(June 26, 2006, San Francisco, CA) – LAWFUEL – Law News Network – Reed Smith, a top 20 international law firm, today announced the addition of Harvey Leiderman and Mark Fogelman as partners in the firm’s San Francisco office, effective July 1. Mr. Leiderman will join the firm’s Northern California Business Trial Group and Mr. Fogelman will join the Regulatory Litigation Group.
Both attorneys come to Reed Smith from the San Francisco office of Steefel Levitt & Weiss. Mr. Leiderman was formerly a member of the Board of Directors and a shareholder in the Litigation Department. He had been with Steefel since 1988, previously serving as its managing partner. Mr. Fogelman was also a shareholder in the Litigation Department and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. He joined the firm in 1998, after spending 15 years with the California Public Utilities Commission, where he ended his tenure as the PUC’s Assistant General Counsel.
“Mr. Leiderman is a high profile leading litigator and business counselor on fiduciary matters in a hot and growing area involving large scale public and corporate pension funds. This is a uniquely expanding area and we know our clients will welcome this enhanced capability,” said David Thompson, managing partner of Reed Smith’s San Francisco office. “Mr. Fogelman has substantial experience in water and other environmental issues and experience before the CA PUC that we know many of our clients will benefit from as well. We could not be more pleased to welcome them to our ranks.”
Mr. Leiderman specializes in representing pension fund trustees, financial institutions, and private equity funds in fiduciary liability matters and complex business litigation. He serves as fiduciary and litigation counsel to some of the largest public pension funds in California, including the $6 billion Orange County Employees Retirement System, the newly-reformed San Diego City Employees Retirement System, and the boards of the retirement systems of Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, Marin, and Fresno counties. He also has substantial experience in advising corporate boards and in bankruptcy and commercial litigation.
“I am looking forward to being able to expand my pension fund practice at Reed Smith,” said Mr. Leiderman. “The firm’s outstanding tax and ERISA practices, together with its broad and diverse client base, provide an ideal platform from which to serve public agencies and public and private companies in tackling their complex pension issues. As the workforce matures, these issues are increasingly found on the front page of every business journal and newspaper in the country.” Mr. Leiderman received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1969 with Honors in Government Studies from The American University, Washington, D.C. and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1972.
Among his most recent and notable engagements, Mr. Leiderman served as Special Counsel and chief legal strategist to PeopleSoft, Inc. in its response to Oracle Corp.’s $10.5 billion hostile takeover bid. Other clients include national banking institutions, publicly traded technology companies, computer equipment manufacturers, industrial corporations and California agri-businesses.
Mr. Fogelman’s practice focuses on civil, regulatory and appellate litigation with particular emphasis on matters involving energy, telecommunications, water regulation and environmental enforcement issues. He has strong credentials as an appellate specialist and is a member of the prestigious California Academy of Appellate Lawyers (CAAL), as are five other members of Reed Smith’s Appellate Group. Paul D. Fogel, a San Francisco-based partner at Reed Smith, recently assumed the presidency of CAAL. James C. Martin, another Reed Smith partner, served as CAAL president in 2003.
A 1971 graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law, Mr. Fogelman handled many high-profile litigation and appellate matters at the California PUC.
Mr. Fogelman recently served as on of lead counsel in the coordinated antitrust case in which his California corporate clients alleged that El Paso Corporation manipulated prices during the California Energy Crisis – a case resulting in the largest antitrust settlement in California history. He also served as one of the lead counsel in the Hartwell case, in which the California Supreme Court confirmed the scope of immunity of PUC-regulated water utilities from Superior Court damage claims. Mr. Fogelman’s notable cases have included California’s appeal of the AT&T Divestiture to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Eighth Circuit cases that overturned the FCC’s seminal orders construing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the appeal and oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. PUC, 475 U.S. 1 (1986). Mr. Fogelman served as lead counsel in the Mojave Pipeline Co. matter and successfully defended California against FERC assertions of jurisdiction in major cases in the Ninth and D.C. Circuits. In addition, he handled U.S. Supreme Court proceedings involving preemption of state trucking regulation and was staff co-counsel before the PUC in the Diablo Canyon rate case. Mr. Fogelman recently concluded a closely watched matter for Hillmar Dairies before the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
“I believe my energy and environmental litigation practice will flourish as a result of the much larger practice platform provided by Reed Smith,” Mr. Fogelman said. “I am also very enthusiastic about combining my appellate expertise with that of my distinguished colleagues in Reed Smith’s appellate practice which is widely recognized as one of the premier appellate practices nationwide.
“These kinds of high quality litigators are just what Reed Smith is looking for,” added Jack Nelson, statewide managing partner for Reed Smith’s four California offices. “As the firm continues to expand and win more high quality work from the country’s top‑tier companies, more and more top notch attorneys from other firms are knocking on our door. This is good news for the firm and its clients.”
