Three prominent law firms help Cerberus in acquiring Chrysler

05/16/07

Three prominent law firms help Cerberus in acquiring Chrysler
Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP, along with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, will represent Cerberus on its acquisition of the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler. Both, Schulte Roth and Milbank have advised Cerberus on other acquisitions in the past. Daimler Chrysler will be represented by Shearman & Sterling, LLP, which has been advising the company for a long time now.

Cerberus which focuses on M&A and buy-outs will acquire about 80%, while DaimlerChrysler will retain 19.9% stake in the deal. The deal ends the 1998 merger between Germany-based Daimler-Benz, and U.S.-based Chrysler Corporation.

Schulte Roth has more than 450 lawyers providing services in various areas including business transactions, finance, investment management, and litigation, besides its pro bono activities. Milbank Tweed is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, London, and Frankfurt, among other places. The firm provides services to many well known financial, industrial, and corporate entities. Shearman & Sterling is more than 130 years old, and serves governments, corporations, and financial organizations across the world.

Ballard Spahr fortifies Arizona presence
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, continues to fortify its presence in Arizona. The firm recently added William Hicks and Nancy Lashnits, two new partners in its Public Finance Department. The duo comes from Snell & Wilmer to Ballard's Phoenix office.

Hicks is a top public finance attorney in Arizona. He has wide experience in the areas of tax-exempt finance, general corporate law, and finance. A former attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel in the Internal Revenue Service, Lashnits practices in federal income tax, municipal financing, and low-income housing tax credits. The firm hopes to leverage from the duo's expertise in public finance and tax practices.
Earlier, the firm added five Labor, Employment & Immigration attorneys from rival law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC. They are partners Julie A. Pace and David A. Selden, of counsel Eva Shih Herrera, and associates Jodi Hill and Heidi Nunn-Gilman, all formerly of Ogletree Deakins.

Ballard set up its Phoenix shop in August 2006 with two lawyers - Steve Savage and Karen McConnell. The firm's Phoenix office having 18 attorneys presently hopes to increase its attorney head count to 30 by year end. It concentrates on real estate, land use, environmental issues, business litigation, and labor and immigration matters.

BIZARRE NEWS

Adults indulge in pillow-fights once more!

Alas! People grow up. Much as one would love not to, one has to ultimately succumb to nature's devious designs and let go of those innocence-filled days of bliss. But how do you relive your childhood days a.k.a pillow fights, building mud castles, et al? Simple: you organize a competition. And that too in a public place! Newmindspace - an interactive public art co-operative - fashioned one such event, a pillow fight, for all these `never-say-we-will-grow-old' adults on Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. And lo behold! More than 200 people - mostly the teen brigade and the young adults - armed with down-filled pillows reached the venue to relive the bygone days. Perfect strangers whacked one another mercilessly and soon feathers flew fast and thick in the chaos-filled square. The competition started at three in the afternoon lasted for half-an-hour or more. Bemused bystanders caught in the turmoil were feather touched at the uniqueness of the competition, unmindful of the feathers that flew around in abundance, and clicked photographs happily. However, the worst hit -who else, but the kids! - were thoroughly sidelined in the event and utterly dismayed by the adult world for having taken away their little pleasures, too! Shame!