Richard L. Gallagher joined Kaufhold Gaskin Gallagher LLP as name partner in San Francisco.

Gallagher joined corporate and business litigation boutique Kaufhold Gaskin Gallagher in San Francisco as a name partner on Aug. 3.
With two decades of experience in securities and corporate litigation, Gallagher joined the firm formerly known as Kaufhold Gaskin LLP after nearly seven years at Ropes & Gray, where he most recently served as co-managing partner of the firm's California offices.
Gallagher said his familiarity with the firm's lawyers, the market opportunities for boutique firms and the chance to take ownership and control over his practice are what attracted him to Kaufhold Gaskin.
"After 20 years of practice and having gotten pretty incredible opportunities at Ropes & Gray to lead the type of litigation matters that I just never dreamed I would have the opportunity to lead -- federal class actions and very sophisticated cases, trials, major arbitrations -- I got to a point in my career where I thought that I really am capable of doing a lot of things for sophisticated clients and I have, kind of, the back half of my career in which I can really have control and ownership in a real way over my practice," said Gallagher.
He represents clients in litigation related to investment, general business, commercial matters and class actions. Public companies, mature private companies as well as private equity funds and mutual funds make up his clientele. His clients have included LPL Financial Holdings Inc. and TriNet.
Gallagher said he knew he would dedicate his career to corporate and business litigation since he worked as a clerk in the basement of a corporate litigation firm as a teenager.
"I really never dreamed when I was stapling papers and making copies and running over to the courthouse that I would ever be able to do this to the extent that I've done and get the opportunities that I've had. It was definitely the only thing I was ever going to do," he added.

Joshua T. Chu was promoted to office managing partner of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie in Los Angeles.

Chu focuses his practice on patent prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications. He joined the firm in 2007 and is a member of its Strategic Study Group and Associate Compensation and Review Committee. He is based in Los Angeles.

Joseph M. Doloboff joined Glaser Weil LLP as partner in Century City.

Doloboff focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions with an emphasis on tax law. He is based in Century City.

Ryan McCoy joined Norton Rose Fulbright as partner in Los Angeles.

McCoy previously was a member of Norton Rose's dispute team from 2005-2013. He focuses on wage and hour class actions, discrimination suits, wrongful termination and retaliation, commercial litigation and complex insurance coverage. He is based in Los Angeles.

Sean Gaffney was promoted to partner of Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3) in San Diego.

Gaffney is a litigator and a member of the firm's real estate litigation practice team. He is based in San Diego.

Anna M. Martin joined Kantor & Kantor, LLP as partner in San Francisco and Reno.

Martin advocates for clients whose insurance claims have been denied. She has over 28 years of experience in insurance law. She is based in San Francisco and Reno, Nevada.

Amy B. Briggs joined Farella Braun + Martel LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Briggs advises clients on complex business litigation matters related to insurance coverage and bad faith disputes. She represents policyholders in the real estate, construction and healthcare sectors.
Briggs, an insurance recovery litigator, joined Farella Braun + Martel as partner in San Francisco from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. She joined Manatt in 2008, when it merged with Steefel Levitt & Weiss PC.
Her move comes after Manatt decided to move away from policyholder representation in favor of insurance companies, she said.
"That presented a conflict with my clients and so, I moved to a firm that I knew would be dedicated to maintaining an insurance recovery practice on behalf of policyholders," she added.
What attracted her to Farella was its status as a regional firm with a national reputation.
"Notwithstanding that they are regional, they have a national reputation particularly in the area of insurance recovery. A number of their lawyers are routinely ranked at the top of their field and that really spoke volumes to me," she said.
Briggs represents clients in the real estate, construction and healthcare sectors. Her recent work includes the representation of San Francisco construction contractor Webcor Builders in connection with the Millennium Tower litigation.
"I have always thought that this was a really interesting area of practice because it generally involves two layers of the law. You have the coverage issues that are involved in your dispute with an insurance company over what the policy covers, but then you also have to understand the underlying claim that is giving rise to the insurance claim," she added. "I've always felt like it was a two for one deal and I've always found that intellectually challenging and fun to work on."
Her first day with Farella was July 1. Farella announced the move Wednesday.

Barbara Kosacz joined Kronos Bio Inc. as chief operating officer and general counsel in San Mateo.

Kosacz stepped down as chair of the global life sciences industry practice at Cooley and retired from the firm's partnership to serve as chief operating officer and general counsel at Kronos Bio Inc.
Her first day with the San Mateo-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company was July 15.
"You reach a certain point in your life and a certain age where you do start to really think about how do I want to be spending my time. I've achieved a certain level of competency and for me, it's always been important to me to try to make an impact and I was trying to think about how do I want to continue to do that as my career, you know, at some point kind of slows down," said Kosacz.
Kosacz will continue in a consulting and advisory role at Cooley as senior counsel.
She was with Cooley for 28 years and joined its partnership in 1997. As chair of the global life sciences industry practice, she was responsible for an interdisciplinary team of over 30 lawyers. Kosacz' career in life sciences began when the patent law and corporate work her friends were doing for biotechnology companies sparked her interest.
"I found what they were working on as a young lawyer, extremely interesting and I really thought, how great it would be to be able to work with companies who were creating these incredibly novel therapies," she added. "And when I first started my career, I was working with more computer companies and that kind of thing, which was fun and interesting, but it didn't feel as compelling and so I got pulled into a couple projects for [biotechnology] companies. And I just thought, 'Wow I love this' and so I started learning as much as I could about the industry and talking to people and trying to sort of raise my hand to say 'Hey, if we have this kind of a project, I want to work on that' and then it ended up becoming a whole specialty."
At Kronos, she will handle legal matters in addition to overseeing the company's operations outside of research and development including human resources, IT, facilities, health and safety and public relations.

Sean P Ducar joined Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman LLP as senior associate in Los Angeles.

Sean Ducar's practice focuses on the defense of health care providers in medical malpractice actions. Sean also represents individuals and corporate entities in general liability and personal injury matters. Additionally, Sean is experienced in employment law matters, including the defense against claims of harassment, retaliation, and discrimination brought under FEHA, class action wage and hour complaints, and alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sean's breadth of experience includes the representation of professional sports teams in contract disputes.

Steven R. Disharoon as managing partner - sonoma county office

Steven Disharoon specializes in matters involving complex federal and state law, government and public entity issues, intellectual property, transportation, and an array of litigated cases. He represents public entities in California on issues involving highway design, transit systems, environmental claims, and dangerous condition allegations. Steve also represents a full range of private clients, from individuals to small businesses to multi-national corporations, and has also advocated for prisoners and other marginalized groups.

Michael A. Vasquez as senior counsel

Michael Vasquez focuses his practice on products liability, professional liability, and catastrophic injury matters. He has successfully defended hundreds of products liability cases, including asbestos cases involving catastrophic injuries and damages. Mike is also known for his legal prowess in defending dentists, doctors, lawyers and real estate agents and brokers in professional liability suits, as well as non-products liability complex tort cases in California, Texas, Alaska, Hawaii and Tribal courts in Native American reservations.

Kristin C. Christensen as senior associate

Kristin Christensen focuses her practice focuses on a wide variety of complex civil litigation matters.

Tudor D. Jones as senior associate

Tudor Jones focuses his practice on complex civil litigation, including matters involving construction and professional liability, land use, business litigation, mass transit, and catastrophic injury and wrongful death. In addition to his litigation practice, Tudor also provides counsel to cannabis startups and has experience working within regulatory frameworks across multiple industries.

Daniel R. McCoy as associate

Daniel McCoy is experienced in administrative law and civil litigation.

Nicolai M. Schwarz-Gondek joined Sidley Austin LLP in Century City.

Schwarz-Gondek focuses on private equity, mergers and acquisitions and other complex corporate transactions. He is based in Century City.