Morgan Lewis Builds Funds and Tax Capability with Two Partner Appointments as London Office Continues Expansion

London, July 30, 2007: Leading international law firm Morgan Lewis is pleased to announce the appointment of Saloni Joshi as Funds Partner and Kate Habershon as a Tax Partner as the firm continues the strategic growth of its Business and Finance practice in the London office. The new partners join as Morgan Lewis has moved to new City offices to facilitate its projected growth.

Saloni Joshi joins the firm from the London office of Debevoise & Plimpton and was previously at Linklaters. She specialises in private equity, hedge and real estate investment fund formation and corporate M&A transactions. Recent transactions include advising Gartmore Investment Management in relation to the launch of its European fund of funds and The Carlyle Group in relation to the €4bn European buyout fund.

Saloni will join the London Funds Group, part of Morgan Lewis’s highly-rated Private Investment Funds practice which is led by New York based Louis H. Singer. The Funds group specialises in both fund formation and investment for US and international investors and represents every type of private investment fund, including buyout, venture capital, real estate opportunity, corporate governance, hedge, distressed assets and mezzanine funds as well as publicly listed funds. The firm was recently ranked by Private Equity Analyst as the second Most Active Law Firm by number of funds worked on for general and limited partners.

Commenting on Saloni’s appointment in London, Louis Singer said: “We are delighted that Saloni is joining us in London as she is an excellent addition to our established global investment funds capability. Her experience advising sponsors and investors on international investment funds and private equity acquisitions together with her significant capital markets expertise will blend perfectly with the European needs of our US and international clients.”

Kate Habershon joins Morgan Lewis from the London office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Having trained and worked in the tax department at Freshfields in London she then worked in the international tax group at both PricewaterhouseCoopers and then Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Sydney, Australia before returning to the UK.

Kate specialises in the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, acquisition and structured finance, private equity, hedge funds and executive compensation. Recent transactions include advising Hellman & Friedman on the acquisition of Gartmore Group, advising a leading financial institution on the management of UK hedge funds and advising a major US corporation on its acquisition of private and publicly listed UK businesses.

Commenting on the appointments Morgan Lewis London managing partner Robert Goldspink said: “We are delighted to be joined in London by two highly talented partners in these key practice areas as part of the continued expansion of our Business & Finance Group. This follows the appointment of both new partners and assistants to our well-regarded Outsourcing practice earlier this year. The expansion of our London based funds practice will ensure the seamless delivery of English and EU law capabilities to the firm’s existing fund and institutional clients. This will allow us to extend our work with major US investment clients and attract new clients to the firm. In conjunction with our move in mid July to new offices, where we can double our current capacity, these new appointments clearly signal the delivery of the firm’s strategy for the growth of our London business.”

About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 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 or its practices, please visit us online at www.morganlewis.com.