BKINFORMATION.COM
4/6/2001

BUCHANAN INGERSOLL ACQUIRES NEW JERSEY BANKRUPTCY AND CREDITORS' RIGHTS PRACTICE LED BY DELUCIA AND BRODY

PRINCETON -- In its third major practice acquisition since mid-February, the law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll has recruited a major New Jersey bankruptcy and creditors' rights group, led by shareholders Louis T. DeLucia and Alan J. Brody, to be based in the firm's Princeton office. The group's clients include some of the region's largest financial institutions, including Fleet National Bank, Sovereign Bank N.A. and Archon Group LP, a Goldman Sachs company. The group also includes two associates.

The acquisition follows the firm's announcement earlier this month that it will open a bankruptcy and creditors' rights office in Wilmington. As Delaware continues to be the jurisdiction of choice for many troubled companies, it is growing in importance to the firm's large institutional financial services clients.

"The DeLucia group is a top-tier practice which will have immediate impact on our presence in Princeton and on a national scale," said William R. Newlin, Buchanan Ingersoll's President and CEO. "It also fits our ongoing strategy of building strength on strength -- the exact way to expand the Princeton office. With the shift in the economy, our first step is adding bankruptcy and creditors' rights depth, and then focusing on other growth strategies."

Buchanan Ingersoll's Financial Services Group has grown to 90 lawyers firmwide. The group handled more than 200 financial transactions valued at $8.4 billion in virtually every major industry, with a focus on healthcare, steelmaking and retail. The growth of this practice was covered by the Financial Times, Associated Press and Legal Intelligencer.

BACKGROUND ON THE DELUCIA GROUP

DeLucia previously was a partner with a large firm in Woodbridge, and led the firm's complex commercial bankruptcy litigation. He represents Fleet National Bank and Sovereign Bank in some of their largest default obligations and bankruptcies, including the recovery of payments under equipment leases. He also represents Fleet in the recovery of loans in the bankruptcy of TSR Wireless, and Küsters Corporation, a German company, in one of the largest cases pending in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, involving joint ventures and intellectual property licenses. He has been a judicial appointee to the Lawyers Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, and is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and Turnaround Management Association. He formerly was a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Department of Public Law and Safety.

Brody has represented the owner of a New Jersey brownfield property in groundbreaking litigation where the jurisdiction of bankruptcy court was used to reduce real estate taxes. He also has represented the principal landlord for Tops Appliance City in litigation to recover control of real property and payment of substantial claims. Prior to entering private practice, he was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Conrad B. Duberstein, the the Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

Founded in 1850, Buchanan Ingersoll was ranked last year as the 65th largest law firm in the United States. The firm has more than 420 lawyers and, in addition to Princeton, serves clients from offices in the principal cities of Philadelphia, Wilmington, Pittsburgh, New York, Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, London, Miami and Tampa.