Edward S. Chang joined Morrison & Foerster LLP as a partner in Los Angeles.

Chang represents institutional clients in all aspects of complex litigation, with an emphasis on high-stakes consumer and commercial litigation. His focus includes cybersecurity and privacy class actions, complicated business disputes, and regulatory investigation and compliance matters. Chang also advises major corporations on complex cybersecurity incidents, including data breaches and ransomware attacks, and is frequently acknowledged as a leading cyber law practitioner in the United States.

Anne-Leith F.W. Matlock joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as a partner in San Diego.

Matlock focuses her practice on representing clients in complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on business disputes, intellectual property matters, and class actions. She has extensive experience handling cases in both state and federal courts, and she is known for her strategic approach to litigation and her commitment to achieving favorable outcomes for her clients. Matlock also advises companies on risk management and pre-litigation strategies, helping them navigate legal challenges with confidence and clarity.

Brian L Johnsrud was elected vice chair of the firm's employment, labor, benefits and immigration practice group of the Silicon Valley office of Duane Morris LLP. Their tenure is effective Sep. 1, 2025.

Johnsrud, who will assume the role of chair on Jan. 1, is managing partner of the firm's Silicon Valley office and a member of its governing Partners Board. He has represented companies in their most challenging employment law matters for more than 25 years. Johnsrud defends companies in multiple forums, from agency proceedings and hearings to arbitration and litigation. He has achieved more than a dozen winning arbitration awards. Johnsrud gives specific litigation recommendations, from strategy calls to settlement authority, and does so in a cost-effective and results-oriented manner. He defends a wide variety of claims, from whistleblower/retaliation claims to gender, age and race discrimination cases as well as executive contract and compensation matters. Johnsrud has defended many PAGA actions as well as other wage-and-hour claims. He is a frequent advisor on sensitive investigations and executive separations. Johnsrud focuses his client representation in the technology, finance, and bioscience and life sciences industries. He has worked on employment law issues for artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, clean energy, communications, electronic gaming, hardware, internet, medical devices, mobile devices, semiconductors, software and transportation companies. Johnsrud has worked with startups and mid-size companies, as well as many of the largest technology companies in the world. He speaks and writes on employment law trends, especially those facing technology companies.

Dana Kennedy joined Shartsis Friese LLP as a partner in San Francisco.

Kennedy advises real estate developers, investors, and other clients on a wide range of land use matters and real estate transactions, including zoning, planning, and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Her practice focuses on processing entitlements, supervising the preparation and approval of environmental documentation, and negotiating transactional documents associated with land use, project development, and construction, including public/private partnership agreements.

Mai Lin joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a partner in Los Angeles.

Lin has nearly two decades of experience in Chinese intellectual property law, including trademark prosecution, portfolio management, anti-counterfeiting and IP enforcement. Fluent in English and Mandarin, she helps U.S. companies navigate the legal, linguistic, and cultural complexities of the Chinese legal system.

Having lived and practiced in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong for over a decade, Lin has advised multinational clients across industries - including fashion and apparel, electronics, software, toys, food and beverage, oil and gas, retail, gaming, hospitality, and entertainment - on protecting and enforcing their IP rights in China. Her practice spans trademark prosecution, enforcement, anti-counterfeiting, registry disputes, and commercial IP transactions. She has helped many companies reclaim trademarks from squatters and develop proactive strategies to safeguard their portfolios.

Mayer Brown welcomes Davina Pujari as a partner in San Francisco.

Pujari's practice focuses on environmental and white-collar defense, class and mass actions, False Claims Act litigation, and crisis management. She has acted as lead counsel in high-profile matters under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, the Superfund law, and other federal and state environmental statutes. Her representative work includes defending a global remediation contractor in parallel False Claims Act and mass tort actions, representing a Class I railroad in derailment-related litigation, and resolving numerous criminal environmental investigations with no charges filed.

Mayer Brown Chris Rheinheimer as a partner in San Francisco.

Rheinheimer represents clients in complex environmental, energy and real-estate litigation, class and mass actions, False Claims Act matters and state and federal enforcement defense. He regularly advises clients on land-use and NEPA/CEQA disputes. His recent matters include defending an environmental remediation contractor in multiple governmental enforcement actions and class actions arising from a Superfund site, representing a railroad in a class action and civil enforcement proceedings following a derailment, securing dismissal of charges for an individual in an Endangered Species Act/Lacey Act prosecution, and successfully challenging voter initiatives that sought to restrict large-scale energy and development projects.

Billy Joe McLain joined Hueston Hennigan LLP as a counsel in Los Angeles.

McLain is a former federal prosecutor whose practice focuses on trial work, white collar defense and investigations, and civil litigation. During his nearly decade-long tenure with the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Central and Southern Districts of California, he prosecuted complex matters. He served as associate U.S. attorney and senior leadership team member in the Central District, the nation's largest U.S. Attorney's Office. As an assistant U.S. attorney, McLain successfully prosecuted 10 felony jury trials to verdict, including the conviction of a doctor in one of California's largest hospital bribery schemes, a gangster who murdered a civilian, and as part of the trial team in the Southern District's most significant foreign-national campaign finance fraud case in history.

Micaela P. Banach joined Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, PC as a partner in San Diego.

Banach has over two decades of considerable litigation experience representing clients in all types of employment cases, and she has also handled a variety of business conflicts and professional liability disputes throughout her career. A dedicated community leader, Banach spent six years serving on the Board of Directors for the San Diego County Bar Foundation, an organization focused on providing access to justice and promoting public understanding of the legal system. She served as the organization's president in 2017 and has also been involved in the San Diego County Bar Association, the American Inns of Court - Louis M. Welsh chapter, and Lawyers Club of San Diego. In addition to California, Banach is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of California, and the District of Colorado.

Offit Kurman, PC welcomes Ori S. Blumenfeld as a principal in Los Angeles.

Ori represents debtors, trustees, and both secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy courts. He also serves as general or special counsel to federal and state receivers appointed in matters involving equity disputes, family law, rents and profits, health and safety issues, and regulatory actions. His work often extends to guiding partition referees, successor trustees, and provisional directors in navigating property and business disputes. In addition, he has substantial litigation experience defending and prosecuting civil claims on behalf of receivers and businesses, giving him a strong command of the courtroom when cases require it.

Joseph H. Lee joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as a partner in Los Angeles.

Lee has managed all phases of intellectual property litigation, from developing initial case strategy, through discovery and motion practice and to trial. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he worked as an engineer at Boeing for several years where he designed, developed and tested communication satellite systems.

Paul Sweeney joined Arnold & Porter as a partner in Los Angeles. The move was Sep. 3, 2025.

Sweeney defends clients in individual and class actions alleging unfair business practices and privacy law violations. His practice involves commercial contracts, consumer contracts, business torts, civil rights, and various federal and state statutes and regulations, and he regularly handles employment arbitrations and lawsuits involving claims of discrimination, wage-hour violations, wrongful termination, and theft of trade secrets. Sweeney's background spans industries, including entertainment, financial services, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, retailing, and technology. He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.S. from the University of Southern California, cum laude.

Josh Patashnik joined Perkins Coie LLP as a partner in San Diego.

Patashnik brings to his practice a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of appellate litigation. As a deputy solicitor general at the California Department of Justice, Josh worked on many of the state's most complex and consequential matters, with a particular focus on litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. He routinely served as the lead drafter of briefs and argued more than a dozen cases at all levels of the federal and state judiciary. His experience spans a wide range of substantive legal areas, including constitutional and administrative law, federal preemption, environmental law, and antitrust and unfair competition.

Chad W. Firetag joined JAMS as a neutral in Riverside. The move was Aug. 26, 2025.

Judge Firetag joined the Riverside County Superior Court in 2015. From 2022 to 2025, he was the supervising civil judge of the Superior Court, where he oversaw the administration and management of the Civil Division. From 2020 to 2025, he served on the Superior Court's Appellate Division, where he became the presiding judge in 2022. Judge Firetag presided over a broad spectrum of civil matters, including employment disputes, commercial litigation, business conflicts, breach of contract cases, catastrophic personal injury claims and environmental matters.

Based in the Inland Empire Resolution Center, Judge Firetag is available to conduct sessions in person, as well as virtually, for clients across California and the United States. He will serve as a mediator, arbitrator, referee and neutral evaluator, handling automotive, business and commercial, cannabis, civil rights, elder abuse and fraud, employment, environmental, family law, governmental and public agency, insurance, personal injury, professional liability, real property, and sexual abuse and assault matters.

Before joining the Superior Court, Judge Firetag served as an assistant public defender in Riverside County from 2013 to 2015. Prior to his public service, he established himself as a skilled trial attorney, successfully taking more than 35 cases to verdict. His combination of trial advocacy experience, comprehensive judicial background and proven leadership in court administration uniquely positions him to serve those seeking efficient resolutions.

Mark Levinson joined Buchalter as a shareholder in Los Angeles. The move was Aug. 25, 2025.

Levinson returns to Buchalter with more than four decades of experience advising clients on corporate, real estate, capital markets, securities, and municipal finance matters. He represents public and private companies, private equity sponsors, financial institutions, developers, syndicators, and governmental entities in transactions ranging from mergers and acquisitions and REIT structuring to real estate syndications and distressed asset workouts.

Jonathan E. Karesh joined Signature Resolution as a neutral in San Mateo County.

Appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2001, Judge Karesh handled personal injury, construction defect and conservatorship cases. As Civil Law and Motion Judge in 2016, he managed summary judgments, discovery disputes and complex pretrial motions. The San Mateo County Trial Lawyers Association named him Judge of the Year in 2018. As presiding judge from 2019-2023, Karesh led the court through COVID-19, resuming jury trials within six months using temporary courtrooms at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds--an innovation recognized statewide. Karesh served on California's Judicial Selection Advisory Committee (2019-2023) and spent over a decade as deputy district attorney specializing in civil asset forfeiture. He began in private practice handling personal injury and product liability.

Brian E. Coltin joined Goldberg Segalla as a partner in San Diego.

Coltin has devoted his practice to workers' compensation law for more than 14 years. He represents employers, insurers, and third-party administrators in a wide range of claims, including those involving high exposure and fatality. His approach combines strategic defense with practical counsel to help clients navigate complex and high-stakes matters.

Jack Stratton joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as a partner in Los Angeles.

Stratton has deep experience counseling clients in the executive compensation and employee benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions, financings, initial public offerings, spin-offs and other corporate transactions. He is also skilled in structuring, negotiating and implementing employment, severance and change in control agreements, deferred compensation plans and equity and other incentive compensation plans. Additionally, Jack regularly advises clients in compliance with tax, securities and employment laws as well as compensation disclosures for proxy statements and other public filings.

Shashi Kewalramani joined JAMS as a neutral in Orange County. The move was Aug. 18, 2025.

Kewalramani brings nearly three decades of experience across the federal bench, public service and private practice, most recently serving as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Central District of California from 2017 to 2025. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Kewalramani managed a wide-ranging civil docket that included intellectual property, commercial litigation, employment, class action and civil rights matters. He is a trusted judicial resource for handling high-stakes settlement conferences, where he was often referred complex matters by judges across the district and was requested by parties to assist in resolving complex disputes. From 2011 to 2017, Judge Kewalramani worked in private practice, representing clients in intellectual property and commercial litigation (both defense and plaintiff side), white-collar criminal defense, and state and federal investigation matters. From 2003 to 2011, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central and Northern districts of California, including in the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit, where he led investigations and prosecutions involving cybercrime, fraud, data breach and trade secret offenses. He also handled investigations and prosecutions involving new technologies and securities violations.

Noel Gillespie joined Buchalter as a shareholder in San Diego. The move was Aug. 20, 2025.

Gillespie advises start-up and emerging growth clients on strategic patent portfolio development and implementation to protect their technology and achieve their business objectives. He has extensive experience working with digital health, health information technology, and medical devices companies; telecommunications companies, especially wireless telecommunications companies; semiconductor; and software and Internet companies.

H. James Abe joined Buchalter as a shareholder in Los Angeles.

Abe counsels companies on a wide range of legal areas with an emphasis on intellectual property matters, commercial disputes, licensing, and corporate transactions. Abe is fluent in Japanese and counsels many Japanese companies on their U.S. legal needs. He also regularly represents Japanese companies in litigation. He also serves as outside general counsel to U.S. subsidiaries of Japanese companies where he advises on contract matters, regulatory compliance, and labor and employment matters.

Benjamin R. Fliegel was promoted to Los Angeles Office Managing Partner of Reed Smith LLP.

Fliegel was advanced to Office Managing Partner of the firm's Los Angeles office. He represents policyholders in major disputes with their insurance carriers and is widely respected for his deep understanding of juries and judges, as well as his pragmatic approach to advancing clients' business objectives.

Justice M. Bruce Smith joined Judicate West as a neutral. The move was Aug. 1, 2025.

Appointed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014 as an associate justice on the 5th District Court of Appeal, Smith's legal career spans more than 40 years. In his more than 10 years on the appellate panel, he published approximately 30 opinions and oversaw matters including antitrust, employment, real estate, insurance and bad faith, and medical malpractice. Before his tenure on the Court of Appeal, Smith spent 14 years with the Fresno County Superior Court, holding numerous assignments, including presiding judge and supervising judge of the Unlimited Civil Division. Over the course of his 25 years on the bench, he presided over thousands of matters in all areas of law.

Arezoo Jamshidi joined Hanson Bridgett LLP as a partner in San Diego.

Jamshidi brings more than a decade of experience advising litigation teams on appellate strategy and issue preservation through all stages of trial in state and federal courts. She previously led the appellate practice group at Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP, where she also served as San Diego office managing partner and chair of the firm's artificial intelligence committee.

Daniel Glassman joined Arnold & Porter as a partner in Los Angeles.

Glassman is a litigator with extensive experience representing clients in various industries with a focus on healthcare. He serves as a panel arbitrator for the American Health Law Association and serves as an arbitrator and co-chair of the Orange County Bar Association Mandatory Fee Arbitration committee.

Glenn Taxman was promoted to West Coast managing partner of Much Shelist, P.C. in Newport Beach.

Taxman has been named Much's West Coast Managing Partner. He will continue to lead Much's Newport Beach office as well as spearhead the firm's geographic growth strategy. Taxman launched Much's Newport Beach office - the firm's first location outside of its Chicago headquarters - in 2002. He built the team from the ground up, bringing on attorneys who handled both transactions and litigation to service a burgeoning client roster. Now, Taxman will serve as an ambassador for further expansion. Taxman is a longtime leader at Much, previously serving on the firm's Management Committee for over 15 years. He maintains a diverse real estate practice, representing buyers, sellers, developers, borrowers, lenders, landlords, and tenants in all types of transactions. His combination of leadership and real estate savvy makes him a natural fit for his new role.