Washington, D.C. — March 4, 1999 — Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering ("Wilmer") is pleased to announce the arrival of three distinguished lawyers in the firm's European offices: in Berlin, Matthias Wissmann, Member of the German Bundestag and former Federal Minister of Transport and Minister of Research & Technology; in Brussels, John Ratliff, a competition law specialist and barrister from Stanbrook and Hooper; and in London, Paul Mitchard, formerly Head of Litigation and Arbitration at Simmons & Simmons.

BERLIN: Matthias Wissmann increases our ability not only to give clients sophisticated legal representation but also to provide informed strategic advice on policy issues. He brings with him a wealth of experience in the areas of aviation, trade, technology, and competition law. He served as Minister of Transport in the German government until 1998. Previously he was Minister of Research and Technology. As one of the youngest government ministers, he pursued the liberalization of the transportation sector, culminating in the German-American" Open-Skies Agreement," which opened the American air traffic market to German air carriers, and he also worked to bring about the privatization of the national railway system and of Lufthansa.

BRUSSELS: John Ratliff, Barrister, Middle Temple, further strengthens the firm's competition practice. Mr. Ratliff was in practice in Paris with J.C. Goldsmith & Associés and in London with Devereux Chambers before joining Stanbrook and Hooper in 1986. Since then he has worked extensively in the field of EU competition law, providing advice to major national and multinational organizations across varied industry sectors -- telecoms, aviation, finance, construction, and energy. He also brings experience in media and sports law. Mr. Ratliff complements the strengths of the Brussels office with his extensive experience in major merger control cases, including the recent McDonnell Douglas/Boeing transaction. He will join our Brussels office on April 1.

LONDON: Paul Mitchard is a leading practitioner in four fields: international arbitration; commercial litigation; administrative and public law; and alternative dispute resolution. He has expanded the firm's premier international arbitration practice, which is widely regarded as one of the world's market leaders, and extended it to include specialist litigation, particularly in the financial services sector. He served as Head of Litigation at Simmons & Simmons from 1994 until joining Wilmer. He has handled numerous international commercial disputes for multinational companies and major institutions, particularly in the energy and financial services fields.

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering is an international law firm based in Washington, D.C., with lawyers admitted to practice in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, France, Denmark, Canada, Peru, and Argentina. The firm also has offices in London, Brussels, Berlin, New York, and Baltimore. Wilmer advises corporations, financial institutions, governments, and international institutions on complex multi-jurisdictional matters, often involving regulatory authorities in more than one country. To provide clients with the most effective advice and representation, we draw upon the relevant experience of the lawyers in our various offices, based upon the needs of the project.

For over 25 years, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering has been building and growing its European practice, which today spans competition law, EU and national regulation and industry liberalization (including energy, telecommunications, and aviation), trade law, transnational corporate transactions, litigation, and international arbitration. The addition of Messrs. Wissmann, Ratliff, and Mitchard to the partnership continues Wilmer's policy of building upon its strengths, across a variety of practice areas and industry sectors, by the introduction of the highest quality experience.

For further information, please contact William Perlstein in the Washington office at 202-663-6274 or Dieter Lange in the London office at +44-171-872-1010.