Alston & Bird Culture d’entreprise

Mr. John L. Sullivan is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the firm's Intellectual Property Section, and the Trademark & Copyright Group. He concentrates his practice on trademark, copyright and patent law, unfair competition, and related international intellectual property law. The principal focus of Mr. Sullivan's practice is the development, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, particularly extensive trademark and patent portfolios, on a worldwide basis. His strategic management of such corporate portfolios encompasses the fields of banking and commerce, communications, apparel, textile raw materials, sporting goods, spectator entertainment services, and merchandise licensing. He is active in the North Carolina Bar Association, and has served as a member of its Board of Governors, and Executive Committee. He is a Past-Chairman of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section and the Development Committee. He also has served on the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association, and as a Member of the Management Committee, and the Executive Compensation and Benefits Committee. He has also served on many other boards, both locally and nationally, including the Board of Governors of the North Carolina State University Graduate School, and the Board of Governors of the U.S. Brand Names Education Foundation, where he also served as Vice President and Treasurer. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Mr. Sullivan has made frequent presentations at national and international forums, including the Annual Meetings of the International Trademark Association and the North Carolina Bar Association. He has taught numerous classes in Intellectual Property Law at the University of North Carolina, Duke University, and Wake Forest University. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Best International Trademark Lawyers, Best Intellectual Property Lawyers of Charlotte, and The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. Mr. Sullivan received his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina ??? Chapel Hill, and his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering, with honors, from North Carolina State University.

Mr. Yitai Hu serves as Chief Representative for Beijing and Partner at Alston & Bird, LLP. Mr. Hu was a Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Mr. Hu focuses his practice on international intellectual property litigation and client counseling. He was a Partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP and a Lateral Partner at Shaw Pittman, LLP. With regard to litigation, Mr. Hu served as lead counsel on cases before U.S. district courts, superior courts in California and the District of Columbia, and the U.S. International Trade Commission concerning patent, trade secret and licensing disputes. He has strong experience in section 337 investigations before the US International Trade Commission. He has been involved in more than 20 such investigations, acting as lead counsel in 16 of them. He represented clients in litigation involving semiconductor technologies, non-volatile memories, liquid crystal displays, computer monitors, optical mouse technologies, computer network products, wireless network communications products, integrated circuit (IC) packaging, microprocessor technologies and general circuit designs. He has also arbitrated cases, both in the U.S. and abroad, involving licensing and technology transfer disputes. Outside the United States, Mr. Hu has been involved in patent infringement cases in court and in administrative proceedings on the validity of patents. He also assisted clients with intellectual property theft and misappropriation matters, including identifying the source of pirated trademarked and copyrighted products abroad, particularly in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, securing search warrants to seize pirated products and responsible through available criminal and civil proceedings. He also participated in the execution of search warrants with local law enforcement and the subsequent seizure of pirated products. Mr. Hu's counseling practice includes rendering infringement and validity opinions and advising clients on licensing and related matters. He has negotiated a number of international patent and technology license agreements. Applying his language skills and understanding of cultural differences, he has mediated and facilitated complex, and sometimes contentious, patent and technology license agreements between and among U.S. companies and those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. He also counsels U.S. clients on securing and enforcing intellectual property rights in those regions. His counseling practice also includes mergers and acquisitions involving technology companies. Mr. Hu is admitted in Maryland and the District of Columbia only. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, the District of Wisconsin and the Eastern District of Michigan; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is a Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Licensing Executives Society. He is also registered to practice law as a foreign attorney in Taiwan. Mr. Hu is a frequent speaker on the topic of international patent laws, especially those of China and Taiwan, at conferences and seminars. He also frequently spoken on topics related to U.S. intellectual property protection in China and Taiwan. He serves as an assistant professor at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, where he lectures on U.S. patent litigation, and serves on the editorial board of Patent World magazine. Mr. Hu received his B.A. in physics in 1991 from the University of Kansas and his J.D. in 1994 from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Mr. Paul F. Cash serves as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Group RCI, Inc. Mr. Cash is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Cash is a member of Alston & Bird LLP's Northeast Capital Markets Group. His practice is concentrated on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as general corporate and commercial matters. He has experience in mergers and acquisitions activities in a variety of industries and settings, including cross-border business combinations. He has particular experience in mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters in the media and entertainment industry. In addition, he has significant experience representing German companies in connection with cross-border business transactions. Prior to joining Alston & Bird, Mr. Cash practiced as a foreign associate with a leading law firm in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is fluent in German. He received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Illinois in 1995. Prior to enrolling at the University of Illinois College of Law, he attended the Fachhochschule f??r Technik und Wirtschaft in Reutlingen, Germany, where he studied German law and business. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, in International Business and German in 1991 from Illinois State University. He is admitted to practice in the State of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the German American Law Association.

Mr. Trevor Nagel serves as Partner in the technology group at the Washington office of Alston & Bird, LLP since June 2006. He was previously with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Mr. Nagel also serves as the chair of Alston & Bird's global sourcing practice.

Mr. W. Hunter Holliday is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Holliday is a member of the firm's Capital Markets Group. He is also a member of the firm's Hiring Committee. He concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, private corporate finance, corporate governance, business counseling and venture capital financing (representing both venture capital firms and early-stage companies). He received his J.D. in 1992 from Vanderbilt University, where he was an Associate Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and recipient of the K. Harlan Dodson Award. He received a B.B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, where he majored in finance and was an Endowed Presidential Scholar. Prior to attending law school, he worked for InterFirst Bank (now known as Bank of America) in Dallas, Texas, where he went through the bank's year-long credit training program and then was promoted to commercial loan officer. Prior to attending law school, Hunter also worked for a non-profit organization and lived in Yugoslavia and China. He currently serves on the Board of Bethany Christian Services, an international adoption agency.

Mr. Bruce Pasfield serves as Partner in the Environmental and Land Use group at Alston & Bird, LLP since November 2005. Pasfield previously served as the longest-tenured assistant chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the Department of Justice. He earned his J.D. from Vermont Law School.

Mr. J. Vaughan Curtis is a Partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Curtis is a member of the Healthcare - Corporate and Technology Groups and divides his practice between the firm's Atlanta and New York offices. He is presently head of the firm's transactional practices, former Co-Partner-In-Charge of the New York office and a former member of the firm's executive committee. Mr. Curtis represents both public and private companies in merger and acquisition transactions, including advising boards and outside board members on matters of corporate governance, change of control issues and anti-takeover strategies. Mr. Curtis also represents underwriters and issuers in public and private debt and equity offerings. Since 1995, Mr. Curtis has had lead responsibility in more than 75 merger and acquisition transactions and 35 public securities offerings. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA 'America's Leading Business Lawyers,' and Best Lawyers in Atlanta in both corporate finance and healthcare. Prior to joining Alston & Bird in 1978, he worked at The White House during the Ford Administration. He received his J.D., M.A., and B.A. from the University of Kentucky.

Evan M. Drutman serves as a Partner in Financial Services Group at Alston & Bird, LLP. Mr. Drutman practicing out of the New York office. His practice focuses on structured finance transactions. He has experience in securitizations and resecuritizations involving mortgage and home equity loans, commercial loans and related collateral types, representing issuers, underwriters, servicers, originators and rating agencies, in public offerings and private placements; and representing originators, sellers and purchasers in whole loan transactions. He served as Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP's corporate and securities department in the New York office. Mr. Drutman was formerly Counsel at McKee Nelson LLP. His practice focuses on structured finance. Mr. Drutman received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1989, where he was an editor for The Tax Lawyer, and his B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University in 1986. He also holds an economics degree from the London School of Economics (1985), as well as a professional culinary degree from La Varenne Culinary School in France (1992).