Six Seasoned Litigators Join Morgan Lewis as Partners in Texas

—Latest additions to the Litigation and IP Practices nearly double the firm’s size in Houston—

HOUSTON, January 4, 2008: Responding to business growth and rapidly expanding client needs in Texas and the south and central United States, Morgan Lewis today announced the addition of eight attorneys to its Houston office—continuing the firm’s rapid and strategic expansion into the Lone Star State. Six new partners, an of counsel—all of whom previously worked with Morgan Lewis partner Winn Carter at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP—and a new associate from another large firm will join the firm’s Litigation and Intellectual Property Practices.

Following the arrival of a new international transactional lawyer, the firm’s latest additions nearly double the size of the Houston office and bring the total number of Morgan Lewis attorneys in Texas to 45—an increase of 250% in the past year. The dramatic growth is aimed at better serving multinational clients in the Southwest, Midwest, and continental United States.

The new Litigation and Intellectual Property partners have represented a number of Fortune 100 clients in various industries. Long-standing members of the Texas legal community, with a remarkable record of success in Texas’s challenging patent-litigation arena, this group has established a solid reputation in their fields both nationally and internationally. They join a Litigation Practice that spans 18 offices worldwide and comprises more than 700 litigators covering a full spectrum of industries. The following attorneys will join the firm this week:
 
Paul Krieger, previously the head of Fulbright’s Intellectual Property and Technology Department. He has been lead counsel in more than 50 patent, trademark, and copyright lawsuits in courts throughout the United States, and is a frequent lecturer and author on intellectual property topics to groups of attorneys and business executives in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Paul is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center where he has taught the trademark and trade secret law courses for more than 20 years.

Hugh Tanner concentrates his practice in the areas of complex commercial litigation, complex tax litigation, and eDiscovery management and coordination. He has regularly represented clients in federal grand jury investigations and internal investigations. Hugh has handled numerous mediations, arbitrations, and trials in probate, employment, construction, bankruptcy, professional liability, real estate, antitrust, banking and commercial contract law, products liability, and energy-related matters. He also has handled a variety of class action matters. In addition, Hugh has assisted a number of entities in the evaluation, development, and implementation of comprehensive records management and eDiscovery programs.

Lucas Elliot currently concentrates his practice in the areas of patent litigation and complex commercial litigation, representing U.S. and Asian clients as both plaintiffs and defendants. He litigates intellectual property, commercial, and complex tort matters in federal and state courts and before arbitration panels. Lucas has represented a wide variety of corporate and individual clients in the telecommunications, computer hardware and software, eCommerce, technology development and consulting, real estate, and insurance industries.

David Levy focuses his practice on complex commercial and intellectual property disputes that range from business torts to class actions to patent infringement cases. His litigation and dispute resolution experience has included handling cases in federal and state courts, as well as in ad hoc, NASD, NYSE, AAA, and ICC arbitration tribunals. Many of these cases involved foreign parties, incidents, or transactions.

Rick Rambo focuses his practice on intellectual property and complex commercial litigation. He has represented U.S., Asian, and European clients—as both plaintiffs and defendants—involving a variety of high-technology–related situations, including patent infringement, electronic discovery, computer hardware and software related matters, Internet law, and trade secrets. In addition to high-technology matters, Rick also represents clients with matters pertaining to maritime law, the energy and offshore drilling industry, contracts, personal injury, commercial torts, and products liability.

Erik Hawes practices primarily in the area of commercial litigation and patent litigation. Named a “Rising Star" in Intellectual Property Litigation by Texas Monthly magazine for the past two years, Erik has a strong background in patent disputes in a wide variety of industries, including computer technology, medical devices, and electrical connectors. He also has tried cases involving trademark and copyright infringement, as well as franchise disputes.

Beginning January 11, Clay Rogers will be of counsel in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Clay—who has practiced with the six new Litigation and Intellectual Property partners, as well as Winn Carter for a number of years—focuses his practice on matters involving complex commercial litigation, including business torts, antitrust, contracts, UCC, lender liability, real property, environmental torts, and products liability.

Also joining Morgan Lewis’s Litigation Practice in Houston on January 7, is associate Lauren Barker, who has worked in a variety of litigation fields including oil and gas litigation, banking litigation, business disputes, breach of contract, fraud, and general negligence.

About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.