German Ambassador to Washington, Hon. Klaus Scharioth, with Marc Redlich

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

     I hope this letter finds you and your family well, and that you are enjoying the spring.

     During this past year, we have been working on a number of interesting cases in which we have had some significant successes on behalf of our clients, which I thought you might be interested in knowing about.

     In a recent real estate case, we represented the owner of an office complex which for many years had as its principal tenant the subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar defense contractor.  The lease, entered into two decades ago, was an unusual "quadruple net lease", which provided that the tenant was responsible not only for all maintenance and taxes, but also for all capital improvements and for restoration of the building at the end of the lease term.  The tenant left the building in what has been referred to as a "tired" state; it had failed to make many of the repairs and improvements necessary during the few years before the end of its tenancy, when it was already contemplating a move to a different location.  Since a settlement could not be reached by the parties, we commenced action and pretrial discovery.  Before any depositions were held, the defense contractor suggested mediation, which was held before a retired Judge.  We were successful in reaching a settlement which resulted in our client being paid nearly $900,000 to end the case.

     We recently represented Northeastern University in two cases, one of which was a complaint by a student athlete seeking damages against the University.  Our settlement resulted in the student paying the University.  The other case involved a tenured faculty member who grieved an action by the Univeristy.  That case was resolved during arbitration, favorably for the University.

     During the course of this past year, we represented an executive in negotiating a long-term severance agreement with his company, and represented minority investors in a real estate partnership engaged in selling a major piece of real estate in the Boston area.  Both of these matters were resolved amicably and successfully without resort ot the courts.

     As many of you know, I was recently invited by the American Council on Germany in cooperation with the German Government, to participate in a study tour to Berlin.  I was able to meet present and past members of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, as well as representatives of the business community, think tanks and foundations, to discuss the present status of Germany and Europe and their evolving relationship to the US.  I was also fortunate to have been able to attend the 50th Anniversary celebration of Germany joining NATO.  Here in Boston, we have helped to organize talks by the new German Ambassador to Washington, Hon. Klaus Scharioth.

     Last month, Friends of Switzerland, of which I am president, gave its Julius Adams Stratton Award to former Swiss Ambassador to the United Nations, Jeno C.A. Staehelin.  Dr. Staehelin has also served as President of the Executive Board of UNICEF and on the Board of the International Committee of the Red Cross.  Dr. Staehelin previously served as Ambassador from Switzerland to the Vatican and to Japan.  It was quite a gala occasion and we were pleased to be able to host our Award recipient and assembled members and guest of FOSI.

     If you are interested in knowing more about Friends of Switzerland or American Council on Germany events, please contact me.  We are always interested in welcoming new participants and members.

     As Boston Chapter Director of the Queens College Alumni Association, I was pleased to host a visit here by the College's President James Muyskens, for an updated "Boston Tea Party."  In addition, for the last several years, I have participated in events sponsored by the ALS Foundation, which battles Lou Gehrig's Disease, and which is greatly aided by the involvement of the Red Sox star pitcher, Curt Schilling.  Photos of these various events are attached.

     Last but not least, I want to mention that after 13 years at our present address, we will be moving our offices to a new location.  I will let you know our new address within the next couple of months.

     The last several months have been exciting and successful for our clients and our firm.  We continue to practice in a wide variety of legal areas, including trials and appeals, general business and commerical law, real estate issues, employment, discrimination, divorce and university law.

     If you have any questions about these cases, or about any legal matters where we can be of assistance to you or someone you know, please do not hesitate to call me.

     As always, kindest personal regards.