Crowell & Moring Opens New York City Office

Washington, D.C. – September 13, 2006: Crowell & Moring LLP announces the opening of a New York office, located in the Citigroup building at 153 East 53rd Street. Experienced trial lawyer William J. McSherry, Jr., former partner-in-charge of Arent Fox’s New York Office and co-chair of their litigation practice, joins as a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Litigation Group. Janet M. MacLeod, an intellectual property partner with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, has joined from Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

“Crowell & Moring has succeeded in achieving significant growth over the last several years in terms of client base and revenue. As we build in New York, we are always mindful of the steadfast commitment we have made to our clients and our dedication to each other. Our approach to growth in New York, as with growth throughout the firm, is to strengthen our core practice areas, ensure integration across our offices, and preserve our fundamental partnership,” said Crowell & Moring chairman Kent A. Gardiner.

Crowell & Moring's New York office will expand some of the firm’s marquee practice groups, such as the Antitrust, Corporate, Intellectual Property, Litigation, and White Collar & Securities Litigation Groups. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm also has offices in Brussels, Irvine, Calif., and London.

McSherry, who served as the head of Arent Fox’s New York office for six years, represents banks, investment banks, broker dealers, issuers, insurance, reinsurance, and consumer product companies as well as many other types of clients in a wide variety of civil litigation and arbitration, Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers and audit committee investigations and enforcement proceedings. He is the former executive director of the United States Football League and serves as president of Playtex Marketing Inc., a privately owned trademark holding company affiliated with Playtex Products and Sara Lee. His representative clients have included Credit Suisse First Boston, Millicom, ECI Telecom, Realm National Insurance Company, and investment advisory firm Woodford Forbes.

McSherry has served as lead trial counsel in several litigations involving insurance-backed film finance transactions. He was lead trial counsel for a London insurance broker in the George Litto jury trial in which the jury returned a defense verdict and successfully represented insurance brokers in two California federal court film finance cases and a second case in New York state court. He has also represented several major sports leagues as outside counsel. He has long been active in his community, Larchmont, New York. He has served on the Larchmont Zoning Board of Appeals and as Police Commissioner of Larchmont, Fire Commissioner of Larchmont, and Mamaroneck Ambulance District Commissioner. He served on the Village of Larchmont Board of Trustees and as Deputy Mayor.

“At Crowell & Moring, I am able to offer clients the international capabilities of a premier litigation practice while being part of building a new office during a very exciting time in an entrepreneurial firm,” said McSherry.

The addition of MacLeod serves as a strategic boost to the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, ranked as one of the top 30 practices in the nation for patent prosecution. MacLeod, who received a J.D., cum laude, from Pace University School of Law and also holds a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from Albert Einstein School of Medicine of Yeshiva University, focuses her practice on the acquisition and enforcement of patents for clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical industries, and in academic research institutions. She also provides counseling on patent issues including infringement, validity, freedom to operate, licensing and business development, and has considerable experience in Hatch-Waxman litigation. Recent client work has included patent portfolio counseling for Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

“Not only does our new office allow us to expand our existing practices, but it allows us to help serve our clients more efficiently and effectively for their needs in New York. Many of our clients, particularly multinational companies, expect us to be in New York for their most pressing matters. We are off to a promising start with the addition of Bill and Janet, whose litigation and intellectual property practices complement our firm’s core strengths,” Gardiner said.

Crowell & Moring LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 300 attorneys practicing in litigation, antitrust, insurance and reinsurance, government contracts, corporate, intellectual property and more than 40 other practice areas. More than two-thirds of the firm's attorneys regularly litigate disputes on behalf of domestic and international corporations, start-up businesses, and individuals. Crowell & Moring's extensive client work ranges from advising on one of the world's largest telecommunications mergers to representing governments and corporations on international arbitration matters.