John C. Redding joined Alston & Bird LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Redding joined Alston & Bird as partner in the Los Angeles office.

He joined the firm's financial services and products group and consumer financial services team from Buckley LLP, where he practiced for the last 10 years.

"I was not looking to make a move necessarily, but after speaking with a number of people at the firm including Richard Hays, who is a very dynamic and strategic thinker, it all just really seemed like it would be a great fit," said Redding. "It's a larger firm that doesn't feel as big as it actually is and that's attractive."

Alston & Bird's targeted approach to growth in California and the ability to help grow the practice attracted him to the firm, Redding said.

"It was also important, more generally, to me that the firm represents many of the auto finance and consumer finance clients that I work with in a variety of areas including things like structured finance, litigation and others," he said. "So it was really just a natural fit and allows me to help clients to broaden relationships and it allows me to do more for the clients with whom I work." Redding specializes in consumer finance particularly in auto finance, which he led at Buckley before he started at Alston& Bird June 15. He also advises on matters related to unsecured consumer finance.

He has experience handling regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has represented banks, auto finance companies, private equity firms, investors, loan services, as well as debt purchasers and collectors.

"Much of my practice revolves around defending government enforcement actions and investigations."

Prior to joining Buckley, he worked as general counsel and deputy general counsel at consumer finance companies including Encore Capital Group and and Midland Credit Management Inc.

Diane F. Boyer-Vine

Diane F. Boyer-Vine, who served as legislative counsel for 18 years, will retire in October according to a June 5 announcement from Senate Leader Toni G. Atkins.

Boyer-Vine will retire after 32 years with the State of California Office of Legislative Counsel.

"The Legislative Council oversees three divisions in the Office of Legislative Counsel besides regular administrative staff. One is the legal division that has 80 lawyers plus support staff who drafts the bills, amendments to the bills, opinions, contracts and all the traditional legal work you might think lawyers would do. And then I oversee something called the workplace conduct unit, which was established a few years ago for legislative employees and members and people outside of the legislature to make complaints if there's been inappropriate conduct in the workplace. And then I also oversee what we call the legislative data center, which handles all of the information technology needs for my office and also the legislature," said Boyer-Vine.

During her time in the Office of Legislative Counsel, she has handled matters for the legislature including analysis of the recall of Governor Gray Davis, representing the California Legislature in Steinberg v. Chiang and helping prepare an amicus curiae brief before the U. S. Supreme Court in Keller v. The State Bar of California.

She also helped establish the workplace conduct unit, which she oversees, and has been involved in replacing the state capital annex by leading the legal team working on procurement and legal matters related to it.

Recently, she has also been involved in the discussions surrounding COVID-19 including remote voting.

Boyer-Vine said she does not have anything planned for retirement yet, though her current work is her priority at the moment.

"I feel it's an honor to work for the members of the legislature who are elected by many, many Californians. They're hard working people who serve their constituents and every day, I have learned something new in the law. I tell candidates who come to apply for jobs as lawyers in this office, it's the best practice of law. It's a place where you're going to be at the intersection of policy and law and politics, but you see it from a nonpartisan side. And I truly, 32 years later, am learning something new every day."

She added that once she retires, what she will miss most are her staff and the people she works with.

Her last day as legislative counsel is September 1.

Erika J. Scott was promoted to managing partner of Winer, Burritt & Scott, LLP in Oakland.

With Scott's promotion the firm changes its name. She focuses on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, sexual assault and civil rights violations. She is based in Oakland.

Scott T. Lyon joined Michelman & Robinson, LLP as counsel in Irvine.

Lyon advises clients on evaluating and implementing effective information security practices, developing responsible data governance programs and managing data breach responses and notifications for his clients. He is based in Irvine.

Christopher J. Bors was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Bors advises clients in domestic and cross-border transactions. He is based in Palo Alto.

Robert C. Goldstein was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

Goldstein advises issuers and investment banks in connection with public and private financings. He is based in Los Angeles.

Caroline Van Ness was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Van Ness focuses on commercial civil litigation involving intellectual property, contract and competition issues. She is based in Palo Alto.

Anne E. Villanueva was promoted to counsel of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Villanueva focuses on labor and employment matters including executive and separation agreements, restrictive covenants, reductions-in force and discrimination charges and lawsuits. She is based in Palo Alto.

Sarah Brite Evans as named partner in San Diego, CA

Evans focuses on employment law. With her promotion, the firm changes its name from Schwartz Semerdjian Cauley & Moot. She is based in San Diego.

Martha M. Escutia was promoted to vice president state government relations and special counsel of University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Escutia's career at USC began in 2013 when the university recruited her as its vice president of U.S. government relations.

In that role, she was the liaison between USC and elected representatives and public agencies at the federal, state and local levels of government.

Her title and role changed on June 1 because of an internal adjustment of USC's structure.

Now, she will serve as a bridge between USC's Office of General Counsel and state government.

"I'm in charge of monitoring the state government relations. We have a person in Washington D.C. monitoring federal government relations and we have a person here in L.A. monitoring local government relations. Having been a former senator and former assemblyperson, frankly my sweet spot is state government relations. So that's where I can work most effectively and then with a special counsel title, as I indicated earlier, this allows me to cross-pollinate between government relations and the legal work of the Office of General Counsel," she said.

She'll work with USC's general counsel's office to draft amendments to government policies that aim to make them more responsive to the needs of a private non-profit university and its students.

Escutia also serves on the board of directors of the California Emerging Technology Fund, whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of broadband to unserved and underserved communities.

From 1992 to 1998, Escutia served as a state assemblymember and after that, she was a state senator from 1998 to 2006. She is the first woman in California to chair both the assembly and senate judiciary committees, according to a Escutia.

She entered private practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips after working in the state legislature. Before joining USC, she opened a law firm with a fellow former senator, called The Senator's Firm LLP.

Escutia said her favorite aspect of her work at USC is her ability to interact and advocate for students.

"I went to USC on the Cal Grant, as well as a very generous financial aid package from USC. And over 65% close to 70% of our kids at USC are in financial aid, so that issue really touches home for me."

Alison Watkins joined Perkins Coie LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Watkins joined Perkins Coie as partner in its privacy and security practice group after 13 years at Gibson Dunn.

Based in Palo Alto, Watkins represents technology companies in litigation and provides counsel on privacy matters such as compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.

"I'm spending most of my time these days helping my clients navigate various privacy and consumer protection laws as they build products and services for their users," she said.

Watkins works with established companies in the social media, augmented reality and virtual reality space.

She describes Perkins as the "ideal firm" for her to build her practice.

"Perkins is a tech-oriented firm with a large well-respected privacy practice. Having a deep bench of colleagues with expertise in not only privacy law, but in representing and counseling technology companies with similar issues just enables me to better serve my clients. And also, you also couldn't find a nicer or more welcoming group of attorneys, even in these days of social distancing."

According to Watkins when she was looking to move, the pandemic was something she considered.

"It was certainly a consideration and I was happy to go to Perkins, which has such a strong reputation as a sensible, financially conservative firm. I trusted that it would be a safe move even in these uncertain times."

Watkins said her favorite part of her practice is being able to work hand-in-hand with engineers and product teams on their projects, something she also feels is a unique aspect of her practice.

"I love working with new technologies. I love talking to the engineers, talking to the product team about what they're trying to achieve and how I can help them also meet both privacy laws and also the privacy protections that they want for their users."

"Not all outside lawyers are interested or have experience working directly with product teams and that is a core part of my practice," she added.

Her first day with Perkins Coie was May 18.

Jeffrey S. Horton Thomas joined Fox Rothschild LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Thomas joined Fox Rothschild's labor and employment department as partner in the Los Angeles office. A litigator with 30 years of experience, Thomas joined Fox Rothschild May 11 after two years at Akerman LLP.

"My focus tends to be defending and counseling employers on fair employment issues, so that includes disability discrimination, accommodation, all forms of alleged discrimination, harassment and retaliation, certainly wage and hour disputes and PAGA actions," said Thomas.

In the last five years, he has broadened his practice to include the entertainment, health care, technology, communications and manufacturing industries.

Much of his recent work has been advising clients on COVID-19 related employment matters.

"Fortunately, so far I have been advising employers, not yet handling any legal claims. But there's obviously a great deal going on in the COVID arena. The pace of the legal developments because of COVID is unlike anything I've experienced in my career so far."

"I've been very busy advising clients on their new obligations to provide paid sick leave that is now specific to people impacted by COVID-19. We have the expanded FMLA rights for people impacted by the virus and that has been a big area of confusion for employers and something that they have needed clarity and counsel on," he said. "I've been doing a great deal of counseling regarding furloughs. Now that we are a little further into the pandemic, clients are struggling with a dozen or more significant issues in deciding how to bring people back safely to work and who to bring back into the work site."

Other recent matters include disability discrimination cases and alleged failure to accommodate disabilities, as well as matters related to wage and hour claims.

Thomas' decision to change firms was based on a desire to grow his practice in California and nationally, he said.

"Fox Rothschild has a very respected labor and employment practice group nationally and in particular has a very robust practice in San Francisco and in Los Angeles. Fox is an excellent platform for me to expand my reach," he explained. "It is universally respected along with other top tier firms and an opportunity to join Fox is something I feel very fortunate about."

Thomas said his favorite aspect of his practice is interaction with clients, whether they are in-house counsel or business leaders.

"People who run companies genuinely want to do a good job. They want to build a business. Oftentimes that's their dream," he said. "If I can help them solve a problem in the employment arena so that they can get back to doing what they're doing, or I can prevent the problem in the first place, that's what gets me excited. That's a good day and that makes me happy."

Howard Camhi joined Michelman & Robinson, LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Camhi has 30 years of experience representing clients in complex bankruptcy cases, corporate restructuring and reorganizations. He is based in Los Angeles.

Scott P. DeVries joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as special counsel in San Francisco.

DeVries has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth's insurance coverage practice as special counsel in San Francisco from Winston & Strawn.

DeVries is a former chair of Winston & Strawn's insurance recovery practice. His first day at Hunton Andrews Kurth was May 11. He is a trial lawyer with over three decades of experience.

"My practice has been primarily an insurance recovery practice and I've been doing that largely since the late 1980s. I represent a wide range of businesses with a wide range of insurance issues. It runs the gamut from counseling at the one end through submission of claims and proof of loss through litigation and trial," said DeVries.

He has also represented companies such as Aerojet-General Corp. and Hyundai Motor America. He has also represented businesses in the manufacturing and steel sectors as well as the financial and international retail industries.

In light of the pandemic, a majority of his recent work has included helping clients like restaurants, auto dealerships, law firms and manufacturers with insurance issues, according to DeVries.

After 13 years with Winston & Strawn, DeVries said he decided to move after the firm made the decision to get out of the policyholder's side of the business and represent insurance companies.

"...From a personal practice perspective, [Hunton Andrews Kurth] represents policyholders not insurance companies, so there are no conflicts. They have a 27 attorneys in the insurance recovery group, which gives incredible breadth and depth on all things insurance, and they are extraordinarily client focused, it's first and foremost..," he said.

He was additionally impressed by the firm's management and of the way the San Francisco office's cross disciplinary teams and practices dovetailed nicely with his practice.

"I come to businesses [when] they have extended or are extending considerable losses.. I am there and my practice is there to help them recover those losses and that's pretty cool.."

He added that he also enjoys working with clients across different sectors.

"There is a freshness to seeing all these different operations taking place and learning what I need to learn to give [clients] the services they need for their particular niche."