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O'Melveny Forms Integrated Legal Strategies Practice Headed by Tom McCoy and Jonathan Sallet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:

Piper Hall
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
202.870.1800 (cell)
phall@omm.com

Sonja Steptoe
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
213.430.6384 (work)
323.578.1586 (cell)    
ssteptoe@omm.com

WASHINGTON, DC ─ SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 ─ O’Melveny & Myers LLP today announced the formation of a new Integrated Legal Strategies Practice headed by Tom McCoy and Jonathan Sallet. They will reside in the Washington, DC office.

McCoy is a renowned international business leader and legal strategist, while Sallet has practiced law and counseled companies and their executives on the most challenging and delicate of legal problems. The new practice group will draw on the vast experience and diverse skills of McCoy and Sallet to offer clients a distinctive mix of strategic litigation and transactions advice, and strategic regulatory-compliance counsel—all concentrated on the most important legal issues that a business can face. This group will focus its legal services on “lifecycle” events material to the future of a business, including consummating complex mergers and acquisitions, obtaining global regulatory approvals, favorably resolving high-stakes litigation, and advising on legal developments that have industrywide impact in fields that range from technology to telecommunications to financial services—and beyond.

“O’Melveny has for many years counseled decision makers on board-level challenges ranging from transformative transactions, special investigations, and enforcement proceedings to Congressional inquiries and the most consequential adversarial proceedings,” said Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr., Chair of O’Melveny & Myers. “In this tradition, and under the leadership of Tom and Jonathan, our Integrated Legal Strategies Practice will help Chief Executives, General Counsel, and other senior-level decision makers navigate the issues that span international legal and regulatory arenas and that can forge, or frustrate, a corporation’s future.”

McCoy rejoins O’Melveny from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) where he served as Executive Vice President, Legal, Corporate, and Public Affairs, and Chief Administrative Officer. While at AMD, McCoy worked with international teams from O’Melveny and policy and communications specialists around the world to develop and implement a bold worldwide regulatory and litigation strategy that led to the historic global settlement by Intel of claims that it had engaged in anticompetitive practices—a settlement that received front-page coverage around the world. That global conflict included regulatory bodies in North America, Europe, and Asia; civil litigation in the United States and in Asia; legislative oversight; and executive branch deliberation. McCoy also co-founded the California General Counsel's Association, serves on the board of directors of the Washington, DC-based Computer and Communications Industry Association, and is a past board member of the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

“As a former General Counsel and senior executive, I know that Boards of Directors expect the legal team to be responsible for all aspects of legal strategy and the attendant factors that will influence the outcome,” McCoy said. “That’s why it’s so important to have savvy and experienced legal counseling when a crisis hits, in order to construct a legal plan that will work across the board, and around the world.”

Sallet served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and was a partner in two nationally known law firms. He is a former Chief Policy Counsel for MCI Communications, where he oversaw regulatory proceedings and merger reviews. Sallet also served in the Clinton Administration as Director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning at the Department of Commerce, focusing on trade, technology, and telecommunications issues. He is a Silicon Flatiron Senior Adjunct Fellow at University of Colorado Law School, a Special Advisor on Regional Innovation Clusters to the Center for American Progress, and a member of the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute.

“Corporations win battles when their legal strategy is informed by all of the challenges they will face,” Sallet said.

About O’Melveny & Myers LLP

With approximately 900 lawyers in 14 offices worldwide, O’Melveny & Myers LLP helps industry leaders across a broad array of sectors manage the complex challenges of succeeding in the global economy. We are a values-driven law firm, guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship. Our commitment to these values is reflected in our dedication to improving access to justice through pro bono work and championing initiatives that increase the diversity of the legal profession. For more information, please visit www.omm.com