Melissa K. Peters joined Littler Mendelson PC as special counsel in Walnut Creek.

While with the Department of Industrial Relations, Peters gained an in-depth understanding of the regulations that apply to safety and health in the workplace. With this knowledge, she will be able to assist employers in complying with these requirements and provide counsel surrounding workplace incidents.

William H. Dance joined Sklar Kirsh LLP as senior counsel in Los Angeles.

Dance has an extensive background in complex, commercial litigation experience, including contract claims, real property controversies and entertainment intellectual property claims. He also handles business litigation, food and supplement labeling, regulation, safety and product liability.

Patricia K. Conway joined Tyson & Mendes LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Conway is an experienced litigator who focuses on defense of construction, toxic tort, environmental and premises liability actions, representing manufacturer and contractor defendants. She has also represented plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury lawsuits and real estate professional negligence lawsuits.

Eve H.L. Wagner joined Signature Resolution LLP as panel member in Los Angeles.

Wagner primarily practices dispute resolution as a mediator and arbitrator who focuses on employment, entertainment, business and real estate disputes. She has resolved a variety of cases, ranging from single to multi-party and complex matters. Some of her specialty practice areas include discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, defamation, copyright infringement, breach of contract, fraud, international interference, breach of lease and unfair competition and collection disputes.

Philip R. Cosgrove joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP as partner in Torrance.

Cosgrove concentrates on complex civil litigation, such as defending product liability, transportation matters and toxic tort cases. He also has served as counsel in automotive product liability cases for major manufacturers.

Ryan E. Cosgrove joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP as partner in Torrance.

Cosgrove handles product and premises liability, transportation and general commercial litigation matters, including the defense of catastrophic injury claims involving manufacturers and suppliers of consumer products and automobiles. He is also experienced in appellate practice.

Hon. Franz E. Miller joined JAMS Mediation, Arbitration and ADR Services as panel member in Irvine.

Miller is a former judge, who settled many cases that were expected to go to trial. He served as settlement officer on highly-contested matters. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and special master in a variety of practice areas, including appellate, business and commercial disputes as well as construction, employment, family law, personal injury, professional liability and real property matters.

Scott M. Pearson joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Pearson's practice focuses on litigating in the consumer financial services industry, defending clients against regulatory enforcement and class actions as well as counseling high-profile stakeholders on regulatory compliance issues. Some of his clients include national banks, financial services firms, institutional investors, sports and entertainment companies, real estate firms and prominent retail and consumer product companies.

Michael W. McConnell joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC as senior of counsel in Palo Alto.

McConnell is a constitutional law scholar, experienced appellate litigator and former federal appellate judge. He specializes in constitutional law, history and first amendment matters. He has held leadership positions at Stanford Law School, the University of Chicago Law School and Utah Law School. He also was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and New York University School of Law. Before Stanford, he also served as a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jeffrey D. Diener joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Diener represents private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, life science and technology clients as well as lenders and developers in acquisitions, dispositions and financings. He is also experienced in forming and negotiating joint ventures and representing creditors, buyers and debtors in various distress company situations and bankruptcy matters.

Tracy B. Rane joined Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP as special counsel in Los Angeles.

Rane is a trial lawyer with experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation matters, including insurance, copyright, trademark, defamation, right of publicity, breach of contract and right of privacy issues.

Christopher G. Van Gundy joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Van Gundy focuses on novel food and beverage products as well as cannabis. He represents clients involving class actions, general commercial disputes, regulatory advice, insurance issues and trademark litigation.

Jeffrey J. Denham joined K&L Gates LLP as government affairs counselor in Washington D.C..

Denham, a four-term U.S. Congressman, will join the firm's public policy law practice, bringing significant transportation and infrastructure policy experience as well as agriculture, natural resources and energy knowledge. During his time as a state senator in California, he focused on issues that included education, government waste, agriculture and economic development.

Elizabeth J. Wilgenburg was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Century City.

Wilgenburg's practice includes both lease transactions as well as acquisitions and dispositions. She focuses on representing landlords in connection with large lease transactions with technology-oriented tenants. She also represents owners in leasing sophisticated mixed-use retail, office and residential properties and development, build-to-suit office and industrial projects.

Ariel C. Shaeps was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Century City.

Shaeps is a construction attorney with a specialty in complex commercial and residential development, including all facets of design and construction. He has worked with many architects and contractors to provide market guidance on many economic and “quasi-business” related issues. Shaeps also has experience on many real estate and commercial issues, such as review, analysis and preparation of documents associated with acquisition and leasing transactions.

Paul W. Nash was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

Nash focuses his practice on real estate matters, providing legal counsel on acquisitions, dispositions, financing and leasing matters. He represented buyers, sellers, borrowers, lenders and landlords in all facets of commercial property acquisition, financing, development, leasing and management.

Richard C. Miadich joined The California Fair Political Practices Commission as chair in Sacramento.

Miadich's practice focused on litigation matters involving election and campaign finance law, education law, government and administrative law and constitutional law. He also serves on the board of directors of the Sacramento Law Foundation.

Kalama M. Lui-Kwan joined Troutman Sanders LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Lui-Kwan's practice focuses on complex commercial disputes, financial services, class actions, compliance matters and regulatory investigations. He also is experienced in the defense and prosecution of commercial matters involving contract actions, business torts and post-closing disputes from mergers and acquisitions.

Rose B. Sorensen joined Snell & Wilmer LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Sorensen has experience in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, reorgranizations, commercial finance, private placements, venture capital financing, corporate governance, telecommunications services, joint ventures, licensing and entity structure and formation. She has worked with clients in fields such as technology, healthcare, food processing, manufacturing, retail consumer brand, business services and construction and building materials industries.

Ann C. Kim joined Hogan Lovells LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Kim will focus her work on internal investigations, criminal and civil regulatory matters and complex civil business litigation. Her background in the U.S. Attorney's Office positions her to advise a wide variety of clients, such as public companies, health care organizations, financial institutions and investment funds on various investigations or white collar issues.

Ron L. Zambrano joined West Coast Employment Lawyers as chair of litigation practice in Los Angeles.

Zambrano works almost exclusively with victims of workplace discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, whistle blower retaliation and wage and hour violations.

Sanjeet K. Dutta joined Goodwin Procter LLP as partner in Redwood City.

Dutta's practice involves advising companies on patent prosecution across a variety of technology areas, such as blockchain, big data analytics, finance, virtualization, cybersecurity and software security. Dutta also has experience advising companies on IP issues in connection with mergers and acquisitions and technology transfers and licensing.

D. Stuart Bartow joined Duane Morris LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Bartow represents clients from around the globe in intellectual property matters, with an emphasis on complex patent, trade secret and commercial disputes concerning high technology. His technical background in computer engineering and neuroscience allows Bartow to advise clients on intellectual property portfolio management, PTO practice under the American Invents Act and licensing matters.

Michelle L. Landry joined Vedder Price PC as shareholder in San Francisco.

Landry focuses her practice on prosecuting and defending complex civil litigation across a variety of industries, such as business partnerships as well as private and publicly traded companies. She has defended companies against class actions related to payday lending and lead generation, wage-and-hour claims, unfair business practices and violations of California's Talent Scam Prevention Act.

Sean R. McTigue was promoted to principal of Bartko Zankel Bunzel & Miller in San Francisco.

McTigue's practice involves state and federal litigation representing both plantiffs and defendants in areas such as enforcement and data privacy, intellectual property, patents, real estate and white collar, international and internal investigations.

Nathan A. Schultz joined Goodwin Procter LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Schultz advises investors, creditors, debtors, purchasers, official committees, liquidating trustees and other parties in and out of bankruptcy courts. His practice also covers all aspects of the restructuring process for financially distressed businesses in many industries, such as real estate, hospitality, healthcare, gaming and manufacturing.

Gary Fishbein as partner in Los Angeles

Fishbein joined Brot & Gross LLP as a name partner. As a result, the firm's name changed to to Brot Gross Fishbein. Fishbein's practice has focused exclusively on family law. He handles matters involving dissolution and paternity actions, child custody cases and representation of high net-worth clients in complex financial matters regarding support and marital assets.

Garry J. Bowman joined Antonyan Miranda LLP as special counsel in Chula Vista.

Antonyan Miranda acquired the family law and trust and estates practice of Bowman Law. The founding partner of Bowman Law, Garry J. Bowman will join Antonyan Miranda as special counsel in the trusts and estates division. He will focus on family law, probate and estate planning.

Bahaar H. Cadambi was promoted to partner of Newmeyer & Dillion LLP in Newport Beach.

Cadambi concentrates her practice in business, insurance and real estate litigation. Businesses, homebuilders, developers and general contractors make up her clientele. She handles complex, multi-party real estate, construction defect and insurance disputes.

Greg A. Chopskie joined Squire Patton Boggs as partner in San Francisco.

Chopskie focuses on developing legal strategies and tactics in domestic and international IP disputes. He also specializes in creating IP, regulatory, litigation and commercial strategies to address generic competitors. IP portfolio design and due diligence are some of his other focus areas as well as international commercial transactions and competition matters.

Vivian C Grigorians joined Polsinelli LLP as principal in Los Angeles.

Grigorians brings extensive experience counseling institutional lenders, real estate funds, opportunity funds and other real estate investors to her new firm. She focuses on a broad range of transactions including mortgage and mezzanine financing, single family home rental financing, purchase and sale transactions, mortgage origination for commercial mortgage-backed securitization programs, real estate workouts and restructurings, joint ventures and leasing.

JR Lanis joined Polsinelli LLP as principal/chair in Los Angeles.

Lanis negotiates and structures high dollar value transactions, including public stock and debt offerings, tender offers, distressed company acquisitions and sales. He works with businesses in the technology, financial services, blockchain, hospitality, life sciences and energy sectors. He joined Polsinelli as the firm’s chair of the West Coast corporate and securities practice.