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Two of Europe's Leading Hotel Lawyers Move to Sonnenschein; Firm Opens Office in Zurich

ZURICH, Switzerland-(Business Wire)-October 6, 2008 - Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP today announced that Heinz Bloch and Robert Schlup, two of Europe’s most prominent hotel lawyers, have joined the law firm as partners in Zurich, Switzerland, where it is opening a new office. Previously, Bloch and Schlup operated Bloch & Partner, a boutique law firm in Zurich. Also moving to Sonnenschein with them is associate Ion Eglin.

“Heinz and Robert have built a world-class hospitality practice, with several of the most prominent hotel owners and operators in the industry among their clients,” said Richard F. “Rick” Ross, chair of Sonnenschein’s Hotels & Resorts Global Practice. “They bring a combined 55 years of hotel industry legal experience to our team, and they will serve as outstanding ambassadors for our practice and for the firm in Europe and beyond.”

Bloch and Schlup have a broad international practice based in Zurich and have been involved in hotel and resort projects around the globe, including regular engagements across Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Central Asia. They represent hotel owners and developers, private investors, financial institutions and hotel management companies worldwide on a variety of matters, from mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions and joint ventures to management contracts and lease transactions. Prior to creating Bloch & Partner, Bloch was development director and counsel for Hilton International and Swissôtel. In addition, Schlup is the author of a Ph.D. thesis on hotel management agreements.

“Rick and his team have a preeminent reputation in the United States and around the world for their successful, multi-dimensional representation of a broad range of clients,” stated Bloch. “I am looking forward to working with them to achieve the goal of European and global leadership in our field.”

Added Schlup, “Sonnenschein is one of the foremost law firms serving the hotel and resort industry. It also provides an excellent platform on which we can draw to serve a wider range of our clients’ transactional needs, including great depth in practice areas such as real estate and corporate.”

Sonnenschein’s Zurich office will open in the space previously occupied by Bloch & Partner at Seestrasse 39 in Küsnacht, Zurich. In addition to the hospitality industry, it will serve the international business community by offering a broad range of general corporate and commercial legal services. Fully integrated with the firm’s other offices in Brussels, Belgium, and 13 U.S. cities, the Zurich office will represent foreign investors in Switzerland and other countries in Europe and will be a gateway for European clients doing business in the United States.

“The opportunity to attract such talented lawyers as Heinz and Robert to the firm made opening a Zurich office an easy decision for us,” said Elliott I. Portnoy, Sonnenschein chairman. “Given Zurich’s prominent position in the financial services industry, our vision is to grow the office beyond our hotel expertise and to add practices that would provide strategic benefits to the firm in this market.”

For more information, visit www.sonnenschein.com.

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