PHILADELPHIA, April 25, 2008 - Duane Morris LLP is pleased to announce that 12 partners in its Trial Practice Group have been named to leadership positions in the seven distinct practice divisions within the group. The move is another significant step for the 275-lawyer practice, the firm's largest, as it anticipates continued growth in the future and signals the areas in which growth will be targeted. In January 2008, the firm named partner Matthew Taylor of its Philadelphia office to the chairmanship of the practice group.

Taylor has asked the following partners, who reside in various offices around the country, to serve as heads of the key divisions within the Trial Practice Group:

• Former Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Byer in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will lead the Appellate Litigation Practice.
• Wayne Mack in Philadelphia and Richard Seabolt in San Francisco will lead the Commercial, Securities and Antitrust Litigation Practice.
• Robert Prentice in Philadelphia will lead the Construction Practice. Edward Gentilcore in Pittsburgh will serve as vice-head of the practice.
• Max Stern and Peter Whalen in San Francisco will lead the Insurance and Reinsurance Practice.
• Woody Jameson in Atlanta will lead the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice.
• Sharon Caffrey in Philadelphia and Karen Crawford in San Diego will lead the Products Liability and Toxic Torts Practice.
• George Niespolo in San Francisco will lead the White-Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations and Regulatory Compliance Practice. Joseph Aronica in Washington, D.C. will serve as vice head of the practice.

"We are very pleased to have lawyers of such high quality and accomplishment leading these important practice areas," said Taylor. "The group and the whole firm benefit from targeting these areas of litigation, with these outstanding lawyers working to better serve our clients and to build upon our successes."

Trial Practice Group Chairman Matt Taylor practices in the area of commercial litigation, handling matters in state and federal courts across the United States. He deals with matters in banking and securities law, corporate governance, commercial real estate, products liability (with a concentration in medical devices), computer software license disputes, computer software and hardware installation and implementation, and corporate directors' and officers' liability and indemnification. Taylor also handles employment matters involving non-compete, trade secrets and business related torts. Taylor has served as lead trial counsel in numerous patent infringement matters. He represents medical device manufacturers nationally in products liability matters and in commercial disputes between the manufacturer and its distributors.

Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New York, Taylor is a 1989 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and a graduate of Boston College.

Appellate Litigation

Robert Byer concentrates his practice in appellate litigation and also practices in the areas of complex civil litigation; corporate compliance, corporate governance and internal investigations; intellectual property litigation; and administrative law. His appellate work covers a wide range of legal areas, including corporate governance, intellectual property, antitrust, administrative agency law, tax, constitutional law, insurance coverage, contract cases, professional liability, products liability and toxic torts.

Byer served as a judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

As an appellate lawyer, Byer has argued or briefed approximately 140 appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh and Federal Circuits, the Pennsylvania appellate courts and the appellate courts of California, Maryland and Washington. He also has briefed and worked on appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Byer is a 1977 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from University of Pittsburgh and engaged in post-graduate studies at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford.

Commercial, Securities and Antitrust Litigation

Wayne Mack represents clients nationally with particular emphasis on antitrust, trade regulation, class actions and complex commercial litigation. Mack regularly advises parties across a wide range of industries regarding antitrust issues. His experience in the area of antitrust law includes representing and counseling hospitals and healthcare providers regarding mergers, joint ventures and acquisitions. In addition, he has extensive experience in the area of franchise and distribution law, including prosecuting and defending against commercial contract, business tort claims, including dealer/distributor termination, tortious interference with contract, unfair trade practices, copyright and trademark violations, breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

He represents clients in federal court and before government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, on issues involving trade regulation, predatory pricing, price-fixing, monopolization, unfair competition claims, mergers and acquisitions, and consumer protection.

Mack is a 1986 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a graduate of Temple University.

Richard Seabolt practices in the area of litigation, with a focus on complex trials and appeals arising from commercial disputes, including those involving technology, construction and insurance matters. During his more than 30 years as a lawyer, Seabolt has tried many multi-million dollar cases to defense verdicts, and one commercial litigation case to a plaintiff's verdict. He is a past chair of the 10,000 member Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, a member of the California Judicial Council advisory committee responsible for preparation of the approved California civil jury instructions, a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and a co-author of the four-volume California Pretrial Civil Procedure and Civil Discovery Practice Guides published by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender. The National Law Journa/ highlighted a case that Seabolt tried as lead defense counsel as one of the largest cases tried to a defense verdict in 1992. He is listed in the 2008 Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and in the 2008 SuperLawyers Corporate Counsel edition for Business Litigation.

Seabolt is a 1975 graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a graduate, with distinction, of the University of Michigan.

Construction

Robert Prentice has substantial experience in construction litigation, having represented contractors, subcontractors, owners (both private and public), architects, materials suppliers and sureties since 1977. In addition to litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, he provides clients with counsel and representation across the entire spectrum of construction matters.

Prentice is a 1970 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, a graduate of Harvard Law School (LL.M., constitutional law) and a graduate of Middlebury College.

Edward Gentilcore, vice head of the division, practices in the areas of general and complex commercial litigation with a considerable emphasis on construction litigation, construction contracts and mechanics' lien matters. Gentilcore has represented owners, developers, architects, engineers, contractors, construction managers, specialty trade contractors, subcontractors and material suppliers in construction-related matters, including those involving design-build, delays, extras, contract negotiation and compliance, construction safety, payment and mechanics' liens issues. He also has considerable experience in the preparation of design and construction contracts, with a focus on dispute prevention considerations. Gentilcore has handled a variety of matters involving sports, educational, utility, hotel, industrial, institutional and multi-use residential and commercial office facilities.

Gentilcore is a 1987 cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was business editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, and a cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.

Insurance

Max Stern is a trial and appellate lawyer practicing in the area of civil litigation, with an emphasis on a result-oriented approach to complex disputes. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants in suits involving issues of contract, real estate, business tort and consumer class actions. Stern has tried cases before juries, judges and arbitration panels, and he has argued both state and federal appeals.

Stern devotes part of his practice to litigation and counseling services for the insurance industry. He has handled matters in various lines, including general liability, specialty liability, professional liability, excess liability, workers' compensation, property and personal accident. He provides oversight counsel for clients at a regional or nationwide level with respect to issues of coverage, claims handling, litigation management and corporate risk. He has extensive experience in insurance-related litigation, including coverage, bad faith, subrogation and contribution, reinsurance and regulatory disputes, and he has defended insurers in some of the largest-dollar jury trials in California and Oregon.

Stern is a 1991 cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a cum laude graduate of Princeton University.

Peter Whalen practices in the area of commercial litigation with a focus on insurance coverage, general business and real estate related disputes. Whalen has extensive jury trial, appellate and alternative dispute resolution experience in cases ranging from complex high-stakes coverage litigation to contract-based commercial disputes. He represents domestic and international clients in matters throughout the western United States.

Whalen has focused on representing umbrella insurance carriers in high exposure cases for 20 years, including some of the largest actions brought in California. His work has included complex matters for D&O, general liability and reinsurance clients. Whalen has assisted clients with developing nationwide litigation strategy for many of their biggest risks. In addition to his litigation experience, Whalen has counseled a number of companies regarding risk management, subrogation recovery and litigation avoidance issues. He also has spoken about insurance coverage litigation and general liability issues before many industry groups in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Whalen is a 1987 graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a cum laude graduate of the University of San Francisco.

Intellectual Property Litigation

L. Norwood "Woody" Jameson practices in the area of intellectual property law and litigation with emphasis on patents, trademarks, copyrights, false advertising, licensing and unfair competition. Jameson has represented several well-known companies in complex patent litigation involving such technologies as cable television technology, Internet technology, MPEG decoding technology, telecommunications and computer hardware and software applications.

He is a member of the Litigation and Patent, Copyright and Trademark Law sections of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia and the Atlanta Bar Association. He has served on the Federal Trial Practice and Procedure Committee of the American Bar Association and on numerous committees of the International Trademark Association, and has been a speaker at seminars on many patent and trademark topics.

Jameson is a 1988magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and a 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina.

Products Liability and Toxic Torts

Sharon Caffrey concentrates her practice in the areas of mass tort, products liability and toxic tort litigation. Caffrey served as the national coordinating counsel for Pliva, Inc. in its litigation over an allegedly harmful dieting substance. She is also one of a handful of national trial counsel for Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation in their asbestos litigation and is regularly assigned to handle their asbestos trials around the country.

Her extensive trial experience includes trying to verdict dozens of cases. One-third of her verdicts have been in medical malpractice cases involving a wide range of issues. The remaining trials have included a variety of mass tort cases and other health effects defense cases.

Caffrey is a 1987 graduate of Widener University School of Law, where she was the notes and comments editor of the Widener Law Review, and a graduate of American University.

Karen Crawford practices in the area of complex commercial litigation and has extensive experience in matters involving complex commercial disputes, theft of trade secrets, unfair competition, products liability and medical device litigation.

As national counsel for an international medical device company, she successfully coordinated all defense efforts for her client in more than 400 cases filed in federal and state courts throughout the United States.

Crawford is admitted to practice in California and Pennsylvania. She is a 1980 graduate of the California Western School of Law, where she served as the head notes and comments editor of the California Western Law Review, and a cum laude graduate of Boston University.

White-Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations and Regulatory Compliance

George Niespolo, head of the division, concentrates his practice in the area of white-collar criminal defense, antitrust and corporate investigations and compliance. In addition, over the past 20 years, Niespolo has been responsible for parallel proceedings and related complex civil litigation in the areas of civil RICO, securities, healthcare, general fraud, antitrust and intellectual property. He also has handled numerous false claims and class action cases on the federal and state levels.

Prior to entering private practice, Niespolo was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, where he served on the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force. Prior to that, he was a deputy district attorney for the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.

Niespolo is a 1976 graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Joseph Aronica, vice head of the division, practices in the areas of complex civil, criminal and administrative litigation, internal corporate investigations, and compliance and corporate matters. Aronica has defended corporations, corporate executives, government officials, lawyers and others in a broad range of white-collar criminal cases, including securities and commodities; bank, bankruptcy and procurement fraud; tax; customs and export violations and bribery. He has extensive jury trial experience representing individuals and corporations and is a frequent lecturer on white-collar crime, internal investigations, banking crimes, money laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues.

Before entering private practice, Aronica was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he served as senior litigation counsel, chief of the Special Prosecutions Group and chief of the Criminal Division.

He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 1973), a graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law (LL.B., 1969), where he was a member of the University of Richmond Law Review and the McNeill Law Society, and a graduate of the University of Richmond. Aronica also holds the rank of colonel (Ret.) in the U.S. Army.

About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the world, is a full-service firm of more than 650 lawyers, of whom approximately 270, more than 40 percent, work in the Trial Practice Group. In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing approximately 100 professionals engaged in other disciplines. With offices in major markets in the United States and internationally, Duane Morris represents clients across the U.S. and around the world.