Albany, N.Y., law firm O’Connell & Aronowitz has acquired Dorsey Law Firm in Saratoga Springs, adding 300 clients to its business.

The Dorsey firm, which now shares the O’Connell name, focuses on elder law and estate planning. The Dorsey firm has two attorneys. It will continue to be run by Matthew Dorsey, 43, the third generation to head the firm.

The two law firms announced the deal this week.

“We’ll bring a new group of clients to their business, and they’ll bring to our business a new group of specialties,” Dorsey said. “Both sides are very optimistic.

The O’Connell firm has 24 practice areas, such as health care, bankruptcy, personal injury and commercial litigation.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dorsey said he was motivated to do the deal as a way to expand the range of services he can offer to clients, a difficult task when the firm was on its own, he said.

In a statement, Jeff Sherrin, president of the O’Connell firm, said the Saratoga location will provide more convenient service for upstate clients. It will also help O’Connell better tap into that market, Sherrin said.

Dorsey said he expects a partner at O’Connell will work out of the Saratoga office a couple of days a week, with other attorneys shuttling back and forth as needed.

“It’s two different geographic areas, but there’s a lot of commonality here,” Dorsey said.

O’Connell now has 37 attorneys, including 30 at its Albany headquarters. The firm also has an office in Plattsburgh, with five attorneys.

According to The New York Law Journal, seven of Manhattan's elite law firms took the rare step of signing on to a single letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission to voice their opinion on how the agency should implement a proposal to allow shareholders to nominate company directors.

Lawyers involved in drafting the letter, submitted Monday, acknowledge it was rare for one letter to come from all the firms, which included Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

At least four of the firms also sent separate letters addressing concerns with the policy direction the SEC is taking.

The law firm of Harwood Feffer LLP announces that it filed a new class action lawsuit on February 9, 2009 on behalf of purchasers of the American Depository Shares ("ADSs") of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. ("Satyam" or the "Company") (NYSE:SAY) during the period January 6, 2004 through January 6, 2009 (the "Class Period"). Shareholders may obtain a copy of the complaint by calling our offices or emailing us at the e-mail addresses listed below. The action is pending in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The complaint alleges that the Company and its two top executives violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing false and misleading financial statements. On January 7, 2009, the Company's Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju sent a letter to the Satyam Board of Directors and the Securities & Exchange Board of India admitting a "multi-year" fraud in which Satyam's financial accounts and disclosures were systematically falsified. According to the letter, Raju admitted to having inflated the amount of cash on the Company's balance sheet by nearly $1 billion, incurring liability of $253 million on funds arranged by him personally, and overstating Satyam's September 2008 quarterly revenues by 76% and profits by 97%. The Complaint also alleges that Satyam's auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd., PricewaterhouseCooopers International Limited, and PricewaterhouseCoopers were active participants in the Company's fraud. As a result of this disclosure trading in the ADSs was halted, with an estimated indication of a loss being approximately 90% of its value.

If you bought stock from January 6, 2004 through January 6, 2009, no later than March 7, 2009, you may move the court to appoint you as lead plaintiff, a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members. The court must determine whether the class member's claim is typical of other members' claims, and whether the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to recover is not, however, affected by your decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

Harwood Feffer has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in those efforts. The Harwood Feffer website (www.hfesq.com) has more information about the firm. If you wish to discuss this action with us or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:

Robert I. Harwood, Esq. Craig Lowther Harwood Feffer LLP 488 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10022 (toll free) 877-935-7400 e-mail: rharwood@hfesq.com clowther@hfesq.com

Mr. Ahlstrom represents clients in complex litigation in both federal and state courts. Prior to joining Hodgson Russ, Mr. Ahlstrom was an associate at a large law firm in Washington, D.C. His experiences include working for national and regional firms in the areas of securities fraud and accounting malpractice, as well as a variety of employment matters involving discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblowers. Mr. Ahlstrom also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Hodgson Russ attorneys facilitate the U.S. legal aspects of transactions around the world. We practice in virtually every substantive area of law and generally use multidisciplinary work teams to serve the specific, often complex, needs of our clients, which include public and privately held businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Hodgson Russ has offices in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Johnstown, New York; Boca Raton and Palm Beach, Florida; and Toronto, Ontario.