PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

October 31, 2003

DEIRDRE A. MARTINI APPOINTED U.S. TRUSTEE FOR

NEW YORK, CONNECTICUT, VERMONT

            WASHINGTON, D.C.–Deirdre A. Martini of Fairfield, Conn., has been appointed United States Trustee for New York, Connecticut, and Vermont (Region 2), it was announced today by Lawrence Friedman, Director of the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Martini’s appointment takes effect on November 2, 2003.

            “I am pleased to announce Deirdre Martini’s appointment as U.S. Trustee for Region 2,” Friedman stated. “Her background in commercial litigation and bankruptcy, as well as her experience with civil and criminal enforcement as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, will serve the Program well in this very important region.”

            “I am looking forward to working with the well-regarded professional staff in the region, under the leadership of Director Friedman,” Martini stated. “I am eager to apply my commercial litigation and negotiation skills, along with my enforcement experience, to carry out the Attorney General’s mandate to preserve the integrity of the bankruptcy system.”

            Immediately before joining the U.S. Trustee Program, Martini practiced law at the Greenwich, Conn., office of Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara LLC, where she founded the bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, and corporate restructuring practice group. Prior to that, she served from 1988 to 1999 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, representing federal agencies in bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings and prosecuting criminal bankruptcy fraud cases. While at the U.S. Attorney’s office, she also served as a mediator for the Department of Justice’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, and developed a curriculum and teaching materials on mediation advocacy and advanced negotiations for the instruction of civil Assistant U.S. Attorneys nationwide.

            Martini has served as a member of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, as well as the Strategic Planning Committee and the Local Rules Committee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut.

            Martini received her law degree in 1987 from Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Conn., and her undergraduate degree in 1984 from New York University.

            The United States Trustee Program is a component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws.

            The Program has 21 regions and 95 field offices. Region 2 is headquartered in Manhattan with additional offices in Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Central Islip, Rochester, and Utica, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn.

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