Heller Ehrman Names 8 New Shareholders

01.24.2008

(SAN FRANCISCO) Jan. 24, 2008 – Heller Ehrman LLP announced the election of eight attorneys to the position of shareholder, effective January 1.  The 2008 class includes: Lora D. Blum (San Francisco, Corporate/VLG); Jo Dale Carothers (San Diego, IP Litigation); John "Jay" Jurata (Washington, D.C., Antitrust & Trade Regulation); Kristen D. Kercher (Silicon Valley and San Diego, Corporate/VLG); Natasha Leskovsek (Washington, D.C., IP Transactions); Eric Shapland (Los Angeles, Antitrust & Trade Regulation and Complex Commercial Litigation); Robert A. Trodella (San Francisco, Restructuring & Insolvency); and Jonathan Zhu (San Francisco, Tax).

“It is a pleasure to work with each of the lawyers in this year’s class of new shareholders because they have demonstrated excellence, professionalism and skill in the work they’ve done for clients,” said Matthew Larrabee, the firm’s chairman.  “Each member of this group is also a leader and a strong supporter of Heller Ehrman’s core values and our overall mission to grow and strengthen the firm.”

Below are brief biographies for members of Heller Ehrman’s 2008 class of new shareholders:

Lora D. Blum, joined the firm’s San Francisco office in 2005 and is a member of the Corporate/VLG Practice Group.  Ms. Blum focuses her practice on capital markets transactions and represents issuers, underwriters and agents in public and private offerings, including initial public offerings, follow-on and secondary offerings, private investments in public equity, 144A offerings and registered direct offerings.  In addition, she counsels investment banks on federal securities law issues, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issues and provides underwriting agreement form advice.  Ms. Blum also works on M&A transactions, representing buyers, sellers and investment banks as financial advisors, and she advises company clients on general corporate legal and business issues.  Ms. Blum received a B.A., with high distinction, from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

Jo Dale Carothers, joined the firm’s San Diego office in 2003 and has an intellectual property litigation practice.  Dr. Carothers’ practice emphasizes litigation in electrical and computer engineering, including the areas of computer-aided design, design automation, analog, digital and mixed-signal circuits, semiconductor devices and packaging, microprocessors, computer architecture, parallel processing, communication systems, digital signal processing and software.  Prior to her legal career, Dr. Carothers was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona, where she also served as co-director for the National Science Foundation’s Center for Low Power Electronics.  She received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona.

John "Jay" Jurata, joined Heller Ehrman’s Washington, D.C. office in 2001. Mr. Jurata's practice encompasses a broad range of complex civil and government litigation, with an emphasis on antitrust and intellectual property issues for software and other high technology markets. He has represented clients in various antitrust and intellectual property trials, complex commercial litigation, and in matters before U.S. and foreign antitrust regulatory agencies. Mr. Jurata is also a member of the Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Groups. He received a B.A. from Villanova University and a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Kristen D. Kercher, joined the firm’s Silicon Valley office in 2003 and is a member of the Corporate/VLG Practice Group.  Ms. Kercher’s practice focuses on the representation of publicly traded and privately held companies in both domestic and cross-border M&A and other strategic and corporate partnering transactions.  She has represented a number of corporate clients in M&A transactions involving some of the world’s most active buyers, including transactions with VMware, Seagate, AMN Healthcare, Cisco Systems, Google and IBM.  She received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a J.D., cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Natasha Leskovsek, joined Heller Ehrman’s Washington, D.C. office in 2001 and has a Food and Drug Administration regulatory compliance and strategic counseling practice.  Ms. Leskovsek advises and provides regulatory diligence services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and food/dietary supplement clients as well as entities investing in the life sciences industries. She earned B.S.N., M.B.A. and M.P.M. degrees from the University of Maryland and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Eric Shapland, joined Heller Ehrman’s Los Angeles office in 1997.  He is a member of the firm’s Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group and its Appeals & Strategy Group.  Mr. Shapland has particular expertise litigating questions of antitrust standing, technological tying, unilateral refusals to deal, state action immunity, and Noerr Pennington immunity.  He also has experience lobbying in state legislatures to oppose discriminatory tax bills that would tilt the competitive playing field and, in the process, violate the Dormant Commerce Clause or other constitutional provisions.  Mr. Shapland received a B.A. from the University of California, Davis, and a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Robert A. Trodella, Jr., joined the firm’s San Francisco office in 2002 and focuses on business restructuring, bankruptcy, and venture finance. Mr. Trodella's broad base of experience includes the representation of several of the nation's leading mortgage loan investors, financially troubled companies, secured and unsecured creditors, and private equity, in a wide variety of insolvency-related matters. On the lending side, Mr. Trodella has represented a significant Wall Street investment bank, several institutional lenders, and private creditors, in both out-of-court restructurings and in bankruptcy cases. On the debtor side, Mr. Trodella has experience in bankruptcy planning, front- and back-end debt structuring, and in representing chapter 11 debtors and trustees from case inception to plan confirmation. He earned two B.A. degrees from the University of California, Irvine and a J.D., cum laude, from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Jonathan Zhu, joined Heller Ehrman’s San Francisco office in 2003 and is a member of the Tax Practice Group.  Mr. Zhu’s practice focuses on federal income tax planning for domestic and foreign investors in a broad spectrum of investment assets in the United States.  He also regularly advises on domestic mergers and acquisitions.  Prior to joining Heller Ehrman, Mr. Zhu was with a global management consulting firm, where he advised clients on strategy, operations and organizational matters in enterprise software, networking and telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals.  He received a B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

About Heller Ehrman LLP

Heller Ehrman LLP has 650 attorneys and professionals in 14 offices worldwide – Anchorage, Alaska; Beijing; Hong Kong; London; Los Angeles; Madison, Wis.; New York; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; Silicon Valley (Menlo Park, Calif.); Singapore; and Washington, D.C.  Heller Ehrman represents a wide range of industry leaders, from entrepreneurial, technology-driven enterprises to established, multinational conglomerates. The firm’s core values are Excellence, People, Teamwork, Innovation, Community and One Firm.