LONDON (March 23, 2006) — International law firm Vinson & Elkins RLLP has extended its global transactional practice with the appointment of François Feuillat as a partner in its London office.

Mr. Feuillat joins from Lovells' London office. In his 11 years at Lovells (including two years in their New York office), he acted on some of the most complex and high-profile deals in the market, including the UK aspects of Exxon's $81 billion merger with Mobil, SABMiller's $8 billion takeover of Bavaria and ALSTOM's €1.1 billion sale of its industrial turbines business to Siemens. Mr. Feuillat holds degrees from King's College London, the Sorbonne University in Paris and the College of Europe in Bruges.

His appointment reflects V&E;'s growth strategy in London, according to Jeff Eldredge, who heads V&E;'s London office.

"François is one of the up-and-coming stars on the London market," Eldredge said. "Our clients want us to expand our offerings in London to include further English law, public and private M&A;, and securities capability, so François is an ideal fit."

The addition of Mr. Feuillat follows the hiring in recent months of David Manny and Raminder Singh, both from Shearman & Sterling, as project finance partners in London.  V&E; has added a total of eight solicitors to its London office in the past nine months --- all in the energy, corporate and project finance fields --- further reinforcing the firm's core energy and transactional skills in London.

"The recent addition of Francois, David and Raminder to our London office significantly enhances the breadth of our transactional practice in that office and is a further demonstration of Vinson & Elkins' commitment to the London market," said Jay Cuclis, Coordinator of Vinson & Elkins' International Practice.

Vinson & Elkins was named "World's Leading Energy Law Firm 2005" by Euromoney and "USA Energy Law Firm of the Year" at the Chambers Global Awards 2005.

Mergermarket's 2005 league tables rank V&E; as No. 1 for energy, oil and gas deals in North America, with almost twice as many deals as the second-place firm.

For more information about this press release, please contact François Feuillat at +44.20.7065.6015 or via e-mail at ffeuillat@velaw.com, or contact Darrin Schlegel, senior communications specialist, at +1. 713.758.2171 or via e-mail at dschlegel@velaw.com.

Vinson & Elkins was established in 1917 and is one of the world's largest international law firms. The firm has about 700 lawyers practising in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Dubai, Houston, London, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington D.C.