PHILADELPHIA, July 16, 2012—Duane Morris is pleased to announce that Mark K. Kessler has joined the firm's Corporate Practice Group as of counsel in its Philadelphia office. The arrival of Kessler further strengthens the firm's transactional, securities and corporate governance practices. Kessler also will continue to serve as Vice President and Senior Counsel to national homebuilder Toll Brothers, Inc., which he has served as outside counsel since its formation and more recently as Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

At Duane Morris, Kessler will focus his practice on corporate and securities law, primarily representing public companies in the areas of mergers and acquisitions; public and private financing; and corporate governance. He also provides counsel in the mutual fund and closed-end investment company field. He was formerly a partner with Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen LLP for more than 20 years, where he was chair of the firm's Corporate Department.

"Mark Kessler is one of the most experienced and best-respected corporate lawyers and business counselors around," said John Soroko, Chairman and CEO of Duane Morris. "We are really pleased to have him as part of Duane Morris."

A member of the American Law Institute, Kessler has served on the American Bar Association's Committee on Regulation of Securities, and is a former chairman of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law and its Committee on Securities Regulation. In 2007, he received the Dennis H. Replansky Memorial Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association's Section on Business Law. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Arcadia University.

Kessler is a former national president and board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; in 2005, he received the Charles G. Berwind Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization. He has been cited in the Best Lawyers in America listings, among the "Top 100 Lawyers in Pennsylvania" by Super Lawyers and in the Chambers USA survey of the American legal profession. In addition, the National Law Journal has named Kessler a leading figure in the national securities bar, and he has been a frequent lecturer and author of articles on corporate and securities law and legal ethics.

Kessler earned his J.D. in 1960 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and graduated with a B.A. in English Literature from Brown University in 1957. After military service, he clerked for Justice Herbert B. Cohen of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and was an Assistant to Commissioner Jack M. Whitney of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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