Vinson & Elkins LLP (V&E) advised the FWU Group in connection with the issuance of US$55 million Islamic notes (Sukuk Al-Ijarah), which will expand the group’s global presence. This is the first ever Sukuk by a German corporate and the first globally to utilize intellectual property rights (in this case a software program) as the underlying asset which makes this transaction ground-breaking in a number of ways. The notes were issued through a Luxembourg SPV incorporated using a Dutch Stichting (foundation) structure – a structure first used in connection with the quasi-sovereign Sukuk issuance by the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in 2005.

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David L. Douglass, Chair of the ABA Health Law Section, has joined the Washington, D.C. office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm’s Government Contracts, Investigations & International Trade practice group and the firm’s Healthcare practice. Douglass joins Sheppard Mullin from Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Washington, D.C., where he co-chaired the firm’s Government Enforcement & Compliance group.

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Alston & Bird LLP today announced that Kimberly (Kim) Kiefer Peretti, a former director of the cyber forensics services practice of PwC, has joined the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Kim is a nationally recognized expert on data breach investigations, information security, corporate compliance and cyber law. Her addition bolsters Alston & Bird’s ground-breaking Security Incident Management and Response Team, which she will co-chair, and the firm’s Government Investigations team.

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On January 1, 2013, seven attorneys, formerly of Weingarten, Schurgin, Gagnebin & Lebovici (WSGL), a Boston intellectual property law firm, joined Preti Flaherty, a regional New England law firm with offices in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, DC and New Jersey. The seven intellectual property attorneys include:

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Steven T. Catlett has joined the Schiff Hardin LLP Chicago office as a partner in the Labor and Employment Group from Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago.

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International law firm Taylor Wessing today announces a major new hire to its market leading corporate technology team. Partner Mike Turner will join Taylor Wessing as head of the firm’s UK TMT industry group, covering advertising and marketing, broadcasting and film, gaming, interactive media, music, press and publishing, social media, sports and sponsorship, technology and telecoms. He joins from Osborne Clarke, where he was international head of the Digital Business group.

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