Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP, a New York law firm, is opening an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, joining other U.S. firms that have set up shop during the past year in Latin America’s largest economy.

Andrew B. Janszky of New York law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP, a New York-based law firm, will head Milbank’s new office in Sao Paulo, Milbank said in a statement.

Law firms including Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, DLA Piper LLP, and Mayer Brown LLP have also set up or expanded offices in Sao Paulo in the past six months, taking advantage of an economy that may grow almost 6 percent this year.

“Milbank has developed a very strong practice in infrastructure finance, capital markets and M&A throughout Brazil,” Milbank Chairman Mel Immergut said in the statement. “In Andrew, as the head of our proposed new office, we will have an attorney who has unusual strengths in all these areas.”

Top Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell is to take the lead in representing Goldman Sachs against the formal investigation brought by the Financial Services Authority.

The investment bank had already retained Sullivan & Cromwell to defend it against fraud allegations brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and today said the legal giant would at least for now be taking charge of the FSA case.

Goldman has a long-term relationship with Sullivan & Cromwell. Fabrice Tourre, the Goldman trader named as a defendant in the SEC's civil suit, is being represented by Allen & Overy.

The Shuman Law Firm today announced that it is investigating potential breaches of fiduciary duty by certain officers and directors at Ormat Technologies Inc.

The investigation concerns whether the Company's directors and officers caused the Company to issue materially false and/or misleading financial statements. These statements eventually resulted in the Company restating its financial results.

On February 24, 2010, Ormat disclosed that the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of the Company, upon recommendation of management and after discussions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, had concluded that the Company's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2008 required restatement and should no longer be relied upon. The Company restated its results because it improperly capitalized costs incurred in connection with the exploration and development of certain properties that it did not plan to develop. Upon this news, the price of Ormat stock declined more than 12.81% over the three days following the disclosure of this announcement.

If you currently own shares of Ormat and are interested in discussing your rights as an Ormat shareholder, or have information relating to this investigation, please contact Kip B. Shuman or Rusty E. Glenn toll free at 866-974-8626 or email Mr. Shuman at kip@shumanlawfirm.com or Mr. Glenn at rusty@shumanlawfirm.com.

Lanny J. Davis, a high-profile Washington lawyer who was the special counsel to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, is leaving McDermott Will & Emery to form his own law firm. The new firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates, will specialize in general litigation issues, media crisis and public policy issues.

“I am excited by this opportunity to offer multidiscipline, solution-oriented legal-media-legislative strategies services to U.S. and international clients,” Mr. Davis said in a statement. “I especially look forward to working with not only McDermott attorneys and clients, but also with other attorneys and law firms on high-profile litigation and regulatory matters.”
Mr. Davis, who writes a weekly column in The Hill newspaper, is a well-known figure in the world of political punditry, appearing on news programs that cater to both the right and the left. Mr. Davis also writes columns for  The Huffington Post and opinion pieces for The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Davis will continue to contribute to the Legal Crisis Strategies blog that he and his former colleague at McDermott, Eileen M. O’Connor, began in 2009, together with other former colleagues at McDermott.

Washington, D.C. & Albany, NY – Tully Rinckey PLLC is pleased to announce the addition of attorney Brandy Hood as an associate in its Washington, D.C. law office. Ms. Hood joins the firm’s federal sector labor and employment law practice.

Ms. Hood will provide representation to federal employees in a wide range of employment and labor issues including discrimination, sexual harassment, equal pay, adverse action, and Title VII claims. She has previous experience in immigration, bankruptcy, civil litigation, and business transactions.

Prior to joining Tully Rinckey PLLC, Ms. Hood was a Judicial Extern for Honorable Lance Africk at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Frederick H. Wicker at the Louisiana Fifth Circuit of Appeal. 

Ms. Hood earned her Juris Doctorate at Tulane University Law School, graduating cum laude and earning the David L. Herman Award for her high professional standards in law. In addition to her law degree, Ms. Hood holds a B.A. degree from The George Washington University.

She is admitted to practice in New York and her District of Columbia admission is pending.

For more information about Brandy Hood’s addition to Tully Rinckey PLLC or the firm’s federal labor and employment law practice, please contact Jessica Brociek at 202-787-1900 or via email at jbrociek@tullylegal.com.

Richard Thorp and Harriet Unger, formerly with Maples and Calder, will lead the Asian practice.

Both are authorised by the Law Society of Hong Kong to practise Cayman Islands law in the firm’s new Hong Kong office and are also admitted in the British Virgin Islands.

Thorp is a securities and funds lawyer who has acted on a broad range of funds and general corporate matters, including the establishment of private equity and hedge funds and advising the directors and administrators when complex issues arose.

He joined Maples and Calder in London in 1998 and was transferred to Maples’ Hong Kong office in 2001 where he was made partner in 2004.

Unger is a structured finance specialist whose expertise covers all areas of capital markets transactions. She also has extensive experience of banking and corporate transactions and has been based in Asia for almost ten years.

Prior to her work at Maples and Calder, Unger worked for Simmons & Simmons in its London, Hong Kong and Tokyo offices and has been seconded to two major European investment banks in London.