Sidley Austin LLP Partner Michael Schmidtberger to Receive Columbia College John Jay Award

NEW YORK --(Business Wire)--

Sidley Austin LLP announced that its partner Michael J. Schmidtberger, will receive the John Jay Award from Columbia College, his alma mater. The John Jay Awards honor members of the Columbia College family for distinguished professional achievement. Mr. Schmidtberger will receive this award at the annual John Jay Awards Dinner to be held at Cipriani's on East 42^nd Street in New York in March. All proceeds from this dinner benefit the John Jay National Scholars Program, which supports the most outstanding first-year students entering Columbia College. This special academic enhancement program at Columbia is designed to promote three goals: intellectual growth, leadership development and global awareness.

Mr. Schmidtberger is managing partner of Sidley's New York office and a member of the Firm's Mnagement and Executive Committees. He is also global co-head of its Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives group. His practice focuses on domestic and international offerings of hedge funds, fund of funds, commodity pools and exchange-traded funds, as well as fund restructurings and work-outs, and related regulatory matters.

Mr. Schmidtberger has earned many accolades for his leadership in assisting clients. For example, in Chambers USA he is described as a hedge funds lawyer who gives clear and concise opinions on difficult matters, and who has a tremendous amount of expertise in the hedge funds world.

In addition to his client recognitions and Band 1 ranking in Chambers USA and Chambers Global, Mr. Schmidtberger has also been highly ranked in Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer , Who's Who in Legal and in The Best Lawyers in America in Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law.

He is actively involved in the community, serving on the Board of Directors for the United Way of New York City.

"Congratulations to Mike on receiving this prestigious honor," said Carter G. Phillips, co-chair of Sidley's Executive Committee. "We are proud that he has received this award in recognition of his many professional accomplishments."

With approximately 1,700 lawyers in 18 offices worldwide, Sidley has built a reputation as a premier legal advisor for global businesses and financial institutions. For the third consecutive year, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2013 U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" survey, making it the only law firm to receive this recognition since the survey's inception. Sidley was also named the U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" in both Commercial Litigation and Securities/Capital Markets Law in the 2013 survey. On Law360's list of Global 20 Firms, Sidley was ranked among the top 10 law firms with the greatest global reach and expertise. To stay up-to-date with the latest Sidley news, please follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @SidleyNewsroom.

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