China Alliance Helps Businesses Open Door to China; Detroit's Butzel Long Law Firm Enters Marketing Alliance, Expands Service with Offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

Business Editors

DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2003

Butzel Long has joined with two leading American law firms and a major Canadian law firm to service the growing interests of its clients in China. The group will be known as the China Alliance, and will further enable Butzel Long to offer top-quality legal services to clients throughout China from established offices located in Beijing and Shanghai. The firms joining Butzel Long in the China Alliance are: Armstrong, Teasdale LLP, (St. Louis); Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Toronto); and Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, (Milwaukee/Chicago).

"The China Alliance will complement the legal services we currently offer clients in China and throughout Asia," said Richard E. Rassel, Chairman and CEO of Butzel Long. "Through the China Alliance, clients will be able to access the combined resources of four strong business law firms who know China and other Asia markets well. Our expectation is that the Alliance will provide clients with additional links to business opportunities in the Chinese market."

"The China market is both complex and diversified," said Peter Theut, Chair of Butzel Long's Global Trade and Transaction Practice and a member of the Executive Committee of the China Alliance. "It offers many opportunities to businesses, but equally it presents challenges. It is our task to find creative ways to improve and expand services for our clients operating in this dynamic market. The Alliance represents just such an innovation -- one that will enable us to provide them enhanced, cost effective legal services."

The lawyers of the China Alliance member firms who reside in Beijing and Shanghai have extensive expertise and experience in acting for North American businesses entering China, are familiar with Chinese business practices and are fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese. They are involved in the Chinese business community and have developed close relationships at all levels of the Chinese local and central governments and related administrative bodies. The China Alliance member firms are committed to providing clients with pertinent professional advice, access to decision makers, and a pragmatic approach specifically tailored to the Chinese business environment.

In 2001, the opportunities for investment in China were expanded significantly when China joined the World Trade Organization. WTO membership has resulted in lower tariffs on goods and services, and continued changes will facilitate the growth of trade with China through the establishment of internationally recognized and accepted rules.

"Butzel Long has actively focused on developing the leading China Practice in Michigan, and one of the most distinguished Asia Practices in the Midwest," added Mr. Rassel. "The China Alliance structure allows us to quickly ramp up the depth and breadth of our capabilities to match the speed of change and growing opportunities that our clients are experiencing in China."

About the China Alliance Members

Armstrong Teasdale LLP

Founded in 1901, Armstrong Teasdale LLP is backed by a century of history and experience. The firm conducts a comprehensive nationwide civil law practice, with 218 lawyers in nine locations, including St. Louis, Kansas City, and Jefferson City, Missouri; Washington, DC; New York, NY; Belleville, Illinois; Olathe, Kansas; Shanghai, China and Sydney, Australia. Armstrong Teasdale has a diversified practice and is a leader among corporate, transactional and litigation law firms. It represents a variety of business, financial, institutional and individual clients in a full range of legal matters.

The firm established a presence in China in 1994 and in June of 2000 and was awarded a license to open a foreign law office in Shanghai by the PRC Ministry of Justice. Armstrong Teasdale is one of a few select American law firms which has been granted permission to practice law in China. International clients include governments and agencies, private investors, and a wide array of business enterprises engaged in international business operations.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP is one of Canada's leading law firms. In recent years, Blakes has responded to the needs of its national and international clientele by expanding the Firm's original Toronto base. Today, Blakes has more than 500 lawyers in five offices across Canada, an office in London, England and Beijing, China. The Firm's goal is to "partner" with its clients on all of the legal services they require, enabling the Firm to build strong relationships and better help clients reach their goals in the face of the marketplace's uncertainties and complexities.

Blakes Beijing assists a broad range of Canadian and international clients doing business in China and Asia. The Beijing office serves the needs of North American clients who recognize the increasing importance of the region to the global marketplace. The Firm's China Practice Group consists of lawyers in offices in China and Canada who are well equipped to advise clients on legal issues affecting foreign businesses in China.

Butzel Long

Butzel Long is one of Michigan's leading law firms, with more than 200 lawyers and eight offices in Michigan and Florida. Since its founding in 1854, the law firm has played a prominent role in the development of Detroit as an industrial and manufacturing center. The firm's historic role in the development of the automotive industry is reflected today by its representation of over a third of the world's largest suppliers and manufacturers.

Butzel Long's clients include a wide range of business, government, education and individual interests, many of whom are active in national and international markets. The firm represents entities from many business sectors including automotive, manufacturing, banking and financial services, retail and wholesale distribution, insurance, professional services, health care, advertising, media, publishing, technology and computers, marine, transportation, construction, utilities and real estate. Butzel Long has maintained an active China practice for several years with a special emphasis on the automotive, manufacturing and technology sectors. Visit the Butzel Long website at www.butzel.com.

Michael Best and Friedrich LLP

Founded in 1848, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP comprises more than 350 attorneys in six locations, including Milwaukee, Madison, Waukesha and Manitowoc, Wisconsin; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois (Michael Best & Friedrich LLC). The firm provides a full range of legal services to clients on a regional, national and international basis in areas that include: business, corporate finance/securities, employment relations/ERISA, environmental, estate and financial planning, intellectual property, international, litigation, real estate and taxation. The firm also has several focused industry practice groups, including agribusiness, communications, construction, education, electronic commerce, government & public policy, health care, local government, financial institutions, retail/distribution, product liability and trade associations.