Kevin T. Collins was promoted to shareholder of Buchalter, A Professional Corporation in Sacramento.

Collins represents clients in a wide variety of areas including, misappropriation of trade secrets, false advertising, unfair competition, trade dress infringement, securities, class actions, multi‐district litigation, and antitrust.

Brian Adkins was promoted to shareholder of Buchalter, A Professional Corporation in San Diego.

Adkins specializes in housing discrimination investigations conducted by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He also regularly provides employment advice and counsel, as well as prepares employment agreements for his clients. He has also represented clients in California Labor Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission matters.

Stephanie S. Downer was promoted to shareholder of Buchalter, A Professional Corporation in San Diego.

Downer focuses her practice in the areas of estate planning, wealth transfer planning, transfer tax minimization, trust administration, and probate law.

Philip Nulud was promoted to shareholder of Buchalter, A Professional Corporation in Los Angeles.

Nulud assists clients in developing, protecting, and licensing their valuable ideas by providing critical freedom to use clearance and infringement opinions for patents and trademarks, while also preparing, prosecuting, and enforcing their patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Valerie Bantner Peo was promoted to shareholder of Buchalter, A Professional Corporation in San Francisco.

Bantner Peo focuses her practice on creditors’ rights, real estate, finance, and commercial litigation with significant experience at the trial and appellate levels in bankruptcy, federal, and state court.

Pooya E. Sohi

Sohi represents public and private companies in a variety of state and federal court cases involving contract disputes, commercial litigation, and business torts, including tortious interference, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Zachary Elsea joined Eisner, LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Elsea has extensive experience representing companies and individuals in the entertainment, technology, financial services, and real estate industries. He also has particular expertise in intellectual property litigation and counseling, including copyright, trademark, right of publicity, and related issues along with significant experience representing both employers and employees in high-stakes trade secret, non-compete, employment, and partnership disputes.

William K. Wetmore joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Wetmore's practice includes crafting strategies for compliance with Sections 13(d) and 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, assisting with litigation strategy and providing guidance on pleadings for Section 16 short-swing trading liability cases, structuring takeovers and private placements to reduce Section 16 exposure, and reviewing client corporate governance policies and advising on governance best practices.

V. Sathienmars joined Tucker Ellis LLP as counsel in San Francisco.

Sathienmars defends high-profile and high-net-worth clients in "bet the company" lawsuits and routinely oversees civil litigation matters from pre-suit through trial. His experience includes coordinating with defense liaison counsel on case management strategy, court filings, and discovery efforts in federal multidistrict litigation, as well as Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings in California state courts. He has also represented clients in appeals in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and California appellate courts.

Alya Sulaiman joined McDermott Will & Emery as partner in Los Angeles.

Sulaiman works with clients to navigate complex healthcare regulatory, privacy and transactional matters, with a focus on digital health and data use strategy. She also advises on the legal and business frameworks for innovative technologies, including predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, electronic health records, interoperability tools, health data platforms and digital therapeutics.

Ellie S. Ruth joined Miller Barondess LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Ellie specializes in appeals, writs, and dispositive pre- and post-trial motions on a broad range of legal issues, including premises liability, attorneys fees, contracts, family law/complex divorces, evidence, insurance (bad faith, Cumis counsel), products liability, employment and civil procedure.

David J. Edwards joined San Diego County Water Authority as general counsel in San Diego.

Edwards has served as deputy city attorney and lead counsel for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power since 2011, defending the city's water rights in the Eastern Sierra and the Los Angeles Aqueduct. He brings nearly 17 years of public service at LADWP, the past 12 of which directly relate to water, natural resources, power, and public utility/agency issues. His current practice focuses on water rights/resource development, the Endangered Species Act, Native American issues, sustainability, legislative/regulatory affairs, and other environmental considerations related to public power/alternative energy development, CEQA and compliance with open government laws, including the Brown Act. He also brings significant experience working on issues related to the Colorado River, the Imperial Irrigation District, and the Salton Sea.

Donna Tobar joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as partner in Irvine.

Tobar provides a full range of litigation and counseling services in the areas of construction and suretyship, with experience in government contracting as well. She has successfully represented contractor and surety clients in various legal settings, including litigation (state and federal), mediation, arbitration, and various informal settings including counseling services during contract performance.

Clare Capaccioli Velasquez joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel. as associate in San Jose.

Capaccioli Velasquez works closely with her clients in all stages of litigation including counseling and advising through mediation and trial. She also has relevant experience with Trust and Probate disputes in cases involving financial elder abuse, will and trust contests involving issues of capacity and undue influence, breach of fiduciary duties, removal and surcharge actions, reformation, construction and modification issues, and recovery of trust assets.

Richard Rifenbark joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Centrury City.

Rifenbark's practice is a blend of healthcare regulatory compliance and transactional work. He regularly advises clients on healthcare fraud and abuse laws and other regulatory issues, including the federal anti-kickback statute, stark physician self-referral law, false claims act, state licensing issues, corporate practice of medicine doctrines and state fraud and abuse laws.

Randall Jackson was promoted to executive vice president and associate general counsel of Lionsgate in Los Angeles.

Jackson leads Lionsgate's risk management function, directs the company's IP enforcement strategy, oversees responses to governmental inquiries, manages bankruptcy matters, and advises the c-suite and the company's business units on a wide range of critical strategic issues. Jackson will also oversee Lionsgate's content protection and contract compliance/third-party audit groups, and extend his involvement in corporate transactions and compliance matters.

Gina Lough was promoted to directing attorney of the immigrants' rights project of Public Counsel in Los Angeles.

Lough will assume her new duties on Sept. 6, leading a 30-member team of attorneys, paralegals, administrative staff, and social workers who serve asylum seekers, immigrants in detention, survivors of violent crime, and unaccompanied children.

Scott Leipzig was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Leipzig has been named chair of the firm's global Litigation Department. Leipzig has experience handling complex real estate, partnership, finance, insurance, entertainment, and commercial disputes in state and federal courts, as well as domestic and international arbitration. He is a go-to lawyer for some of the most hotly contested and difficult litigation matters that Allen Matkins handles.

Kate Kraus was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Kraus was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Kraus has extensive experience in tax planning and structuring for partnerships, REITs, Opportunity Zone funds, and other types of investments and taxpayers, including formations, financing transactions, acquisitions, restructurings, debt workouts, liquidations, and bankruptcies. Her clients include real estate funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, Fortune 100 companies, REITs, mid-market companies, high net worth individuals, and Opportunity Zone funds.

Jessica Chu was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in Los Angeles, CA.

Chu was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Chu's practice focuses on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex joint ventures and business transactions for equity investors, financial institutions, developers, and others. She has counseled clients regarding joint ventures and transactions covering a broad range of real property types, including undeveloped land, industrial, master-planned communities, hotels and resorts, commercial office, retail projects, shopping centers, and mixed-use projects.

Kamran Javandel was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. in San Francisco, CA.

Javandel has been named co-chair of the firm's Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Group. Javandel's practice focuses on litigating environmental contamination disputes; advising on compliance with environmental laws and regulations; resolving government agency investigations; obtaining project entitlements, permits, and other approvals; and advising on environmental aspects of real estate and business transactions.

Christopher Chiou joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as partner in Los Angeles.

Chiou represents clients in high-stakes complex commercial litigation and investigations, with an emphasis on business disputes. He is experienced in all stages of litigation, from counseling clients before lawsuits are filed through trying cases before juries. He also leads internal investigations on behalf of corporations and advises them on compliance issues, including providing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act training to executives at multinational companies.

Ryan T. Moore joined Fox Rothschild LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Moore defends businesses against personal injury, product liability, toxic tort, property damage and other claims at trial and on appeal in state and federal courts. He has particular experience representing businesses in the manufacturing and rail transportation industries in complex commercial litigation.

Courtney Cahill joined The University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor of law in Irvine.

Cahill is a scholar of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, sex equality, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ equality. Her work examines the role of disgust in lawmaking, the synergies between sex equality and LGBTQ equality, and the mutually constitutive relationship between marginal practices (same-sex marriage, alternative reproduction) and mainstream norms.

Chanel Di Blasi joined Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP as associate in San Diego.

Di Blasi has concentrated her practice on representing landlords' property rights and successfully navigating the regulations that govern their properties - with a particular focus on residential and commercial landlord-tenant disputes, leasing, contracts, affordable housing and compliance.

Jason Rabbitt-Tomita joined Baker Botts L.L.P. as partner in Palo Alto.

Rabbitt-Tomita represents clients in a wide variety of M&A transactions, joint ventures, and financings. He has represented clients in the technology, finance, retail, and energy industries in both U.S. and cross-border deals, with a deal value of $100 billion.

Clayton S. Friedman joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Friedman represents clients in attorney general regulatory actions and handles regulatory matters involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other local, state, and federal agencies.

Michael Yaghi joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Yaghi represents high-profile clients in regulatory enforcement investigations spanning numerous areas, including advertising campaigns, promotional materials, marketing and sales practices, marketing through emerging media, telemarketing campaigns, email marketing, and other regulatory issues affecting consumer marketing and sales.

Cynthia J. Cole joined Baker Mckenzie LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Cole focuses her practice on IP, strategic, and technology transactions; data privacy and cybersecurity. She advises clients across industries including technology, retail, communications, social media, energy and healthcare / life sciences. Cynthia has deep experience in complex cross-border, IP and data-driven transactions. A former general counsel and CEO, she also acts as outside general counsel to a number of executive teams and boards of directors.

Chris Grogan joined Perkins Coie LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Grogan has counseled startups and emerging companies from formation to exit and has advised investors in financing transactions to support companies in their growth process. As a general counsel and attorney, he has worked on equity financing and M&A transactions and has experience leading a legal team as a company increased its workforce, expanded its geographic footprint, diversified its product base, and scaled its revenue.

Daniel Ray Brown joined Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Brown's clients include insurance companies, start-ups, agents, brokers and other stakeholders in the insurance industry. He has extensive experience advising alien or foreign insurers on how to comply with various state laws in placing business; early-stage and developed insurtech entities on regulatory and corporate issues; insureds on exempt and specialty lines; producers on licensing, placement and premium tax issues, including digitization of the process; and insureds on coverage and placement issues. He also advises London market participants on how to comply with US insurance laws, either by becoming admitted insurers or by using a variety of methods of covering US risks without being licensed.

Peter A. Dafter joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Dafter counsel's clients in a wide variety of matters relating to professional liability and all forms of civil litigation. He has extensive experience developing and executing legal strategies for insurance defense auto accidents.

Benjamin J. Kim joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Kim's practice is focused on litigating workplace health and safety matters, harassment and discrimination cases involving high-level executives, nationwide and California-wide class and other representative actions, and executive contract and partnership disputes. Ben has also advised entertainment and esports organizations on a variety of workplace-related issues.

Brian Horne was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in Los Angeles.

Horne has taken over as Office Managing Partner in charge of the firm's Los Angeles office. Horne's cases involve a variety of industries, and he has won trials involving a wide range of disputes, including patent, trade secret, trademark, trade dress, and breach of contract.

Dr. Andrew N. Merickel was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in San Francisco.

Dr. Merickel's practice focuses on helping clients build and leverage their patent portfolio and navigate the patent landscape in their technology area. Working primarily in patent prosecution, licensing, due diligence, freedom to operate, opinions and challenges to third party patents, he has clients in a wide variety of technology areas, including biotechnology, integrated circuit fabrication, thin film deposition, agriculture and food technology.