Blank Rome offices in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Events

Blank Rome collected toys, clothes, gift cards and monetary donations for the Support Center for Child Advocates' annual holiday toy drive.

This year, the firm's Philadelphia office collected more than 500 gifts to benefit children and families of all ages served by the organization.

Elected and Appointed

Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg announced that Brett D. Feldman, a member of the firm's real estate and finance practice group, and Patrick J. Murphy Jr., a member of the firm's corporate and securities practice group, were elected to the firm's partnership, effective Wednesday.

Feldman concentrates his practice on zoning and land use matters, working with various city agencies, elected officials and community groups in order to enable developers and entrepreneurs to obtain the necessary permits, operational licenses and tax abatements needed to build or renovate buildings.

In this capacity, Feldman represents a range of regional and national multifamily, residential, retail, office and industrial clients, as well as a number of international restaurant chains.

In addition, Feldman is a frequent speaker on land use and zoning topics.

Previously Feldman served on the Mayor's Philadelphia 21st Century Review Forum.

Feldman earned his Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Murphy works with a diverse compilation of businesses.

He advises privately held companies, publicly traded corporations, private equity funds, international investment firms, manufacturing companies, real estate owners, retailers, restaurants and others.

Murphy counsels clients on a range of complex business and commercial matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity and debt offerings, venture capital, strategic investments, private equity and financings.

He is also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth.

Murphy received his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Speakers

Marc D. Jonas, an attorney with Eastburn and Gray, moderated a panel at the Montgomery Bar Association's breakfast seminar.

The presentation, "Environmental Due Diligence and The Real Estate Deal," was sponsored by the engineering firm Barry Isett & Associates Inc.

Topics included a review of environmental due diligence in real estate transactions. Jonas is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

*****

Eric Sutty and Jon Stemerman conducted a session in a seminar hosted by the National Business Institute in Philadelphia.

The theme of the seminar was business contracts and developing the skills to prevent, overcome and manage top contract mistakes.

In their portion of the program, "Ethics for the Transactional Attorney," Sutty and Stemerman discussed some of the most common ethical pitfalls and considerations in drafting transactional documents, communicating with clients and engaging with opposing counsel.

They also touched on boilerplate provisions, using attachments and modifiers to increase clarity, exception and subordination clauses, the role of lawyers in negotiations, amendments and waivers, and how to work with clients who don't read documents.

Announcements

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