Gina Lough was promoted to directing attorney of the immigrants' rights project of Public Counsel in Los Angeles.

Lough will assume her new duties on Sept. 6, leading a 30-member team of attorneys, paralegals, administrative staff, and social workers who serve asylum seekers, immigrants in detention, survivors of violent crime, and unaccompanied children.

Scott Leipzig was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Leipzig has been named chair of the firm's global Litigation Department. Leipzig has experience handling complex real estate, partnership, finance, insurance, entertainment, and commercial disputes in state and federal courts, as well as domestic and international arbitration. He is a go-to lawyer for some of the most hotly contested and difficult litigation matters that Allen Matkins handles.

Kate Kraus was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Kraus was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Kraus has extensive experience in tax planning and structuring for partnerships, REITs, Opportunity Zone funds, and other types of investments and taxpayers, including formations, financing transactions, acquisitions, restructurings, debt workouts, liquidations, and bankruptcies. Her clients include real estate funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, Fortune 100 companies, REITs, mid-market companies, high net worth individuals, and Opportunity Zone funds.

Jessica Chu was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Chu was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Chu's practice focuses on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex joint ventures and business transactions for equity investors, financial institutions, developers, and others. She has counseled clients regarding joint ventures and transactions covering a broad range of real property types, including undeveloped land, industrial, master-planned communities, hotels and resorts, commercial office, retail projects, shopping centers, and mixed-use projects.

Kamran Javandel was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in San Francisco, CA.

Javandel has been named co-chair of the firm's Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Group. Javandel's practice focuses on litigating environmental contamination disputes; advising on compliance with environmental laws and regulations; resolving government agency investigations; obtaining project entitlements, permits, and other approvals; and advising on environmental aspects of real estate and business transactions.

Chris Grogan joined Perkins Coie LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Grogan has counseled startups and emerging companies from formation to exit and has advised investors in financing transactions to support companies in their growth process. As a general counsel and attorney, he has worked on equity financing and M&A transactions and has experience leading a legal team as a company increased its workforce, expanded its geographic footprint, diversified its product base, and scaled its revenue.

Clayton S. Friedman joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Friedman represents clients in attorney general regulatory actions and handles regulatory matters involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other local, state, and federal agencies.

Michael Yaghi joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Yaghi represents high-profile clients in regulatory enforcement investigations spanning numerous areas, including advertising campaigns, promotional materials, marketing and sales practices, marketing through emerging media, telemarketing campaigns, email marketing, and other regulatory issues affecting consumer marketing and sales.

Christopher Chiou joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as partner in Los Angeles.

Chiou represents clients in high-stakes complex commercial litigation and investigations, with an emphasis on business disputes. He is experienced in all stages of litigation, from counseling clients before lawsuits are filed through trying cases before juries. He also leads internal investigations on behalf of corporations and advises them on compliance issues, including providing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act training to executives at multinational companies.

Chanel Di Blasi joined Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP as associate in San Diego.

Di Blasi has concentrated her practice on representing landlords' property rights and successfully navigating the regulations that govern their properties - with a particular focus on residential and commercial landlord-tenant disputes, leasing, contracts, affordable housing and compliance.

Ryan T. Moore joined Fox Rothschild LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Moore defends businesses against personal injury, product liability, toxic tort, property damage and other claims at trial and on appeal in state and federal courts. He has particular experience representing businesses in the manufacturing and rail transportation industries in complex commercial litigation.

Courtney Cahill joined The University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor of law in Irvine.

Cahill is a scholar of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, sex equality, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ equality. Her work examines the role of disgust in lawmaking, the synergies between sex equality and LGBTQ equality, and the mutually constitutive relationship between marginal practices (same-sex marriage, alternative reproduction) and mainstream norms.

Cynthia J. Cole joined Baker Mckenzie LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Cole focuses her practice on IP, strategic, and technology transactions; data privacy and cybersecurity. She advises clients across industries including technology, retail, communications, social media, energy and healthcare / life sciences. Cynthia has deep experience in complex cross-border, IP and data-driven transactions. A former general counsel and CEO, she also acts as outside general counsel to a number of executive teams and boards of directors.

Clare Capaccioli Velasquez joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel. as associate in San Jose.

Capaccioli Velasquez works closely with her clients in all stages of litigation including counseling and advising through mediation and trial. She also has relevant experience with Trust and Probate disputes in cases involving financial elder abuse, will and trust contests involving issues of capacity and undue influence, breach of fiduciary duties, removal and surcharge actions, reformation, construction and modification issues, and recovery of trust assets.

Donna Tobar joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as partner in Irvine.

Tobar provides a full range of litigation and counseling services in the areas of construction and suretyship, with experience in government contracting as well. She has successfully represented contractor and surety clients in various legal settings, including litigation (state and federal), mediation, arbitration, and various informal settings including counseling services during contract performance.

Richard Rifenbark joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Centrury City.

Rifenbark's practice is a blend of healthcare regulatory compliance and transactional work. He regularly advises clients on healthcare fraud and abuse laws and other regulatory issues, including the federal anti-kickback statute, stark physician self-referral law, false claims act, state licensing issues, corporate practice of medicine doctrines and state fraud and abuse laws.

Randall Jackson was promoted to executive vice president and associate general counsel of Lionsgate in Los Angeles.

Jackson leads Lionsgate's risk management function, directs the company's IP enforcement strategy, oversees responses to governmental inquiries, manages bankruptcy matters, and advises the c-suite and the company's business units on a wide range of critical strategic issues. Jackson will also oversee Lionsgate's content protection and contract compliance/third-party audit groups, and extend his involvement in corporate transactions and compliance matters.

Daniel Ray Brown joined Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Brown's clients include insurance companies, start-ups, agents, brokers and other stakeholders in the insurance industry. He has extensive experience advising alien or foreign insurers on how to comply with various state laws in placing business; early-stage and developed insurtech entities on regulatory and corporate issues; insureds on exempt and specialty lines; producers on licensing, placement and premium tax issues, including digitization of the process; and insureds on coverage and placement issues. He also advises London market participants on how to comply with US insurance laws, either by becoming admitted insurers or by using a variety of methods of covering US risks without being licensed.

Scott C. Cutrow was promoted to partner of Katten in Century City.

Cutrow's practice focuses on entertainment, media and intellectual property issues. He has experience negotiating film, television and new media development, production and distribution agreements, as well as counseling clients regarding complex entertainment finance transactions, employment contracts and talent agreements for film, television and digital media.

Erinn E. Sheppard was promoted to partner of Katten in Los Angeles.

Sheppard represents creditors and debtors in complex financial transactions. She leads work with other practices to provide well-rounded, informed analyses of issues that affect the lending industry.

Benjamin J. Kim joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Kim's practice is focused on litigating workplace health and safety matters, harassment and discrimination cases involving high-level executives, nationwide and California-wide class and other representative actions, and executive contract and partnership disputes. Ben has also advised entertainment and esports organizations on a variety of workplace-related issues.

Brian Russell joined Hanson Bridgett as counsel in Napa.

Russell's practice areas include business, real estate, land use, CEQA, water rights and natural resources, trademark and municipal law. He has advised clients on contract negotiation, real estate acquisitions, alcohol beverage licensing, drafting purchase agreements, entity formation, and securing land use entitlements in Napa and Sonoma Counties.

Alex Baghdassarian joined Hanson Bridgett in Los Angeles.

Baghdassarian focuses his practice on construction contract administration, development agreements, and claims and litigation, including construction defects and delays, and claims involving defaults and terminations. He handles binding arbitrations, and jury and bench trials in Federal and State Court, and represents clients in Northern and Southern California.

Caroline Cao joined Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP as partner in Sacramento and San Francisco.

Cao's practice focuses on managing securities and corporate finance, cross-border transactions, and real estate matters. She works with clients of all sizes across several industries. She is fluent in Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese and has considerable experience assisting China-based companies with compliance, investments, financing, international licensing, and joint ventures.

Barry G. Edwards joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Edwards practice focuses his practice on commercial retail leasing. Over the past 30 years, he has reviewed and negotiated thousands of leases for owners and operators of shopping centers and commercial properties in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Gregg A. Martin joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Martin primarily represents businesses in the real estate industry, handling jury and non-jury trials, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals. His clients, mostly based in Southern California, are owners and operators of commercial retail spaces, office, and industrial properties. He also has experience with residential income property disputes, as well as disagreements between single family homeowners.

Ann S. Lee joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Lee has more than 20 years of experience in business and real estate litigation, helping clients across industries resolve disputes, assess risks, and achieve their desired outcomes. In 2015, her interest in the significant ways technology was changing business led her to obtain a CIPP/US privacy certification.

Peter A. Dafter joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Dafter counsel's clients in a wide variety of matters relating to professional liability and all forms of civil litigation. He has extensive experience developing and executing legal strategies for insurance defense auto accidents.

Sabrina A. Larson joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Larson's practice focuses on trademark and copyright clearance, prosecution, and enforcement, as well as complex litigation, with an emphasis on intellectual property and commercial litigation. She represents clients in domestic and international trademark clearance, prosecution, and enforcement, including in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and federal court.

Allison Moser joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Moser partners with clients on challenging workplace issues, including internal harassment and discrimination complaints, termination and discipline decisions, wage and hour disputes, reasonable accommodation issues, managing leaves of absence, and protection of proprietary information. She also negotiates and prepares employment-related agreements, drafts and updates employment policies and manuals, and conducts training seminars on employment law compliance.

Brian Horne was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in Los Angeles.

Horne has taken over as Office Managing Partner in charge of the firm's Los Angeles office. Horne's cases involve a variety of industries, and he has won trials involving a wide range of disputes, including patent, trade secret, trademark, trade dress, and breach of contract.

Dr. Andrew N. Merickel was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in San Francisco.

Dr. Merickel's practice focuses on helping clients build and leverage their patent portfolio and navigate the patent landscape in their technology area. Working primarily in patent prosecution, licensing, due diligence, freedom to operate, opinions and challenges to third party patents, he has clients in a wide variety of technology areas, including biotechnology, integrated circuit fabrication, thin film deposition, agriculture and food technology.

Marc Indeglia joined Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Indeglia's practice focuses on securities, financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate representation. He has represented public and private companies and financial institutions such as broker-dealers, investment banks, venture capitalists, private investment funds, and family offices.

Ashley N. Kim joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Kim is a litigation associate whose practice areas include professional liability, employment law, medical malpractice, and construction defect cases.

G. Michael Brelje joined Cappello & Noël LLP as associate in Santa Barbara.

Brelje's practice includes all forms of civil procedure, discovery and motion practice, as well as trial and appellate appearances. He has worked on and tried numerous complex civil and appellate cases, including arguing cases in the California Court of Appeal.

Judge Frederick L. Link joined Judicate West in San Diego.

Link is available as a mediator, arbitrator and private judge for matters statewide. He brings more than 50 years of combined legal experience, including the past four decades as a San Diego County judge. He has presided over a variety of criminal and civil matters, including personal injury, wrongful death, business/commercial, employment, professional and medical negligence, and real estate.

James Sargent joined Glaser Weil LLP as of counsel in Los Angeles.

Sargent provides sophisticated legal counsel to guide corporate and individual clients through a wide range of high stakes commercial and business disputes.

Steven J. Sweeney was promoted to special counsel of Duane Morris LLP in Los Angeles.

Sweeney concentrates his practice in M&A, bank and financial institution regulatory matters, technology law, corporate finance, corporate governance, technology law, bank regulatory matters, and loan and credit transactions. He has extensive experience in a broad range of corporate transactions, with a focus on banking and financial institutions.

Sean Patterson was promoted to special counsel of Duane Morris LLP in San Francisco.

Patterson's practice focuses in the area of complex litigation, including toxic tort and general liability claims. He also represents and defends public agencies in state and federal court, judicial officers and state officials in civil rights actions involving allegations of violation of constitutionally protected rights.