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Mr. Stewart is an experienced transactional and securities lawyer who has been involved in a wide variety of transactions representing privately-held companies, individual investors and groups and public companies in diverse industries, including financial institutions, energy, retail, services and healthcare. Since 1978, Mr. Stewart has provided corporate, transaction and securities law services to numerous private and public exploration and production companies. In the public company arena, he represented Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp in its initial acquisition of Bogert Oil Company in 1990, its initial public offering in 1993, multiple subsequent debt and equity offerings and acquisitions until its ultimate sale for $2.3 billion in cash and stock to Dominion Resources in 2002. During his career, Mr. Stewart has also served as principal corporate and securities counsel for Pre-Paid legal Services, Inc., Liberty Bancorp (until its sale to BancOne), Harolds Stores Inc, Canaan Energy Corporation, GMX Resources and many other public companies that have been sold. He has also represented private energy companies in the establishment of private drilling funds and other investment vehicles. Mr. Stewart has advised in over 40 financial institution merger and acquisition transactions of all sizes, including advising Liberty Bancorp, Inc. in multiple acquisitions and in its sale to BancOne Corporation in 1997 for $550 million in stock, Amquest Financial in its sale to BancFirst for $100 million in stock in 1998 and numerous other nonpublic bank transactions. | 