Camille Vasquez, one of the attorneys who worked for Johnny Depp during his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard, has joined the Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP Business Trial practice group. Also joining the practice are four other lawyers who worked on the trial: Leo Presiado, Andrew C. Crawford, Jessica N. Meyers and Samuel A. Moniz.

 Ms. Vasquez became a household name in 2022 while the public watched her and her team win more than $10 million in damages on behalf of Depp in his defamation suit against ex-wife, actor Amber Heard. Ms. Vasquez focuses her practice on brand reputation and defamation litigation, with additional experience litigating contract disputes and business torts. She also regularly manages parallel reputation management and crisis communication issues. Ms. Vasquez is recognized as a leading litigator by Chambers, Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation, among others.

 All five attorneys were previously partners at Brown Rudnick, where Ms. Vasquez co-chaired the brand and reputation management group.

Stephanie Marcantonio has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP’ New York office. Ms. Marcantonio joins from Crowell & Moring LLP where she was a partner and a member of its corporate steering committee. She represents post-acute healthcare providers and other healthcare entities in connection with divestitures, mergers, affiliations and joint ventures, many of which also include significant real estate components. 

Ms. Marcantonio also advises public and private companies, including, tax-exempt entities, government contractors and religious organizations on a wide array of corporate transactional and governance matters. In addition, she acts as regulatory counsel for lenders such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley in connection with financings of nursing facilities, assisted-living facilities, and other healthcare providers, and the related securitizations.

 Ms. Marcantonio received her B.S.B.A. from Villanova University and her J.D., summa cum laude, from Pace University School of Law. She was previously a partner with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.

Lorie Soares Lazarus and Peter David Ballance, formerly with Stroock, Stroock & Lavan LLP, joined Sheppard Mullin’s Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environment practice group in Silicon Valley and Century City, respectively.

Ms. Lazarus represents real estate investors of all types, including institutional lenders, borrowers, domestic and international commercial banks, investment funds, REITs, investors and property owners, in connection with a wide variety of commercial real estate transactional matters nationwide. Having led hundreds of transactions to date, she has deep knowledge of all aspects of the transactional real estate life cycle and has represented all sides in real estate deals. She received her B.S. from Santa Clara University, her M.B.A. from the University of Southern California, and her J.D. from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Ballance advises institutional lenders, financial institutions, developers and property owners in commercial real estate financing, including loan workouts and the purchase and the sale of improved and unimproved real property in all asset classes through the United States. He regularly represents institutional lenders and borrowers in loan restructurings and workouts, foreclosures, deed-in-lieu and deed-in-the-box transactions, as well as positioning REO assets for sale. He received his B.S. from the University of New Mexico, his M.S. from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

Proskauer welcomes Steve Hibbard as a partner in its Litigation Department.

Mr. Hibbard brings more than 30 years of experience in complex and financial litigation, having led the defense of headline-making and high-profile securities class actions involving cryptocurrency, fintech, green energy and accounting restatements. His experience includes matters such as the collapse of Enron, the dot-com bubble bust, options-backdating, the housing mortgage crisis and SPAC failures. He has also represented clients in litigation and investigations in dozens of market-leading technology mergers or acquisitions.

Mr. Hibbard represents U.S. and foreign companies, financial institutions and individuals in complex litigation – including securities class actions, merger litigation, derivative actions and corporate governance issues – in courts across the U.S. He routinely advises clients on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and bank regulatory actions. Steve also counsels boards of directors in internal investigations and regularly advises public companies on fiduciary duty and disclosure issues.

Mr. Hibbard received his B.Ar.Sc. from the University of South Carolina and J.D. from Yale Law School. He joins from Jones Day.

Baird D. Fogel, a highly regarded and experienced transactional attorney, has joined the firm from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as Partner in Charge for the new San Francisco office. Mr. Fogel and will expand the firm’s Bay Area corporate capabilities, including M&A, contract negotiations, stock sales, advising on product development for gaming.

Baird Fogel’s corporate practice focuses on counseling clients on mergers and acquisitions, interest and stock sales, supply agreements, contract negotiations, international project finance, project development, project construction, commercial law and settlements, compliance, corporate governance and other general corporate matters. 

Mr. Fogel also does extensive work in the global renewable energy industry. He frequently handles matters involving energy storage, micro grids, transmission, net metering, solar, wind, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, construction, residential, commercial, small- and large-scale utility, government relations, and investment and finance. 

Mr. Fogel leverages his extensive corporate experience on behalf of various clients in the sports industry as well. He regularly advises individual athletes and professional sports franchises (the NFL and NBA included) on various regulatory matters related to the construction of arenas and stadiums, corporate transactional matters related to the operation and sale of professional franchises, sponsorship, NIL, NFTs, sports betting and investment – as well as energy matters related to stadium energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

JR Lanis has joined Baker Hostetler as a partner in their Corporate & Securities Practice.

Mr. Lanis advises clients on public company securities offerings and reporting, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate transactional needs. He structures and negotiates public stock and debt offerings, tender offers, rights offerings, IPOs, all forms of mergers and acquisitions, licensing deals and other commercial matters.

Mr. Lanis serves as outside counsel to numerous public companies, investment banks and registered investment companies and is experienced in listing and reporting for OTC, Nasdaq and NYSE-listed issuers. He represents strategic and private equity and family office backed buyers and sellers of businesses and product lines. JR’s clients include publicly traded and privately held companies and investors in a variety of industries, including food and beverage, technology, financial services, hospitality and life sciences.

Mr. Lanis received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and earned his A.B. from Brown University. He also holds an M.B.A. from Yale University School of Management.

Andrew Wong was formerly a partner with Dechert LLP in Los Angeles. With a focus on complex cross-border litigation, Mr. Wong represents companies in varied industries with many clients in the retail, energy, and technology sectors. He also represents leading international and domestic companies in the financial, food and beverage, manufacturing, and transportation industries in litigation.

Mr. Wong has longstanding relationships in Asia, and a significant part of his practice is advising Asian clients on U.S. litigation strategy and U.S. clients involved in litigation in Asia. He counsels many Asian clients on general business strategy and provides litigation risk analysis.

In addition to building an extensive private practice, Mr. Wong maintains an active pro bono practice and is an active participant in the SoCal community, where he serves as an elected member of the Pomona Unified District School Board. His community engagement includes service on numerous nonprofit boards and he has been a gubernatorial appointee to two state-wide California commissions. In addition to building a significant commercial litigation practice at Dechert, he chaired its firmwide Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Mr. Wong received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. summa cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Dechert in 2011, he was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe from 2004 to 2011, and prior to that, an associate at both Howrey and at O’Melveny & Myers.

Jia Jia Huang joins Goodwin’s Technology practice as a partner, resident in the Los Angeles office. Ms. Huang joins from Lathan & Watkins. 

Ms. Huang provides strategic advice and counseling to technology companies on intellectual property and technology-related transactions. She counsels clients on the development, licensing, and commercialization of intellectual property assets across industries. Huang also routinely leads the intellectual property and technology aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, buyout and other private equity transactions, corporate financing and capital raising, and capital markets transactions, including initial public offerings.

Ms. Huang received her J.D. from University of Pennsylvania in 2010. She earned her B.S. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Scott French has joined Goodwin’s Technology practice as a partner, resident in Los Angeles office. Mr. French joins from Latham & Watkins.

Mr. French advises fast-growing companies on a full spectrum of corporate transactions. He helps clients across industries and throughout all stages of the business lifecycle, including venture capital and private equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets transactions.

Mr. French received his J.D. from New York University School of Law. He earned his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

Eversheds Sutherland opens in San Diego with intellectual property litigators, Nicola Pisano, Jose Patino and Christopher Bolten, who will join from Foley & Lardner. The team brings an established multinational practice focused on IP patent litigation, patent prosecution, and IP due diligence. Patino served as chair of Foley’s IP litigation practice.

Nicola Pisano is a trial attorney with experience in medical devices software, wireless communications, encryption, computer, telephony, Internet-based and mechanical technologies. He has litigated patent and trade secret matters in federal district courts throughout the United States, interference proceedings and Inter Partes reviews before the US Patent and Trademark Office, import matters pending before the US International Trade Commission, and appeals before the Federal Circuit.

Jose Patiño has a robust patent litigation practice, representing prominent companies in high-stakes intellectual property disputes. He has argued before the courts of 20 different states and has extensive experience with patent litigation-specific proceedings, including before the International Trade Commission, and as special intellectual property counsel in US Bankruptcy Court.
 
Christopher Bolten focuses his practice on patent prosecution and intellectual property litigation. He advises clients in a number of fields, including medical devices such as ultrasound and X-ray imagers, neurostimulation systems, implantable mechanical devices, ablation devices, wound dressings and medicine dispensers; telecommunications such as cellular, networking and internet technologies; software; defense technologies such as signal processing and optical systems; and automotive technologies such as battery systems.

The group also brings several associates with them providing continuity of service to clients.

ArentFox Schiff expanded its Corporate & Securities practice with the addition of Partner Jennifer DePalma in the firm’s San Francisco office. Ms. DePalma will primarily counsel technology companies on securities, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters, as well as handle alternative investments for clients in the private equity, hedge fund, and venture capital space.

For more than 20 years, Ms. DePalma has counseled private and public companies (often as primary outside counsel), as well as venture capital and private equity investors, on securities matters, general corporate and business law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital and private equity financings, public equity offerings, and intellectual property transactions. Jen also has significant experience in company- and investor-side representations in complex capital markets transactions, including initial public offerings and PIPEs in the United States and Asia.

Additionally, Ms. DePalma’s robust practice includes representing publicly traded and privately held companies in leveraged buyout transactions, significant recapitalizations, corporate partnering arrangements, the formation of joint ventures and other strategic alliances.

Ms. DePalma also boasts impressive industry experience outside the law, formerly as general counsel and head of operations for an emerging company in the financial technology industry. She has also served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Edith Brown Clement on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Morgan Lewis is expanding its top-tier employment practice in California by adding Michael Weil, an employment litigator who for more than two decades has handled a wide range of employment matters, including class actions and high-stakes trade secrets, employee mobility, and restrictive covenant disputes. Mr. Weil, who arrives from Orrick, is resident in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices.

Mr. Weil’s practice spans a wide range of employment disputes, including class actions asserting multimillion dollars in damages, complex single-plaintiff matters, and high-stakes noncompete and trade secrets disputes arising from a variety of industries, including life sciences, technology, retail, and financial services, throughout the United States. He also regularly advises clients on independent contractor status matters; wage and hour issues; Private Attorneys General Act lawsuits; and disputes alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and compensation matters.

Mr. Weil earned his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles. He received his J.D. from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 2000 where he served as Editor of the UCLA Law Review.

Andrew J. Bond has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the Corporate and Securities practice group and will be a member of its Capital Markets and Public Companies industry team. Mr. Bond was most recently a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

Mr. Bond is a corporate attorney with a broad-based securities law practice.  He represents clients in cross-border capital markets and public company mergers and acquisitions transactions. He also advises Canadian clients on the listing requirements on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and the platforms operated by the OTC Markets Group.  He previously practiced in Canada, where he advised both U.S. and Canadian issuers on registered securities offerings, private placements, and Securities Exchange Act compliance.

Mr. Bond received his Bachelor of Commerce with Honours and his B.A. in Political Studies from Queen’s University, his LL.B from the University of Windsor where he was an Editorial Board Member of the Windsor Review for Legal and Social Issues. He earned his J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.  He is admitted to practice in California, Washington, D.C. and Washington State and was previously admitted in British Columbia.

Steve Welk has joined Steptoe’s Investigations and White-Collar Defense Group as senior counsel in the Los Angeles office. Welk brings considerable knowledge of and experience in federal asset forfeiture and money laundering law and practice in the United States.

For the past 20 years, Welk has served as chief of the Asset Forfeiture Section of the US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, managing a Criminal Division senior section with an average case load of approximately 400 cases. Welk first joined the section in 1995, and as an assistant US attorney, has participated in approximately 25 federal jury and bench trials. He's also briefed 37 appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, argued 19, and acted as brief reviewer for approximately 40 additional appeals.

Some of Mr. Welk's more recent work includes the 2020 1MDB kleptocracy cases, in which he led the litigation team that orchestrated the seizure and forfeiture of more than $1.4 billion dollars' worth of cash, real estate and personal property located in the United States and abroad, traceable to the looting of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. In 2019, Welk led the government's successful case in United States v. Mongol Nation, obtaining guilty verdicts on all counts following a two-and-a-half-month jury trial of substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy charges against the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG), marking the first such conviction of an OMG.

Mr. Welk has extensive experience in forfeiture law and procedure, money laundering, and financial investigations. Since 2000, he has served as a member of the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Working Group, crafting and implementing government forfeiture and money laundering policy, and providing ad hoc guidance for the assistant US attorneys working in the Asset Forfeiture Program in the 94 federal districts.

Mr. Welk earned his law degree from Pepperdine University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Eric Evans joined Perkin’s Litigation practice as a partner in the Palo Alto office.

Mr. Evans focuses his practice on complex litigation and intellectual property matters and has represented major technology companies and other businesses in federal false advertising and antitrust class action cases, as well as trade secret and patent issues. A significant part of Mr. Evans’ practice has focused on providing effective legal counsel to Bay Area technology firms in the Northern District of California.

Mr. Evans has obtained declaratory judgments in district courts, represented global technology and consumer brands in various trademark and patent infringement cases, and managed defenses in high-tech antitrust litigation. Prior to his legal practice, Mr. Evans served as the associate director of instructional technology at Denison University, where he worked as a Digital Millennium Copyright Act agent and enforced and revised an acceptable use policy for network resources.

Mr. Evans earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as contributing editor to the Michigan Law Review. He received his A.M. and A.B. from Harvard University. Mr. Evans joins from Mayer Brown, where he served as the West Coast co-chair of its Electronic Discovery & Information Governance practice and was a member of the Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice.

Scott Adamson has joined Arent Fox as a member of the firm’s Corporate & Securities practice.

Mr. Adamson represents public and private company clients in buy-and sell-side transactions, including leveraged buyout, carve-out, 363 asset sales, and going-private transactions. He advises clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including health care, technology, manufacturing, service, and construction, and has completed cross-border transactions in Japan, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Adamson executes complex transaction structures, including stock sales, asset sales, statutory mergers, and tender offers, and transactions structured as tax-free reorganizations, spinoffs, and contributions. He represents buyers and sellers of companies bought and sold through auctions and advises clients on alternative liquidity strategies, including sale, leveraged recapitalization, private placement, and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions. In addition, Mr. Adamson counsels clients engaged in debt and equity financing involving funds, mezzanine lenders, and banks.

Mr. Adamson joins from Alston & Bird LLP. He received his J.D. from University of Southern California Gould School of Law and earned his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

David Guess joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in the firm’s Orange County office. Guess, who joins the firm from Bienert Katzman, focuses on business bankruptcy cases, out-of-court workouts, and bankruptcy litigation.

Mr. Guess represents debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, asset purchasers, trustees, committees, liquidation and litigation trusts, fraudulent transfer defendants, landlords, and others. He has experience in real estate, hospital, skilled nursing facility, retail, and restaurant bankruptcies; bankruptcy appeals; and fraudulent transfer litigation arising from failed LBOs and spinoffs. Guess has been frequently recognized for his achievements by publications such as Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. Mr. Guess was the only practicing lawyer in California to be honored by the American Bankruptcy Institute as a 2018 “Top 40 Under 40” Emerging Leader in the Insolvency Practice.

Deeply involved in the national, regional, and local bankruptcy bars, Mr. Guess is an advisory board member of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Southwest Bankruptcy Conference and Bankruptcy Battleground West Conference; as well as the Communications Manager for the Institute’s Commercial and Regulatory Law Committee. He is also a board member and the Secretary-elect of the Turnaround Management Association Southern California Chapter, a board member and the Secretary of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, and a board member of the California Bankruptcy Forum and Orange County Bankruptcy Forum. He is also a pro bono volunteer mediator for the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California.

Mr. Guess earned his J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he was order of the coif and an editor of the UCLA Law Review; he earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from University of California at Los Angeles.

Jeremy Mittman has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner in its Labor & Employment Department. Mittman arrives from Proskauer Rose LLP where, for the past 15 years, he has represented management clients in a broad range of employment-related matters across a variety of industries, including financial services, security services and media and entertainment.

Mr. Mittman represents management in litigation of employment-related matters, including discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as state and federal wage and hour claims. He regularly counsels clients on compliance with employment-related laws and on enforcing personnel policies and procedures. Mr. Mittman has extensive experience representing employers in a variety of industries such as financial services, security services, and numerous entertainment and media companies. In addition, Mr. Mittman works with clients on multi-country HR projects involving issues such as employment contracts, international background checks and non-competition issues, terminations, immigration matters and other HR actions. He also regularly advises executives in the negotiation of employment agreements.

Mr. Mittman earned his B.A. from University of Pennsylvania in 1999. He received his J.D. from University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2003.

Candice T. Zee, a traditional labor and employment attorney has joined Vedder Price’s Los Angeles office as a Shareholder in the firm’s Labor & Employment practice area. 


Ms. Zee focuses her practice on traditional labor issues, including unfair labor practice charges, interpretation of collective bargaining agreements, grievances, arbitrations and National Labor Relations Board proceedings. She has handled several union grievances, arbitrations and representation cases at all stages and has extensive experience managing and overseeing union election campaigns. 

Ms. Zee also represents and defends multi-state and international corporations on all aspects of employment litigation, including allegations of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wage and hour issues, reductions-in-force, reasonable accommodation and independent contractor issues as well as workplace torts, including defamation, emotional distress and interference with contractual relations. She has litigated numerous single plaintiff and class action employment lawsuits in a first chair capacity. Ms. Zee also has extensive experience in conducting workplace investigations involving claims of harassment, discrimination, retaliation and pay inequity.

Ms. Zee was recommended by the Legal 500 United States guide in the categories of Labor-Management Relations, Labor & Employment: Labor & Employment Disputes--Defense and Labor and Employment: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans: Design.  She was named one of Southern California’s “Rising Stars” by Super Lawyers from 2009-2017.

Prior to joining Vedder Price, Ms. Zee was at Seyfarth Shaw for almost 13 years, having started there as an associate before making partner in 2011.

Polsinelli LLP has hired a pair of prominent former Seyfarth Shaw LLP employment attorneys, who bring wide-ranging expertise in labor law, to join its growing San Francisco office as shareholders.

Shareholders Charles O. Thompson and Michele Haydel Gehrke have joined Polsinelli in its year-old San Francisco office, where they will bring to bear years of expertise relating to employment law. Thompson joins the firm as vice chair of its California labor and employment practice group and as leader of its west coast labor and employment practice.


Thompson represents Fortune 500 companies in all aspects of employment litigation, and has handled more than a thousand employment matters, according to Polsinelli. He has extensive experience in litigation, and his practice is a blend of labor and employment and wage and hour class actions, according to the firm.

Ms. Gehrke represents employers on a wide range of labor and employment matters, including both litigation and actions before administrative agencies. She counsels clients on all aspects of employment law compliance and drafts employment documents such as employee handbooks and agreements. She also has years of experience representing airlines, according to the firm.

James Diwik has joined Troutman Sanders’ Litigation and Construction practices in the San Francisco office. He previously practiced at Sedgwick LLP.

Mr. Diwik represents owners, general contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers in all aspects of the construction process, including project planning and design, contracting, contract and delivery issues, affirmative claim analysis and prosecution and resolving disputes through negotiation, arbitration and litigation. In addition, Diwik represents clients in a variety of commercial transactions and disputes, including informal and formal dispute resolution processes.

Mr. Diwik earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and obtained his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Nicholas W. van Aelstyn has joined the San Francisco office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm's Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group.  Van Aelstyn joins from Beveridge & Diamond, where he co-chaired the Climate Change and the Environmental practice groups.

Mr. Van Aelstyn has more than 25 years of environmental counseling and litigation experience.  His environmental counseling practice focuses on climate change, renewable energy development, sustainability, Brownfields redevelopment, regulatory and transactional matters.

Mr. Van Aelstyn's environmental litigation practice focuses on cost recovery actions, regulatory enforcement actions, challenges to regulations, and representation of PRPs and PRP groups (as common counsel) at Superfund sites. He has particular expertise with CERCLA sediment sites.  His litigation experience also encompasses intellectual property, commercial, real estate, and appellate litigation matters. Van Aelstyn has handled matters in state and federal courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as various administrative fora.

Mr. Van Aelstyn received a J.D., Order of the Coif, in 1990 from University of Oregon School of Law and a B.A. in 1986 from Williams College. He clerked with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Key Shin has joined Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in the firm’s San Francisco office. Mr. Shin was previously affiliated with Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Mr. Shin works closely with emerging and established life sciences companies developing therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies. Mr. Shin helps clients structure and complete critical transactions, from in-licensing patents that form the foundation of the companies’ patent portfolio, through services arrangements with CMOs, CROs and other development partners, and eventually toward commercial partnering of the program, sale of the company or other exit transactions. In addition to licensing collaborations, Mr. Shin supports venture financings—representing both startups and venture capital firms—as well as mergers and acquisitions matters.

Mr. Shin has experience structuring joint development arrangements between collaborators coming from both similar and widely disparate core technological competencies, often involving complex IP allocation issues. He assists companies in establishing long-term research collaborations with universities that go beyond typical sponsored research and technical services agreements. Mr. Shin also works with research accelerators working in innovative ways to facilitate collaborative research among investigators from different research institutions worldwide, successfully navigating the conflicting IP, publication and liability positions of participating institutions.

Intellectual property attorneys Duane Mathiowetz and Rick Chang have joined the Foley & Lardner’s IP Litigation Practice in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices.

Rick Chang is an experienced intellectual property litigation and transactions attorney. His practice focuses on IP litigation, inter partes review, licensing, settlement negotiations, and technology counseling. He has practical experience in patent litigation and trial work, and has appeared in courts throughout the United States. Mr. Chang is also registered with the USPTO. He has represented clients from a variety of industries, including mobile devices, telecommunications, Internet, software, disk drives, batteries, electronics and computer manufacturing, wind tunnels, biotechnology, and pharmaceutics.

Duane Mathiowetz, a registered patent attorney, has primarily devoted his practice to patent litigation for clients across diverse technologies. Mr. Mathiowetz is a seasoned and highly experienced litigator and has litigated cases in district courts throughout the country and before the International Trade Commission. In the recent past, he has tried five patent cases to jury verdict and served a lead role in two ITC investigations that proceeded through final determination. He has argued three times before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and been the lead attorney on multiple appeals to that court. He has also argued before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, now the Patent Trial and Appeals Board.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. is expanding the firm’s Los Angeles office with the addition of a team of litigators led by Ralph A. Campillo and Arameh Zargham O’Boyle, joining as Members in the firm’s Litigation Practice. Mr. Campillo and Ms. O’Boyle, previously partners with Sedgwick LLP, are joined by two associates, Christopher Norton and Nicholas Weiss.

Mr. Campillo is one of the nation’s leading trial lawyers with a successful track record of defending pharmaceutical, medical device and other life sciences companies in high-profile, product liability mass torts, class actions and other complex litigation. His experience includes the management of national dockets and encompasses comprehensive subject areas, ranging from defense of basic product liability matters, to the handling of consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, warranty issues and other statutory allegations. He has tried more than 75 cases to verdict in multiple jurisdictions and has served as lead trial and national coordinating counsel in various federal multidistrict and statewide coordinated proceedings.

Ms. O’Boyle focuses her litigation practice on the defense of complex products liability matters. She has successfully defended pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in high-profile litigation throughout the country. Additionally, Ms. O’Boyle counsels clients on risk assessment and prevention, product labeling, as well as document retention, management and collection strategies.

Mr. Norton has comprehensive experience in the area of pharmaceutical and medical device litigation focused on product liability and mass tort actions. Mr. Norton also serves as California Counsel for the American Red Cross and handles blood donation actions and related claims on its behalf. Mr. Weiss focuses his practice on working with clients on a variety of product liability matters primarily in the drug and medical device industries.

IP specialists, Mr. Devernoe and Chris Franich join Troutman Sanders in San Diego from Gordon & Rees.

David Devernoe focuses his practice on intellectual property (IP) counseling and portfolio strategy, patent licensing, post-grant USPTO administrative proceedings, trade secret counseling, patent prosecution, and intellectual property litigation. He performs IP portfolio reviews and diligence for clients ancillary to licensing or acquisition, product pipeline phase exits/commercialization, funding source diligence, and for post-grant review or pre-litigation purposes.

Mr. Devernoe has extensive experience advising clients ranging in size from one-person start-ups to multi-national organizations in a variety of technical arenas including molecular and cellular diagnostics, sequencing, bioinformatics, molecular biology, immunology, machine learning, nutraceuticals, compression garments, 3-D printing, medical devices, near-eye displays and imaging/optical technologies, consumer devices and services, and information technology. Mr. Devernoe specializes in providing lean and purpose-driven service and advice, and accordingly takes special care in developing a multi-level understanding of the businesses of his clients.

Mr. Devernoe was previously associated with two separate top-tier law firms and served as an in-house intellectual property attorney with a molecular diagnostics corporation.

Christopher Konieczny joins venture fund, AccelFoods as General Counsel in New York. Prior to joining AccelFoods, Chris was an attorney at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, where he was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and Capital Markets practice groups. While there, Chris advised buyers and sellers, including public and private companies and private equity firms, in mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, divestitures, spinoffs and joint ventures. 

Mr. Konieczny has also served as in-house counsel to a multinational pharmaceutical company, where he was a member of the global M&A group. Chris graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Albany Law School.

Daniel A. Saunders, a leading trial and appellate attorney, has joined the Kasowitz Benson’s Investigations and White-Collar Defense team as a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Mr. Saunders spent 14 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, serving in a number of positions, including as Deputy Chief of the Violent & Organized Crime Section. Mr. Saunders comes to Kasowitz from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he was a partner.

Mr. Saunders has tried more than 30 jury trials. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Saunders prosecuted hundreds of cases covering a broad range of federal criminal offenses, including the highly publicized RICO/wiretapping prosecution of private investigator Anthony Pellicano and his associates. He has also briefed and/or argued more than 50 appeals before various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. In private practice, he has represented corporate and individual clients in a broad range of civil and criminal litigation and government, regulatory, and internal investigations, including for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and False Claims Act.

Daniel Bir joins Polsinelli’s national Products Liability and Toxic and Mass Tort litigation teams as a principal in its Los Angeles office. 



Mr. Bir is a litigator who immerses himself in his clients’ businesses to gain a thorough understanding of long-term goals and objectives. He assists businesses with all stages of litigation on a variety of issues and in a variety of industries, including complex multi-party disputes with an emphasis on product liability actions, general liability actions and catastrophic injury claims.  



In addition, Mr. Bir works on pro bono cases for the Center for Veterans Advancement, a program supported through the Public Counsel Law Center to help veterans gain employment after completing military service.  Bir also volunteers his time with the South Central Los Angeles Ministry Project, which offers educational programs to empower women and their families.  He earned his bachelor’s degree and juris doctor degree from Pepperdine University.

Holland & Knight LLP has brought on board a lateral real estate partner from Goodwin Procter LLP to help grow its Los Angeles general real estate group as well as its project finance and land use practices.



Douglas Praw joined Holland & Knight earlier this month from Goodwin Procter, where he had worked for the past eight and a half years on major development deals and financings as well as myriad public finance matters, the firm said Wednesday.



Mr. Praw brings to the table a resume brimming with more than a decade of experience in land use and public finance work, as well as extensive experience representing municipalities and government agencies and underwriters and borrowers on capital markets matters.



Prior to joining Goodwin Procter in 2006, Mr. Praw worked for four years as an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. While at Goodwin Procter, Mr. Praw's clients included CommonWealth Partners LLC, City National Bank, Emerson College and Prime Property Fund.



Among the matters he handled there was CommonWealth Partners’ $1.5 billion sale of a portfolio of western U.S. office buildings and Prime Property Fund's $475 million refinancing of a mall in San Diego.

Mr. Praw holds a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University in Saint Louis.

Antony Nash has joined Mintz Levin as a Member in the Litigation Practice.  He is based in the firm’s San Diego office.  Prior to joining Mintz Levin Mr. Nash was a partner with McKenna, Long & Aldridge.

Mr. Nash’s practice focuses on both business and real estate litigation.  His clients include real estate developers involved in subcontractor disputes and obtaining development approvals, trustees and beneficiaries in both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, homeowner associations, and public agencies and private citizens in eminent domain proceedings, as well as financing, foreclosure and lender liability.

Mr. Nash received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and his B.A. from UCLA.

Jarrett L. Fugh has joined Squire Patton Boggs’ Global Real Estate and Corporate Practices. He will be based in the firm’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Mr. Fugh joins from Duane Morris. 



Mr. Fugh focuses his practice on the acquisition, financing, development and leasing of real property, with an emphasis on hospitality and resorts. He guides clients in the origination and restructuring of syndicated, mezzanine and securitized loans, as well as in the construction financing of major commercial, residential and hospitality properties. 



Additionally, Mr. Fugh advises clients, mainly in the technology sector, in mergers and acquisitions and corporate financings. He also assists institutional and individual investors with structuring and consummating venture financings, private equity funds and other private debt and equity investments.



Mr. Fugh received his B.A. from Duke University. He earned his J.D. cum laude, from George Washington University Law School, where he was a staff member of The George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics. He was awarded with the Client Choice Award 2014 for Commercial Property in California. 

Locke Lorde LLP has bolstered its intellectual property department and its IP litigation practice group in its San Francisco office with the addition of a Sedgewick LLP attorney who has experience serving clients in the life sciences, technology and telecommunications sectors.



Robert Harkins, who has extensive experience representing clients in patent litigation with a particular focus on computer hardware, software, system design, medical devices, telecommunications and Internet-related technologies, joined the firm as a partner on Jan. 30.



Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Harkins was a partner at Sedgwick. In addition to his more than 20 years of experience in private practice, he served as director of IP and litigation for O2 Micro International Ltd. in Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara, a well-known semiconductor company that has offices located in the United States and Asia. He also co-founded the legal research Web portal MegaLaw.com.



Some of Mr. Harkin’s recent experience includes acting as lead counsel for two major cellphone companies in patent infringement suits in Delaware, obtaining summary judgment of noninfringement in a mechanical design case in California federal court and securing a settlement in a trial for a complainant in a Section 337 dispute before the U.S. International Trade Commission. In addition to his patent litigation work, Harkins has also handled a variety of other matters in IP counseling and disputes.



Mr. Harkins earned his law degree from the University of California Davis School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a master’s of science degree in electronic commerce from National University.

Greg Perleberg has joined Venable LLP in Los Angeles. Mr. Perleberg specializes in media, entertainment and privacy law and was previously a partner with Buchalter Nemer.

Mr. Perleberg has over 20 years of legal and private sector experience handling a variety of IP related matters. He represents a broad array of clients in the technology, hospitality, and entertainment industries, including filmmakers, publishers and individual artists (e.g., musicians and writers).

Working at the intersections of business, technology and artistry, Mr. Perleberg advises clients on a wide variety of transactions, including licensing, trademark and brand protection, copyrights, marketing and advertising, as well as other agreements for products and services. He has significant experience in digital and new media, advising clients on internet, e-commerce and entertainment transactions, and is a former Adjunct Profession at the McNally Smith College of Music where he taught courses in connection with music publishing. Greg's representative clients include garage bands to Grammy award winners, and he is very active in the arts and entertainment community.

A year after Vedder Price PC opened its first California office in San Francisco, the firm has headed south to put down roots in Los Angeles.

The firm’s new Century City office launched Thursday with the help of Scott E. Adamson, a corporate attorney who joined from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Mr. Adamson represents public and private financial buyers and sellers, as well as family offices and business owners, in a range of complex transactions. He has handled some of the largest employee stock ownership plan transactions in the country.

Carina M. Tan has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm's Intellectual Property practice group, based in the firm's Palo Alto office.  Tan joins from Reed Smith. 

Ms. Tan counsels clients on intellectual assets design and protection, enforcement of intellectual property rights in U.S. Federal District Courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission, licensing, sale or acquisition of intellectual property, M&A IP due diligence and IP backed financing.  Her background in technologies includes communication networks and devices, wireless technology, packet network performance, network security systems, cyber content management, computer architecture, software and Internet applications, semiconductor devices, global positioning systems, renewable energy technology and social media technology.  

Ms. Tan received a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1996, a M.A. and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987 and 1985, respectively.

Vedder Price announced its entry into the California market with an office in San Francisco.

The firm’s California presence is centered on strengths in employment law and finance. It follows an extensive market analysis of potential office locations that best suit the firm’s existing client-base, while supporting the firm’s strategic plan for growth.

Three shareholders have joined Vedder Price to launch the new office and lead the firm’s expansion into California.

Bradley C. Crawford, formerly a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP, joins the firm’s Finance & Transactions group. Mr. Crawford has extensive experience managing debt and equity financing transactions for insurance companies, mezzanine funds and commercial finance lenders, as well as issuers and borrowers. He has a strong background in traditional private placement financings, loan restructurings, and secured and unsecured syndicated bank financings in conjunction with tender offers, buyouts and other acquisitions.

Mr. Crawford received his B.A. from University of California. Berkeley. He earned his J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Mindy Morton joined Procopio Cory in Menlo Park. Ms. Morton was a partner with Bergeson in their Silicon Valley office.

Ms. Morton’s practice focuses on internet and intellectual property litigation. She litigates cutting-edge cases at the intersection of technology and free speech issues. She defends internet companies against defamation, copyright, trademark and related claims on First Amendment, Communications Decency Act Section 230, DMCA and US SPEECH Act grounds. She also helps clients resolve disputes involving trade secret, patent, trademark, copyright, computer fraud and non-compete agreement litigation.



Ms. Morton works closely with clients to resolve disputes quickly and efficiently when litigation is not in their strategic interests. When early resolution is not possible, she is a zealous and professional advocate with jury trial experience. Mindy is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeal, Ninth and Federal Circuits, and the United States District Court, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California and Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Thomas F. Hanley, III joined Loeb & Loeb’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the Real Estate Department. Previously, Hanley was a partner at Dykema Gossett, where he led the firm’s Los Angeles Real Estate Practice Group.

Mr. Hanley focuses his practice on all areas of transactional real estate law, with emphasis on acquisitions and dispositions, retail and office leasing, representation of commercial lenders and borrowers in real estate financings, and commercial real estate development. This work includes office projects, multi-family projects, retail projects, industrial buildings, hotels and large multi-asset portfolios.

Mr. Hanley’s extensive capabilities in the real estate finance area were recently demonstrated when he led a team of attorneys in the due diligence review of a portfolio of 43 real estate loans exceeding $700 million in face value. In 2011 alone, he was engaged in representing clients in financing transactions well in excess of $1.5 billion dollars. He also has experience representing clients in restructuring loan agreements, real estate workouts, negotiating pre-bankruptcy settlements, and coordinating regulatory compliance.

In addition to his real estate practice, Hanley has been heavily involved in civic engagement matters. In the mid-1990s he served as a peace negotiator during the conflict in Bosnia, successfully negotiating a cease-fire for the war and later was the original architect of the “American Plan” which became the basis for the Dayton Accord, ending the war.

Mr. Hanley earned his J.D., cum laude, from Southwestern University, where he was a member of the Law Review, and his B.B.A. from Loyola Marymount University. He is admitted to the bar in California and the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California and is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Fox Rothschild LLP welcomes veteran real estate and land use attorney Kenneth A. Kecskes as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office.

Mr. Kecskes focuses his practice on real estate transactions, land development and property investment deals, counseling clients on acquisition, disposition, construction, entitlement, leasing, joint venture, entity formation and financing matters. He works on matters throughout the state and is expected to divide his time between the firm’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

Mr. Kecskes helps clients with the environmental review and land use entitlement of large-scale mixed-use development projects. He has advised clients on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance strategy, including the tailoring of project design features and mitigation measures to address the environmental impacts of development. His experience includes public-private partnership negotiations between local governments and project developers in statutory development agreements and disposition and development agreements. He has advised clients on land use entitlement strategy, general plan amendments, specific plans, permitting, subdivision map processing, and exactions and impact fees. He consults clients on the use of public finance tools to fund large scale projects, such as tax increment financing, community facilities districts, county service areas, geologic hazard abatement districts, and assessment districts.

Mr. Kecskes received his J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law and earned his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Thomas J. Speiss joined Stradling Yocca in its Los Angeles office. Mr. Speiss’ practice focuses on trademarks, copyrights and domain names, intellectual property litigation, and intellectual property.

Mr. Speiss is lead outside intellectual property counsel for several companies, principally handling global intellectual property portfolios. He specializes in branding strategy, IP portfolio management, trademark prosecution, due diligence matters and the resolution of related disputes. In addition to providing strategic legal advice and guidance to his clients, Tom also leverages the skills he developed as a news reporter and learned while earning his M.B.A. He also further quarterbacks his clients’ remaining intellectual property and business needs, internally managing those relationships.

Mr. Speiss's clients include a host of energetic and successful businesses such as ‘SC startups (Arthur) Dogswell, which is a leading purveyor of holistic pet food and pet treats, New Deal Studios, which has worked on such Oscar-winning films as "Hugo" and "Inception," and Carver Skateboards. He also represents professional athletes and entrepreneurs Rob Dyrdek and Randy Couture in their myriad intellectual property-related endeavors. 

Mr. Speiss has been named one of Southern California’s legal “Rising Stars” in Intellectual Property law on several occasions. He has authored numerous articles concerning trademark, branding and licensing in the sports, entertainment and apparel spaces.

Mashhood Rassam joined McDermott Will & Emery LLP's Silicon Valley office as a partner in their patent litigation practice. During his seven-year stay at Fenwick, Mr. Rassam litigated patent disputes before Texas, Delaware, Oregon and California federal district courts, as well as the Federal Circuit, McDermott said.



Since joining McDermott, Mr. Rassam has begun working on HTC Corp.'s defense against a patent infringement suit brought by SmartPhone Technologies LLC in Texas federal court in which the smartphone giant is accused of infringing a patent portfolio covering Internet-ready communications and Bluetooth technology.



Mr. Rassam maintained an active pro bono practice while at Fenwick, winning a six-figure settlement in a wrongful-death action against the state of California over a San Quentin State Prison inmate who died after suffering a diabetic seizure. Mr. Rassam's team sued the prison and the inmate's physicians, and successfully defeated the state's motion for summary judgment before settling.



In addition to Internet-based technologies, Mr. Rassam has litigated disputes over semiconductor design and fabrication technology.



Mr. Rassam earned his law degree from the University of Chicago in 2005 and his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where he studied history.

John Liu joined Lowenstein Sandler in their Silicon Valley office. Mr. Liu was previously with Fenwick & West. Mr. Liu Served as U.S. corporate counsel to numerous U.S. and off-shore start-up and emerging growth companies.

Mr. Liu’s intellectual property practice includes intellectual property protection and licensing, reseller and distribution agreements, joint development agreements, trademark filings and the transfer of trademarks, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Mr. Liu represents clients on transactions involving foreign jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.