COSTA MESA, CA--(Marketwire - January 30, 2008) - In the news release, "Eight Attorney Land
Use Group Joins Sheppard Mullin Orange County," issued Monday, January 28,
2008, by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, we are advised by the
company that the last name listed in the second sentence of the first
paragraph should read "Gregory E. Woodard" rather than "Gregory E.
Woodward" as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.
Eight Attorney Land Use Group Joins Sheppard Mullin Orange County
Partner Geoff Willis Leads Team; Expands Firm's Growing Real Estate
Practice
COSTA MESA, CA--(January 28, 2008) - Geoffrey K. Willis and Deborah M.
Rosenthal have joined the Orange County office of Sheppard Mullin Richter &
Hampton LLP as partners in the firm's Real Estate, Land Use and
Environmental practice group. Willis and Rosenthal will be joined by a
team of six attorneys: special counsel Marguerite P. Battersby and David R.
Hunt, and associates David P. Collins II, Jessica A. Johnson, Douglas E.
Wance and Gregory E. Woodard. The group most recently practiced together
with Bingham McCutchen in Orange County.
"With Geoff, Deborah and the group joining us, we continue to grow
signature practice groups like Real Estate and expand capabilities to
better serve client needs. With Geoff leading the team, the group's
knowledge and expertise will significantly enhance our real estate
practice, which is already one of the best in California," said Guy
Halgren, chairman of the firm.
"I look forward to growing the firm's California land use practice,
specifically in Orange County," Willis said. "Sheppard Mullin is a
top-notch firm with an impressive real estate group. I am thrilled to be
practicing on such a strong platform with the firm's great lawyers
throughout the state."
"Geoff's group is an excellent addition to the firm's Real Estate practice
group, which now includes more than 80 attorneys firm wide," commented
Domenic Drago, chair of the firm's Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental
practice group. "They bring an incredible collective background with more
than seventy-five years of combined experience, which includes
ground-breaking land use matters and cutting-edge real estate-related
litigation."
As a land use and development specialist, Willis concentrates his practice
on matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); the
National Environmental Policy Act; water rights and quality; the Endangered
Species Act; wetlands regulation; the Clean Air Act; CERCLA investigation,
remediation and litigation; the California Subdivision Map Act; local
zoning and land use requirements, environmental due diligence and audits.
He has specific expertise in the development of shopping centers, large
conjunctive use projects, houses, golf courses, industrial parks and
manufacturing complexes, regulatory compliance of ongoing businesses
involving air, endangered species, water and wetlands permitting.
Rosenthal devotes her practice to land use and environmental law and
litigation, working with issues that include wetlands, endangered species,
takings, historic preservation, mitigation banking, hazardous materials
industrial development, including self-storage, and golf courses. She has
been involved in a variety of complex federal- and state-coordinated
environmental permitting programs for large private developments, including
the negotiation of development agreements and preparation of development
plans. A major portion of Rosenthal's practice is devoted to CEQA, inverse
condemnation and general plan litigation in connection with land use
entitlements for large residential real estate developers.
Willis and Rosenthal have represented their clients' interests before all
of the counties in Southern California, many of the cities in California,
the State Water Resources Control Board, the Regional Water Quality Control
Boards, the Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the High Desert
Air Pollution Control District, the California Department of Fish and Game,
the California Coastal Commission, the California EPA, and EPA Region IX
and a number of additional state and local governing bodies.
Willis received a B.A. from Pomona College in 1983 and a J.D. from
University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1986. Rosenthal
received a B.A. from University of Michigan in 1972, a master's degree in
regional planning from the University of Oklahoma in 1978 and a J.D. from
Yale Law School in 1981.
Last year, a six attorney team joined Sheppard Mullin's Real Estate, Land
Use and Environmental practice group in the firm's San Francisco office.
The former Steefel, Levitt & Weiss land use group includes partners Judy
Davidoff and Art Friedman, as well as associates William Fleishhacker,
Miriam Montesinos, Alexis Pelosi and Elizabeth Sibbett.
The California Real Estate Journal consistently ranks Sheppard Mullin among
the largest real estate practices in the state. The firm's Real Estate,
Land Use and Environmental practice group is one of the most diverse in
California, representing investors, developers, builders, major landowners,
lenders and local agencies on every aspect of commercial and residential
real estate.
About Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with more than 520
attorneys in 10 offices located throughout California and in New York,
Washington, D.C. and Shanghai. The firm's California offices are located
in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Century City, Orange County,
Del Mar Heights and San Diego. Founded in 1927 on the principle that the
firm would succeed only if its attorneys delivered prompt, high quality and
cost-effective legal services, Sheppard Mullin provides legal counsel to
U.S. and international clients. Companies turn to Sheppard Mullin to
handle a full range of corporate and technology matters, high stakes
litigation and complex real estate, land use and finance transactions. In
the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100
companies. For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.