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Brings extensive experience in technology, cleantech and life sciences industries

DLA Piper today announced that Michael Torosian has joined the Corporate and Finance practice as a partner in the Silicon Valley office.

Previously a senior counsel in the Corporate Department at Latham & Watkins LLP, Torosian advises public and private companies, investment banks, and venture capital and private equity firms in the emerging growth, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets areas. Working closely with companies and investors in the high technology, cleantech and life sciences industries, Torosian has extensive experience in all stages of venture capital financings, public securities offerings, and mergers and acquisitions.

“Michael is a leading corporate lawyer who has developed a successful and growing practice, and his addition is a major contribution to the strategic expansion of our emerging growth, IPO and M&A capabilities,” said Jay Rains, global co-chair of DLA Piper’s Corporate and Finance practice. “His varied experience and industry contacts and relationships will be invaluable as we continue to grow and diversify the practice in the Bay Area and nationally.”

Torosian’s practice also focuses on advising C-suite executives, boards of directors, and general counsel on corporate governance matters, federal and state securities law compliance, and public company compliance and disclosure matters, among other company management issues.

“Michael adds tremendous depth and experience to our strong and growing Corporate and Finance practice on the West Coast,” said Rich Scudellari, co-managing partner of DLA Piper’s Silicon Valley office. “His innovative approach and broad experience in representing corporate clients will make him a perfect complement to DLA Piper’s Silicon Valley platform.”

Earlier in his career, Torosian was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC. He is also a certified public accountant with Big Four firm experience as a supervising senior auditor. Torosian earned a J.D. and LL.M from Duke University and a BBA and MPA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Torosian is the latest addition to DLA Piper’s rapidly growing Corporate and Finance practice, which in 2012 has also added: Rich Scudellari, Armando Castro and Matt Oshinsky in Silicon Valley; Masood Sohaili in Los Angeles; John Altorelli, Alexander Fraser, Patrick Costello, Gerald Francese, Richard Reilly, Edward Johnsen and Daniel Eisner in New York; Neal Aizenstein, Andrew Weil and Wesley Nissen in Chicago; and Kathleen Smith Ruhland in Minneapolis.

Lawyers in DLA Piper's Australian practice in conjunction with DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr are advising more than half of the successful bidders for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of South Africa’s Independent Power Producers (IPP) Procurement Programme on solar, wind, hydro, biomass and biogas projects. DLA Piper Australia is also acting for bidders and lenders providing project finance for a number of projects in Phase 3 of the Programme.

The Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme is a landmark project for South Africa and has been designed to stimulate the country’s renewable energy sector. The goal is to generate 42% of all new electricity from renewable energy sources over the next 20 years.

Damian McNair, Head of Finance & Projects in Asia Pacific is leading the DLA Piper team with partners Bill Glover and Bruce Linke.

"We are delighted with the recent announcement that confirms DLA Piper Australia is advising more than half of the preferred bidders for the first two phases of the Programme. We are already acting for Phase 3 bidders in particular on a large solar project and we are currently negotiating with a global EPC and O&M Contractor in Germany on the contractual and technical arrangements as part of the bid which is due on August 20."

DLA Piper Australia will also be involved with DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in two additional renewable programmes scheduled for launch in 2012. They are the Small Renewable Energy IPP programme, incorporating projects less than 5MW, and the Cogeneration Programme which will involve new technologies such as cogeneration from biomass and landfill gas.

"Our service offering is unique. We are the only global law firm to send Australian lawyers to South Africa to advise on these landmark projects. We have also brought in partners from our London, Hong Kong and Dubai offices. Having this breadth of global expertise on the ground in South Africa with the local expertise of DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is a key differentiator," Damian said.

Kieran Whyte, Director and National Head of the Projects and Infrastructure practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said that working with the DLA Piper offices in Melbourne and London meant that his South African team had full access to international best practice and it had allowed them to harness additional skills set and resource capacity.

“In this regard, we received market recognition for the standard of documentation produced including guidance notes produced to assist clients and our ability to find solutions to the numerous challenges that arose in respect of property related issues and from the nature of the Project Agreements," he said.

DLA Piper is pleased to announce the appointment of Stéphane Lemarchand as the new Intellectual Property & Technology (IP&T) International Group Head. Stéphane's appointment follows the restructuring of DLA Piper's Executive which saw the appointment of Simon Levine, previous International Group Head of IP&T, to the position of joint Managing Director for Group and Sectors.

In his new role, Stéphane will take responsibility for the further development of the IP&T Group in Europe, the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific, and for sharing the management of this practice worldwide with John Allcock, Head of IP&T in the United-States. Stephane will notably have to keep on implementing the IP&T strategic plan, this with a priority focus on the region Asia-Pacific.

The Intellectual Property & Technology group counts over 400 expert lawyers covering Europe, Middle-East, and Asia-Pacific, and over 200 in the United-States.

Stéphane is a renowned specialist, both in France and further afield, in IT Law. He joined DLA Piper in November 2010 as Head of the IP&T team in Paris where he has been integral in the building of one of France's only full-service IP&T team in the legal market. Stéphane is the first partner of the Paris office being appointed as International Group Head.

Commenting on his appointment, Stéphane said: "I am delighted with the opportunity to lead DLA Piper's IP&T Group on an international level. It is an incredibly important practice for the firm; we have some extraordinary talent and are doing some great work."

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This article briefly explores how to take action against fake social media accounts. It will firstly describe Twitter’s and Facebook’s Own Policies, followed by the recent developments in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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Read the full article

DLA Piper's Corporate and Real Estate teams have advised Vue Entertainment on the acquisition of Apollo Cinemas Limited.

The acquisition which was led by a team of DLA Piper lawyers including Elia Montorio, Ciaran Stone and Phebe Cassidy from Corporate, and Anita Weightman and Vanessa Rickard from Real Estate, will see Vue Entertainment add a further 14 cinemas to its growing portfolio.

One of the fastest growing cinema chains, Vue's state-of-the-art circuit now boasts 85 multiplexes and 800 screens across the UK, Ireland, Portugal and Taiwan, and will add new locations such as Altrincham, Barrow in Furness, Morecambe, Rhyl and Stafford to its footprint.

Anita Weightman, DLA Piper's head of real estate and client relationship partner for Vue said: "We were thrilled to have been able to provide advice to Vue on this transaction. The combination of UK locations and high quality cinema provisions makes Apollo's circuit of cinemas a perfect fit for Vue Entertainment as its grows its footprint across the UK.

"Our Corporate and Real Estates teams are both well regarded and this transaction demonstrates our ability to handle large scale projects both within the region and also the wider national and international markets."

DLA Piper's Tax practice was awarded as "European Energy Tax Firm of the Year 2012" at the European International Tax Review Awards 2012. Recently the team has been ranked for the first time in the European-wide category in the Chambers legal directory .

Every year, the British magazine International Tax Review awards special service firms for their outstanding consultancy services. In 2011 DLA Piper acted on some multi-jurisdictional tax projects for prominent clients from the Energy & Water sector, among them Valero Energy Corporation and Ralos New Energies AG. The Tax Team has specifically grown in France, Germany, Austria and Luxemburg and due to its international focus it is regularly appointed to act in multi-jurisdictional tax matters. Apart from companies from the energy sector, the firm also advises technology and insurance companies as well as banking institutions.

"I am very pleased about our international team's double success. It shows that our broad expertise as well as the high quality of our work are recognized and appreciated throughout Europe.", says Franz Althuber, Partner and Head of the Tax group at DLA Piper Vienna.

DLA Piper has won the award for Turkish law firm of the year, through its affiliation with YükselKarkınKüçük Attorney Partnership ("YKK"), at the Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence 2012 held in Amsterdam on 10 May.

This award has been presented for the first time in 2012 in recognition of the growing legal market in Turkey. DLA Piper established an office in Istanbul in 2010, having obtained the necessary approval from the Istanbul Bar, to provide advice on international and foreign law. At that time six Turkish partners from YKK became members of DLA Piper International LLP with permission from the Istanbul Bar.

Chambers awards honour outstanding law firms and legal professionals; the awards reflect both pre-eminence in key practice areas and achievements over the last 12 months, including notable work, strategic growth, excellence in client service, and contribution to the legal profession.

Murat Karkın, co-managing partner of the Istanbul office, commented: "it is a great honour to win the Chambers Europe Award. We have had a tremendous year. Providing our clients with outstanding service is our top priority and it is very pleasing to be given an award in recognition of the high quality of our work."

In response to the award, Cüneyt Yüksel, co-managing partner of the Istanbul office, said: "we are delighted to have been named Turkish law firm of the year by Chambers Europe. This award is well-deserved acknowledgment of the firm's efforts to grow into one of the leading practices in Turkey."

DLA Piper has advised CAE, a global leader in modelling, simulation and training for civil aviation and defence, on its acquisition of Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) in a deal worth C$314 million.

CAE offers civil aviation, military, and helicopter training services in more than 45 locations worldwide and trains approximately 100,000 crewmembers yearly. It employs around 8,000 people at more than 100 sites and training locations in approximately 30 countries. In addition, the CAE Oxford Aviation Academy offers training to aspiring pilot cadets in 12 CAE-operated flight schools.

OAA offers seven type-rating training facilities in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, equipped with 40 full-flight simulators and 27 cabin crew trainers. The academy runs approved flight crew, cabin crew and aircraft maintenance training on a range of aircraft types including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, BAE Systems, Embraer and Saab. OAA also offers four ab-initio flight academies in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong, equipped with 88 airplanes which have trained 26,000 pilots during the past 50 years.

The acquisition strengthens CAE's global reach and leadership in civil aviation training by increasing its training centre footprint, growing its Ab-Initio flight training network and extending its portfolio by adding OAA’s Parc Aviation, the global leader in pilot and maintenance crew sourcing for airlines and leasing companies.

The DLA Piper team in London was led by partner and Head of M&A (EMEA) Bob Bishop with corporate partner Jon Kenworthy and associate David Beech. They were assisted by partners Alexandra Kamerling (competition) and John Connor (banking). The multi-jurisdictional transaction involved the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Hong Kong, US, Canada, Ireland and Malta.

Bob Bishop said: "we are delighted to have advised CAE on its acquisition of Oxford Aviation Academy which has contributed considerably to CAE's already strong position in the civil aviation training market. The deal marks another complex cross border transaction involving more than ten jurisdictions and is representative of the type of work DLA Piper was created to do."

Hartland Paterson, General Counsel at CAE, commented: "CAE has collaborated with DLA Piper since the '90s and today works with the firm in some 15 countries. The Oxford training business is an important and complex transaction for CAE. We were superbly advised and ably supported by the DLA Piper team led by Bob Bishop and comprising key members Jon Kenworthy and David Beech, as well as others advising on antitrust, tax and other concerns. CAE would not hesitate to use the DLA Piper team again for any major M&A transaction."

DLA Piper today announced that it has represented Appleton Papers in a US$675 million business combination with Hicks Acquisition Company II. Appleton is a leading manufacturer of specialty high value-added coated paper products and a provider of proprietary encapsulation applications. Hicks Acquisition Company II is a special purpose acquisition company founded and headed by Thomas O. Hicks with US$149.3 million of cash in trust.

Under the terms of the proposed business combination, Hicks Acquisition Company II will invest the cash held in trust to acquire an equity interest in Appleton. Proceeds from the transaction will be used by Appleton to reduce outstanding debt, invest in the company, buy back warrants or for other general corporate purposes.

The DLA Piper team was led by Neal Aizenstein (Chicago) with assistance from Andrew Weil (Chicago), Christopher Paci (New York) and Richard Ashley (Chicago).

DLA Piper is delighted to have collected the European Energy Tax Firm of the Year 2012 at the International Tax Review Awards 2012.

Roderik Bouwman, DLA Piper's International Head of Tax, said: "This past year has been very strong for the Tax Group in the Energy Sector, that saw us act, alongside many of our interdependency groups, on some fantastic multi-jurisdictional tax projects. We had the opportunity to work for some very high calibre clients such as Valero Energy Corporation and Ralos New Energies AG.

"This is further evidence of the great recognition we, as a team, are gaining within the tax community and further strengthens DLA Piper's offering in the Energy Sector. I would like to personally congratulate and thank, amongst others, Maricla Pennesi, Svitlana Musienko, Mark Burgess, Marcin Matyka and Mike Lebovitz who worked on the deals and the compelling submission that ultimately won us this award."

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