Kasey C. Townsend and Gina E. Och Named Partners Of Murchison & Cumming, LLP

January 5, 2004

Los Angeles, CA – January 5, 2004 – Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Kasey C. Townsend and Gina E. Och have been named Partners of the firm.

Kasey Covert is the Partner in Charge of Murchison & Cumming's Northern California office. She practiced seven years in the firm's San Diego office handling complex litigation, before moving north to manage the firm's first office in Northern California. Ms. Covert's practice includes construction defect, health law and general liability matters for the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay areas. She is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law and is a member of the Association of Northern California Defense Counsel.

Gina Och is a partner in Murchison & Cumming's Los Angeles office and member of the firm's Law & Appellate Practice Group. For the past seven years at Murchison & Cumming she has focused her practice on product liability, business litigation, public utilities and international law. Prior to joining Murchison & Cumming, Ms. Och worked as a Research Attorney for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Ms. Och has prepared briefs and argued numerous cases at the appellate level. In addition, each year she is a co-presenter for the firm's Year in Review seminar with senior partner Edmund G. Farrell, III. Ms. Och is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, where she was Managing Editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review.

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.