Lawyers from Blumenfeld Kaplan & Sandweiss Bolster Business Practice,
Expand Firms St. Louis Presence by 33 Percent

For more information, contact:
Katie Hollar, (816) 460-5631

ST. LOUIS (March 12, 2007) -- Lathrop & Gage L.C., today announced that the law firm will open an office in Clayton, Mo. Joining Lathrop & Gage from Blumenfeld Kaplan & Sandweiss P.C. are:

• John King, real estate and zoning;
• Bennett Keller, business law, estate and succession planning;
• Scott Malin, estate planning, corporate and business transactions;
• Ira Blank, labor and employment and litigation;
• Donn Herring, health care, business transactions and corporate;
• Andrew Hogenson, estate planning, tax and corporate; and
• Eric Schmitt, real estate and litigation.
  

King, Keller, Malin, Blank, Herring and Schmitt join as members (partners); Hogenson joins as an associate. The Clayton office will be at the Pierre Laclede Center, 7701 Forsyth Blvd., and will be operational March 19. The new team brings the total of Lathrop & Gage attorneys in the St. Louis metropolitan area to 28 an increase in headcount of 33 percent.

"The new location allows Lathrop & Gage to better serve St. Louis County," said Brent Baldwin, partner in charge of Lathrop & Gage's St. Louis office, "And the seven new attorneys primarily transactional lawyers complement the firm's local strengths in litigation and government relations." Lathrop & Gages 21-lawyer office in downtown St. Louis boasts Thor Hearne, a government relations attorney who served as lead election counsel for Bush-Cheney 2004, and two Fellows in the American College of Trial Lawyers, including Brent Baldwin, the partner in charge.

"This is just one more step in our strategic plan to grow this office based on client needs and opportunities in the market, regionally and nationally," Baldwin said. "Ben and his team are exceptional lawyers and clients seek them out, as we did, because they consistently deliver great results. They are at the top of their game, entrepreneurial and great additions to our firm. We believe this new office and infusion of talent will allow us to continue to grow, serve clients better and be much more competitive in St. Louis."

The seven new attorneys represent, among others, Cingular Wireless, Bachman Machine Company and Bakers Footwear.

"These past few years weve watched closely the growing momentum of Lathrop & Gage a pattern of growth from five to ten offices few firms can match," Keller said. "They have national reach and talent in Intellectual Property, Litigation, Labor and Employment, Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, Environmental and other practices that complement our work. This is a great move for my colleagues and me, but a true home run for our clients."

The Clayton office will be the tenth location for the Kansas City-based firm, which entered the St. Louis market in 1997 with three lawyers. Lathrop & Gage now ranks No. 21 on the St. Louis Business Journals list of the citys largest law firms, and ranks No. 160 nationwide in terms of attorneys, according to the National Law Journal.

For more information on the new additions, see below.

About Lathrop & Gage:
A leading Midwest full-service law firm, Lathrop & Gage L.C. has 280 attorneys in 10 offices nationwide from Denver, Colo. to New York, New York. In 2006, Chambers USA ranked Lathrop & Gages corporate, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and labor and employment practices among the best in the Midwest, noting the firm is populated with excellent legal advisers with a strong commitment to customer service.
For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com or www.beentherewonthat.com.

LATHROP & GAGE CLAYTON ATTORNEYS

JOHN P. KING

King practices real estate law and focuses in the areas of land use zoning and planning, with special emphasis in the fields of residential and commercial development.

King, a member of the Home Builders Association, offers clients a depth of expertise in residential development issues. Additionally, he serves as chairman of the St. Louis County Police Review Committee and commissioner on the Board of Police Commissioners for the City of Shrewsbury.

He obtained his undergraduate degree from St. Benedicts College. He received his juris doctorate from St. Louis University School of Law.

BENNETT S. KELLER

Keller concentrates his practice in estate planning, probate and general business, succession planning and corporate law.

He is an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law in the masters of taxation program and has significant experience counseling clients in a variety of business issues. Keller received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1981. He received his juris doctorate from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1984.

SCOTT H. MALIN

Malins practice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, business succession planning, probate, taxation and general business law.

He has an extensive background in business succession planning and teaches a class on the topic as an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law in the masters of taxation program. He is a member of the Estate Planning Council of St. Louis.

Malin obtained his undergraduate degree from Indiana University in 1986. He also received his CPA certification from the State of Illinois in 1986. He received his Juris Doctorate from Washington University in 1989.

IRA L. BLANK

Blank has a litigation practice with an emphasis in employment law. He has developed and implemented labor relations management processes and has represented both unionized and union-free employers of all sizes in litigation and arbitration, and before the EEOC, the NLRB, OSHA, the Wage-Hour Division and other enforcement agencies.

Blank has extensive experience in the areas of employee coaching, discipline and discharge, managing unionized employees, labor arbitration, workplace harassment risk avoidance and union avoidance.

He was formerly industrial relations manager for a Fortune 100 manufacturing company. He also served as vice president of human resources and human resources counsel for a service company that was one of Inc. magazines 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America.

Blank received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama School of Business. He received a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations (M.I.L.R.) from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law.

DONN H. HERRING

Herring concentrates his practice in health law, business and corporate law and corporate transactions.

Herring regularly advises health care clients, including physicians, home health providers, nursing homes and hospitals, on a full range of regulatory business issues. He represents physicians in the area of practice development (including physician practice formation, acquisitions/divestiture and consolidation), health care mergers and acquisitions (including physician/hospital joint ventures), voluntary compliance program development and implementation and managed care contracting.

He is an adjunct assistant professor of law at the St. Louis University School of Laws Center of Health Studies and an instructor at the Washington University School of Medicines Graduate Program in Health Administration.

Herring received his undergraduate degree from Westminster College in 1984. In 1987 he received his Juris Doctorate from The Ohio State University College of Law.

ANDREW H. HOGENSON

Hogenson practices in tax and trust and estates, with a particular emphasis in the areas of estate and trust planning, business succession planning, closely held and family business planning, estate and gift tax, probate administration, fiduciary litigation and trust and estate litigation.

He regularly lectures on topics related to estate planning and gift tax issues. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from the Washington University School of Law in 2001.

ERIC S. SCHMITT

Schmitt focuses his practice on litigation, zoning and land use planning. He has tried numerous cases in state and federal courts.

Schmitt received his undergraduate degree from Truman State University in 1997. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University in 2000.

TIMELINE: Lathrop & Gage in St. Louis

• 1997 – Lathrop & Gage enters the market after merging with Schoenbeck, Schoenbeck & Associates. Government relations attorney Thor Hearne – who later would serve as lead election counsel for Bush-Cheney 2004 – joins the firm.
• 2002 – Brent Baldwin and three other attorneys from Chicago-based Hinshaw & Culbertson join the firm. Baldwin, who now serves as partner in charge of the office, is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and a noted litigator in medical malpractice and professional liability.
• 2003 – The firm doubles its space in a move to 10 S. Broadway. James Paul, a former chair of the Labor and Employment Committee of the Missouri Bar, joins as a member.
• 2004 – Pat Sanders and Jack Walsh join the firm from Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C. Sanders concentrates his practice in labor and employment law. A litigator, Walsh focuses on products liability and ERISA. Peter Maginot joins the firm with two colleagues from Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen in Edwardsville, Ill. Maginot defends toxic tort claims, particularly asbestos claims, in Illinois’ “judicial hellhole,” Madison County.
• 2007 – Seven transaction attorneys from Blumenfeld Kaplan & Sandweiss join firm to open office in Clayton – tenth new office for the firm. Those joining include including Bennett Keller and John P. King, providing a corporate complement to Lathrop & Gage’s strengths in government relations and litigation.