Michael Petersen Joins Law Firm Marshack Shulman Hodges & Bastian; Corporate Mergers,...

Business Editors/Legal Writers

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2003

The law firm of Marshack Shulman Hodges & Bastian LLP (MSHB) today announced that Michael Petersen has joined and been appointed partner at the firm, and will specialize in corporate mergers

"We are very pleased to have named Mike Petersen as a partner to our firm," said Leonard M. Shulman, managing partner at MSHB. "This strengthens the depth of the firm's service offering across a number of important practice areas, and reflects in particular our commitment to the growing clientele who have retained us for corporate transactions and financial matters."

Michael Petersen's primary focus will be on business formation; mergers, acquisition, and reorganization transactions for acquiring and disposing companies; business succession planning; real estate acquisition and development; business and tax planning. Before joining MSHB, Mr. Petersen held the position of General Counsel at Newport Federal Financial, and also spent twenty years at Prudential, concentrating on real estate and corporate matters.

Originally from the Chicago area, Petersen earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin, and graduated from the Minnesota School of Law.

About Marshack Shulman Hodges & Bastian LLP

The firm was founded in the early 1990s by Richard Marshack, now of counsel to the organization. By the mid to late 1990s, the firm had evolved into a full-service bankruptcy law firm whose growth rate outpaced that of the local economy. Leonard M. Shulman joined the firm in the mid '90s to expand the firm's bankruptcy trustee and litigation practice. Ronald S. Hodges joined the firm in 1995 and immediately contributed a depth and breadth to the firm's emerging bankruptcy litigation department, which continues to expand today.

As the firm matured through the 1990s, new clients and partners were added, including James C. Bastian, who was named partner in 1999. Mr. Bastian specializes in a variety of insolvency and bankruptcy related matters, and successfully led trade vendors through the unprecedented County of Orange bankruptcy proceedings, in fact, recovering 100 cents on the dollar for this constituency.

Throughout the firm's expansion, Marshack Shulman Hodges & Bastian has earned its reputation as one of the finest law firms of its kind, not only in Southern California, but throughout the region. The business community has recognized that the firm's team is bright, vibrant, quick-thinking and able to devise solutions to severe and complex problems. Practice areas currently handled by the firm include: committee representations, trustee representation, bankruptcy litigation, including prosecution of D&O claims, business reorganizations, employment and labor law, complex personal injury, bad faith (representing the plaintiff), all in the context of a bankruptcy proceeding.

For more information regarding Marshack Shulman Hodges & Bastian LLP, please call 949.340.3400 or visit www.mshblaw.com.