Jean M. Lawler Elected Secretary-Treasurer of FDCC

August 29, 2002

Los Angeles, CA – August 29, 2002 – Los Angeles-based Murchison & Cumming is pleased to announce that Senior Partner Jean M. Lawler was elected to the position of Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC) at the Federation's 2002 Annual Meeting, recently held in Sun Valley, Idaho. Founded in 1936, the Federation is an international organization established to further the principles of knowledge, justice and fellowship. Its members are experienced attorneys in private practice who specialize in civil litigation defense, general counsel, risk managers and insurance claims executives.

Ms. Lawler has served as a member of the Federation's Board of Directors since July 1996 and is a former Chair of its Excess/Surplus Lines substantive law section. She has been involved in many Federation projects, including assisting in the establishment of its Corporate Members Forum, its inaugural Law Firm Management Conference and its 2002 Risk Analysis Symposium, held last Spring in Atlanta to address liability issues in the new age of terrorism. As the first woman to be elected to a position as an executive officer of the organization, Ms. Lawler will become President of the Federation in 2004.

As Chair of Murchison & Cumming'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 former Director of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and a member of DRI (Insurance Section) and other professional organizations. Ms. Lawler is a frequent lecturer and author of articles pertaining to insurance issues, including an article on the World Trade Center attacks to be published in the September 2002 issue of Los Angeles Lawyer.

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. The firm is a member of the USLAW Network. For additional information, please visit our website at www.murchisonlaw.com.