Andrew Cuomo, Former HUD Secretary, Will Join Fried Frank as Counsel.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 20, 2001

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson announced today that on February 26, 2001, Andrew M. Cuomo will become of counsel to the firm. He will reside in the New York office.

Mr. Cuomo, 43, was Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton from January 1997 through January 2001. Mr. Cuomo joined HUD as Assistant Secretary in 1993 under Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Peter v.Z. Cobb, Fried Frank's co-managing partner, said, "We are thrilled that Andrew Cuomo has chosen to bring his considerable talents and experience as a lawyer, negotiator and government policy maker to our firm. Andrew brings a proven capacity to deal effectively with the complex issues of finance, management and government relations. We look forward to working with him on behalf of our clients."

Mr. Cuomo noted, "Fried Frank is an extraordinary law firm. I am very excited about the prospect of returning to the practice of law after eight years in government and having the chance to work with an extremely talented and gracious group of professionals. I am confident that the experience and perspective of the past eight years will serve me, my new colleagues and clients of the firm well in the months ahead. I look forward to making a meaningful contribution to Fried Frank in helping to build and expand on what is already an exciting and broad-based international practice."

At HUD, Mr. Cuomo instituted a management reform plan that cracked down on waste, fraud and abuse and addressed decades-old problems in the department. Key reforms included the creation of an enforcement center headed by an FBI agent and the first comprehensive inspection of all housing subsidized or insured by HUD. Mr. Cuomo also launched a number of major initiatives in the areas of affordable housing and home ownership, job creation and economic development. Programs included the creation of "empowerment zones" and a crackdown on housing discrimination.

As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Cuomo developed the Continuum of Care strategy to help homeless people become self-supporting and a consolidated plan to give communities and residents a greater role in determining how HUD funds should be used. These two initiatives won the Innovations in American Government Award of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Mr. Cuomo is the first HUD secretary to have built and operated housing developments. In 1986, he founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (HELP), which grew to be the nation's largest private provider of transitional and emergency housing for the homeless--offering education, job training, drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services. In 1988, he gave up his law practice to run HELP full-time, and in 1991, he also became head of the New York City Commission on the Homeless.

Prior to HELP, Mr. Cuomo practiced law in New York City, first as an assistant district attorney in 1984-85 and then as a partner in private practice.

Mr. Cuomo received his JD from Albany Law School in 1982 and his BA from Fordham University in 1979.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is an international law firm with approximately 530 attorneys in offices in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, London and Paris. It handles major matters involving, among other things, corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and financings; litigation; securities regulation, compliance and enforcement; antitrust counseling and litigation; bankruptcy and restructuring; benefits and compensation; real estate; tax; trusts and estates; and technology law.