(October 3, 2005, Washington, D.C.) – Reed Smith LLP, a top-25 international law firm, announces that John P. Feldman is joining the Advertising & Marketing Law Group resident in the firm’s Washington, DC office, effective October 3.  He practices in the intellectual property, advertising, marketing, promotion and media law areas, a practice area that is growing at Reed Smith under the leadership of Douglas Wood in New York.

Mr. Feldman comes to Reed Smith from Collier Shannon Scott PLLC, where he served as co-chair of the Intellectual Property Group and practiced in that firm’s Advertising and Marketing Law Group.

“John is known throughout the marketing industry and is widely respected for his high level of client service and the long-term relationships he has built among his clients,” said Douglas Wood, Chair of Reed Smith’s Advertising & Marketing Law Group. “It is obvious that he is poised to continue a leading national role in his areas of practice and make a great contribution to the expansion of our Advertising & Marketing Law Group. We are delighted he has chosen to further advance his career as part of Reed Smith.”

A magna cum laude undergraduate of Princeton University and a 1990 graduate of Cornell Law School, Mr. Feldman’s practice includes trademark, copyright, and right of publicity counseling and litigation, and he frequently represents clients before the nation’s most prominent advertising self-regulatory body, the National Advertising Division.  He has worked with advertising and promotion agencies and advertisers from a vast array of industries, from pharmaceuticals to quick-serve restaurants to semi-conductors to hardware products.  Mr. Feldman has also done extensive work with children’s advertising issues, advising clients on promotional practices targeted to children and has significant experience before the Children’s Advertising Review Unit.  He has written and spoken nationally on topics related to promotion marketing, especially sweepstakes and contests.  For several years, Mr. Feldman operated a Web forum dedicated to sweepstakes and contests. 

“I am enthusiastic about the opportunities that Reed Smith’s international footprint and client base offer at this point in my career,” said Mr. Feldman.  “This is a firm that has adapted well to serving new economy clients while still meeting the needs of more traditional businesses and individuals. Reed Smith’s platform provides me with the ability to offer my current clients everything they need to meet their legal needs in the U.S. and worldwide.”

Mr. Feldman has been recognized as one of the few promotions lawyers in the country who regularly clears promotions internationally using a network of highly qualified international associates. “Reed Smith’s Doug Wood developed the Global Advertising Lawyers Association, which has become a highly organized network of international advertising lawyers, of which Reed Smith is the sole U.S. member,” said Mr. Feldman.  “Being associated with GALA should help me to streamline legal clearance on a global basis and will also increase my ability to attract new business from abroad.”

He has chaired several Promotion Marketing Association initiatives concerning the Federal Trade Commission's regulation of advertising and promotion and is a Director of the Promotion Marketing Association.

“John adds additional strength to our expanding capabilities in the nation’s capital,” said James Gallatin, Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C., Market Managing Partner. “He is already well-known to many of us in this office and we are enthusiastic about having him as our colleague and member of our active Advertising and Marketing Law team.”

Mr. Feldman is a frequent lecturer on advertising and promotion law.  He also has considerable experience dealing with the FTC on consumer advertising issues and his close proximity to the federal regulators will provide an important benefit to the firm’s clients.

By coming to Reed Smith, Mr. Feldman joins other major players in the advertising law bar, including Douglas Wood, who heads the Advertising and Marketing practice at Reed Smith, and David Carlin, who earlier this year joined the firm from Loeb & Loeb.  Mr. Feldman will work closely with Wood and Carlin to build the D.C. advertising practice.

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Reed Smith LLP, a top-25 international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located in offices throughout the United States and Europe, represents Fortune 100 as well as mid-market and emerging companies. Clients include financial services firms, life sciences companies, health care providers, technology companies and entrepreneurs, power generators and suppliers, manufacturers, universities, non-profit organizations, real estate developers, and municipalities throughout the United States and in 40 countries. For more information, visit www.reedsmith.com.