Heidi Mayon joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Mayon focuses her practice on corporate finance transactions, advising issuers and underwriters on a wide range of securities matters, including public company readiness, initial public offerings and complex follow-on equity and debt capital markets offerings. She has extensive experience across numerous industries, including technology, healthcare and life sciences, fintech and payments, marketplaces and retail, energy and clean technology.

John M. Polson was promoted to chairman and managing partner of Fisher & Phillips LLP in Los Angeles and Irvine.

Polson leads the firm's Management Committee and is co-chair of the firm's PEO and Staffing Industry Team and co-leads the firm's Gig Economy Industry Team. His practice includes compliance, litigation, contracts, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and startup representation. He is a trusted advisor to professional employer organizations and clients in the staffing and human resources outsourcing industries.

James Di Cesare joined Judicate West as neutral in Santa Ana.

Di Cesare is based in Orange County but available for mediations and arbitrations statewide. Appointed to the bench by Gov. Gray Davis in 2001, Di Cesare has nearly five decades of experience in law.

Benjamin B. Buckwalter joined Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP as partner in Silicon Valley (Redwood City).

Buckwalter's practice will focus on regulatory and compliance support for companies and funds focused on the financial technology industry.

WIlliam O. Stein joined Fisher & Phillips LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Stein defends businesses in high-stakes employment lawsuits including those involving wrongful termination, harassment, disability, and trade secret claims.

Cassandra Robinson joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP as attorney in San Diego.

Robinson's practice focuses on family law, personal injury, bankruptcy, probate, and real estate law. She clerked at the State Bar of California, where she gained incomparable experience evaluating complaints of attorney misconduct.

Ron B. Birnkrant joined Greenberg Traurig, LLP as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Birnkrant has a broad mergers and acquisitions practice, representing private and public companies on both buy- and sell-side transactions. He is experienced advising clients on a wide range of legal and business issues relating to acquisitions and divestitures, including advising on corporate restructurings and recommending and implementing remedial measures in advance of going to market, with the goal of reducing his clients' backend exposure. Ron's practice also extends to distressed mergers and acquisitions, where he works closely with the firm's restructuring and bankruptcy attorneys.

In addition, Birnkrant serves as outside general counsel to a number of clients, advising on corporate governance matters, day-to-day corporate matters, and commercial contracts. He has considerable experience with limited liability companies and regularly advises these clients on financing transactions and the issuance of equity incentives.

Birnkrant's experience extends across a broad array of industries, but, in particular, he has considerable experience advising on M&A transactions in the life sciences, technology, consumer products, apparel, defense, and logistics sectors.

Benjamin J. Mandel joined Miller Barondess LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Mandel is a civil litigator who represents clients in diverse matters including real estate, general liability, fraud, employment, sports and entertainment, and contract disputes.

John V. Berlinski joined Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks, Lincenberg & Rhow, P.C. as principal in Los Angeles.

Berlinski is regarded as one of Hollywood's most respected lawyers, with a practice focused on representing top actors, producers, directors, talent agencies, guilds, independent studios, casinos, resorts, and recording artists in their most significant disputes. He has been at the forefront of some of the most hot-button legal issues facing the entertainment industry today, representing clients in high-stakes and high-profile licensing, distribution, intellectual property, residuals, and "backend" profit participation disputes. In a case that drew national attention, John represented the actor-producer Scarlett Johansson in her groundbreaking lawsuit alleging that The Walt Disney Co. improperly failed to release her film Black Widow as promised, opting instead for a "day-and-date" release on streaming service Disney+ that deprived Ms. Johansson of tens of millions of dollars in box office bonuses. Berlinski is also well renowned for his role in obtaining the largest award in the history of profit participation arbitration, on behalf of David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, and Kathy Reichs, the actors and author-producer behind the hit Fox television series Bones.

Collin Chandler joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney (Sacramento).

Chandler advises clients on an array of substantive legal issues including professional liability defense, products defect, general civil litigation, construction, real estate, as well as providing counsel to privately held businesses.

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

Sanchez represents companies in all asset categories - supporting and advising clients on leasing transactions that include retail, office, financial, life science, mixed use, industrial, telecommunications and solar leases and on purchase and sale transactions. In addition to her breadth of commercial real estate experience, Sanchez has handled a variety of business and transactional matters, including licensing, consultant, easement, access, vendor, co-marketing, service and management agreements.

Maureen Linch joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as partner in Bay Area.

Linch's practice includes the tax aspects of M&A and other transactional matters, as well as structuring and planning, for companies ranging from start-ups to large multinationals at all stages of their life cycle. She also has expertise in the tax aspects of renewable energy investments and bankruptcies and restructurings.

Marcela Robledo joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as partner in Bay Area.

Robledo's practice focuses on technology transactions and advising public and private clients across industries on the IP, privacy and cybersecurity aspects of corporate matters. Robledo's experience includes advising leading technology companies and video game developers on licensing agreements, strategic partnerships and mergers and acquisitions.

Ariel E. Vento joined Knox Ricksen LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Vento's litigation experience affords her a variety of perspectives on insurance and healthcare-fraud matters. She has handled a high-volume disability rights cases and has handled multiple jury trials and managed more than 100 pretrial cases simultaneously.

Lindsay Puckett joined Stoel Rives LLP as of counsel in San Diego.

Puckett represents public and private clients in transactional and litigation matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), endangered species and habitat conservation plans, land use entitlements, conservation easements, alternative energy, coastal development, water issues, and Native American tribes. She also helps her clients obtain local, state and federal permits, including those from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Francesca Grea was promoted to partner of Fox Rothschild LLP in Los Angeles.

Grea provides strategic guidance to clients in the entertainment industry, helping them identify, create and capitalize on opportunities to grow their brands, careers and businesses across multiple platforms. Focused on transactional law, she drafts and negotiates agreements that govern actors', writers', directors', producers' and other creatives' most important projects, protecting their interests and maximizing their return.

Joshua A. Edwards was promoted to partner of Fox Rothschild LLP in Los Angeles.

Edwards provides strategic guidance on a wide range of film, television and production agreements for above-the-line talent, independent producers and production companies. A former talent representative, he has significant experience at the negotiation table, complemented by a macro-level understanding of the film and television industry and in-depth knowledge of the deal terms available to above-the-line talent, producers and production companies.

Brian R. Michael joined Morrison & Foerster LLP. as partner in Los Angeles.

Michael's global practice also focuses on providing crisis management and compliance counseling, including on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and anti-corruption; cybersecurity and data privacy; FinTech, blockchain technology, and digital currency; trade sanctions; and workplace conduct matters. He leads global risk assessments and helps to design and implement multi-jurisdictional compliance programs.

Matthew S. Brady joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as partner in Irvine.

Brady represents manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers in product liability, toxic tort, environmental and other general liability issues, including cases arising out of exposures to asbestos and other hazardous materials.

Nancy Ngyuen Sims joined Baker Mckenzie LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Sims, is a commercial litigator with a focus on complex business disputes and investigations, has successfully defended dozens of class actions and handled multiple litigation matters involving an amount in controversy exceeding $100 million. She is fluent in both Vietnamese and English.

Tambry Lynette Bradford was promoted to office managing partner of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP. in Los Angeles.

Bradford represents individuals and public and private companies throughout the United States. She regularly serves as lead trial counsel for clients facing high-stakes litigation. Her practice encompasses a wide range of complex commercial litigation matters involving claims of fraud, unfair competition, due process violations, contract disputes, and products liability. She advises clients in state and federal courts throughout the country and has handled appeals in California state appellate courts and the Ninth Circuit.

Kalama M. Lui-Kwan was promoted to office managing partner of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP. in San Francisco.

Lui-Kwan has a national litigation practice representing parties in complex commercial disputes arising out of M&A deals. He also represents consumer-facing companies in class actions and regulatory investigations. He regularly advises fintechs and national banks on regulatory and compliance matters and counsels financial institutions on the development of new products and services with their partners in the fintech space.

David S. Kupetz joined Locke Lord LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Kupetz advises companies in out-of-court restructurings in a variety of industries, including entertainment, real estate, retail and technology. He ‎represents clients on all sides of bankruptcy, crafting reorganization plans on behalf ‎of debtors, representing secured and unsecured creditors and advising buyers ‎looking to purchase assets from bankruptcy estates. He has also facilitated hundreds ‎of assignments for the benefit of creditors and managed municipal debt adjustment ‎negotiations for government entities.

Timothy (Tim) Reed joined Ogletree Deakins as shareholder in the San Francisco office of Ogletree Deakins.

Reed represents employers both in the courtroom and before administrative agencies with respect to a wide range of employment law claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, trade secrets, breach of contract, economic tort, and wage-and-hour matters. He also regularly conducts workplace investigations and provides employers with preventive counsel regarding personnel management and policy issues.

Lauren Wood joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as associate in San Diego.

Wood's practice focuses on employee benefits and compliance, investment and taw law, international finance and tax planning and controversy.

Allyson N Werner joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as associate in San Diego.

Werner represents individual clients and diverse businesses on a wide range of litigation and appellate matters.

Jake D. Sesti joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as associate in San Diego.

Sesti assists clients in a wide range of complex litigation disputes.

Michael W Hervey joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as associate in San Diego.

Hervey represents a wide range of clients, including high-net worth individuals in the areas of estate and gift tax liability, tax planning, trust formation and administration.

Arsen Kourinian joined Mayer Brown as partner in Los Angeles.

Kourinian provides practical and operational guidance on how to harmonize data privacy laws and standards into uniform policies, procedures and practices. He regularly helps clients with privacy policies, adtech standards and data flows, cross-border data transfers, data privacy and security due diligence assessments for mergers and acquisitions, vendor contracts, privacy by design and human resources data.

Erica Michelle Chavez joined Wilshire Law Firm as partner in Los Angeles.

Chavez handles personal injury matters