(CHARLOTTE, December 13, 2005) – Fred C. Thompson, Jr. has been elected to the Board of Directors and as Regional Co-Chair, North America, of TerraLex. Mr. Thompson is a Partner at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, the exclusive North Carolina representative of TerraLex, an international network of more than 150 leading independent law firms.

Mr. Thompson was elected to the 2005-2006 Board of Directors at the TerraLex 15th Annual General Meeting, which took place in Shanghai, China last month.

“Fred’s election to the TerraLex Board of Directors comes at a beneficial time for Parker Poe,” said William P. Farthing, Jr., Managing Partner of Parker Poe. “As our international business practice continues to grow in multiple countries throughout the world, we are fortunate to be able to offer them access to our fellow TerraLex member firms located in close to 100 countries across the globe.”

Mr. Thompson, a corporate attorney with more than 30 years of experience, is Chairman of Parker Poe’s Transactional Department. He received his J.D. with honors in 1973 and his A.B. in 1965 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP currently has more than 175 lawyers, with five offices including Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina and Charleston, Columbia and Spartanburg, South Carolina. The firm provides a complete range of legal services and has extensive experience in antitrust and business torts, banking and finance, bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors’ rights, commercial litigation, corporate and commercial law, employee benefits, employment, environmental, government, health care, international, mergers and acquisitions, public finance, real estate and commercial development, securities, tax and torts, trial and insurance. www.parkerpoe.com.