Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Paul Casas
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco.
Casas advises entrepreneurs, investors, and startup companies across a variety of industries through all stages of their life cycle, including formation, seed and venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and fund formation. Paul also advises both strategic acquirers and target companies in their mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, joint ventures, and other transactional matters. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Stacie O. Kisner
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco.
Kisner represents clients in all stages of complex commercial litigation, from early phases of discovery through trial. She also has substantial experience responding to civil enforcement actions and criminal investigations initiated by various state and federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office for Civil Rights, the Department of Justice Tax and Antitrust Divisions, and local District Attorney Offices. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Colleen E. Lamarre
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco & Silicon Valley.
Lamarre assists clients with government audits, investigations, reporting and employer disclosure obligations. She regularly advises clients on health and welfare plan design and compliance with ERISA, EEOC requirements, and the ACA. Colleen counsels clients on fiduciary matters in connection with the investment of employee benefit plan assets and employee benefits issues arising in corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions. She also regularly advises clients in executive compensation matters, such as compensation and incentive arrangements, including compliance with Internal Revenue Code §409A. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Adam J. Weaver
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco & Houston.
Weaver's practice focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate and real estate finance. He has experience drafting purchase and sale agreements, real estate joint ventures and related documents for office, retail, multi-family, industrial, large-scale residential and mixed-use developments. His diverse client base and experience representing both purchasers and sellers as well as borrowers and lenders enables him to provide a balanced understanding that is key to successful negotiations. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Brock S. Weber
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco.
Weber's practice focuses on intellectual property litigation, including patent litigation and trade secrets disputes. He handles matters through trial, but takes pride in developing strategies for successful early resolution. His technical background includes industry experience as a software engineer, a systems analyst and web developer. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Megan L. Jones
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Los Angeles.
Jones's practice focuses on complex tax issues, emphasizing individuals and entities owning assets and businesses in multiple jurisdictions. Her work spans income and estate tax planning and extends to family office advisory work. Megan has extensive experience advising on crypto assets, blockchain technology, NFTs, and related tax issues. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Aaron S. Ralph
was promoted to partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Los Angeles.
Ralph helps government contractors and grant recipients navigate IP concerns, cost and pricing issues, internal investigations and compliance obligations, bid protests, and contract claims litigation. He also advises clients contemplating mergers and acquisitions involving government contractors. Before joining Pillsbury, Ralph served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate and was an attorney for the U.S. Air Force. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC
Heejoong Kim
joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.
Kim is a multi-faceted litigator who represents clients in a wide array of commercial disputes. With experience ranging from premises liability, habitability, and motor vehicle accidents to claims involving false advertising, unfair competition, and employment disputes, he prides himself on building strong relationships with clients. He also litigates contractual, partnership, fraud, and fiduciary disputes.
Adam B Van Korlaar
joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.
Van Korlaar represents clients ranging from small businesses and homeowners associations (HOAs) to international corporations in business disputes, landlord/tenant issues, employment disputes, trade secrets, and other litigation. He has considerable experience defending client interests in matters involving serious personal injuries, premises liability, toxic torts, and “lemon law”/warranty disputes, and he has exposure to several elements of insurance defense and litigation.
Steve Christianson
joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.
Christianson represents clients in matters ranging from personal injury to professional liability to business disputes. He has handled every element of case management, from e-discovery, legal research, and strategy development to pleadings, motions, and trial documentation. For clients in the real estate and transportation industries, he employs a well-rounded approach to risk evaluation and litigation strategy.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Jenny Hill Bratt
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in Del Mar, San Diego.
Bratt is in the Tax practice group and Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer team. She focuses on U.S. and international estate and income tax planning, trusts and estates administration, family and closely held business planning and charitable planning and exempt organizations. She advises U.S.-based individuals who own foreign assets on the manner in which such assets should be structured as well as their tax compliance obligations, routinely employing transfer tax mitigation techniques. Bratt also advises clients in planning and implementing charitable gifts and assists with the formation of private foundations and private operating foundations. Bratt is a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
Matthew R. Owens
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in Del Mar, San Diego.
Owens is in the Business Trial practice group and Private Wealth and Fiduciary Litigation team. He focuses on trust, estate and inheritance disputes, having prosecuted and defended a wide range of matters in probate court including trust contests, elder abuse actions, accountings, contested conservatorships and claims involving breach of fiduciary duty. His clients include high net worth individuals and families, corporate trustees and private professional fiduciaries. He has handled numerous trials and arbitrations of trusts and estates disputes as well as appeals, including two cases that resulted in published opinions. Owens is a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
Allison M. Hirsch
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as special counsel in Del Mar, San Diego.
Hirsh is in the Tax practice group and Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer team. She works with high-net-worth individuals in estate planning, estate and trust administration, estate and gift taxation, business succession planning and charitable giving.
Mariah Lohse
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as associate in Del Mar, San Diego.
Lohse is in the Tax practice group and Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer team. She focuses her practice on a variety of private client capacities, including estate planning and family office structuring and transfers.
Nicole M. Paschoal
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as associate in Del Mar, San Diego.
Paschoal is in the Tax practice group and Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer team. She practices in the areas of estate planning, trust and estate administration, charitable giving and tax-exempt organizations. She focuses on wealth transfers for successful families and business owners, sophisticated estate and gift tax saving techniques, charitable planned giving, business succession planning and probate and trust administrations.
Austin S. Prewitt
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as associate in Del Mar, San Diego.
Prewitt is in the firm's Business Trial practice group, Tax practice group and Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer team. He focuses his practice on trust, estate and inheritance disputes, including trust contests, contested accountings and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims. He also assists with estate and tax planning for individuals and families, estate and trust administration and charitable planning. Prewitt helps clients understand the tax consequences of their transactions as well as various estate planning and gifting techniques to help achieve their goals.
Goldberg Segalla
Devin H. Black
joined Goldberg Segalla as associate in Orange County.
Black focuses his practice on workers' compensation matters, counseling and defending employers, insurers, and third-party administrators. His experience includes managing workers' compensation claims from referral through closure, including in-depth claim reviews and valuation analyses, conducting depositions and cross-examinations of claimants and medical professionals, drafting pleadings, motions, and settlements, and representing clients before the WCAB.
Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek
Dakota Hickingbottom
joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as associate in San Diego.
Hickingbottom brings litigation experience and a unique vantage point of the judicial system from her two-year judicial clerkship with the Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro of the Southern District of California.
Munger, Tolles & Olson
Juliana Yee
was promoted to partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco.
Yee focuses her practice on high-stakes disputes, including class actions, mass actions, and trials in state and federal court and across various industries, including technology, entertainment, higher education, and financial services. She helps companies navigate their most challenging and high-profile matters through all stages of litigation. Yee also maintains a pro bono practice on immigration matters and civil rights. She is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and currently serves as the co-chair of the Development Committee of the Utah Center for Legal Inclusion. Before joining the firm, Yee clerked for Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and Judge Jay Bybee of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stephanie Herrera
was promoted to partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco.
Herrera's practice focuses on litigating cutting-edge copyright, antitrust, and civil rights issues for major movie studios and industry-leading technology companies. Her experience spans every phase of litigation, including significant summary judgment and trial victories. Ms. Herrera also has deep counseling and investigations experience in the tech industry and has represented tech clients in litigation and investigations involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and state attorneys general. Ms. Herrera maintains an active pro bono practice, emphasizing immigration and civil rights. She is also passionate about the arts and serves on the board of directors of California Lawyers for the Arts. Before joining the firm, Herrera clerked for Judge Michelle T. Friedland of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Hanson Bridgett LLP
Patrick Burns
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.
Burns' practice focuses on appeals and law and motion in the state and federal courts. Before joining Hanson Bridgett, Burns worked at a global law firm where he focused on commercial litigation. He has litigated complex and high-stakes disputes in bankruptcy, class actions, product liability, and multi-district actions. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Nancy E. Dollar
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.
Dollar's practice focuses on tax planning, counseling, and transactional matters and includes advising founders, investors, and companies on specialty tax incentives and federal income tax matters. She has also helped clients resolve federal tax audits and controversies in appeals. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Sean G. Herman
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.
Herman's practice focuses on advising clients including public agencies like water agencies, sanitation districts, reclamation districts, cities, and counties, as well as residential and commercial developers, private sector manufacturers, and agricultural companies. His experience includes environmental laws at the Federal, State, and local levels, with a concentration on water quality, water use, water rights, endangered species, property contamination, and environmental review compliance. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Kaylen Kadotani
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.
Kadotani serves clients in a variety of settings, including business and commercial disputes, product liability and other tort and injury claims, real estate, public entity litigation, among others. He also assists clients in responding to subpoenas and other third-party inquiries, and provides advice with respect to internal policies and procedures. His promotion is effective Jan 1.
Ellis S. Raskin
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in Los Angeles.
Raskin represents clients in matters involving CEQA, NEPA, the California Coastal Act, the Subdivision Map Act, and other environmental and land use legislation. He also advises clients regarding Political Reform Act compliance. His work has involved a range of large-scale development projects in high-stakes administrative proceedings and litigation. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Nicole S. Witt
was promoted to partner of Hanson Bridgett LLP in Walnut Creek.
Witt's practice focuses on government and public agency law. She serves as general counsel to West County Wastewater District and as deputy general counsel to Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, San Joaquin Regional Transit District, and Menlo Park Fire Protection District. She assists the firm's public agency clients with various legal issues such as public contracts and procurements, legislation, revenue measures, governance laws, and ethics issues, including conflict of interest analyses. She regularly attends client board meetings and advises on the preparation of board agendas, staff reports, resolutions, ordinances, and meeting minutes. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld
Luma Khabbaz
joined Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld as legal fellow in San Francisco.
Khabbaz received a J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2023. Prior to attending law school, she worked at the United Nations Population Fund, working to advance global sexual and reproductive health and rights. She received a B.A. in International Studies and a B.A.J. in Journalism from Indiana University in 2019.
Details
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, founded in San Francisco in 1990, focuses its practice on complex litigation. RBGG partners have been consistently recognized as some of the top trial and appellate lawyers in California.
Fox Rothschild LLP
Debbie Y. Chin
joined Fox Rothschild LLP as partner in San Francisco.
Chin provides advice on estate and trust planning, implementation, and administration. This includes working with individuals and families to design sophisticated tax and estate plans using a combination of wealth preservation and transfer strategies. She also represents individuals and professional entities in all post-death trust and estate administration aspects. She also serves on the board of directors of the East Bay Trusts and Estates Lawyers and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Diablo Valley.
Sidley Austin LLP
Evie Whiting
was promoted to partner of Sidley Austin LLP in Century City.
Whiting counsels clients in a variety of matters related to film slate financing, single picture financing, television financing, production and distribution of motion pictures, television, and digital content, as well as a variety of financing-related issues in the sports and music businesses.
Sidley Austin LLP
Lauren M. De Lilly
was promoted to partner of Sidley Austin LLP in Los Angeles.
De Lilly works on a variety of commercial litigation and disputes cases, with her primary focus in trademark, advertising, and copyright law, where she assists clients to defend against class actions and to protect intellectual property rights. She works with a broad range of clients, including those from the media and entertainment, consumer products and retail, real estate, private equity, and financial services industries. She has substantial experience in all stages of litigation and investigations, from initial fact investigation and drafting pleadings, through discovery and dispositive motion practice, to trial and post-trial work.
Sidley Austin LLP
Feifei Bian
was promoted to partner of Sidley Austin LLP in Century City.
Bian focuses her practice on representing private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, venture capital investors, and strategic companies and other individual buyers, sellers, and investors in mergers and acquisitions and other strategic investments and transactions, across a wide range of industries and jurisdictions.
Sidley Austin LLP
Adriane Peralta
was promoted to partner of Sidley Austin LLP in Los Angeles.
Peralta focuses her practice on defending companies in product liability, class action, and consumer fraud litigation. She has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, nutritional supplements, life sciences, and biotechnology industries. She has experience briefing and arguing successful dispositive and discovery motions in both state and federal court, and drafting appellate briefs and petitions before the Supreme Court of the United States, several Circuit Courts, and California Court of Appeal.
Sidley Austin LLP
Helen Theung
was promoted to partner of Sidley Austin LLP in Palo Alto.
Theung represents clients in securities offerings and corporate governance matters, including private company financings, public offerings, general corporate advising, and SEC reporting and compliance. Her representative clients include private and public companies in the life sciences, healthcare, and technology industries.
Sidley Austin LLP
Lauren C. Freeman
was promoted to counsel of Sidley Austin LLP in San Francisco.
Freeman helps clients navigate complex regulatory environments in government investigations and regulatory enforcement actions. Her experience includes representing clients before agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration. Her clients range across multiple industries with an emphasis on the technology, consumer products, energy, and healthcare sectors. Lauren has particular knowledge counseling clients on complex consumer protection issues, including marketing, advertising, and auto-renewal and subscription products.
Norton Rose Fulbright
Jason Novak
was promoted to partner-in-charge of Norton Rose Fulbright in San Francisco.
Novak will succeed Jeff Margulies, who has led both the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices for five years, and will continue his consumer products litigation practice out of both California offices while serving as the Los Angeles office partner-in-charge.
Novak advises clients on the various legal issues that can arise with emerging technologies in the healthcare, food and life sciences industries. He has a targeted focus on "convergence" technologies such as digital health and personalized/precision medicine that operate at the intersection of multiple industries. Novak also has extensive experience in intellectual property and data rights strategy. He previously served as the IP Director for Thermo Fisher Scientific. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Lorie Soares Lazarus
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in Silicon Valley.
Lazarus is a transactional real estate attorney with significant experience representing real estate investors of all types, including institutional lenders, borrowers, domestic and international commercial banks, investment funds, REITs, other private equity investors and their advisors, and other investors and property owners, in connection with a wide variety of commercial real estate transactional matters nationwide. She handles all aspects of the transactional real estate life cycle and represents all sides in real estate deals, including secured and unsecured lending and borrowing, inter-creditor and lender-group arrangements, post-closing asset management, workouts, loan restructurings, loan settlements, deeds-in-lieu, foreclosures, ownership, management and disposition of property, including REO, acquisitions, build-to-suit and forward purchases and ground leasing.
Peter David Ballance
joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in Century City.
Ballance represents lenders, borrowers, developers, and property owners in various commercial real estate transactions nationwide. He provides clients with significant experience in commercial real estate financing, including loan workouts and purchasing and selling improved and unimproved real property. Representing institutional lenders, financial institutions, developers, and other property owners, he is familiar with many forms of financing and acquisition, as well as acquisition and disposition transactions and related matters. He is fluent in securitized lending, mezzanine loans, and construction loans, and his transactions have touched on a wide range of property types, including office, industrial, residential, multifamily, retail, and mixed-use. Ballance possesses real-time, in-depth market knowledge and extensive national experience advising lenders and borrowers throughout the loan life cycle. A significant part of his practice is the representation of institutional lenders in loan restructurings and workouts, foreclosures, deed-in-lieu and deed-in-the-box transactions, and positioning REO assets for sale. He advises clients on nonperforming loans and distressed real estate in all asset classes.
Parker Shaffie LLP
Joel A. Osman
was promoted to partner of Parker Shaffie LLP in Los Angeles.
Throughout his career, Osman has represented clients in cases involving professional liability, general liability, product liability, construction defect and commercial litigation, trying numerous jury trials to verdict. At various points throughout his career, including his tenure with Parker Shaffie, much of his work has focused on the law of lawyering including representing plaintiffs and defendants in legal malpractice actions, representing lawyers who are the object of complaints made to the State Bar and providing advice on legal ethics.
Sidley Austin LLP
Andrea Lucan
joined Sidley Austin LLP as partner in Los Angeles.
A partner in Sidley's Energy, Transportation, and Infrastructure group, Lucan has garnered substantial praise for her transactional work in the renewable energy space. Lucan advises clients in project development and financing, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financing, equipment purchase and sale agreements, and power purchase agreements. Her practice focuses on companies engaged in the development, construction, and operation of solar power, wind power, energy storage, and alternative energy projects.
King & Spalding LLP
Matthew H. Dawson
was promoted to partner of King & Spalding LLP in Silicon Valley.
Dawson focuses on complex commercial litigation, including matters involving contract and technology licensing disputes, misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud, and related commercial torts. He has substantial experience defending class actions and multi-plaintiff mass actions. Dawson represents both early-stage ventures and Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. His promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Amy L. O'Neill
was promoted to partner of King & Spalding LLP in Sacramento.
O'Neill focuses on representing healthcare clients in complex litigation and arbitration, including contracted and non-contracted managed care work. Amy has significant experience preparing and presenting claim denial cases dealing with medical necessity denials, notification and authorization denials, timely filing, and rate calculation disputes. O'Neill has litigated against all the big five significant payors in the healthcare industry and many smaller ones. She also has experience negotiating revisions to contract provisions between providers and plans and working with plans to agree on compliance with contract terms. She has the experience and skills necessary to take her clients through the completion of the litigation process or to act on behalf of her clients in negotiating favorable settlements. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Jenny Pelaez
was promoted to partner of King & Spalding LLP in Los Angeles.
Pelaez focuses her practice on complex commercial and class action litigation at the trial and appellate levels. She has extensive experience representing a diverse group of clients in high-stakes matters involving claims under antitrust, securities and consumer protection laws, as well as a variety of contract and tort claims. She also regularly represents public companies and individuals in a wide range of industries in securities class action and derivative litigation. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Blythe Golay Kochsiek
was promoted to counsel of King & Spalding LLP in Los Angeles.
Kochsiek represents clients in government-facing investigations and litigation, corporate internal investigations, and related complex business litigation. Her promotion is effective Jan. 1.
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld
Maya Campbell
joined Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld as associate in San Francisco.
Campbell served as an inaugural law clerk to the Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the Central District of California. Previously, she was a litigation associate at Edelson P.C., where her practice included consumer protection, privacy, and mass torts matters. Maya received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2021 and a B.A. in History from Reed College in 2015.
Adrienne Spiegel
joined Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld as associate in San Francisco.
Spiegel received her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2019 and clerked for the Judge Marsha S. Berzon on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At the East Bay Community Law Center, she representing youth involved in the criminal justice system. Prior to that, she completed a two-year fellowship at Public Justice. She received a B.A. in Philosophy with distinction from Yale University in 2012.
Mari Tanabe
joined Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld as associate in San Francisco.
Tanabe received a J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2022 and a B.A. in English from Stanford University in 2013. During law school, she participated in the housing clinic at East Bay Community Law Center and provided pro bono support through the Berkeley Law Afghanistan Project.
Johnson & Johnson LLP
Daniel Lifschitz
was promoted to partner of Johnson & Johnson LLP in Beverly Hills.
Johnson & Johnson LLP promotes Daniel B. Lifschitz to partner in Los Angeles.
Lifschitz focuses his practice on entertainment and intellectual property litigation, where he has gained a reputation for his comprehensive knowledge of copyright law. He has also led many individual and class actions successfully challenging improper royalty accounting practices in the music, film, and television industries. In addition to his litigation work, Lifschitz serves as an adjunct professor of copyright law at Southwestern Law School and instructor for UCLA Extension's Entertainment Studies program.
Miller Barondess, LLP
Marisa Kovacs
joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.
Kovacs is a litigation associate with experience representing clients in state and federal court in diverse matters, including contract, information privacy, product liability, and white-collar criminal defense.
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2121 Avenue of the Stars, 26th Floor , Los Angeles 90067 United States
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(310) 552-4400
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(310) 552-8400
Carlton Fields
Alon Lagstein
joined Carlton Fields as of counsel in Los Angeles.
Lagstein represents owners, operators, tenants, landlords, borrowers, lenders, investors, and developers in commercial and residential real estate matters, focusing his practice on acquisition and disposition, leasing, financing, and joint ventures. He represents a wide range of clients, including high-net-worth individuals and family offices, startups, private equity firms, financial institutions, and project sponsors.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Michael A. Rome
joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as partner in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Rome focuses his practice on government investigations, enforcement, and complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on privacy and consumer protection matters. He has represented clients in investigations, enforcement actions, and litigations with several government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, attorneys general of several U.S. states, and the Irish Data Protection Commission, among others.
Signature Resolution
Robert J. Sunderland
joined Signature Resolution as neutral in San Diego.
Sunderland started as a home builder specializing in custom homes in Los Angeles. He began attending Southwestern University School of Law, graduating and joining the State Bar in 1997. He built a firm specializing in real estate law, focusing on defending professionals and advocating for over 3,000 real estate licensees. As a full-time neutral at Signature Resolution, Sunderland eagerly looks forward to contributing to the firm's growth and success. His success as a mediator stems from his unwavering commitment to diligent work and quick thinking. He proactively addresses potential obstacles during pre-mediation calls. Drawing from his diverse background and experiences as a participant, he approaches real estate mediation with a balance of evaluative insight, sensitivity, and a unique perspective.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Najeh Baharun
was promoted to partner of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in Los Angeles.
Baharun's practice focuses on representing private equity sponsors, companies and lenders in connection with the structuring, documentation and resolution of a wide variety of financing transactions, including unsecured financings, first and second-lien financings, ABL facilities, bridge facilities, and DIPs. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of credit - from investment grade to distressed debt. The promotion is effective Jan. 1
Joshua Anderson
was promoted to partner of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in San Francisco.
Anderson represents both business and individual clients in arbitration and court litigation at both the trial and appellate levels, and in both individual and class actions. His experience with a wide range of industries and legal issues gives him a creative and innovative perspective on the issues his clients face. The promotion is effective Jan. 1
BG Law
David Poitras
joined BG Law as partner in Los Angeles.
Poitras is a seasoned corporate, bankruptcy, and real estate attorney with over 30 years of diversified experience at private practice law firms and as an in-house general counsel. He joins from Wedgewood, LLC, a large vertically integrated network of companies specializing in real estate and real estate loans, where he served as general counsel and corporate secretary. In this role, he managed contract negotiations and transactional and financing documents and advised on various corporate issues, such as compliance, human resources, regulatory matters, and corporate governance. He also supervised a litigation portfolio of approximately 75 cases, leading a team of ten attorneys and paralegals across two Los Angeles and Las Vegas offices, covering a more than 20-state footprint.
Buchalter
Jose L. Patiño
joined Buchalter as shareholder in San Diego.
Patiño has successfully argued cases before the courts in 20 different states. His expertise also extends to patent litigation-specific proceedings, including appearances before the International Trade Commission, where he has consistently demonstrated his prowess as special intellectual property counsel in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Throughout his career, Patiño has represented an array of prominent companies in various industries, including Atos, Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corporation, ESET, General Motors, Kyocera Corporation, and Lumen Technologies, Inc.
Craig D. Nickerson
joined Buchalter as shareholder in San Diego.
Nickerson's practice primarily centers around litigation, with a strong focus on representing and defending employers in cases related to wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour matters, breach of contract, and other employment-related claims. His expertise extends to advising and counseling employers on various employment-related issues, including personnel matters, termination, reductions in force, accommodations, and wage & hour compliance. He is also known for his work in conducting internal and external investigations, preparing employee handbooks, arbitration agreements, and company policies, as well as delivering training on a range of employment-related topics.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Vivek K. Chavan
joined Greenberg Traurig, LLP as shareholder in Silicon Valley.
Chavan is a Real Estate Shareholder in the firm's Silicon Valley office. He represents clients across a broad range of real estate transactional needs, at two separate levels of investment for clients: (i) fund and joint venture investments and (ii) real estate investments. He has represented numerous clients with the formation of their real estate funds and with their investment or sponsorship in real estate joint ventures. He also represents clients in the acquisition, disposition, financing, development, construction, operation and leasing of real properties throughout the United States, with a particular focus on the industrial, retail, office, forestry, hotel and multi-tenant property sectors. His practice includes a variety of business and transactional real estate matters, including equity, debt and construction financing, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, contributions, OP units, and tax driven structures.
