Murchison & Cumming, LLP Partner, Jean M. Lawler, Elected President-Elect of FDCC

August 6, 2003

Los Angeles, CA – August 6, 2003 – Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Senior Partner, Jean M. Lawler has become President-Elect of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC). Ms. Lawler moved into this position at the conclusion of the FDCC's 2003 Annual Meeting, held last week in La Malbaie, Quebec, and in July 2004 will become President of the Federation.

In 1996, Ms. Lawler was the first woman elected to the organization's Board of Directors and will be the first woman to serve as President of the FDCC when she assumes that office next year. As President-Elect of the FDCC, Ms. Lawler will also sit as a member of the Board of Directors of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ).

Founded in 1936, the Federation is an international organization whose more than 1300 members include attorneys in private practice who specialize in defense of civil litigation, general counsel, risk managers and insurance claims executives.

As Chair of Murchison & Cumming, LLP?s Insurance Law and Risk Management Practice Group, Ms. Lawler handles complex insurance and bad faith litigation, insurance coverage matters and provides underwriting and risk management advice. She is a past-Chair of the FDCC Excess/Surplus Lines substantive law section, a former Director of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and a frequent lecturer and author of articles pertaining to insurance issues, including an article on the World Trade Center attacks published in the September 2002 issue of Los Angeles Lawyer. In May 2004, Ms. Lawler will speak on employment related insurance issues at an International Seminar to be held in Barcelona, Spain, jointly sponsored by the FDCC, DRI, IADC and ADTA.

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.