have a lot of clients with problems that are adjacent to the law. It is becoming increasingly common with firms that have public policy practices and do a lot of regulatory work to hire people who know their way around the bureaucracy.''

Mr. Frillici, who recently joined the firm, began his career working on the finance side of the 1996 Clinton presidential campaign and has worked in campaign fundraising and business development ever since.

"I see myself as a translator of the very complex language of policy and legislative prescriptions into understandable terms," Mr. Frillici told the legal journal. "Being the one on the [conference] call who asks for something to be explained is mostly for me, but if I don't understand it, the lawmaker who has to explain that back home will have a hard time understanding it. Law firms that don't have people who bring a political viewpoint into the conversation, their clients miss something.''

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office appeared on PBS' "Nightly Business Report" on October 31, 2008 to discuss the financial crisis on Wall Street.

Correspondent Darren Gersh asked Mr. Green about the Treasury Department's so-called TARP plan rules for smaller, privately held banks, and how that would be impacted by the presidential election. Mr. Green said the next president would want to make his mark on this massive program.

"You'll see much more focus on mortgage foreclosure issues. You might see an accelerated review of what additional companies and assets should be included. You'll see more accountability. But I'm not sure you'll see major seismic shifts into the decisions that have already been made," Mr. Green said.

Click here to access the interview.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, appeared on PBS' "Nightly Business Report" on October 30, 2008 to discuss the impact of the presidential election on Congress and the financial rescue efforts.

Correspondent Darren Gersh asked: If the polls are right and Sen. Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, the only place Republicans can effectively fight tax increases or other government mandates on business will be in the Senate, provided there are still enough Republicans seats. Of course, if Sen. John McCain pulls out a win, the White House will check Democratic ambitions. And, in any case, the most likely scenario now is for Democrats to finish Election Day with 56 to 58 Senate seats. But even if Democrats get to 60, they won't act in lockstep on taxes, health care or anything else, says former Senate Democratic staffer Nick Allard.

"There are conservative Democrats and extremely liberal Democrats," Mr. Allard said. "And almost on any major issue, the Democrats are going to have to reach across the aisle to the Republicans to get to 60."

Click here to access the interview.

"It's a system that's built on a couple of things. No. 1, it is a human system. We have, basically, volunteers, very well-intentioned people who work the polls every day, every Election Day, and that creates the natural problems that come from human error," Mr. Ginsberg said.

Click here to access the interview.

Todd Harrison, a partner in the firm's New York office, was quoted by USA Today on October 28, 2008, in an article about Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Ala.) who was convicted of concealing more than $250,000 in gifts on his Senate financial disclosure forms. The trial included several missteps by prosecutors who mishandled witnesses and evidence, drawing repeated rebukes from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, according to the newspaper. Harrison said those missteps will likely be the basis of Stevens' appeal.

"He doesn't have many strong issues for appeal," Mr. Harrison said. "All of those issues … were hashed out during the course of the trial, and Judge Sullivan was really tough on the prosecution."

Click here to read the full story.

Benjamin L. Ginsberg, co-chairman of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted in an ABC News article on October 28, 2008, about the legal "war rooms" that are cropping up to protect or challenge issues like voter registration cards, data bases, voting machines, and early and absentee ballots in preparation for election day.

"Since Bush v. Gore, there's a greater awareness of what can happen on the legal side of the equation," said Mr. Ginsberg who helped mastermind the recount efforts for President Bush in 2000. "It was a singularly historic event in the lives of lawyers and no one wants to miss it if the Fickle Finger of Fate actually strikes again in our lifetimes."

Click here to read the full story.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by CQ Today on October 22, 2008 in a story that examined revenues generated by lobbying firms during the third quarter. Patton Boggs once again emerged as the top revenue generator. Lobbyists told the publication that the economic downturn is likely to hurt their bottom line in the coming months. But they expect the blow to be cushioned by the fact that now, as the government prepares to overhaul financial and economic policy, they are more indispensable than ever to the business community.

"It’s very safe to say what the last few months, particularly the last many weeks, has shown us is that the distance between the public policy environment of Washington and the financial marketplace has shortened considerably ... The linkage between the two is as important as I can ever remember it being," Mr. Green told the publication.

MR. Green, the former president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, added that clients have been compelled in recent weeks to reach out to get a better sense of the negotiations already going on inside government and to make sure Congress and the White House understand the impacts their policy proposals might have.

Click here to read the full article.

Jim Christian, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by The Hill on October 22, 2008 in a story that looked at third quarter lobby revenues. The newspaper reported that a number of firms saw a decline in numbers due to the presidential election, the annual August recess and the all-consuming financial crisis on Wall Street that left little time for lawmakers to tackle other issues.

Patton Boggs was the top earner on K Street in the third quarter, according to disclosure forms. "Everyone is holding their breath for the election," Christian said. "We have seen this before in election years, especially in presidential election years."

Kathleen Lester, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was featured in Work Force Management on October 21, 2008, in an article about how health care reform is expected to become a top priority for the next Congress. One legislative proposal gaining traction in the Senate would be to require companies to disclose the amount of money they spend annually on health insurance on their employees’ W-2 tax forms. The thrust of the bill would be to educate workers about how much money their employers spend on health care. Ms. Lester told the publication that few of her clients have reacted to the bill, but the sponsors have the right motivation.

"It’s important for consumers to know what things cost and how it drives treatment options and quality [of care]," Ms. Lester said.

Click here to read the full story.

Todd Harrison, a partner in the firm's New York office, was quoted by Bloomberg on Friday, October 17, 2008, concerning the federal investigation into the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Investigators are reportedly examining Lehman's role in the $330 billion auction rate securities market and possible crimes stemming from its $6 billion June stock issue, according to the news service.

The demise of Lehman, which sought bankruptcy protection on September 15, accelerated a global credit crisis that has wiped out $30 trillion of equity value in the past year, the news service reported. "There's been an outcry from people in the streets, and that puts pressure on prosecutors to do something," Mr. Harrison told Bloomberg. "They're going to be looking at all aspects of the credit crisis, including the rating agencies and the mortgage lenders who packaged and sold securities.''

To read more, click here.

DeMaurice Smith and Micah Green, both partners in the firm's Washington office, were quoted in the October 8, 2008 edition of AmLaw Daily about the congressional financial rescue plan of Wall Street. The $700-billion plan has created new legal liability for corporate officers, directors, managers, and advisers involved in the mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations markets, according to Mr. Smith, head of the firm's government investigations and white-collar practice group.

Mr. Green, the former president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said all eyes will be on Congress to ensure that a financial debacle of this magnitude does not happen again. "Congress gave a pint, if not a quart, of blood in the current bailout plan," Mr. Green said. "When they come back to work to make sure it never happens again, they're going to be out for more than a pound of flesh."

Mr. Smith and Mr. Green were speaking at a forum in New York sponsored by the firm and the Directors Roundtable entitled: "Wipeout, Bailout, Workout: the Regulatory, Business and Enforcement landscape."

Jeffrey Haas, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted in The National Law Journal on October 6, 2008 concerning the firm’s renewed focus on its troubled financial institutions practice. Mr. Haas discussed the firm’s diverse practice areas which have evolved and grown to meet the challenges stemming from the financial crisis.

“A lot of companies face credit quality, liquidity or enforcement issues, and there are issues relating to insurance coverage, litigation, transactions, bankruptcy – it’s a long list,” he said. Mr. Haas counsels clients on bank regulatory issues, corporate and securities matters, and corporate governance issues.

Charles Miller, Patton Boggs' deputy managing partner, was quoted in the Legal Times blog "BLT" on Friday, October 3, 2005 about the firm's new rapid fire financial task force. The task force was set up to help clients navigate the $700 billion rescue plan that just cleared Congress. The task force includes senior members of the firm’s public policy, litigation, and business departments and has brought together 30 attorneys from across the firm’s nine offices.

"This kind of thing is not new to us. What we talk about internally is how to serve clients at the intersection of business and government. I can’t think of a bigger intersection of the two that has occurred in my lifetime than this bailout," MR. Miller told Legal Times.

Click here to read the article.

Former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Stephanie Peters, both partners in at Patton Boggs, were quoted in Legal Times' must read blog "BLT" on October 2, 2008, discussing the firm's pro bono work with the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. The festival has grown over the past four years, to attract more than 40,000 people to hear 100 performances across the city. To see photos and read the inside story of how Patton Boggs got involved in the festival, click here.

Robert Bearman, managing partner of the firm's Denver office, was quoted in a Denver Post story on September 27, 2008 about the public's growing frustration over executive compensation on Wall Street amidst the biggest financial debacle since the Great Depression. The public ire over the bank bailout and intense focus in Washington on executive compensation during the past few weeks will likely spur broader debate on the issue and put pressure on corporate boards across all industries, the article stated.

"With this push, compensation committees are going to feel the heat a lot more. This will energize the debate, and it will be a continuing debate," said Bearman, who specializes in corporate governance. "They will see that if they don't take actions by themselves, they're looking at increased federal legislation. Shareholders also will become more vocal."

Jason Rockwell, an associate in the Newark office, was quoted in a September 23, 2008 Star Ledger article about a pro bono victory on behalf of his client, Elena Mazza, in the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Patton Boggs appealed an earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court of New Jersey mandating the return of the client's eight-year-old daughter to Argentina, where her father lived, for custody proceedings. The Court of Appeals reversed the earlier decision from the bench and decided "as a matter of law" the case should be dismissed.

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Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office appeared on PBS' "Nightly Business Report" on September 19, 2008 and on Fox Network on Sept. 20, 2008 to discuss the financial fall out from the collapse of some of Wall Street's largest investment banks and the $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry.

Micah Green, a partner in the Washington office, was quoted in a Bloomberg story on September 16, 2008 about donations to the presidential campaigns from Wall Street. Candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain received more money from employees of securities and investment companies than from any other donors. Given the financial debacle on Wall Street, both are now calling for regulations the industry has resisted. Mr. Green said employees give to campaigns because they support the candidates' policies, not to gain influence.

Click here to access the full article.

Mike Dino, a partner in the Denver office, was interviewed in the September 11, 2008 edition of the Rocky Mountain News about his role as the chief executive officer of the Denver 2008 Committee that hosted the recent Democratic National Committee convention.

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Talcott Franklin, a partner in the firm's Dallas office, was prominently featured in The Banker's September magazine discussing the growing number of lawsuits surrounding the U.S. credit crunch.

To read the online version, click here.

An article in the Denver Post on August 29, 2008 featured the fine pro bono work of Robert Kapla, Matthew Oresman, Michael Driver, and Tim Glassco. The Patton Boggs team worked on behalf of the Denver-based foundation to convince Congress to require impact evaluations for all foreign aid sent to combat HIV-AIDS. As a result, federal agencies must now show that the money actually impacts the lives of the people who have the deadly disease.

Click here to read more.

Patton Boggs Partner Nick Allard was quoted in the August 27, 2008 edition of the London Telegraph defending the profession of lobbying. Lobbying, Mr. Allard said, is an honorable profession.

"If you consider that the serpent in the garden of Eden as the first lobbyist then it's truly the oldest profession," Mr. Allard said. "All the serpent did was persuade Eve that knowledge was a good thing. For that, he and his progeny were forced to spend the rest of eternity crawling around the earth being reviled."

To read more, click here.

Benjamin Chew, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was featured in the Legal Times' "BLT" blog on August 21, 2008 discussing his representation of Jacques Polak, a widely respected macroeconomist, who is suing the International Monetary Fund, which Mr. Polak helped start up in 1947.

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Graham Wisner, a lawyer in the firm's Washington office, gave an extensive interview on August 21, 2008 to India Abroad's Aziz Haniffa, the rediff.com-owned newspaper in the United States, about his efforts on Capitol Hill to win approval for the U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal.

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Benjamin Chew, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared in a Reuters news story on August 21, 2008 commenting on a lawsuit he filed on behalf of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) oldest and one of its most respected economists, 94-year-old Jacques Polak. Mr. Polak is suing IMF for $6 million after he fell down a flight of stairs at an IMF conference held last year in his honor. Mr. Polak is claiming damages from IMF to cover medical costs and home care he and his wife have needed since the fall in November at the 8th Annual Jacques Polak Research Conference.

Robert Kapla, a lawyer in the firm's Washington office, appeared in Legal Bisnow on August 20, 2008 in a feature about the firm's pro bono work on behalf of the Lundy Foundation, a Denver-based nonprofit devoted to helping impoverished children orphaned by AIDS. A team of Patton Boggs lawyers successfully persuaded Congress to insert language in the recent $48-billion HIV-AIDS relief bill that requires federal agencies to conduct impact assessments for the first time. Put plainly, federal agencies will now have to make sure that the $48 billion actually reaches the victims and their families.

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Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, appeared on Fox News on August 13, 2008 to discuss the arrest of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who faces charges of trying to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The 36-year-old former MIT student was allegedly carrying information about how to build chemical weapons and a list of potential targets in the United States. As former counsel to Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, Mr. Weber described why Siddiqui posed a significant risk to Americans.

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Benjamin Ginsberg, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was featured prominently in a Salon article published on August 11, 2008, about the upcoming presidential election. Mr. Ginsberg played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount that sent President Bush to the Oval Office for the first time and he served as the campaign's national counsel that year and in the 2004 contest.

The article examines why Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is running neck and neck against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) given the nation's negative sentiment about the Iraq War, the sagging economy and an unpopular two-term Republican president.

Talcott Franklin, a partner in the firm's Dallas office, was quoted in Financial News on August 4, 2008 concerning the wave of lawsuits surrounding the subprime meltdown and the financial impact it is having in the United States. Mr. Franklin commented on a new study that found that more than half of shareholder class actions filed in U.S. federal courts in the first half of this year included allegations connected to the crisis and involved losses of more than $200 billion.

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Talcott Franklin was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 in a story about a lawsuit filed against Britain's Barclays Bank in London's High Court by Cassa di Risparmio della Repubblica di San Marino over recit derivatives. The case is an example of a small bank taking a bigger bank to court over the financial products used prior to the credit bust.

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Kevin O'Neill, a partner in the Washington office, was featured in a Legal Times article on July 28, 2008 about his podcasts.

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Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, appeared on Martha MacCallum's show on the Fox Network on July 28, 2008 to talk about the current threat posed by al-Qaida at the upcoming Olympics in China and the political conventions in Denver and Minneapolis.

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Todd Harrison, a partner at Patton Boggs in New York, was quoted by Reuters on Friday, July 25, 2008 about the uptick in business for law firms that advise hedge funds as the industry faces a growing number of federal investigations.

Hedge funds are seeking counsel in the wake of the indictment of two former portfolio managers at Bear Stearns for allegedly deceiving clients about the health of two mortgage-linked hedge funds, the article stated. Mr. Harrison told Reuters that hedge fund managers are seeking counsel before problems erupt.

"(But) looking at the Bear Stearns situation, people are definitely more concerned now and want an outside party to conduct some investigations to tell them if they have a problem. People absolutely want to get ahead of this," Mr. Harrison said.

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Jim Christian, a partner at Patton Boggs, was quoted in The Hill on July 22, 2008 talking about the success of the firm's lobbying efforts during the first half of the year. The newspaper ranked Patton Boggs at the top of its list of lobby generators. Mr. Christian also provided insight about emerging trends in the industry, telling The Hill that there is there is no time to waste in readying for the next president.

“You can’t wait until next year,” Mr. Christian said. “People like to plan ahead and polish their crystal balls.”

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The influential publication Legal Times selected Thomas Hale Boggs Jr. as one of the nation's top lobbyists and profiled him in its July 21, 2008 issue.

Legal Times editors wrote: "They are the masters of K Street, explaining, influencing—and sometimes even reversing—the thinking of Capitol Hill’s top legislators."

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Nicholas Allard, co-chairman of the firm's public policy department, was interviewed by the Independent Television News of London for a piece that aired in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2008 about the battle between Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and GOP rival John McCain over who is more "patriotic."

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Scott Weber, a partner in the firm's New Jersey office, published an op-ed in Forbes magazine on July 3, 2008 about legislative efforts to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Those efforts have been blocked by lawmakers concerned about giving the telecom industry legal protection from lawsuits for participating in President Bush's secret terrorist surveillance program immediately following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Under the program, the president authorized law enforcement agents to monitor telephone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists and their contacts in the United States without a warrant from the FISA court.

In his op-ed, Mr. Weber urges Congress to upgrade the law now. The telecom industry should not be punished for helping the president at a time of extraordinary need, Mr. Weber said.

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Todd Harrison, a partner in the New York office, was quoted in the New York Times on July 3, 2008. Mr. Harrison provided expertise for a story about Samuel Israel III, a former hedge fund manager, who was on the run. Israel faked his own suicide on a Hudson River bridge in June and disappeared, launching an international manhunt. Mr. Harrison, a former prosecutor who now specializes in white-collar criminal cases at Patton Boggs, told the paper that most fugitives do not go very far from home.

“There was nowhere for him to go so he had to drive around locally,” Mr. Harrison said. “The marshals were after him as soon as he disappeared. There was no way he was going to be able to get on a plane or cross any borders, and life on the run is a hell of a lot harder than people think.”

Katie Whelan, senior public policy adviser, was featured in the Legal Times blog "Influence: The Business of Lobbying" on July 1, 2008 talking about the work she will be doing with the firm.

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Ted Sonde, a partner at Patton Boggs, was quoted in a Bloomberg story published on June 20, 2008 about the arrests of two Bear Sterns hedge fund managers on federal fraud charges. Mr. Sonde told the financial newswire that if the accusations are true, "it shows a callousness toward their own investors."

Mr. Sonde, the former associate director of the enforcement division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said hedge fund managers "have an obligation to be honest with your investors about what's going on.''

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Todd Harrison, a partner at Patton Boggs' New York office was quoted on June 19, 2008 in Fortune concerning the arrests of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers who were indicted on federal charges tied to the failure of two funds that had made outsized bets on mortgage-backed securities. Investors ended up losing $1.4 billion when the funds, which had borrowed billions of dollars to place bets on the subprime market, filed for bankruptcy protection last July, according to the magazine.

"The first thing I thought of was Enron," said Mr. Harrison, a former prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Harrison went on to say that the allegation against one of the fund managers reminded him of the case against the late Ken Lay, the former chief executive of Enron. He was accused of having sold his stock in the company while telling employees, investors and others that they should support Enron by holding onto their own stock.

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Nicholas Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, was quoted in a Forbes.com article on June 16, 2008, which takes looks at the role lobbyists will play in the upcoming political elections now that the rules have changed.

"We're obviously interested in politics, and this is the World Series," Mr. Allard said.


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Nicholas Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy department, was quoted in the June 11, 2008 edition of Politico about how lobbyists are responding to a recent White House memo stating that, except in extraordinary circumstances, the administration would not implement any final rule before the end of the Bush presidency if the comment period for that rule did not begin by June 1.

"This is a curveball, for sure," said Mr. Allard, a former chief of staff to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.). "People are just realizing that it could have a dramatic impact."

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Joshua Greene, a member of the public policy practice, appeared in an article in the June 11, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal discussing congressional reaction to the surge in oil prices. The article addresses how Congress and the oil and financial industries "are locked in an escalating public confrontation over where to fix blame for oil's run-up."

According to the article's author, lobbyists are "huddling privately with lawmakers to horse-trade over measures that could attack the oil issue and work to industry's advantage."

Nicholas Allard, co-chairman of the firm's public policy department, was quoted in the June 10, 2008 edition of Politico in a story about how Sen. Barack Obama's ban on contributions from lobbyists and PACs has frustrated many Democratic lobbyists and fundraisers, who say that Democratic congressional candidates can’t — and won’t — turn their backs on such a steady stream of campaign cash.

"There’s nothing wrong with lobbyist and PAC money, because the government can’t be bought," said Mr. Allard, a veteran of many Democratic campaigns, including former Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 White House bid."

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Ed Newberry, the firm's deputy managing partner, was quoted in The Hill on June 2, 2008 discussing the firm's effort to help give the representative from Washington the right to vote in Congress. Patton Boggs' pro-bono effort is gaining ground on Capitol Hill, according to the article.

“I really look at this as a human issue,” Mr. Newberry said. “At the end of the day, it comes down for me to help people in the District of Columbia to have a real voice in the federal government.”

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Nick Allard, co-chair of the firm’s public policy department, was featured in a June 1 Boston Globe story about how John McCain and Barack Obama are trying to distance themselves from lobbyists in their bid for the White House.

"It's overly simplistic and more demagogic than analytic to say that the solution to all the problems in Washington is to get rid of the lobbyists," Mr. Allard said. "Lobbyists are not the source of congressional gridlock, the source of bitter partisanship, or the reason candidates have to spend so much time raising money."

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Former Louisiana Senator and Patton Boggs Senior Counsel John Breaux was recently featured in an online Oil & Gas Journal article about the consequences of imposing price thresholds on Gulf of Mexico leases. November 8.

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Patton Boggs offering of Public Policy Fellowship Scholarship awards to four Colorado law students was featured in the Denver Business Journal, August 6

John McGahren, New Jersey Office Managing Partner, was quoted on the likely effect of a Supreme Court ruling on certain Superfund issues in Inside Counsel on August 2007.

Henry Chajet was quoted in a story about representation of industry plaintiffs in suit over use of ACGIH standards in Inside OSHA on August 6.

On August 1, Real Estate Weekly covered Patton Boggs’ expantion into additional space at our 1 Riverfront Center location in New Jersey.

New York partner Michael Smith was quoted on the Hollinger International case in The Globe and Mail (Canada), on July 14.

Northern Virginia partner Kevin Bell’s representation of young Hawaiian golfer, Tadd Fujikawa was featured in many news outlets worldwide including The Honolulu Advertiser, July 13.

Ambassador Donald Ensenat joining the firm was featured in National Journal's CongressDaily on July 20, The Washington Post on July 30, and The New Orleans Times-Picayune on August 12.

Patton Boggs being honored with the Burton Award for our Capital Thinking publication was mentioned in the Rocky Mountain News on July 27.