Chimezie Ebiriekwe joined Murchison & Cumming, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Ebiriekwe obtained his undergraduate degree in finance from San Diego State University before earning a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. In law school, he received the prestigious Board of Governors Scholarship in recognition of his academic achievements. Additionally, he served as vice president of the Sports and Entertainment Law Association and a member of the Black Law Student Association.

Kayla F. Wheeler joined Murchison & Cumming, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Wheeler obtained her bachelor's degree with honors from the UCLA in African American Studies with a minor in public affairs. She earned her J.S. at Syracuse University, College of Law in New York, where she excelled academically while balancing multiple jobs and internships, including a position with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. While in law school, she carved out time to serve as a mentor in a program that uplifts young women in developing their academic, and interpersonal skills.

Arlen F. Printz joined Murchison & Cumming, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Printz focuses his practice on general liability matters. He has a range of experience in administrative law having worked at a special education law firm analyzing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and labor matters. He graduated magna cum laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he majored in history with a minor in Russian and earned honors and distinction for his senior year thesis. he continued on to earning his J.D. from Loyola Law School, graduating cum laude.

Chaviante Bell joined Murchison & Cumming, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Bell graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a minor in business administration before earning her law degree from Southwestern Law School. During her time in law school, she interned at a firm where she was tasked with drafting persuasive demand letters for general liability cases, showcasing her legal writing skills and attention to detail.

Kristen Blanton joined Murchison & Cumming, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Blanton clerked for a law firm handling employment matters, where she focused on class action wage and hour settlements, wrongful termination claims, and discrimination lawsuits. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills, before obtaining her J.D. from Southwestern Law School with a concentration in Trial Advocacy.

Patricia Whitten joined Holland & Knight LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Whitten focuses her practice on a wide range of commercial lending and banking transactions, including senior secured and unsecured lending, art financing transactions, securities-based lending and hedge fund transactions.

Kristin Bacchus joined Holland & Knight LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Bacchus focuses her practice on complex domestic and cross-border financing transactions. She has extensive experience representing financial institutions in connection with loans to private equity sponsors and principals, corporate entities, investment vehicles and high-net-worth individuals.

Paul W.A. Severin joined Holland & Knight LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Severin is a financial services attorney with a national practice focusing on commercial finance, general corporate, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and securities matters. He is based in the firm's Los Angeles office. A major portion of his practice consists of the representation of financial institutions in secured and unsecured lending and finance transactions, including securities-based facilities, private equity fund finance transactions, such as co-investment facilities and other net asset value-based (NAV) credit facilities, capital call facilities and managing company fee secured facilities, derivatives, hedge fund transactions.

James Miller as office managing shareholder

With a legal career spanning 25 years, Miller is an experienced trial attorney whose practice focuses on employment litigation, including class and representative actions and traditional labor. Miller has particular experience in the agricultural and dairy industry, including both the grower/farmer side and farm labor contracting defense. Miller is a Fresno native and has practiced there for nearly his entire legal career. He earned his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.

Ryan Porte as shareholder

Porte’s practice focuses on counseling and defending employers in class and representative actions, as well as single plaintiff employment disputes. Prior to law school, Porte served as an Officer in the United States Army. He earned his J.D., with honors, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, his M.A. from the University of Oklahoma, and his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Kevin Piercy as shareholder

Piercy is an experienced litigator, including significant experience in class and representative actions. Prior to law school, Piercy served as a Human Intelligence Collector (Interrogator) in the United States Army. He earned his J.D. from the University of Southern California and his B.A., magna cum laude, from California State University, Fresno.

Brian C. Wheeler joined Foley & Lardner LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Wheeler is a seasoned strategic advisor with decades of experience providing legal and business guidance to clients across a wide variety of industries. Both his work in private practice and his in-house career have given him an extensive background in M&A --particularly cross-border M&A -- transactions involving venture-backed companies in the technology and life sciences sectors, growth equity, private equity, and fund structuring.

Kyle G. Kessler joined Womble Bond Dickinson as partner in Los Angeles.

Kessler draws on her in-house and outside counsel experience to advise national and international companies across industries on transactional and regulatory compliance, focusing on privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. A certified privacy professional with a marketing communications and public relations background, clients turn to her for counsel that blends practical business solutions with effective legal strategies.

Mark I. Lim was promoted to shareholder of Shegerian & Associates in Los Angeles.

Lim has consistently demonstrated his commitment to justice and advocacy for our clients. This promotion reflects his outstanding contributions to the firm and the legal community at large. Lim is a formidable force in the legal industry. His impressive record of accomplishment and dedication to his clients have earned him a distinguished reputation among his peers.

Ryan Alexander joined Offit Kurman as principal in Los Angeles.

Alexander's practice covers a broad range of business and financial matters, including automotive, oilfield services, health care, life sciences, private equity and mergers and acquisitions. He represents publicly traded companies, privately held companies, private equity funds, partnerships and professional service firms in many aspects of their business including, capital raising, acquisition, product distribution, technology licensing, strategic partnerships, joint ventures and international trade. Alexander also advises private equity funds in their formation, fundraising efforts, regulatory compliance and investment and divestment transactions.

Paul Chander joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Chander is a trial and appellate attorney who represents clients in complex commercial litigation. He has experience handling a broad range of complex disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants, including breach of contract, securities litigation, unfair competition, business fraud, antitrust, false advertising, consumer protection, class actions, and trade secrets.

Yingchaun (Grace) Mo was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Mo represents public and private companies in a wide range of U.S. and cross-border corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs and minority investments. She also advises companies on securities law compliance, shareholder activism and corporate governance matters.

Raza Rasheed was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

Rasheed represents clients in a wide range of complex civil matters in state and federal courts and private arbitrations, with a particular focus on shareholder derivative suits, securities class actions and trade secret misappropriation actions.

John Bostic joined Cooley LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Bostic's practice focuses on responding to government investigations and prosecutions, conducting internal investigations, litigating complex civil matters, and leading trial teams in matters before juries, judges, and arbitrators.

David Hochman joined Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP as partner in Century City.

Hochman's practice focuses on intellectual property issues, entertainment licensing and general business matters. His experience includes counseling companies, start-up businesses and individuals in connection with a broad range of transactional and litigation matters.

Bernard G. Skomal joined JAMS as neutral in San Diego.

Skomal will serve as an arbitrator, mediator, special master/referee, and neutral evaluator, handling business/commercial, civil rights, class action, employment, insurance, intellectual property, personal injury, and privacy cases.

Kris K. Spiro joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Sprio's practice is focused in the area of insurance coverage. Her has rendered many coverage opinions involving standard and manuscript primary, excess and umbrella policies including general liability, personal and advertising injury, construction defect and professional liability policies.

Judge Robert P. Dahlquist joined Judicate West as neutral in San Diego.

Dahlquist served 20 years on the San Diego County court, 14 as a Civil Independent Calendar judge, handling all manner of civil cases, including business, employment, insurance coverage and bad faith, and personal injury matters. He also spent three years in a trial department, handling trials of all types, including probate, family and civil trials, and another three years as a Family Independent Calendar judge. During his judicial tenure, Dahlquist was the supervising judge of the North County Courthouse and a member of the Superior Court's Executive Committee. Prior to his bench appointment, he was in private practice for more than 20 years, where he litigated a wide variety of civil matters in federal and state courts.

Joshua E. Anderson joined Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Anderson is the business litigation group's West Coast class action team leader. He is a Los Angeles-based lead attorney with 25 years of experience and has developed a reputation for compressing the defense of class actions, mass torts, product liability, and other complex, multiparty litigation in California and nationwide. With a passion for providing clients with creative solutions to complicated legal issues, Josh has deep experience resolving disputes in ERISA and the insurance, financial services, life sciences, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Erik J. Carlson joined Alston & Bird as partner in Los Angeles.

Carlson focuses his practice on patent jury trials involving complex technologies such as spinal surgery systems and other medical devices, natural language processing and machine learning, telecommunications, cryptography, and cloud computing.

Heewon Lee joined Blank Rome LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Lee concentrates her practice on a wide range of litigation matters. She has experience representing clients in federal, state, and administrative courts in matters involving business transactions, fraud, securities, tax, bankruptcy, government investigations, and labor and employment actions.

Brent M. Douglas joined Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. as partner in San Diego.

Primarily focusing his practice on wage-and-hour class actions, partnership disputes, and employment claims, Douglas services clients with statewide compliance advice and litigation defense. Additionally, he frequently drafts and negotiates stock option plans and stock grants, as well as senior, subordinated, and mezzanine debt arrangements.

Douglas is actively involved in the community. He serves as a board member for the New Children's Museum and the San Diego Century Club/Farmers Insurance Open. Douglas is also a member of the State Bar of California and the San Diego Bar Association, and he previously served as president of the San Diego County Bar Foundation.

Andrew McClelland joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel as of counsel in Pleasanton.

McClelland's practice focuses on civil litigation, specifically commercial, real estate, and construction litigation. He represents business and property owners to protect their interests and assets in business, real estate, and construction disputes.

Steven J. Davidson joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel as associate in San Jose.

Davidson's practice focuses on real estate disputes and litigation. He represents individuals, families, trusts, real estate professionals, insurers, municipalities, and businesses.

Young Seok Koo joined Womble Bond Dickinson as partner in Los Angeles.

Koo is a registered patent attorney experienced in all aspects of patent law. His practice focuses on U.S. and foreign patent prosecution, opinion work, due diligence studies, and client counseling. He has counseled clients of various sizes on infringement, invalidity, and pre-litigation strategies and has been involved in numerous intellectual property dispute cases. He also advises clients in trademark and trade secret law.

Andrew Thomases joined Turner Boyd Seraphine as partner in San Mateo.

Thomases is a nationally recognized, first-chair trial lawyer with 30 years of experience litigating complex patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property cases in federal courts throughout the country, as well as before the International Trade Commission ("ITC") and the Patent and Trademark Appeal Board ("PTAB"). He has achieved numerous successes for companies in the fields of computer technology, semiconductors, analog circuits, wireless technology, video streaming, medical devices, and many others.

Mandy Moua was promoted to associate of Cappello & Noël LLP.

Moua conducts legal research, drafts legal documents and assists attorneys in all stages of litigation for the firm's cases.

Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos joined Judicate West as neutral in Los Angeles.

Palazuelos was appointed to the Superior Court in 2000, presiding over the individual civil calendar across all manner of civil matters, including Michael Jackson's wrongful death lawsuit in 2013. Since 2019, she was tapped to exclusively preside over complex civil cases, including mass torts, class actions and business disputes. For the decade preceding her appointment, Palazuelos served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, prosecuting all kinds of federal criminal matters. She began her career as a litigation associate, defending insurance companies.

Matthew A. Breddan as shareholder

Breddan joined The Reape-Rickett Law Firm and in 2013, establishing the firm's Calabasas office. He provides representation on a wide range of family law matters, from divorce to paternity, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, property division, domestic violence restraining orders and more.

Breddan volunteers his time to the Los Angeles County Superior Courts and mediates in the San Fernando, Van Nuys, and Central Courthouses. He has also held several leadership positions within legal organizations. He is the immediate past president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association and is the current vice-president for the SFVBA's Valley Community Legal Fund.

Steven L. Weiss as attorney

Based in Calabasas, Weiss regularly represents families throughout Ventura and Los Angeles counties. He has 40 years of experience and earned his certification as a Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specializations in 1994.

Melanie F. Gardner-Pawlak as attorney

Gardner-Pawlak has been practicing family law for more than 20 years and has extensive trial experience in all aspects of family law matters including, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, division of property, premarital agreements, and domestic violence restraining orders. Melanie is extremely adept at strategizing and litigating matters involving complex compensation, including business ownership and valuation, as well as highly contested child custody disputes for both divorce and paternity matters.

She is a member of the Family Law Sections of the California State Bar, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the San Fernando Valley Bar Association. She is also a member of the San Fernando Valley Bar Family Law Executive Committee, and volunteers as a Family Law Mediator for the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Luke H. Bennion as associate

During law school at Southwestern, Bennion participated in the Children's Rights Clinic, where he provided direct legal services in special education advocacy on minor clients' behalf at Individual Education Program (IEP) and discipline meetings involving children with disabilities in low-income families. He brings a fervent commitment to advocating tirelessly for clients from all walks of life, the firm said.

Alisha Meyer joined Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP as attorney investigator in Oakland.

Meyer's practice concentrates on conducting thorough investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, abusive conduct, and other workplace misconduct issues within public and private entities. She joins OIG after nearly a decade of counseling plaintiffs on a wide range of employment disputes, including claims involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful and constructive termination, employment contracts, and workplace accommodations, and representing clients in all stages of employment litigation.