WASHINGTON — Dec. 19, 2006 — Arent Fox and Los Angeles-based O’Brien Abeles announced today they will combine their firms on January 1, 2007. The resulting entity will be called Arent Fox LLP.

The merger is spurred, in part, by the firms’ common client relationships as well as by Arent Fox clients expressing a desire for the firm to have a West Coast presence.

“We have been searching for a merger candidate in LA with an excellence and a culture that are compatible with ours,” said Marc Fleischaker, chairman of Arent Fox. “The quality of the lawyering at O’Brien Abeles, their outstanding ethics, and the commitment they have demonstrated to both their clients and the individuals in the firm convinced us that this would be a successful merger. We are ecstatic about this combination and look forward to significant growth in California.”

Robert O’Brien, the founding partner at O’Brien Abeles, echoed Fleischaker’s comments: “Arent Fox has a terrific reputation as a leading firm with seasoned lawyers. After getting to know the principals of the firm, we are excited by the potential. This is a win-win situation.”

“Our clients have always come first,” said Jerry Abeles, an O’Brien Abeles partner. “But this merger will only increase our responsiveness and allow us to expand our menu of services.”

The LA office will see immediate growth with the addition of four lawyers to O’Brien Abeles’s current roster of nine.

Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, former U.S. ambassador-at-large, will join Arent Fox LLP on January 1. While with the State Department, Prosper was a presidential adviser who formulated U.S. policy responses to atrocities, conflicts and the War on Terror; additionally, he managed and coordinated the U.S. interagency and U.S. embassies on policy. In addition to his focus on the firm’s international practice in areas such as trade regulation, intellectual property protection and arbitration, Prosper, who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in LA before joining the State Department, will counsel corporate clients on internal investigations and compliance issues.

Also joining the newly merged firm will be Steven Bledsoe. Bledsoe, formerly a share partner with Kirkland & Ellis’s LA office, represents clients from a variety of industries in high-stakes litigation matters. His arrival will add further depth to a litigation team that includes O’Brien, Abeles, and well-known entertainment and IP litigator Bela Lugosi Jr.

Two current Arent Fox partners, Wayne Matelski and Michael Cryan, complete the foursome. Matelski is a Washington partner who co-chairs the firm’s regulatory department and is the senior pharmaceutical and medical device attorney in Arent Fox’s food and drug practice. Cryan, a litigator whose practice focuses on intellectual property and general business, is relocating from the New York office.

Arent Fox is a full-service law firm with offices in Washington, DC, and New York. O’Brien Abeles — which focuses on litigation and counseling for a variety of industries, including media and entertainment — is based in LA.

About Arent Fox

Arent Fox — a dynamic, diversified law firm with 26 practice groups — is a recognized leader in areas including intellectual property, real estate, health care, life sciences and litigation. With more than 300 lawyers, Arent Fox has a wide range of expertise in corporate securities and transactions, financial restructuring and bankruptcy, government relations and regulation, labor and employment, finance, tax, corporate compliance and the global business market. The firm provides services to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, trade associations, foreign governments, long-term care facilities, start-up companies and other entities.

About O’Brien Abeles

Founded in 1999 as a litigation boutique, O’Brien Abeles serves national and international corporations and individuals throughout California and the nation. The firm has developed a reputation for obtaining significant legal victories for its clients in complex intellectual property, entertainment and commercial litigation and international arbitration matters.