Keith Gottfried Joins Alston + Bird LLP

Alston & Bird Strengthens M&A and Corporate Governance Practices in Washington, D.C.

In a press release issued by Alston & Bird on April 3, 2012, the law firm announced that highly regarded M&A attorney Keith E. Gottfried has joined the Washington, D.C. office of the firm as a partner in its Corporate Transactions & Securities Group. Gottfried concentrates his practice primarily on M&A transactions, shareholder activism, contested control transactions, corporate governance, SEC reporting issues, NYSE and NASDAQ compliance, and general corporate matters.

Gottfried has worked on a number of high-profile M&A transactions, representing private and public companies across a broad range of industries and sectors, in negotiated and unsolicited M&A transactions, cash and stock-for-stock mergers, tender offers, exchange offers, cross-border transactions, special committee representations and takeover defense assignments.

Gottfried left the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, in 2000 to serve as the general counsel and chief legal officer for Borland Software Corporation, a publicly-held company that was one of the early pioneers in desktop productivity and database software in Silicon Valley. Gottfried subsequently served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he oversaw approximately 400 attorneys throughout the country.

“The firm is very pleased to have an attorney of Keith’s reputation, caliber and extensive experience come aboard,” said Richard Hays, managing partner of Alston & Bird. “His experiences serving as outside counsel and as a general counsel in both the private and public sectors provide him with a broad and diverse perspective on how best to serve the interests of our clients. He is the perfect complement to our strong corporate team.”

About Keith E. Gottfried

Gottfried has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and advising clients on M&A transactions. He also has extensive experience counseling boards of directors with respect to their fiduciary duties under applicable law in connection with M&A and other fundamental transactions and, when necessary or appropriate, in the establishment of special negotiating and other board committees.

Gottfried is well known in the areas of shareholder activism and advises clients in connection with proxy contests, consent solicitations and activist campaigns or contests for corporate control, as well as the implementation of stockholder rights plans and other types of defensive strategies. Gottfried has written, and/or been quoted in, numerous articles discussing the challenges presented by shareholder activism and what steps companies and their boards of directors should take to prepare themselves. He is also a frequent panelist or presenter at conferences, webinars and seminars focused on shareholder activism issues.

Gottfried earned his J.D., cum laude, from Boston University's School of Law in 1992, where he was named an Edward F. Hennessey Distinguished Scholar of Law and a G. Joseph Tauro Scholar of Law. He earned an M.B.A., with high honors, from Boston University's Graduate School of Management and a B.S. in economics, concentrated in accounting, from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1995. Gottfried is also a certified public accountant.