RECENT COVERAGE

February 2010

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Financial Times on February 16, 2010, in an article about the mortgage banking crisis.

Mr. Green, who works for a group of mortgage investors called the Mortgage Investors Coalition, told the Financial Times that investors are trying to find practical solutions to fix the mortgage problem.

Even though many investors are prepared to shoulder losses by reducing in the size of mortgages to reflect negative equity in homes, Mr. Green said, such private sector principal reduction plans may require support from the government which has backed mortgage refinancing programs.

“Philosophically, there are no investors who do not still believe that first lien holders should not take losses until second lien holders have,” Mr Green told the Financial Times. “From a practical standpoint, however, some investors are now proposing that first lien and second lien mortgage holders take proportional reductions in principal.”

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal on February 9, 2010, in an article about how the mortgage crisis has brought activists and investors together to avert home foreclosures.

Activists and investors have formed a loose coalition to prod banks into sharply cutting the amounts owed by borrowers whose loans far exceed the depressed values of their homes, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper quoted activists and investors saying that principal reductions are the best incentive for borrowers to keep making monthly mortgage payments.

The newspaper reported that BlackRock Inc., a major mortgage-bond investor, is “pushing the controversial idea of letting bankruptcy judges restructure shaky mortgages.” Black Rock proposes that judges eliminate credit-card debt and second liens, mostly held by banks, before touching the first liens often held by investors.

Mr. Green, who represents some large investors in mortgages, told the Wall Street Journal that BlackRock`s idea is good in principle but may not be politically feasible given bank lobbying. Banks, which have been offered Treasury incentives for easing the terms on second liens, should work with investors to help put consumers into "new, properly sized'' loans, Mr. Green told the newspaper. "Everybody's going to have to give a little for it to work," he says.

January 2010

Micah Green, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in the Wall Street Journal on January 28, 2010, in an article about how the Obama administration is trying to streamline paperwork to assist homeowners who want to lower their mortgage payments to avoid foreclosure.

Benjamin L. Ginsberg and William J. McGinley, both from the firm’s Washington office, were prominently featured in an array of articles and TV broadcasts including the New York Times; Wall Street Journal; Bloomberg Business Week; Politico; CQ/Roll Call; National Journal; ABC; CBS about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday, January 21, 2010, to strike down decades-old limits on political spending by corporations during elections.

The decision “is going to flip the existing campaign order on its head,” Mr. Ginsberg told the New York Times in an article published on Jan. 22nd.

“It will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are increasingly dominating campaigns,” said Mr. Ginsberg, a Republican campaign lawyer who has represented both candidates and outside groups. “Candidates lose control of their message. Some of these guys lose control of their whole personalities.”

Mr. Ginsberg told Bloomberg Business Week that the political playing field will be “dramatically altered.”

“We can expect much more spending, a virtual cascade of spending, by outside groups,” Mr. Ginsberg said both publications.

Mr. McGinley commented on how the ruling would impact political parties.

“Taken together, the recent federal court decisions demonstrate that the government cannot regulate individuals, corporations and other entities that wish to speak out about candidates in the upcoming midterm elections,” Mr. McGinley told the Wall Street Journal.

The decision applies to unions and corporations equally.

“This decision helps the side with the greatest enthusiasm factor,” Mr. McGinley told National Journal. “You can have the ability to speak, but if you're not motivated to speak, that doesn't mean anything.”

“The question,” Mr. McGinley said told National Journal, “is going to be, who is going to step on this battlefield? Who has the motivation to get on the field and play?"

In addition, Mr. McGinley was quoted by CQ/Roll Call in a story published on January 22nd about how Democratic leaders are considering legislation to mitigate the higher court’s ruling. Mr. McGinley applauded the court for preserving the First Amendment right to free speech.

“The justices decided that more information from more speakers in the political marketplace is good,” said Mr. McGinley, former general counsel at the NRSC. “The court doesn’t want to limit the number of speakers in the marketplace.”

Richard J. Andreano, Jr., a partner in the Washington office, was quoted in American Banker on Thursday, January 21, 2010, discussing the ramifications of the recent policy changes set forth by the Federal Housing Association.

Mr. Andreano said tighter guidelines would primarily affect borrowers. “Many new-home sales are made possible through seller contributions, so it may have an adverse impact on the housing industry and should be analyzed,” Mr. Andreano said.

The news that Michelle White Suarez was tapped to become the new managing partner of the firm's Dallas office was featured in Citybizlist on January 12, 2010.

The firm cited Ms. Suarez’s extensive experience in the Dallas business and financial communities and her leadership ability to generate strategic alliances as the driving force behind the promotion.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead our Dallas office as we continue to successfully implement the firm’s long term strategies,” Ms. Suarez said. Her predecessor Stanley O. Mayo, served as managing partner for nearly four years.

Suarez has worked at Patton Boggs since 1997. She became partner before the age of 30. Before taking on the role of managing partner, Suarez was best known for legal work in corporate and commercial financial transactions.

“Michelle Suarez possesses the key ingredients to oversee an expected growth in our Dallas office,” said Stuart M. Pape, managing partner of the Washington office.

Carol R. Van Cleef, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, was featured by ComplianceAdvantage.com in an article published on January 12, 2010, about the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism finance industry.

Ms. Van Cleef, regarded as an industry leader, addressed how pending “alert” regulations would impact financial institutions and help them detect tax evasion. She also discussed the new rules for Money Services Businesses.

“For anti-money laundering professionals, there are a lot of questions about what they will be required to do and what kind of resources and costs will be involved,” Mrs. Van Cleef said.

Ms. Van Cleef also said that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new rules for MSBs would have a dramatic effect on international models, particularly on prepaid cards and not just models like general credit cards but for foreign MSBs doing business in the United States.

Robert Tompkins and Douglas Mishkin from the firm’s Washington office authored an article published by Law360 on January 4, 2010, about the federal government enforcing the Service Contract Act.

“Several recent developments make clear that contractors providing services to the federal government should be on high alert,” wrote Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Mishkin about increased enforcement of the law.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis recently announced that the Labor Department added 250 new investigators in the Wage and Hour Division, the office responsible for examining alleged abuses of the law.

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report entitled, “DHS Contracts with Low Wage Payments.” This report found that the Labor and Homeland Security departments are failing to take sufficient steps to ensure that required wages and fringe benefits are being paid under the Service Contract Act’s covered contracts and subcontracts. This will likely prompt further oversight, the article states.

“Anecdotally, our Service Contract Act working team, which includes members of our government contracts and employment law practice groups, has seen a considerable increase in SCA investigations in our practice in the last year, and we expect more to come,” Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Mishkin wrote.

June 2009

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, and Mark Salzburg, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in a CNN article on July 6, 2009 about the government’s acquisition of a controlling stake in General Motors Corp. through bankruptcy. The pair represented a group of individual bondholders in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Mr. Richman was also quoted in a July 6 article in BusinessWeek about the bondholders’ decision not to appeal a federal judge’s decision to allow the sale. Mr. Richman told the magazine that his clients believe they have a case to appeal the ruling, but they thought it would be too expensive to fight.

The firm’s three clients collectively held $2.3 million in GM debt. But they were in frequent contact with noteholders of up to $500 million in debt. None of them thought the fight would be worth the money, the magazine reported.

“It’s disappointing. I'’d like to carry on the case,” Richman said. “I think the appeals court could act different [than in the case of Chrysler, which preceded GM into bankruptcy] because there is no Fiat buying the company to run it.”

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, appeared in CNN Money on July 2, 2009 in a story about the pending sale of General Motors Corp. Lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments in the GM bankruptcy case, opening the way for the judge to decide whether to approve or deny the sale of the automaker's assets to a “new GM.”

Mr. Richman, representing GM's unsecured bondholders, argued that the bondholders’ interests should be considered by the court. The Treasury Department’s July 10 “drop dead deadline,” was using a “my way or the highway” attitude in refusing to consider alternate means of restructuring, Mr. Richman told CNN.

Representing a group that calls itself the “Unofficial Committee of Family and Dissident GM Bondholders,” Mr. Richman argued that the proposed deal had not been negotiated as a legitimate sale to an independent party, according to a Reuters story published by the Washington Post on July 2, 2009.Instead, Mr. Richman said the government determined what would be needed to make a “settlement offer” to “favored parties” like the United Auto Workers union, and then it decided on the price of the sale on the back end of the negotiations, according to Reuters.

Richman said “it's not credible” that the U.S. government would turn on GM after providing the company with billions of dollars in support. He asked the judge to “call the bluff” that the government would walk away from the automaker if a deal were not closed by July 10.

Mark Salzberg, a partner in the firm’s Washington office, appeared in a story on June 30, 2009, published by American Lawyer’s Am Law Daily about the case.

Michael Richman, chair of the firm’s bankruptcy practice, was quoted on Friday, June 26, 2009, by AmLaw Daily about the battle waged by individual General Motors Corp. bondholders to be heard in the car company’s bankruptcy case.

Mr. Richman told AmLaw Daily that he was undeterred by a federal judge’s recent rejection of his request to form an official committee of dissident bondholders to act alongside the court-appointed committee of unsecured creditors.

Mr. Richman intends to fight on. He told AmLaw Daily that about 2,000 bondholders holding about $500 million of GM debt have reached out to him via a Web site for bondholders.

Mr. Richman argues that the creditors committee fails to adequately represent the interests of the smaller bondholders because it appears to be going along with a plan to sell GM that could jeopardize those bonds--or wipe them out almost entirely, the newspaper reported.

A federal bankruptcy judge denied a request by a group of dissident GM bondholders for special status in the case, according to press reports published on June 24, 2009, in the New York Times; Washington Post; Bloomberg; Reuters; American Lawyer; Automobile Magazine; Boston Herald; Washington Times; Law360; Associated Press; and Detroit News.

Obtaining such status would have required the automaker to pay their legal expenses as they contest the company's proposed restructuring.

The “Unofficial Committee of Family & Dissident GM Bondholders” has three members with about $2.3 million of GM’s $27 billion in bonds, though it represents a network of similarly situated investors holding about $500 million in GM debt, Mr. Richman told Bloomberg.

Mr. Richman argued its members were unable to participate in GM's bankruptcy process and were not being represented adequately by the car company’s official committee of unsecured creditors.

The official committee status was necessary because Mr. Richman’s clients – many of them retirees and individual families – have limited means and the bondholders are a large disparate group.

“Some people think we are insane to be standing in the way of this process, but this is about adequate representation,” Richman told the court, according to Reuters.

U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Gerber rejected the group’s request, saying he believed the group’s interests were adequately represented by the company’s 15-member official unsecured creditors’ committee.

After the hearing, Mr. Richman told the Washington Times that he was not surprised by the judge’s decision.

“We knew it was a long shot going in,” Mr. Richman said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the merits of our objection.”

Mr. Richman said the dissident bondholders have every right to continue as an ad-hoc committee.

Mr. Richman was quoted by Automobile Magazine  on June 22, 2009, about GM’s plans to emerge from bankruptcy. A group of bondholders known as “The Unofficial Committee of Family & Dissident GM Bondholders” claimed in court documents filed by Patton Boggs that GM's plan to sell its best assets would force the bondholders to face “disproportionate losses,” the article states.

AutomotiveNews, Bloomberg and Reuters also wrote about Mr. Richman’s defense of the GM bondholders on June 22, 2009.

The articles note that bondholders balked at GM’s plans because bondholders would receive only stock in the new GM for their debt. Dissatisfied creditors were unable to prevent Chrysler's quick emergence from bankruptcy. But GM bondholders contend their situation is different, Automotive News reported.

GM is not under the same time crunch to complete its bankruptcy as Chrysler, Mr. Richman said.

Mr. Richman was quoted in an article published by United Press International on June 18, 2009, about the possibility that General Motors Corp., would emerge from bankruptcy ahead of schedule.

“The main issue is that the ownership of new GM should be allocated in accordance with the bankruptcy code and not negotiated as a matter of a private deal,” Mr. Richman said.

Mr. Richman was featured in both the Am Law Litigation Daily and Am Law Daily on June 15, 2009, in stories about how GM bondholders selected Patton Boggs over White & Case to represent their opposition to General Motors' plan to emerge out of bankruptcy.

Mr. Richman told reporters that he's already trying to differentiate his strategy from the way his competition handled the Chrysler bankruptcy plan. “We don't want to delay or prevent the transfer of assets from 'old GM' to 'new GM,'” Mr. Richman said. “Our issue is not with that reorganization plan, it's with the effort by the parties who put the plan together to dictate the capital structure and ownership of the company outside of a bankruptcy plan.”

Mr. Richman was quoted by Bloomberg on June 11, 2009, in a story about how a group of individual General Motors Corp. bondholders plan to protest the planned sale of most of the carmaker’s assets.

“GM is completely different from Chrysler on the essential facts, and the Supreme Court made no decision other than to reject the appeal in Chrysler, so it has no precedential effect on our situation,” said Mr. Richman, who represents an unofficial three-person committee of the bondholders.

The Detroit Free Press featured the firm's legal work on behalf of the group in a story published on June 11, 2009. “The Unofficial Committee of Family and Dissident GM Bondholders” alleged in court documents that large institutional bondholders were not looking out for the little guys in their negotiations with GM and the U.S. Treasury last month.

December 2008

Rodney Slater, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on two Fox Network programs on Wednesday December 3, 2008 to discuss the effort by the Big Three Detroit automakers to win $34 billion in federal aid from Congress to resusciate the industry during the current economic crisis.

Slater appeared on the network's Studio B with Shepard Smith and then that evening, he appeared on the network's America’s Nightly Scoreboard with David Asman.

"This is a very important industry," Slater said in support of the auto industry. "It is the largest purchaser of steel, aluminum, copper, and things of that nature. This is a main street industry, an industry that has served as the epicenter for the development of our middle-class over the years. It is also important from a national security vantage point as well. I think it is too important to fail. They' re asking for a bridge loan. They' re hoping that with those resources, they can recover and help rebuild over time."

Micah S. Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, appeared on the Fox News show America's News HQ on Saturday, November 22, 2008 to discuss President-elect Barack Obama's selection of Timothy F. Geithner as the new secretary of the Treasury. Green, who has experiences working with Mr. Geithner in his role as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spoke about the apparent secretary's strong capabilities to run the department and his ability to address the economic crisis afflicting Wall Street and Main Street. Green also discussed the state of the economy and the markets.

Eric L. Foster, a partner in the firm's New York City office, appeared on Bloomberg TV on Monday, November 10, 2008 to discuss the economic crisis on Wall Street.

Mr. Foster, former counsel in the legal group with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told Bloomberg that Congress wanted the Fed to be the lender of last resort.

"When everyone else falls down, the fed needs to remain standing. We had a banking crisis in the early 20th-century. The fed did what they were supposed to do. I think they are fed up. You are going to see a lot of changes in Congress and calls for more transparency. Some heads will roll at the end of this," Mr Foster said.

Norman Antin and Kevin Houlihan, both partners in the firm's Washington office, were quoted in the Wall Street Journal on November 3, 2008 in a story about a spurt in publicly held institutions applying for government investments in coming weeks out of concern that failing to do so, could make them losers in a banking sector reshaped by the Treasury's $700 billion rescue plan.

Antin said he is in constant contact with bank regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Houlihan said the firm's banking and regulatory group now spends half its time on the rescue effort. Last week, after Treasury re-emphasized that only healthy banks would qualify for the program, five bankers contacted him in a day. He encouraged them all to apply.

"It's cheap capital, cheap insurance and a bonus for the institutions that are participating," he said.

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office appeared on the PBS Nightly Business Report on October 31, 2008 to discuss the financial crisis on Wall Street.

Correspondent Darren Gersh asked Mr. Green about the Treasury Department's so-called TARP plan rules for smaller, privately held banks, and how that would be impacted by the presidential election. Green said the next president would want to make his mark on this massive program.

"You'll see much more focus on mortgage foreclosure issues. You might see an accelerated review of what additional companies and assets should be included. You'll see more accountability. But I'm not sure you'll see major seismic shifts into the decisions that have already been made," Green said.

Click here to access the interview.

Nicholas W. Allard, co-chair of the firm's public policy practice, appeared on the PBS Nightly Business Report on October 30, 2008 to discuss the impact of the presidential election on Congress and the financial rescue efforts.

Correspondent Darren Gersh asked: If the polls are right and Senator Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, the only place Republicans can effectively fight tax increases or other government mandates on business will be in the Senate, provided there are still enough Republicans seats... Of course, if Senator John McCain pulls out a win, the White House will check Democratic ambitions. And, in any case, the most likely scenario now is for Democrats to finish Election Day with 56 to 58 Senate seats. But even if Democrats get to 60, they won't act in lockstep on taxes, health care or anything else, says former Senate Democratic staffer Nick Allard.

"There are conservative Democrats and extremely liberal Democrats," Allard said. "And almost on any major issue, the Democrats are going to have to reach across the aisle to the Republicans to get to 60."

Click here to access the interview.

OCTOBER 2008

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office, was quoted by the Congressional Quarterly's Today publication on October 22, 2008 in a story that examined revenues generated by lobbying firms during the 3rd quarter. Patton Boggs once again emerged as the top revenue generator. Lobbyists told the publication that the economic downturn is likely to hurt their bottom line in the coming months. But they expect the blow to be cushioned by the fact that now, as the government prepares to overhaul financial and economic policy, they are more indispensable than ever to the business community.

"It’s very safe to say what the last few months, particularly the last many weeks, has shown us is that the distance between the public policy environment of Washington and the financial marketplace has shortened considerably ... The linkage between the two is as important as I can ever remember it being," Green told the publication.

Green, the former president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, added that clients have been compelled in recent weeks to reach out to get a better sense of the negotiations already going on inside government and to make sure Congress and the White House understand the impacts their policy proposals might have.

Click here to read the full article.

DeMaruice Smith and Todd Harrison, both partners at the firm, provided their legal expertise in an article published in the Financial Times on October 20, 2008 about the litigation fall-out from a financial crisis. A flood of investor lawsuits has poured into courtrooms following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the pending sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the government takeover of AIG and the failure of Washington Mutual, according to the newspaper.

"They believe they have a mission and the mission is to find out who is at fault and who is to blame and hold them responsible," said Smith, a former federal prosecutor.

Harrison, also a former prosecutor, told the paper that the cases might be tough to prove. "It could be a year or more to get documents and go through them, speak to potentially hundreds of witnesses and then bring charges . . . you have to prove people knew they were saying false statements. That will be hard to prove," he said.

Click here to read the full article.

Todd Harrison, a partner in the firm's New York office, was quoted by Bloomberg on Friday, October 17, 2008, concerning the federal investigation into the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Investigators are reportedly examining Lehman's role in the $330 billion auction rate securities market and possible crimes stemming from its $6 billion June stock issue, according to the news service. The demise of Lehman, which sought bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15th, accelerated a global credit crisis that has wiped out $30 trillion of equity value in the past year, the news service reported. "There's been an outcry from people in the streets, and that puts pressure on prosecutors to do something," Harrison told Bloomberg. "They're going to be looking at all aspects of the credit crisis, including the rating agencies and the mortgage lenders who packaged and sold securities.''

To read more, click here.

DeMaurice Smith and Micah Green, both partners in the firm's Washington office, were quoted in the October 8, 2008 edition of AmLaw Daily about the congressional financial rescue plan of Wall Street. The $700-billion plan has created new legal liability for corporate officers, directors, managers, and advisers involved in the mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations markets, according to Smith, head of the firm's government investigations and white-collar practice group.

Green, the former president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said all eyes will be on Congress to ensure that a financial debacle of this magnitude does not happen again. "Congress gave a pint, if not a quart, of blood in the current bailout plan," Green said. "When they come back to work to make sure it never happens again, they're going to be out for more than a pound of flesh."

Smith and Green were speaking at a forum in New York sponsored by the firm and the Directors Roundtable entitled: "Wipeout, Bailout, Workout: the Regulatory, Business and Enforcement landscape."

To read the entire article click here.

Jeffrey Haas,  a partner in the  firm's Washington office was quoted in The National Law Journal on October 6, 2008, concerning the firm’s renewed focus on its troubled financial institutions practice.  Mr. Haas discussed the firm’s diverse practice areas which have evolved and grown to meet the challenges stemming from the financial crisis.  “A lot of companies face credit quality, liquidity or enforcement issues, and there are issues relating to insurance coverage, litigation, transactions, bankruptcy – it’s a long list,” he said.  Mr. Haas counsels clients on bank regulatory issues, corporate and securities matters, and corporate governance issues.

Click here to access the full story.

Charles Miller, Patton Boggs' deputy managing partner, was quoted in the Legal Times blog "BLT" on Friday, October 3, 2005 about the firm's new rapid fire financial task force. The task force was set up to help clients navigate the $700 billion rescue plan that just cleared Congress. The task force includes senior members of the firm’s public policy, litigation, and business departments and has brought together 30 attorneys from across the firm’s nine offices.

"This kind of thing is not new to us. What we talk about internally is how to serve clients at the intersection of business and government. I can’t think of a bigger intersection of the two that has occurred in my lifetime than this bailout," Miller told Legal Times.

Click here to read the article.

SEPTEMBER 2008

Robert Bearman, managing partner of the firm's Denver office, was quoted in a Denver Post story on September 27, 2008 about the public's growing frustration over executive compensation on Wall Street amdist the biggest financial debacle since the Great Depression. The public ire over the bank bailout and intense focus in Washington on executive compensation during the past few weeks will likely spur broader debate on the issue and put pressure on corporate boards across all industries, the article stated.

"With this push, compensation committees are going to feel the heat a lot more. This will energize the debate, and it will be a continuing debate," said Bearman, who specializes in corporate governance. "They will see that if they don't take actions by themselves, they're looking at increased federal legislation. Shareholders also will become more vocal."

Micah Green, a partner in the firm's Washington office appeared on PBS' Nightly Business Report on September 19, 2008 and on Fox Network on September 20, 2008 to discuss the financial fall out from the collapse of some of Wall Street's largest investment banks and the $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry.

To watch Mr. Green on PBS click here.

To watch Mr. Green on Fox click here.