NEWS & INSIGHTS

New York - Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has named 151 lawyers from Sidley Austin LLP as leaders in their field in their 2009 guide. In addition to lawyer rankings, the Chambers guide ranks practices on a national and regional basis. Seventy-three practice areas in Sidley’s U.S. offices were recognized, with 18 receiving number one rankings. Sidley also received 170 lawyer rankings for 151 recognized lawyers, including 35 number one rankings and six “Up and Coming” rankings in a broad range of practice areas. Carter G. Phillips, managing partner of Sidley’s Washington D.C. office, received a “Star” ranking in Appellate Law (National), Chambers and Partners’ designation for their highest level of rankings. Additionally, Thomas C. Green, a partner in Sidley’s Washington, D.C. office, was recognized as the top lawyer in the area of white collar crime and government investigations at The Chambers Awards for Excellence 2009.

The 18 number one ranked practice areas are:

• National (8) – Capital Markets: Securitization; Capital Markets: Structured Products; Environment; Financial Services Regulation: Consumer Financial Services Regulation; Insurance: Regulation; International Trade; Investment Funds: Hedge Funds; Transportation: Rail (for Railroads).
• District of Columbia (1) –Environment.
• Illinois (9) – Antitrust; Banking & Finance; Corporate/M&A & Private Equity; Environment; Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory; Intellectual Property; Labor & Employment: Benefits & Compensation; Media & Entertainment: Litigation; Real Estate.

Thirty-two Sidley lawyers achieved 35 individual number one rankings for their work in specific practice areas. Lawyers who received number one rankings in the National category include: Norman Slonaker for Capital Markets: Debt & Equity; Thomas W. Albrecht and Renwick Martin for Capital Markets: Securitization; Renwick Martin and Robert J. Robinson for Capital Markets: Structured Products; Jeff S. Liebmann for Insurance: Regulation; Daniel M. Price and Andrew W. Shoyer for International Trade: Trade Remedies & Trade Policy; William D. Kerr, David R. Sawyier and Michael J. Schmidtberger for Investment Funds: Hedge Funds; Thomas C. Green for Litigation: Trial Lawyers; Alan Charles Raul for Privacy & Data Security; and G. Paul Moates for Transportation: Rail (for Railroads).

In Illinois, the following lawyers received number one rankings: Charles W. Douglas for Antitrust; James Clark for Banking & Finance; Lawrence Nyhan for Bankruptcy/Restructuring; David Carpenter for Communications; Thomas A. Cole and Frederick C. Lowinger for Corporate/M&A; Richard W. Astle for Energy & Natural Resources: Transactional; Robert Olian for Environmental: Litigation; William M. Sneed and James R. Stinson for Insurance: Reinsurance Litigation; Michael P. Goldman and Kenneth R. Wylie for Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory; David T. Pritikin for Intellectual Property; Priscilla E. Ryan for Labor & Employment: Benefits & Compensation; Richard O’Brien for Media & Entertainment: Litigation; and Lee M. Smolen for Real Estate.

In the District of Columbia, the following lawyers all received number one rankings: Eugene R. Elrod for Energy: Oil & Gas; David Buente for Environment; and Thomas C. Green for Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations.

In New York, Jeff S. Liebmann received a number one ranking in the Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory category.

Paul Walker of the Los Angeles office received a number one ranking in Real Estate in California.

The six lawyers who received “Up and Coming” rankings are: Melanie S. Murakami for Banking & Finance (California); Timothy K. Webster for Environment (District of Columbia); Amanda Todd for Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (Illinois); Michael Madigan for Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (New York); John T. Schaff for Tax (Illinois); and Paul A. Hemmersbaugh for Transportation: Rail (for Railroads) (National).

A firm profile and complete rankings for Sidley are available on the Chambers and Partners website at: http://www.chambersandpartners.com. In the 2008 guide, 138 Sidley lawyers were recognized.

The U.K.-based international publisher Chambers and Partners based its report on in-depth interviews with leading private practice lawyers and key in-house counsel. A team of over 50 full-time researchers conducted the survey with law firms and lawyers chosen on merit only.

Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest full-service law firms, with approximately 1800 lawyers practicing in 16 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Every year since 2003, Sidley has been named to Legal Business’ Global Elite, its designation for the 18 firms “that define the pinnacle of the legal profession.” BTI, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, has named Sidley to their Client Service Hall of Fame as one of only two law firms to rank in the Client Service Top 10 for seven years in a row, and to the BTI Power Elite as one of only seven law firms demonstrating the best client relationships for the fourth consecutive year.

For more information:

, Director of Practice Development, 212.839.8797
, Rubenstein Associates, 212.843.8007

For purposes of the New York State Bar rules, this press release may be considered Attorney Advertising and the headquarters of the firm are Sidley Austin LLP 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212.839.5300 and Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603, 312.853.7000. Prior results described herein do not guarantee a similar outcome.