Jean M. Lawler Named Managing Partner of Murchison & Cumming, LLP

January 15, 2008

Los Angeles, CA - January 15, 2008 - Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Jean M. Lawler has been named Managing Partner of the Firm, effective January 1, 2008. As Managing Partner, Ms. Lawler looks forward to working with the Firm's partners, attorneys and clients to continue to build on the foundation of the firm's 77 year history of, and reputation for, excellence. In addition to her duties as Managing Partner, Ms. Lawler will continue to chair the Firm's Insurance Law and Business Transactions practice groups.

Ms. Lawler succeeds Friedrich W. Seitz, who served as Managing Partner from 1986 through 2007 and whose loyal service played a key role in the growth and development of the Firm. Mr. Seitz, a respected trial attorney, will continue to serve as Chair of the Firm's Product Liability and International practice groups. Mr. Seitz stated, "Jean has the leadership and strategic vision to bring continued success to the Firm. I am pleased that she has agreed to step into this role."

Ms. Lawler is a Past President of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, the only woman to have served in that position. She has also served as a Director of the Defense Research Institute, Lawyers for Civil Justice, Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and the FDCC Foundation.

First associated with Murchison & Cumming in 1985, Ms. Lawler became the Firm's first female partner in 1993. She is a frequent author and speaker on topics relating to the insurance industry and, in 2005, co-founded the National Seventh Amendment Summit on the Right to Trial by Jury, "The American Jury Trial - Do We Allow Its Death or Lead Its Rebirth?", a joint project of the FDCC and ABOTA.

Ms. Lawler is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, and is a certified mediator. She is resident in the Firm's Los Angeles office.

About Murchison & Cumming, LLP

With a firm history dating to 1930, Murchison & Cumming, LLP is a premier civil litigation firm with five offices in California and Las Vegas, whose attorneys specialize in the defense of domestic and international businesses, insurers and individuals, at trial and on appeal. The Firm’s attorneys also handle employment matters and business transactions. For additional information, please visit our website at www.murchisonlaw.com.