Los Angeles office expands to accommodate expanding client base. (Special Advertising Profile: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal).

Sonnenschein's 70-lawyer Los Angeles office, headed by Robert F. Scoular, has added significantly to the firm's nationwide client service capabilities. Among prominent lawyers to join the Los Angeles office in the last two years are Donna Melby, Partner and Co-Chair of the firm's Labor and Employment Practice Group; Lloyd Loomis, Labor and Employment Partner; Marco Ferreira, Of Counsel to the Labor and Employment Group; Michael Lubic, Partner and head of the firm's West Coast Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice Group; J. Robert Nelson, Of Counsel to the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group; Robert Johnson, Partner in the Real Estate and Corporate & Securities Groups; Shirley Curfman and Harumi Hata, Partners in the Corporate & Securities Group; Ion Suzuki and Alex Fukui, both Of Counsel, in Corporate & Securities; Jeffrey Craft, Partner, and Margaret Dunbar and Mark Krietzman, both Of Counsel, in the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology Group; and Arthur Levine, Senior Of Counsel in Trusts and Estates and Corporate & Securities. Promoted to partner this year are Rochelle "Shelley" B. Spandorf in the Antitrust, Franchising and Distribution Group; Michael Pappas, who concentrates in litigation, franchising, e-business and insurance; David H. Stern, who focuses on antitrust, commercial, intellectual property and product liability litigation, and Laura Wytsma, who concentrates in intellectual property and complex business litigation, with an emphasis on patent infringement litigation. Terrence Pace, who concentrates on corporate and real estate transactions, was elevated to Partner in the Real Estate and Corporate & Securities Group in 2002.

A number of outstanding lateral Associates also have joined Sonnenschein, including Jason Beckerman, Debra Fogelman, Thomas Greiff, Glenn Inanaga, Rebeccah Keating Edeistein, Kimberly Kepler, John Loncto, Christopher Prince, Timothy Terry, Cynthia Emry, Kathryn Morgan, Jadene Tamura, Keith Davidson and Grace Wen.

"These lawyers significantly enhance the depth and expertise of the Los Angeles office and help Sonnenschein to meet our expanding client base and needs," says Scoular.

Clients served by Sonnenschein's Los Angeles office include some of the country's best-known businesses and nonprofit organizations, including Allstate Insurance Company, The Boeing Company, Brinker International, Inc., CableVision, Catholic Healthcare West, Charter Communications, Citicorp Private Bank, Culligan International Company, Daihatsu America, Inc., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Electronic Clearing House, Inc., GE Capital Corporation, The Irvine Company, ITOCHU Aviation, Inc., Katell Properties, Kawasaki Steel Corporation, Mani Brothers, LC, Motion Picture & Television Fund, Nestle, Prudential Financial, Inc. (formerly Prudential Insurance Company of America), The Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, SCAN Health Plan, Sprint, St. Mary Medical Center, St. Vincent Medical Center, Boy Scouts of America, and Toyota.

Melby recently was inducted to the post of National Vice President of The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and in 2005 will assume the National Presidency. ABOTA is an organization of some 6,000 of the country's top defense and plaintiff civil trial lawyers whose primary purpose is the preservation of the civil jury trial. Melby currently is serving as Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of ABOTA and will assume its Presidency in 2004. She will be the first woman to serve as President of both the national and Los Angeles organizations.

Melby also recently was selected as one of the Top 30 Women Litigators in California in Verdicts & Settlements, a special supplement to the Los Angeles Daily Journal and San Francisco Daily Journal. She concentrates in litigation and trial practice of complex business matters, including employment and labor, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, Title VII, and wage and hour, as well as counseling and prevention.

Loomis is a nationally recognized authority on employment law matters, including class action litigation, wage and hour matters and age, race, sex and national origin discrimination. He counsels clients on such matters as reductions in force, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family Medical Leave Act and Fair Labor Standards Act. He also advises on collective bargaining matters, arbitrations and other labor management issues, and often serves as a mediator in employment disputes.

Ferreira represents business :entities and individuals in labor and employment litigation. He develops human resource and employment policies for employers, along with providing assistance in implementing polices and conducting investigations. Ferreira also defends employers in matters being investigated by state and federal administrative agencies, and in claims of discrimination before the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. Ferreira has extensive experience in representing public entities and officials in employment matters and civil rights litigation. Fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, he also has a broad litigation background representing parties in matters ranging from business disputes to products liability.

Lubic represents secured and unsecured creditors, creditors committees, debtors, investors, trustees and acquirers in connection with bankruptcy cases, mergers and acquisitions involving troubled companies, out-of-court workouts and in connection with the orderly winding up of businesses. He helps clients with business planning and in connection with structuring transactions to minimize bankruptcy risk, especially technology transactions and transactions with critical vendors. Lubic represents creditors, including victims of complex commercial frauds, in enforcing creditors' rights and remedies and is a leader of Sonnenschein's national Fraud Investigation practice.

Nelson focuses on insolvency, bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors' rights. He has represented bank groups, insurance companies, investors, creditor and equity committees, purchasers and debtors in numerous major reorganizations.

Johnson's practice includes a broad range of commercial real estate matters. He specializes in commercial leasing and represents institutional landlords and tenants in a variety of lease transactions throughout Southern California. Johnson has special expertise in representing financial institutions and law firms in their office leases. In addition, he represents institutional quality buyers, sellers and developers of commercial real estate.

Curfman concentrates in all aspects of corporate and securities law, secured and unsecured lending, securitizations, structured finance, mergers and acquisitions and other financing transactions. Her practice also includes advising companies on regulatory issues relating to finance lenders in connection with their commercial lending projects, insurance holding companies and reporting companies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Hata concentrates in business, corporate and commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and lending and financing arrangements involving domestic and international assets and operations. Hata's clients include U.S. subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations, as well as U.S. companies with operations abroad. Hata is fluent in Japanese and regularly utilizes the Japanese language in her client representation.

Fukui represents clients in complex business and commercial transactions, including secured and unsecured lending arrangements, loan securitizations, venture capital financings, mergers, acquisitions of privately held companies, asset purchase and sale transactions and other general corporate matters. He has worked extensively on consumer lending projects, advising lenders on consumer credit issues per taming to federal and state disclosure obligations, lender licensing statutes and other regulatory and compliance requirements. Fluent in Japanese, he represents Japanese companies or their U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates that may be involved in business and corporate transactions in the United States.

Levine practices in the areas of trusts and estates and transactional work in corporate and real estate. He serves as outside counsel for a number of corporations.

Spandorf, past Chair of the American Bar Association's Forum on Franchising and the California State Bar's Franchise Law Committee, concentrates on counseling businesses engaged in franchising and distribution activities. She structures domestic and international franchise, licensing and distribution programs, advises companies about presale disclosure and registration compliance, handles a variety of issues involving franchise and distribution contractual disputes and engages in a wide-range of related transactional projects.

Craft's practice involves all aspects of the protection of intellectual property, with an emphasis on patent and trademark litigation and the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. He specializes in the areas of biotechnology, chemistry, and a wide range of food and agricultural technologies.

Dunbar's primary focus is in patent prosecution, with significant technical talent in genomics, biotechnology, pharmaceutical formulations, biochemistry, protein chemistry, and agricultural and medical technologies.

Krietzman also concentrates on patent prosecution, technology licensing, and technology transfers, and is an expert in fuel cell technology.

Prior to joining Sonnenschein, Suzuki was both Counsel and Senior Counsel at Nissho Iwai American Corporation in Los Angeles.

With 600 lawyers in nine U.S. offices and a history of engagements involving client matters throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, Sonnenschein serves the legal needs of many of the world's largest and best known businesses, nonprofits and individuals.

For more information call Robb Scoular at [phone] or visit the Web site at www.sonnenschein.com.