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.

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.

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.

Keith R. Rossman joined Ford Harrison as a counsel in Los Angeles.

Rossman represents clients of all shapes and sizes, from local, family-owned businesses to large multinational corporations, spanning industries such as hospitality, retail, healthcare, construction, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics. In addition to litigation, Keith provides employers with strategic counsel on compliance matters. His work includes developing employment policies and practices and advising on day-to-day human resources and personnel management issues. He is skilled at crafting tailored solutions to address his clients' specific workplace challenges.

Shahrooz R. Shahnavaz joined McGuireWoods LLP as a partner in Century City.

Shahnavaz advises on tax matters related to domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, business formations, divestitures, joint ventures, and real estate and partnership transactions, as well as federal and state income tax planning. His roster of clients includes strategic and other corporate buyers and sellers, private equity firms and family offices in diverse industries such as biotechnology, manufacturing, information technology, retail, media entertainment and real estate.

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.

Jean Y. Rhee joined Kibler Fowler & Cave LLP as a counsel in Los Angeles, CA. The move was Jul. 8, 2025.

Rhee brings nearly two decades of experience in complex commercial, intellectual property, and employment litigation, further strengthening the firm's trial and advisory capabilities across a range of high-stakes matters. Rhee's career includes representing Fortune 100 and 500 companies in civil, regulatory, and white-collar criminal cases, as well as advising clients on sensitive employment law issues. She has litigated before state and federal courts nationwide and in international arbitration forums. Jean's practice spans industries including entertainment, technology, finance, and healthcare, with matters involving copyright and trademark disputes, wage-and-hour class actions, internal investigations, and parallel civil and criminal proceedings.

Alexandria Faura joined Kibler Fowler & Cave LLP as an associate in Los Angeles. The move was Jan. 7, 2025.

Faura represents clients in complex commercial litigation, internal investigations, and white collar matters, bringing a detail-oriented and advocacy-driven approach to high-stakes disputes.

Dorothy Groza was promoted to partner of Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3) in Los Angeles. The promotion is effective Aug. 1, 2025.

Groza specializes in commercial real estate, business transactions, and corporate governance, and is a core member of CGS3's growing complex transactions practice group. Her practice spans a broad range of real estate and business matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing, secured lending, leasing and construction involving commercial, residential, industrial, retail, and mixed-use projects for local, regional, and national developers, lenders, and investors. She has extensive experience in sophisticated real estate and business transactions, with particular expertise in structuring and negotiating high-value deals involving real estate finance, secured lending and regulatory compliance - including international and multi-state development, foreign investment and joint venture projects.

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.

Jo-Lynne Q. Lee joined ADR Services Inc. as a neutral in Alameda.

Lee now focuses her practice on mediation, arbitration, and discovery reference in complex civil matters, including personal injury, wage and hour, environmental, mass torts, business torts, construction, landlord-tenant, and commercial contract disputes. When on the bench, Lee served in the court's settlement department, where she mediated approximately five to 10 cases per week, helping parties resolve disputes involving catastrophic injury, wrongful death, workplace disputes, landlord-tenant conflicts, partnership breakups, and a wide range of business and commercial issues.

Daniel (Dan) Pascucci joined McDermott Will & Schulte as a partner in San Diego. The move was Aug. 5, 2025.

Pascucci represents clients in international judgment enforcement, fraud recovery, and asset tracing matters, often involving litigation funders and multinational stakeholders. He performs asset recovery from prominent US and international tax shelters in the world's most complex multinational fraud schemes. Additionally, Pascucci is well-versed in alternative dispute resolution strategies, having successfully handled dozens of high-stakes arbitrations under both domestic and international rules. In addition to asset and fraud recovery, Pascucci supports clients across a range of industries in false advertising, unfair competition, RICO, and fraud disputes. He frequently performs investment diligence and asset recovery for litigation investment funds.

Douglas E. Lumish joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as a partner in Silicon Valley.

Lumish is co-head of Weil's nationwide IP, Technology & Science Litigation practice, a Chambers Band 1-ranked first-chair trial lawyer, and a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He serves as lead strategic and trial counsel for the world's most sophisticated technology and life sciences companies in their most important and complex intellectual property, technology, and life sciences-related litigation. He has an exceptional track record of securing favorable outcomes for clients at all stages of litigation, including jury trials, bench trials, and on appeal. His diverse practice encompasses patent, trade secret, contract, licensing, fraud, and other technology and life sciences related cases.

Gabriel S. Gross joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as a partner in Silicon Valley.

Gross is a partner in Weil’s IP, Technology & Science Litigation practice, a veteran first-chair trial lawyer, and skilled courtroom advocate. He is routinely called upon to serve as lead counsel to life sciences and technology companies in their most important and complex intellectual property and commercial disputes, winning jury verdicts, summary judgments, arbitration awards, and appeals, and has defeated billions of dollars in damages claims over the course of his career.

Monique L. Fierro joined Berger Kahn ALC as a partner in Lake Forest. The move was Jul. 21, 2025.

Fierro brings over a decade of experience litigating a wide range of civil matters, including employment discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment and assault, wage and hour violations, personal injury, civil rights, business disputes, and education law. She has secured millions in damages for clients facing discrimination and abuse and successfully obtained dismissals and reduced liability for clients in high-risk litigation.

Nicola A. Pisano joined Cozen O'Connor as a member in San Diego.

Pisano is a seasoned IP litigator with more than 35 years of experience, having served as lead or trial counsel in more than 250 cases involving patent, trade secret, trade dress and copyright issues in federal district courts throughout the U.S. and as lead counsel in interference proceedings and inter partes reviews before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, import matters pending before the International Trade Commission, and appeals before the Federal Circuit. He has litigated a vast array of technologies, including electrical circuits, computers and computer peripherals, wireless communications, software — including biometrics, antimalware, encryption, acoustic/vibration analysis and a wide range of medical applications — as well as mechanical and medical devices.

Scott Penner joined Cozen O'Connor as a member in San Diego.

Penner, who earned an AB in computer science at Harvard, also comes to the firm from Eversheds Sutherland and joins as a member. With a primary focus on patent litigation, his background includes helping clients protect a range of technological assets, from medical devices to computer software and hardware designs. Clients, ranging from multinational corporations to small technology startups, appreciate his ability to “talk code” with engineers and discuss business strategies with company executives. Recently, he secured summary judgment invalidating a number of patents asserted against his clients, conducted a due diligence source code review of an AI-based program designed to divide a large population into marketing categories, and achieved a jury verdict of non-infringement of multiple patents for a client in the anti-virus industry, all while also providing advice on contractual and portfolio management in the IP space.

Jose L. Patiño joined Cozen O'Connor as a member in San Diego.

Patiño concentrates on representing companies in high-stakes intellectual property disputes. He has extensive experience with patent litigation-specific proceedings, including claim construction before trial courts throughout the country, at the International Trade Commission, and as special IP counsel in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Joe has represented clients in a variety of industries, including biopharmaceutical, information technology services, cybersecurity, automotive, manufacturing, electronics, and telecommunications.

Annie Hsin-Yu Huang joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as a partner in San Francisco.

Huang's practice consists of state and local tax controversies at both administrative and judicial levels, tax planning and transactional work. Annie regularly practices before the California Franchise Tax Board, the California State Board of Equalization and the California Office of Tax Appeals. She also represents clients before administrative tribunals and state tax courts in other jurisdictions throughout the country. Prior to joining the firm, she was a tax counsel to one of the members of the California Board of Equalization.

Anthony Valenzuela joined Davis Wright Tremaine LLP as a partner in San Francisco.

Valenzuela is a seasoned financial services litigator and award-winning regulatory attorney. He brings robust first-chair litigation capabilities to West Coast markets, leveraging over a decade of managing both domestic and global regulatory investigations and extensive in-house experience. Before joining the firm, he served as general counsel and global head of government relations and legislative affairs for OKX--the world's third-largest crypto exchange by trading volume--where he built a global legal department and supported every aspect of the company's worldwide digital assets business.

Oluoma Kas-Osoka joined Knox Ricksen LLP as a counsel. The move was July 1, 2025.

Kas-Osoka has 10 years of experience representing a variety of clients in complex litigation matters. Most notably, she defended a pharmaceutical company in product liability litigation in several jurisdictions. Kas-Osoka has also represented clients in technology-related class actions, antitrust matters, and environmental disputes.

Brian Douglas Murray was promoted to partner of Trucker Huss APC in Los Angeles. The promotion is effective Jul. 1, 2025.

Murray concentrates his practice on employee benefits, with a focus on ERISA litigation. He represents plan sponsors, trustees, and other fiduciaries in a wide range of employee benefits cases, including 401(k) class action litigation, claims for retirement, medical, disability, and other benefits, ESOP and multiemployer pension plan disputes, and cases involving executive compensation. In addition to his litigation practice, he counsels clients on a variety of matters, including fiduciary responsibility, operational corrections, and regulatory compliance. Murray also represents plan fiduciaries in Department of Labor investigations.

Adrine Adjemian Cargill was promoted to partner of Trucker Huss APC in San Francisco. The promotion is effective Jan. 7, 2025.

Cargill concentrates her practice in the area of retirement plans and advises clients on issues regarding 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans, money purchase pension plans, cash balance plans, and traditional defined benefit plans. She also regularly works with multiemployer plans and plans of tax-exempt entities, public schools, and universities, including 403(b) and 457 plans. She assists clients with drafting plan documents, SPDs and amendments; preparing employee communications; analyzing plan administrative and fiduciary issues; preparing submissions to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and Department of Labor; reviewing qualified domestic relations orders ("QDROs"); conducting M&A due diligence; preparing plan committee charters, bylaws, and resolutions; and resolving ERISA and Internal Revenue Code compliance issues raised in connection with investigations or audits by the Department of Labor or IRS. She also assists with the review and negotiation of service provider agreements, including investment management agreements.

Bradford Newman joined Eversheds Sutherland as a partner in Silicon Valley.

Newman is widely recognized for his leadership in trade secret litigation and next-generation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), and digital evidence. His arrival and experience in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector significantly enhances Eversheds Sutherland's litigation capabilities in the global high-tech market, building on the firm's strong foundation and ongoing work with technology clients.

Kelly Siobhan Laffey joined Pryor Cashman LLP as a partner in Los Angeles.

Laffey's practice focuses on advising emerging growth and middle-market companies on a wide range of transactional and general corporate matters, including corporate governance and formation, venture capital and other financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cross-border transactions, employee compensation, and complex shareholder and operating agreements.

Glenn Luinenburg joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as a partner in Silicon Valley.

Luinenburg is one of the country's most active deal lawyers and among Silicon Valley's most experienced and in-demand advisors, representing clients in the structuring, managing and negotiation of venture financings, strategic alliances, M&A transactions, public equity offerings, private placement equity and debt transactions, joint ventures, spin-outs, recapitalizations and other corporate reorganizations. His experience spans a wide variety of established and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, autonomous electric vehicles, big data, new energy technologies, cleantech, digital health, media and entertainment, fintech, semiconductors, software, SaaS, and many others.

Todd Rumberger joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as a partner in Silicon Valley.

Rumberger is ranked by Chambers USA as one of the nation's foremost Startups & Emerging Companies lawyers. His practice focuses on the representation of emerging growth companies throughout their lifecycle, counseling founders on the initial organization and capitalization of their startup, and providing guidance on fundraising strategies, negotiations and structure with pre-seed, seed and larger institutional and strategic investors. He also advises early and late-stage venture capital firms, and strategic corporate investors on their investment in, and management of, their portfolio companies. He has also developed a deep expertise in assisting foreign startup and growth-stage companies establish a presence and obtain venture funding in the United States.

Retired judge Ana Maria Luna joined Signature Resolution as a neutral in Los Angeles, CA. The move was Jul. 21, 2025.

With over four decades of legal experience, including 32 on the bench, Luna is known across California for her integrity, cultural competency, and trailblazing career spent resolving a wide variety of probate, family and civil matters.

Emily Stephens joined Alston & Bird as a partner in Los Angeles

Stephens advises a broad range of clients--from first-time fund sponsors to established asset managers--on the structuring, formation, and ongoing operation of private equity, private credit, venture/growth capital, real estate, energy transition, and other alternative asset funds (whether open-ended or closed-ended), as well as providing guidance on carry and equity arrangements and investment adviser and related compliance issues. She also represents lenders and borrowers in private credit facilities, including in NAV or other fund-related term loans or revolvers where her deep knowledge of both investment funds and credit investing helps provide clients with a unique advantage in identifying issues and structuring appropriate protections.

Tara K. McGrath joined Perkins Coie LLP as a partner in San Diego.

McGrath's practice will focus on guiding clients through white-collar litigation and investigations, as well as civil litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution, cybersecurity, and crisis management. She joins a preeminent litigation practice comprised of more than 300 lawyers and former federal prosecutors who serve as staunch advocates in the courtroom and beyond.

Matt Caplan joined Foley & Lardner as a partner in San Francisco. The move was Jul. 14, 2025.

Caplan's multi-faceted practice focuses on trade secrets and technology disputes, business and competitor disputes, class actions, health care, and general commercial litigation. He regularly advises clients in the Innovative Technology and Health Care, and Life Sciences Sectors, offering deep insight into the unique challenges and opportunities present in these ecosystems.

Barbara N. Barath joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as a partner in San Francisco.

Barath focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation and high-stakes technology disputes to help clients protect proprietary technologies and defend against IP claims. With a proven track record of successful trial outcomes and favorable settlements, Barath has served as lead strategist on numerous complex patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark matters. She has litigated disputes relating to a broad range of technologies from semiconductor fabrication to USB, memory, communications, networking, cloud storage, two-way radio, mobile device user interface, mobile device management, data compression, spinal derotation, refrigerator water filter, and CAD.

Carl R. Steen joined Polsinelli as a principal in Los Angeles.

Steen boasts more than 25 years of corporate and energy regulatory experience, including mergers and acquisitions, financings, restructurings and other corporate transactions and related regulatory matters. He advises clients on the development and financing of thermal and renewable energy projects, oil and gas pipelines and storage facilities, telecommunications systems, infrastructure and more.