MICHAEL SHAPIRO AND ALAN LEWIS JOIN CARTER LEDYARD & MILBURN

-- Expands Criminal Defense and Litigation Capabilities --

NEW YORK, December 04, 2006 – Wall Street law firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP announced today that Michael Shapiro and Alan Lewis have joined the firm as partners in the litigation department. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Lewis were shareholders in the NY office of Pittsburgh-based Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC.

“We are very pleased to welcome Michael and Alan to our firm,” said Lawrence F. Carnevale, member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Litigation Department at Carter Ledyard. “Their arrival presents particularly exciting opportunities to strengthen and expand our broker-dealer, internal investigation and securities-related litigation practice areas.”

Michael Shapiro was a name partner at the New York litigation boutique, Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker, where he practiced with Barry Slotnick for 20 years before their firm was acquired by Buchanan in 2005. Mr. Shapiro, who has prosecuted and defended white-collar matters for 33 years, has been involved in some of New York’s most high profile cases. He was part of the legal team that defended subway gunman, Bernhard Goetz. In the 1990s, he traveled to and from Russia three times while defending a former Soviet dissident charged in federal court with bank fraud and money laundering. More recently, Messrs. Shapiro and Lewis defended an Israeli-educated Colombian national whom Federal authorities characterized as the creator of modern money laundering.

On the civil side, Mr. Shapiro tried the second longest case in the history of the Delaware Chancery Court and recently won a multi-million dollar judgment on behalf of a public company in a breach of contract action.

Mr. Shapiro started his legal career as a prosecutor, serving as special assistant attorney general in the then newly created New York State Office of the Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, Health and Social Services. Thereafter, and for eight years he served as special assistant attorney general and chief of appeals in the office of the New York State Special Prosecutor investigating the New York City criminal justice system. He began his career as an assistant district attorney in New York City.

Mr. Shapiro received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude from City College of the City University of New York in 1970 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1973. He is a faculty member of the Cardozo Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Program and is a regular guest panelist at Harvard Law School. He appears frequently on television as a legal commentator. Mr. Shapiro, 56, resides in Scarsdale, New York.

Alan Lewis is a white-collar criminal and civil litigator with an expanded focus on securities, intellectual property, complex commercial, real estate and probate litigation. Mr. Lewis has extensive experience defending corporate clients under investigation by prosecutors and government regulatory authorities.

Mr. Lewis was also a partner at Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker, where he practiced for seven years with Michael and Barry. He has prosecuted and defended many high profile criminal cases. In 1995, he argued the first appeal dealing with New York’s revived death penalty statute. More recently, he represented one of the reputed Russian oligarchs in a dispute with the Putin government.

Mr. Lewis received his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, with honors in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1986. Mr. Lewis regularly lectures at CLE seminars around the state. Mr. Lewis, 46, resides in Scarsdale, New York.

Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP (www.clm.com), established in 1854, has approximately 104 attorneys and has been headquartered on Wall Street since its founding and has additional offices in midtown Manhattan and Washington, DC. Carter Ledyard's general practice includes corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, litigation, intellectual property, environmental, employment, media and technology, immigration, investment regulation, antitrust, trusts and estates, maritime, ERISA, exempt organizations, real estate, tax and bankruptcy. A significant part of the firm's practice involves representing overseas-based clients and their U.S. affiliates, financial institutions and other financial services providers, governmental entities and media and technology clients.