Braden L. Berg joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as partner in San Francisco.

Berg rejoins the firm after serving as general counsel at Cylance. He focuses on corporate and securities law including venture capital transactions, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He is based in San Francisco.

Bradford Korey Newman joined Baker McKenzie LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Trade secrets litigator Bradford Newman has joined Baker McKenzie as chair of the North American trade secrets practice.

"I focus on helping clients identify and protect their trade secrets and try trade secret cases both for the plaintiff and in cases where defendants are accused of trade secret theft," said Newman. "I also focus on computer forensics and detecting whether data theft occurred, as well as working on artificial intelligence best practices for corporations and AI oversight for corporations."

As the new chair of the practice group, he will lead a group of interdisciplinary attorneys from Canada, the United States and Mexico and form a dedicated practice designed to help clients with data theft and data protection.

Newman has experience working with clients in various industries including technology, biotech and life sciences. In the past, his work has included representing a ride sharing company in a trade secrets case filed by a competitor and representing an electronic game company in a series of lawsuits related to the development of "Call of Duty."

He joined Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto office on April 9 after 15 years at Paul Hastings.

"I wasn't looking to leave Paul Hastings, but Baker McKenzie came along with an incredible opportunity to form and lead this North American trade secret practice group," Newman said. "There are several very accomplished trade secret attorneys throughout Baker McKenzie, and the idea of strategically bringing them all into the same team to create a best-in-class trade secret practice in the marketplace for our clients was a very exciting opportunity that I seized upon."

What makes his practice stand out is his deep knowledge of computer forensics and his experience with legal matters where employment law, intellectual property law, general commercial litigation and tech transactions meet, he said.

"I think there aren't that many practitioners out there who truly spend 100% of their time at that intersection of those four areas doing what I do."

Shawn Collins joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in Newport Beach.

Collins' practice encompasses government and regulatory enforcement defense, internal investigations and compliance counseling, with a particular focus on enforcement actions and investigations related to issues including consumer protection and privacy and data security. He is based in Newport Beach.

Ken D. Kumayama was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Kumayama's practice is focused on transactional matters in intellectual property, technology and privacy. He is based in Palo Alto.

Peter Mair was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

Mair focuses his practice on public and private real estate and corporate real estate transactions. He is based in Los Angeles.

Virginia Milstead was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

As a litigator, Milstead represents clients in commercial litigation matters. She focuses on securities and merger litigation, as well as director misconduct. She is based in Los Angeles.

Carmen J. Cole joined Squire Patton Boggs as partner in Los Angeles.

Cole advises employers on issues such as wage and hour laws, reductions in force, recruitment and hiring, employee classification, leave laws and terminations. She is based in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Dennis Huang joined Squire Patton Boggs as principal in Los Angeles.

Huang focuses on comprehensive estate and business planning. He represents small businesses and individual clients on a variety of matters including trust formation and business succession. He is based in Los Angeles.

Patrick Flynn was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in Palo Alto.

Flynn represents electronics companies in patent litigation matters. He has litigated on cases involving mobile phone software, digital signal processors, networking and programmable mixed signal integrated circuits. He is based in Palo Alto.

Ashe Puri joined Maynard Cooper & Gale LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Puri is a trial lawyer that focuses on patent infringement and trade secret cases throughout the country. He has tried cases involving electronics, computer systems, medical devices and consumer products. He is based in Los Angeles.

Hyun Sik Byun was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in Palo Alto.

Byun represents clients in technology disputes. He has experience in forums including the U.S. District Courts, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the U.S. International Trade Commission and state courts. He is based in Palo Alto.

Susanna K. Sedrak was promoted to partner of Buckley LLP in Los Angeles.

Sedrak focuses on advising financial services industry clients in federal and state regulatory and compliance matters. She is the co-founder of Winnow. She is based in Los Angeles.

Moorari K. Shah was promoted to partner of Buckley LLP in Los Angeles.

Shah represents clients in transactional, licensing, regulatory compliance and government enforcement matters. His clients include banks, fintechs, mortgage and equipment finance companies and auto lenders. He is based in Los Angeles.

Mark D. Passin joined McPherson LLP as of counsel in Los Angeles.

Entertainment litigator Mark D. Passin has joined McPherson as of counsel. He joins the firm after 11 years at Robins Kaplan, where he served as chair of the entertainment media group.

His first day with McPherson was April 1.

"I represent primarily artists in litigations against major record companies, music publishing companies and motion picture companies in all sorts of disputes. A lot of times, they're either royalty audit disputes or profit participation disputes," said Passin. "So again in the music industry they are royalty audit cases often, or they're breach of contract cases. And in the motion picture [industry], I do a fair amount of profit participation cases. I also do a fair amount of copyright infringement work and copyright termination issues."

With 38 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Passin has represented high profile clients including Cher, The Ray Charles Foundation, Poison and Axl Rose.

According to Passin, what made him decide to move to McPherson were the similarities between his practice and founder Ed McPherson's practice and the flexibility the opportunity presented.

"Ed McPherson's practice is very similar and compatible with mine. And I thought it'd be nice to get back to a small firm, where I had more flexibility on the types of cases that I can take."

At McPherson, Passin hopes to continue with his artist-oriented practice and to continue promoting the cause of artists against the major record companies and motion picture and television studios.

For Passin, what makes his practice unique is the focus on artists.

"You know, it's very hard to find a firm that has an artist-oriented practice. Most of the firms, especially the big firms, represent the studios and the record companies."

Ryan Michael Buschell was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in San Francisco.

Buschell's practice covers civil litigation and arbitration matters and is focused on securing insurance coverage for policyholders. He is based in San Francisco.

Dino Tovar Barajas joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Barajas joined DLA Piper's finance practice in Los Angeles, where he is co-chair of the U.S. projects and infrastructure group as well as the Latin American corporate and finance practice.

Barajas joined the firm from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Before joining DLA Piper, he led the Latin America practices at three international law firms and has received many accolades of along the way. He has been practicing for 26 years.

"My practice is pretty evenly split between U.S. and Latin America, and I do a lot of work in energy, particularly in power, but I've worked across sectors," he said.

Barajas said his mentor taught him to move with the market and anticipate trends before they become trends and to not "simply learn one instrument."

"Multitask and learn to play every instrument of the band because you never know what instrument somebody wants to hear you play and what need arises," he said. "So from that point of view, I've had a fairly eclectic practice in terms of where I've worked."

Although, his practice is mostly focused on U.S. and Latin America, Barajas' work has touched other jurisdictions, including on a deal in Yemen.

Barajas focuses on domestic and international project development and finance, specializing in Latin American infrastructure projects, debt financings and mergers and acquisitions.

His client list includes international corporations and their interests in Latin America, including lenders, investors and developers in project financing in the energy, power, infrastructure and commercial sectors.

Beyond providing legal advice, Barajas said he strives to be a business advisor and actively look for future opportunities for his clients.

When considering his move to DLA Piper after 10 years at Akin Gump, Barajas took time to ensure the move benefited his clients. "I think now the Modus Operandi for most people is they're jumping around every two or three years, and it almost looks like musical chairs. But in terms of my old platform, great platform, great people to work with, but in terms of the platform that DLA offered me and offered my clients, which I try to prioritize, was that they were everywhere at least in terms of Latin America that I needed to be."

According to Barajas, travel was his favorite part of his practice, but today it's something different.

"Thankfully, I've had the opportunity to do a lot of first-of-their-kind deals. A number of them have been recognized deals of the year and other market recognitions," he said. "So that's always kept my practice fun and interesting. You know, you never dip your toe in the same river twice, kind of thing."

Paul Skip Spaulding joined Shartsis Friese LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Spaulding has over 30 years of experience litigating and counseling clients on matters regarding environmental, natural resources and land use. He is based in San Francisco.

Kevin Leiske joined Shartsis Friese LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Previously with a firm in Austin, Leiske advises clients on all stages ofctheir operations. He handles domestic and international federal income taxation of corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies. He is based in San Francisco.

James Neudecker joined Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Neudecker joined Jeffer Mangels' litigation practice after 18 years at Reed Smith. His first day was
March 25.

A litigator, Neudecker said he considers himself a generalist.

"I've touched just about every area of litigation," he said. "Right now, or for the past few years, I would say probably about 80% of my litigation is commercial litigation or consumer facing litigation."

In the past, his clients have included companies such as Renovate America and FirstGroup as well as businesses that own and operate bars and restaurants along with other events in San Francisco.

Neudecker said he gave his move a great deal of thought and found Jeffer Mangels "by far and away the most appealing" option that presented itself.

"[Jeffer Mangels] really presented a truly unique opportunity. It's a large enough firm that, it's full service, and they can handle the most complex litigation yet it's a small enough, it's about 120 lawyers, where you know every person not just every lawyer, but every person on a first name basis and they have a real California focus. Their litigation capabilities are nationwide, but their offices are in San Francisco, LA and Orange County. So, it was a truly unique place in my view and a truly unique opportunity."

He anticipates his practice's focus to stay primarily the same with the move.

At Jeffer Mangels, Neudecker hopes to build his practice and do quality legal work with top notch colleagues.

"Being a generalist, you're going to work on a lot of different types of cases and a lot of different business sectors and you're constantly learning new things about new companies in different industries," he said. "There's not a lot of cutting and pasting in the business litigation work that I do. There's a lot of variety, every case is different, and it's an opportunity to learn about a lot of different things and a lot of different areas."