Legg Mason Re-Brands and Consolidates Two Fund Families

- Creates a Single Legg Mason Fund Family -

BALTIMORE, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) today
announced that it has re-branded and simplified its retail-oriented fund
families into one Legg Mason branded fund family. The new naming convention
is effective today.

Most funds that were formerly named Legg Mason or Legg Mason Partners will now
include the Legg Mason name, the name of the investment affiliate and the
Fund's strategy (such as the Legg Mason ClearBridge Appreciation Fund or the
Legg Mason Western Asset Managed Municipals Fund). This includes the variable
portfolios that will be re-branded on November 2, 2009. The Western Asset
fund family, designed for institutional share classes, and the Royce fund
family, which has share classes that are sold directly to investors, and the
Barrett fund family will retain separate branding.

The re-branding effort follows the completion of a consolidated
operating platform for the fund families. That effort, completed in the
spring of 2009, allowed investors to broadly exchange products across both
fund families and to aggregate purchases within a wider menu of funds to
potentially reduce sales charges on new purchases.

Matt Schiffman, Head of Retail, The Americas said, "We believe that the new
naming convention will both leverage the Legg Mason brand awareness with our
retail partners and create more awareness of the value that is provided by our
multi-affiliate investment approach. Our investment affiliates are well known
within their respective institutional channels for their investment expertise,
and we see this as a significant opportunity to leverage that with our retail
partners."

About Legg Mason

Legg Mason is a global asset management firm with $693 billion in assets under
management as of August 31, 2009. The Company provides active asset
management in many major investment centers throughout the world. Legg
Mason is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, and its common stock is listed
on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: LM).

All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.

Investors should consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and
expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other
information about a fund. To obtain a free prospectus, please view the product
specific page on this website and click on the prospectus link. An investor
should read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Legg Mason Investor Services, LLC and all entities mentioned are subsidiaries
of Legg Mason, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Legg Mason Investor Services, LLC. Member FINRA, SIPC

SOURCE Legg Mason

Maria Rosati of Legg Mason, +1-212-805-6036, mrosati@leggmason.com