Newsmakers

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Sep 7, 2007

Charles W. Burson has joined Bryan Cave as of counsel in the firm's St. Louis office. He will practice with Bryan Cave's corporate compliance group and its defense and regulatory affairs, public policy and legislation groups. Burson most recently served as general counsel, executive vice president and secretary for Monsanto Co. He is a visiting professor at Washington University School of Law.

He has experience with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and with supervising internal and government investigations into foreign and domestic business practices. Burson was the attorney general for Tennessee from 1988 to1997.

From 1997 to 2001, Burson served in the White House in the Office of the Vice President in such roles as legal counsel to Vice President Al Gore, assistant to the president and chief of staff and counsel to the vice president in the White House. As counsel to the vice president, Burson advised Gore on governmental investigations relating to the president, members of Congress or cabinet members. He also managed the vice president's office, advised the vice president on all official matters and served as liaison to the president's chief of staff and other White House senior staff.

Burson graduated in 1970 from Harvard University Law School.

Margaret C. Scavotto has joined Lashly & Baer as an associate. Scavotto graduated from the Washington University School of Law and focuses her practice on the areas of corporate law, health care law and estate planning. Before joining Lashly & Baer, Scavotto clerked for the Hon. Kenneth M. Romines on the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District. She is a 2002 graduate of Kenjon College with a bachelor's degree in political science.

Matthew J. Morrison has joined Armstrong Teasdale as an associate. He is a member of the firm's corporate services group. Morrison focuses his practice in the areas of securities, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate law. Prior to joining the firm, Morrison was an associate in the corporate and securities group with Thompson & Knight in Dallas. While at Thompson & Knight, he focused on public and private equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and general securities compliance.

Morrison is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association. He received his law degree, cum laude, from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas in 2004 and his bachelor's degree in business administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2001.

Zachary Asher Abeles has been named a 2007 David N. and Roselin Grosberg Young Leadership Award recipient by Jewish Federation of St. Louis.

The Grosberg award, established in 1961, honors young adults who demonstrate outstanding leadership skills and dedication to the Jewish community.

Abeles practices corporate law at Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus in Clayton.

A graduate of Parkway Central High School, Abeles attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science and spent a semester abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Abeles pursued his law degree at Saint Louis University.