Lee C. Cheng joined Maschoff Brennan as shareholder in Irvine.

Cheng's practice spans a broad array of disciplines, from corporate transactional work, M&A, governance, to intellectual property, licensing and litigation management and advice. He has delivered uniquely positive outcomes for clients in both commercial and intellectual property litigation matters. Lee is regarded as a national expert on defending companies against frivolous patent assertions and other types of extortionary litigation.

Charles S. Barquist joined Maschoff Brennan as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Barquist is a trial lawyer and IP litigator. His practice is focused on business litigation including patents and other intellectual property, antitrust and unfair competition, and dispute resolution for technology companies.

Katherine L. McDaniel joined Arendsen Cane Molnar LLP as head of intellectual property department in Beverly Hills.

McDaniel focuses her practice on trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, rights of publicity, domain names and related intellectual property for clients that are usually startups and small- to medium-sized companies.

Hector A. Agdeppa was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego.

Agdeppa is a member of the firm's intellectual property practice group. He specializes in patent preparation and prosecution in the electrical, mechanical and computer software arts and is well-versed in the management and monetization of patent portfolios.

Gregory L. Berk was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Orange County.

Berk leads the firm’s immigration practice and is a member of the labor and employment practice group. He has more than 20 years of experience advising on all aspects of U.S. immigration matters. Berk assists employers worldwide with the hiring and retention of foreign national talent. He also works with investors on E-2 and EB-5 matters, as well as I-9 and other immigration compliance matters.

Jennifer L. Chavez was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego.

Chavez is a member of the firm’s real estate, land use and environmental practice group. Her practice focuses on land use and development matters, including purchase and sale transactions and compli-ance with the California Environmental Quality Act, the Subdivision Map Act, the Coastal Act and plan-ning and zoning laws as well as other general real estate transactional matters.

Erinn M. Contreras was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Francisco.

Contreras is a member of the firm’s business trial practice group. She is also leader of the construction team. Contreras represents owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors and construction lenders in all stages of construction projects.

John F. Golembesky was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego.

Golembesky is a member of the firm’s corporate practice group. He regularly represents healthcare providers, private equi-ty firms and strategic investors in connection with the purchase and sale of healthcare businesses. He also serves as out-side general counsel to many large, multi-specialty medical groups and advises them on complex hospital affiliations, phy-sician compensation plans, corporate governance, and operational matters.

Justin J. Hepworth was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Orange County.

Hepworth is a member of the firm’s tax, employee benefits, and trusts and estates practice group. He handles a range of state and local tax matters, from planning, compliance, and transactional matters to controversy matters in audit and through litigation. He also regularly advises clients on state and local tax implications of restructurings, mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs and asset sales.

Whitney A. Hodges was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego.

Hodges is a member of the firm’s real estate, land use and natural resources practice group. Her practice focuses on advising and representing major residential, industrial, commercial and mixed-use development projects as well as Native American Indian tribes and renewable energy developers through all phases of the land use regulatory process and environmental compliance.

Rachel T. Hudson was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Francisco.

Hudson is a member of the firm’s intellectual property practice group. She focuses her practice on clients in the retail, food and beverage, and technology sectors. She advises clients conducting advertising campaigns, contests and sweepstakes, and cause marketing campaigns on substantiation, clearance, and legal compliance. Hudson also counsels clients on compliance with e-mail, telephone, and SMS marketing regulations.

Siraj Husain was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Palo Alto.

Husain is a member of the firm’s intellectual property practice group. He focuses his practice on intellectual property and patent strategy in various technical areas with an emphasis in software and computer science. He specializes in building and managing patent portfolios, both in the United States and internationally.

Jonathan D. Moss was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles.

Moss is a member of the firm’s business trial practice group. His practice entails handling complex business disputes, class action defense, securities litigation, shareholder derivative lawsuits, corporate dissolution actions, entertainment litiga-tion, real estate disputes and defending allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and fraud.

Adam A. Shipley was promoted to partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego and New York.

Shipley is a member of the firm’s corporate practice group. His practice focuses on representing clients in a variety of complex transactions in several industries, including energy, manufacturing, healthcare, industrials, life sciences and information technology. Shipley has extensive experience negotiating and managing company sale transactions, having advised many private equity and strategic buyers and sellers in buyout transactions.

Matthew A. Portnoff joined Venable LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Portnoff is a member of the firm's corporate and business transactions tax practices. He focuses on federal, state, and local tax matters as well as a broad range of business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, real estate taxation, tax credits and tax-exempt financing, nonprofit taxation, and general business planning. In addition to his transactional practice, Portnoff regularly handles tax controversy issues in judicial and administrative forums at the federal, state, and local levels. He also has significant experience representing clients investing and operating in the commercial cannabis industry in accordance with applicable state laws.

Ohyoung Denny Kwon joined Covington & Burling LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Kwon represents numerous public and private companies, private equity firms, and investment banks in a wide range of M&A transactions. His transactional experience includes the acquisition and sale of domestic and foreign public companies, private companies, divisions, and other assets for cash, stock, and other consideration, structured as mergers, stock sales, asset sales, mergers of equals, leveraged buy-outs, going-private transactions, tender offers, unsolicited offers, and proxy contests.

Charles K. Kolstad joined Withers as partner in Los Angeles.

Kolstad is a member of the firm's private client, tax and corporate teams. He focuses his practice on international tax, corporate and partnership matters, assisting clients in tax and corporate planning relating to the acquisition, disposition and restructuring of businesses, corporations and partnerships both domestically and internationally.

S. Eva Wolf joined Withers as partner in Los Angeles.

Wolf is a member of the firm’s private client and tax team. She brings tax planning knowledge from spending four years as an attorney at the Internal Revenue Service.

Scott E. Adamson joined Alston & Bird LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Adamson represents public and private strategic and financial buyers and sellers, emerging businesses, and family offices and business owners in transactions spanning leveraged buyouts, carve-outs, 363 asset sales, and going-private deals.

Aldo E. Ibarra was promoted to partner of Nixon Peabody LLP in San Francisco.

Ibarra represents clients in the areas of wildfire litigation and tree law, construction defect, bankruptcy and personal injury. He also works with special servicers in connection with the recovery of bank loans.

Christopher M. Mooney was promoted to partner of Nixon Peabody LLP in San Francisco.

Mooney focuses his practice on strategic patent counseling, patent prosecution and patent litigation. He advises large companies to maximize the value of their IP assets and works with well-funded startups to build strategic patent portfolios for defensive and offensive purposes.

Edward J. Campbell was promoted to partner of Nixon Peabody LLP in Los Angeles.

Campbell handles regulatory and transactional matters involving the acquisition, financing, development, asset management, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable and multifamily housing developments using low-income tax credits, various U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidy programs and Federal Housing Administration loan products.

Angelica Valencia was promoted to partner of Nixon Peabody LLP in Los Angeles.

Valencia serves as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in financings involving multifamily housing projects, utilities, transportation, nonprofits, higher education and student loans. Puerto Rico is a key area of focus for Valencia. She serves as bond counsel to a number of different agencies in the U.S. territory in issuance of bonds and other financings. She also serves as counsel to the Build America Bureau, which provides financing for a range of transportation projects across the United States.

Tina L. Baravarian was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Baravarian is a member of the firm's products liability practice.

Elizabeth A. Burns was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Francisco.

Burns is a member of the firm’s health care practice. She specializes in the defense of health care providers including acute care and sub acute hospitals, long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, physicians, nurses, group homes for the disabled, home health agencies, residential board and care homes and other health care facilities.

Christopher D. Chaplin was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Chaplin focuses his practice in the defense of general liability matters involving personal injury, premises liability, wrongful death and catastrophic loss.

Amy R. Freeland was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Bernardino.

Freeland is a member of the firm’s construction practice. Her practice focuses on matters including construction defect litigation, product liability and general liability.

Kristine M. Scribner was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Sacramento.

Scribner is a member of the firm’s general liability practice. She handles a variety of cases including those in the area of general liability, public entity defense, professional liability and employment law. She represents a variety of clients, including local businesses and entrepreneurs and various California public entities in matters involving fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, entity dissolution, real property rights, California Government Tort Claims, intellectual property and trademark registration.

Lovee D. Sarenas was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Sarenas is a member of the firm’s bankruptcy & insolvency practice. She has represented corporate and individual debtors, turnaround professionals and creditors in chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court workouts, corporate wind downs, and chapter 7 liquidations. Corporate clients range from small businesses to publicly traded corporations and startups in the retail, winery and technology-based industries.

Roxanne Reyna was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Bernardino.

Reyna is a member of the firm’s health care practice. She focuses on health care defense, including elder abuse and medical malpractice. Reyna has experience in the defense of longterm care facilities, hospitals, physicians, and residential care facilities. She also has experience in general liability and personal injury actions.

Marcus J. Lee was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Francisco.

Lee is a member of the firm’s labor & employment and Korean business and litigation practices. He represents and counsels employers in all employment-related matters – litigation, risk management and policy preparation.

Jacqueline G. Go was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Francisco.

Go is a member of the firm’s workers’ compensation practice.

Thomas J. Betts was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in San Diego.

Betts is a member of the firm's workers' compensation practice. He represents self-insured employers, third party administrators, and carriers at Workers' Compensation Appeals Boards throughout California.

Stacy R. Horth-Neubert joined Sidley Austin LLP as counsel in Los Angeles.

Horth-Neubert focuses her practice on commercial litigation, multi-district litigation and class actions, federal and state appeals, international arbitration, and administrative appeals. She has advised clients on matters including state and local regulation, commercial contact disputes, and unfair business practices and false advertising. Horth-Neubert has also represented several internet-based enterprises and large companies in such industries as design, entertainment, fashion, and travel and leisure.

Todd A. Pickles joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as of counsel in Los Angeles.

Pickles represents clients in white-collar matters and investigations as well as in business litigation, tort, employment, constitutional, and environmental claims.

Charles O. Thompson joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as shareholder in San Francisco.

Thompson focuses his practice on employment litigation and counseling representing clients through all phases of class actions and single plaintiff cases.

Corey Cabral was promoted to senior counsel of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP in Sacramento.

Cabral represents local, regional and national employers in all aspects of California labor and employment law and related litigation. He has extensive experience with litigation involving claims of individual wage and hour violations, gender, disability and age discrimination, retaliation, harassment, defamation and wrongful termination.

Richard Y. Chen joined Seyfarth Shaw LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Chen's practice focuses on a broad range of labor and employment matters, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful discharge disputes arising under Title VII and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. He is an experienced litigator, handling jury trials, administrative hearings and mediations. Chen represents Fortune 1000 companies in a variety of industries.

Simon L. Yang was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Los Angeles.

Yang represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment litigation, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, wage and hour, business torts, and class action matters.

Aaron Belzer was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Los Angeles.

Belzer focuses on counseling and defending public and private companies in general and complex commercial disputes in both state and federal courts.

Kathleen McConnell was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in San Francisco.

McConnell focuses on data analytics, electronic discovery, information governance, and data privacy.

Ryan Pinkston was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in San Francisco.

Pinkston has handled disputes involving a variety of subject matters, including bankruptcy litigation, corporate reorganizations and liquidations, receiverships, director and officer liability, complex fraud and business torts, commercial litigation, and health care and pension plan fraud.

Christine S. Kim was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Los Angeles.

Kim handles a variety of commercial real estate transactions for private funds, financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies and other companies.

Galina Krivitsky was promoted to partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Los Angeles.

Krivitsky’s practice concentrates on a variety of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing transactions as well as loan assumptions, construction and permanent real estate financing, and all aspects of due diligence.

Nicole McLaughlin joined Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP as partner in Long Beach.

McLaughlin is a litigation attorney with a focus on environmental and complex commercial litigation. She has handled a wide array of cases, including environmental, breach-of-contract, franchise dispute, premise liability and intellectual property matters.

Kristin Hobbs was promoted to partner of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP in Claremont.

Hobbs' practice is in the area of insurance bad faith, personal injury and class actions.

Sander Alvarez joined Hunt Ortmann Palffy Nieves Darling & Mah Inc. as senior counsel in Pasadena.

Alvarez focuses on insurance litigation and appeals involving all types of first- and third-party insurance policies, including commercial general liability, products liability, D&O and E&O, environmental pollution liability and cyber liability, among others. He counsels clients on general tort litigation matters and has particular expertise in the areas of environmental coverage litigation.

Aaron J. Flores was promoted to shareholder of Hunt Ortmann Palffy Nieves Darling & Mah Inc. in Pasadena.

Flores has been involved in the construction industry for more than two decades, representing businesses and public agencies across all industry sectors, including heavy industrial, transportation, infrastructure, architectural and engineering, commercial, retail and residential.

Nathan A. Cohen was promoted to partner of Peckar & Abramson P.C. in Los Angeles.

Cohen focuses on construction law, commercial litigation, real estate, corporate compliance and internal investigations.

Deborah L. Stein joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Stein is a complex commercial litigator with experience in matters spanning cybersecurity, trade secrets, insurance and reinsurance, securities and consumer class actions, joint venture disputes, and business practice disputes. She also regularly advises clients on False Claims Act matters and whistleblower allegations of fraud.

Drew R. Hansen joined Nossaman LLP as partner in Orange County.

Hansen will serve as co-chair of the firm's employment practice group and chair of the firm's trucking, logistics and warehouse industry practice group. He is an employment lawyer and business litigator specializing in defending companies against wage and hour class actions, PAGA claims, individual employment disputes, complex commercial lawsuits, and unfair business practice claims.

Roy Z. Silva joined Nossaman LLP as partner in Orange County.

Silva will serve as co-chair of the firm’s employment practice group. His areas of expertise include mortgage banking/lender liability, employment counseling and litigation, and appellate litigation. He represents clients in regulated industries throughout California.

Seth M. Goldstein joined Nossaman LLP as of counsel in Orange County.

Goldstein focuses on the representation of employers, particularly those in the transportation industry, with an emphasis on the defense of class and collective actions and other complex matters.

Eric M. Gruzen joined JML Law, APLC as partner in Woodland Hills.

Gruzen has extensive employment experience, helping employees in employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower, wrongful termination, wage theft as well as class actions. He worked for many years defending management-side cases and now brings that knowledge to the employee side to represent employees whose rights have been violated.

Jon D. Feldhammer joined Baker Botts LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Feldhammer represents businesses and high net-worth individuals in tax disputes covering the range of income, estate and gift, international, and employment tax issues at the IRS and California administrative levels and before federal and state courts.

Shaye Diveley was promoted to principal of Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson PLC in Oakland.

Diveley is a member of the firm's land use and environmental law practice group. She has more than 17 years of experience with complex issues involving land use and zoning, and natural resources and environmental law compliance and litigation.

Zoë K. Wilhelm was promoted to partner of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Los Angeles.

Wilhelm has a diverse litigation practice with a focus on class actions, accounting and valuation litigation, and general business disputes. She handles complex financial issues, including those related to allocations, the valuation of pass-through entities, and discount rates.

Nicolas P. Martin was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP in San Francisco.

Martin defends companies and individuals sued in products liability, premises liability, toxic tort and general litigation matters. His clients include national and local manufacturers, retailers, property owners and entrepreneurs in a wide variety of service, sales and products industries.

Tae S. Um was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP in Los Angeles.

Um represents corporations and the insurance industry in coverage disputes, primarily in the areas of directors’ and officers’ liability as well as professional and general liability claims. He has also defended clients in professional liability and general liability suits.

David J. Aveni was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP in San Diego.

Aveni defends clients in a wide variety of securities proceedings, including securities class actions and other civil litigation, enforcement proceedings involving the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory entities, defense of securities arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and internal investigations related to securities and accounting misconduct.

Steven P. Braccini joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Braccini's practice focuses on trust, probate, fiduciary and conservatorship litigation, including will contests, trust contests, removal and surcharge actions, contested conservatorships, accounting disputes, financial elder abuse actions, reformation or modification actions, tax controversy and related civil claims.

Elizabeth A. Frohlich joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Frohlich represents banks and securities broker-dealers in complex, high-stakes civil and criminal actions in federal and state courts and arbitrations and is particularly experienced with litigation involving asset-backed securities.

Anthony Pacheco joined Vedder Price P.C. as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Pacheco focuses on white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations and complex business litigation, including civil and criminal trials.

Fred W. Alvarez joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Alvarez combines a distinct blend of employment law experience, public service and legal profession leadership. He has had an active individual and class action litigation practice devoted to defending employers in trial and on appeal in claims brought by private and governmental parties and by former senior executives.