New York, June 4, 2007 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Wire – Dewey Ballantine LLP, a leading international law firm, announced today that James F. Lerner has joined the firm’s Litigation Department as counsel, resident in the New York office. Lerner, formerly with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, has over fifteen years of experience advising clients on antitrust issues relating to mergers and acquisitions and the formation of joint ventures, as well as extensive experience representing clients in foreign and domestic U.S. criminal cartel investigations, and in government and private antitrust actions.
“Jim is a tremendous addition to our team,” remarked A. Paul Victor, co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group. “As a former colleague of Jim’s from Weil, I have no doubt that he will add value to, and deepen the strength of, our antitrust group for the benefit of clients immediately. His strong experience in M&A and criminal and civil cartel matters complement our existing offering perfectly.”
During Mr. Lerner’s tenure at Weil, he represented clients such as NYNEX in its merger with Bell Atlantic, America On-line in its acquisition of Compuserve, L’Oreal in its acquisitions of Maybelline, Carson-Soft Sheen, Kiehl’s and Pureology, Konica and Minolta in their merger, Hoya Corporation in its acquisition of certain assets of Nippon Sheet Glass and BPB in its acquisition of certain assets of James Hardie. In addition, Mr. Lerner has represented foreign and domestic clients in many of the largest international criminal and civil cartel matters over the past decade, including the lysine, monochloroacetic acid, vitamins, and carbon fiber matters.
Mr. Lerner received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and his J.D. from New York University School of Law. He is admitted to the New York State bar and the U.S. District Courts, E.D.N.Y. and S.D.N.Y.
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Notes for Editors
Dewey Ballantine’s Litigation Department is comprised of 160 lawyers located in many of the firm’s offices in the U.S. and abroad.
The firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group is co-chaired by partners Eamon O’Kelly and A. Paul Victor. Victor also joined the firm as a lateral partner from Weil Gotshal in October 2006. Jeffrey Kessler, co-chair of the Litigation Department, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, is also a Weil Gotshal alumnus and seasoned antitrust practitioner.
On May 30, the firm announced the opening of a new office in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The firm has been growing rapidly over recent weeks — adding 19 lateral partners in less than three months. On June 1, the firm announced the arrival of tax partner Todd McArthur to its Washington D.C. office from KPMG LLP, and on June 4, the firm announced the arrival of corporate reorganization and bankruptcy partner William Schrag to its New York office from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
About Dewey Ballantine’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group
Dewey Ballantine LLP provides to its clients a full range of services in addressing antitrust and trade regulation concerns. Dewey Ballantine lawyers regularly represent clients in antitrust litigation in federal and state courts and before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and in actions by offices of state attorneys general in connection with investigations, administrative proceedings and merger clearances. In addition, Dewey Ballantine lawyers in the United States and Europe work with European antitrust counsel to address client concerns with the European Commission and national competition authorities and with other foreign local counsel worldwide in connection with merger notification, regulation and other competition law issues in those foreign jurisdictions. Dewey Ballantine lawyers regularly advise clients with respect to the competition law aspects of joint ventures, agreements, research and development initiatives, commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights, marketing and sales plans, a wide variety of business strategies and trade association activities. The firm’s antitrust and trade regulation experience spans a wide variety of industries, including the automotive, chemical, computer hardware and software, energy, entertainment, investment banking, leisure, pharmaceutical, publishing, securities, semiconductor, sports, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, and waste disposal industries, among others.
About Dewey Ballantine
Dewey Ballantine LLP, an international law firm with approximately 550 lawyers located in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, East Palo Alto, Austin, Charlotte, London, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome and Beijing, was founded in 1909. Through its network of offices, the firm handles some of the largest, most complex corporate transactions, litigation and tax matters in areas such as M&A, private equity, project finance, corporate finance, corporate reorganization and bankruptcy, antitrust, intellectual property, sports law, structured finance and international trade. Industry specializations include energy and utilities, health care, insurance, financial services, media, consumer and industrial goods, consumer electronics, technology, telecommunications and transportation.
