Jean M. Lawler Elected President of The Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel

August 3, 2004

Los Angeles, CA – August 3, 2004 – Jean M. Lawler, a Senior Partner at Murchison & Cumming, LLP, has been inaugurated as President of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC), the first woman to hold this position. Ms. Lawler was first elected to the FDCC Board of Directors in 1996 and will serve as President through July 2005, presiding over the FDCC?s Winter meeting on Marco Island, Florida, and its Annual Meeting at La Costa, in California.

As President, Ms. Lawler will seek to enhance the FDCC?s core values of "Knowledge, Justice and Fellowship" through several initiatives, including instituting regional meetings, "Federation Forums," which will take place this fall in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The Forums will highlight cutting-edge legal issues, with specific focus on how those issues are being handled in each geographic region. In keeping with the FDCC's history of "outreach" to other professional organizations, through the efforts of Ms. Lawler and Ms. Donna Melby, President-Elect of ABOTA, the FDCC and ABOTA will jointly host a national Summit on the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial this spring. A unique collaboration between the defense and plaintiff bar, this seminar will provide FDCC and ABOTA members, along with members of the judiciary and other legal organizations, an opportunity to explore solutions to what has been referred to in the press as "the vanishing jury trial."

Since her election to the Board of Directors, Ms. Lawler has been an active member of the Federation. As Chair of the Projects & Objectives Committee, Ms. Lawler was instrumental in establishing the annual Law Firm Management Conference, which is now in its fourth year. Ms. Lawler also assisted in the creation of the FDCC's Corporate Members Forum, which helps facilitate convention programming of interest to its members who are general counsel and corporate executives. Ms. Lawler served as the General Convention Chair for the FDCC Mid-Winter meeting held in 1999; as Program Chair for the FDCC Mid-Winter meeting in 1998; and, from 1996 - 1998, as Chair of the FDCC's Excess & Surplus Lines Section.

Ms. Lawler currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ). She is a former Director of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC). Ms. Lawler is a frequent lecturer and author of articles pertaining to insurance issues. In May, Ms. Lawler spoke at a Joint International Seminar co-sponsored by the DRI, FDCC, IADC and ADTA, held in Barcelona, Spain. In November, she will speak at the DRI's "International Liability – New Theories of Liability from the USA" programs held in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Within the past year, Ms. Lawler has also spoken at conferences sponsored by Property Loss Research Bureau (PLRB), USLAW Network, and the Excess/Surplus Lines Claims Association.

As Chair of Murchison & Cumming's Insurance Law & Risk Management Practice Group, Ms. Lawler handles complex insurance and bad faith litigation, insurance coverage matters and provides underwriting and risk management advice. Ms. Lawler is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University (B.B.A.) and Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (J.D.).

About FDCC
Founded in 1936, the Federation is an international organization whose more than 1,300 members include attorneys who specialize in the defense of civil litigation, general counsel, risk managers and insurance claims executives. The guiding principles of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel are summarized in the three words underlying its logo: "Knowledge," "Justice," and "Fellowship". Its objectives and purposes are "to assist in establishing standards for providing competent, efficient and economical legal services; to encourage and provide for continuing legal education of the members and to use the knowledge and experience of its membership for the promotion of public good." More information about FDCC can be found online at www.thefederation.org

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.