(Washington, DC)—Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will join Dickstein Shapiro LLP as Senior Advisor in the firm’s Government Law & Strategy Group effective June 2, 2008. He will focus his practice on legislative and regulatory counseling.

“Speaker Hastert served as a very distinguished Member of Congress for many years, and we are extremely pleased that he has decided to join the Dickstein Shapiro team,” said L. Andrew Zausner, partner and head of the firm’s Government Law & Strategy Group. “As Speaker, he was second in the line of succession to the President for more than eight years, and he has unparalleled insight into the workings of the U.S. government. His counsel is invaluable.”

“I am extremely pleased to be joining such a renowned firm,” said Speaker Hastert. “I look forward to providing strategic advice to the firm’s clients.”

Speaker Hastert’s career spans 26 years as an elected official, including more than 20 in which he represented Illinois 14th Congressional District. He served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 and focused his efforts on lowering taxes, improving education, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and fortifying national defense. He also served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. Today, he is the co-chair of the Illinois Works Coalition, a $25 billion capital improvement program that makes crucial investments in the Illinois school, road, bridge, airport, and transit systems. Speaker Hastert earned his Bachelor’s degree in economics from Wheaton College, and his Master in Philosophy of Education degree from Northern Illinois University.

The Government Law & Strategy Group at Dickstein Shapiro is dedicated to providing clients with skilled, focused, and cost-effective advocacy in the councils of both federal and state government. Increasingly, this demands the ready combination of substantive and political resources and a close coordination of government representation with regulatory and administrative counseling. The members of the Government Law & Strategy Group possess the wide range of professional and legal capabilities demanded for effective representation.

Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Dickstein Shapiro LLP, founded in 1953, is a multiservice law firm with more than 400 attorneys in Washington, DC, New York, and Los Angeles. The firm’s clients include more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies, start-up ventures and entrepreneurs, multinational corporations, leading financial institutions, major motion picture studios, charitable organizations, and government officials. Dickstein Shapiro’s core practice groups—Antitrust & Dispute Resolution, Business & Securities Law, Corporate & Finance, Energy, Government Law & Strategy, Insurance Coverage, and Intellectual Property—involve the firm in virtually every major form of counseling, litigation, and advocacy. For additional information, please visit dicksteinshapiro.com.

# # #