ATLANTA (March 12, 2002) — Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP is pleased to announce the election of Dennis O. Doherty to the position of Managing Partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Doherty, a partner formerly resident in the Atlanta office, has returned to Washington, D.C. where he attended law school and practiced with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Doherty is a partner in the Corporate Law group of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP with extensive experience in corporate and commercial finance, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.

Doherty received a B.S. in Accounting, cum laude, from the State University of New York, Albany, an M.B.A. in financial and international business from New York University, his J.D. from Catholic University, where he served as an editor on the Catholic University Law Review, and has a C.P.A. certificate from the State of New York.

He is a member of the State Bars of Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Florida and a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

“Firm management requires professionals who possess a myriad of talents. They must be successful, capable attorneys, but they also must have proven management skills as well as fine-tuned business development skills. Dennis brings all these talents to the table.” said Stephen Forte, the firm’s Managing Partner.

“The challenge extended to me by my colleagues at SGR to manage and expand our D.C. office is exciting,” said Doherty. “The Washington metropolitan area business community is vibrant, and the opportunities for our firm to expand as well as recruit top talent is certain.”

SGR expanded its offices to Washington D.C. in 1999, when it acquired Beveridge, Degrandi, Weilacher & Young, L.L.P., a highly regarded boutique intellectual property law firm. The office currently includes 12 professionals whose practices emphasize Intellectual Property, Corporate and Commercial, and Securities Enforcement and White Collar Criminal defense. Doherty intends to lead the effort to enlarge the firm’s Mid-Atlantic presence by adding some of the more traditional D.C. regulatory practice areas, as well as, expanding the existing practices.