Bracewell & Giuliani Partner to Join Texas Lawyer Corporate Governance Roundtable Discussion.

HOUSTON -- Bracewell & Giuliani LLP partner Michael W. Tankersley will speak at the Texas Lawyer Roundtable on Corporate Governance on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Belo Mansion in Dallas. This CLE accredited event will be held from 8 to 10 a.m.

Topics discussed will include the role of general counsel in advising a company's board of directors on corporate governance matters and the difficult issues that can arise when general counsel is asked to maintain confidences exchanged in executive sessions of the board and not disclose them to other members of management.

"With the recent HP corporate spying scandal and option backdating making headlines, the relationship between corporate counsel and the board is receiving increased scrutiny," said Mr. Tankersley. "Lawyers employed by corporations need to think carefully about how their actions affect the corporation, the board and their personal exposure."

Also on slate for discussion will be the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related SEC rules that have subjected the actions of corporate counsel to increased regulatory oversight by the SEC. Mr. Tankersley's panel will discuss the extent to which these developments have given general counsel more power to say "no" to officers and directors when they are concerned about the legal risk of proposed actions.

Mr. Tankersley leads the corporate practice in Bracewell's Dallas office. He has more than 25 years of experience advising senior executives, boards and shareholders of public and private companies on a variety of issues spanning corporate governance and compliance, internal investigations, capital markets transactions and restructuring troubled companies and investments.

Additionally, Mr. Tankersley is co-author of Board Leadership for the Company in Crisis, a 120-page handbook for public company directors published by the National Association of Corporate Directors. The book, which received a 2006 Burton Award for Legal Achievement, guides corporate directors through the business, financial, legal and communications issues surrounding crisis situations and also highlights the importance of planning for crises before they occur.

For more information about attending the Texas Lawyer Roundtable, please call Anna Burciaga at 214.744.7764 or [e-mail].

About Bracewell & Giuliani

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP is among the nation's most prominent law firms. With nearly 400 lawyers in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., Kazakhstan and London, we are distinctively positioned to serve clients concentrated in the energy and financial services sectors worldwide. In 2005, former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined the firm as a senior partner. His international reputation for leadership and problem solving is a unique asset for our clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, leading governmental entities and private individuals. For more information about Bracewell & Giuliani, visit www.bracewellgiuliani.com.