Sidley Austin LLP to Open Office in Australia

Sidley Austin LLP to Open Office in Australia

April 24, 2007

    CHICAGO, NEW YORK and SYDNEY, Australia, April 24
/Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Sidley Austin LLP announced that it
will open an office in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
on May 1, 2007.  At that time Bob Meyers, currently the
managing partner of the Sydney office of Pillsbury Winthrop
Shaw Pittman, will join the firm as partner, resident in
Sydney. With existing offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing,
Shanghai and Singapore, the Sydney office will be the sixth
Sidley office in the Asia Pacific region.

    Mr. Meyers is one of the leading US legal advisers to
Australian companies and Australian and international
investment banks on US and international capital raisings
and stock exchange listings, cross-border mergers and
acquisitions, structured finance and M&A transactions.

    Tom Cole, Chair of the firm's Executive Committee,
noted "Our decision to open an office in Sydney and
the recruitment of Mr. Meyers demonstrate our commitment to
serving our clients throughout the world."

    Tom Albrecht, a member of the firm's Executive and
Management Committees with responsibility for International
operations, noted, "For over twenty years, our firm has
represented investment banks and financial institutions
based in the Australian and New Zealand markets on US and
European capital markets, structured finance and related
transactions.  Given the increased sophistication and
number of transactions that have been originated in the
Australian market, we believe that it is now time for us to
establish a local presence, and we are very fortunate to
have a lawyer with Bob's skills and reputation join us. The
US-qualified lawyers to be based in our Sydney office will
also provide additional depth and breadth to our existing
international legal practices based in the other Sidley
offices in the Asia Pacific time zone."

    Mr. Meyers expressed his delight at joining Sidley,
commenting, "Sidley's longstanding experience in the
Australian and New Zealand markets, its strength in the
Asia Pacific region, its world class corporate, capital
markets and litigation practices and its reputation as one
of the world's leading international law firms is the
perfect platform for my practice and my clients."

    Mr. Meyers will join Sidley's global corporate finance
and capital markets practice, which numbers several hundred
lawyers practicing in 11 offices around the world.  Sidley
has long maintained one of the world's leading capital
markets' practices.  For the third consecutive year, Sidley
was ranked top issuer counsel for U.S. debt, equity and
equity-related deals by Thomson Financial in its 2006 U.S.
law firm league tables.  The firm advised on 548 deals
worth US$374.1 billion in deal value representing a market
share of 10.7 percent. Sidley also ranked number three as
underwriter's counsel in the same category with US$257.3
billion in deal value from 429 offerings representing a
market share of 7.2 percent.  In the 2007 American Lawyer
Corporate Scorecard, Sidley ranked third (tied) for top law
firm transactional practice in the United States.

    Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest
full-service law firms, with more than 1,700 lawyers
practicing in 15 U.S. and international cities including
Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London,
Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.  Sydney will be Sidley's
sixteenth office.  In 2006, Sidley was named to Legal
Business' Global Elite, their designation for "the 15
finest law firms in the world."  Sidley was again
named the number one law firm for overall client service by
BTI, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, in 2007. 
BTI has also 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 six years in a row.

    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, [phone] and
Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603,
[phone]. Prior results described herein do not
guarantee a similar outcome.


    For more information, please contact:

    Tom Albrecht
    Partner
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]

    Craig E. Chapman
    Partner
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]

    Janet Zagorin
    Director of Practice Development
    Tel:   [phone] (office), 
           [phone] (cell)
    Email: [e-mail]