Amara S. Lopez joined Miller Barondess LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Lopez's practice focuses on business litigation including a variety of complex commercial disputes and some white-collar defense. She has notable experience defending companies in cases presenting novel issues arising from emerging business models.

Lindsey E. Kress was promoted to partner of Locke Lord LLP in San Francisco.

Kress concentrates her practice on defending clients in class action and financial services litigation as well as advising on privacy and cybersecurity issues. She regularly represents clients in complex matters in state and federal courts across the country. Kress has second-chair trial experience and has argued cases at both the trial and appellate level.

Marta A. Alcumbrac joined Nemecek & Cole, A Professional Corporation as partner in Encino.

Alcumbrac is a certified legal malpractice specialist with over two decades of experience in handling professional liability matters. Marta handles a wide array of professional liability matters with a proven track record of success. She also represents attorneys in connection with State Bar matters as well as judicial officers before the Commission on Judicial Performance. She is a frequent speaker on litigation strategy and ethics issues. Alcumbrac is the immediate past president of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and has recently devoted much of her attention to creating the overwhelmingly successful Resolve Law LA Virtual MSC Program. She recently received the 2023 Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

Paul Starita was promoted to partner of Singleton Schreiber in San Diego.

Before joining Singleton Schreiber, Starita was an assistant U.S. attorney for more than 18 years, both as a prosecutor and a civil attorney. He has tried more than 50 jury and bench trials in federal court. For 30 years, Starita served as a U.S. Marine on active duty and in the Reserve. As a Marine judge advocate, he served in a wide variety of roles, including lead counsel on Clean Air Act matters in the Marine Corps western region, military trial judge, and appellate judge on the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.

Mark Fleming was promoted to partner of Singleton Schreiber in San Diego.

Fleming represents clients in the areas of mass torts, civil rights, and criminal defense. He is one of the few attorneys in the country to have tried over 100 cases before federal juries.

Gary Locurto was promoted to partner of Singleton Schreiber in San Diego.

LoCurto's primary focus is on wildfire litigation; however, he handles various aspects of civil litigation and personal injury.

Mary H. Strobel joined Signature Resolution as neutral in Los Angeles.

Strobel boasts a distinguished career spanning over two decades as a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles, including eight years presiding over the Writs and Receivers department, where she tackled intricate challenges like CEQA and Coastal Act litigation, land use disputes, public employment matters, and more, often adjudicating requests for temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and receivers in civil lawsuits. Her diverse civil experience encompasses seven years as an Individual Calendar judge overseeing various cases, from employment disputes to personal injury suits

Jill K. Ernst joined Hopkins & Carley as associate in Redwood City.

Ernst focuses her estate planning practice on family wealth transfers, trust administration, probate law, and business transactions. She also has significant experience in commercial litigation. She is a member of the Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Section of the State Bar of California and serves on the South Placer County Estate Planning Council Executive Board. Ernst earned her J.D. from the University of California at Davis and B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Joanne J. Lue joined Hopkins & Carley as associate in Redwood City.

Lue provides high net worth individuals and families with sophisticated estate plans and wealth transfer strategies, and counsels clients through trust and estate administrations. Lue has been named in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America every year since 2021. She is a member of the State Bar of California and San Mateo County’s Estate Planning Section. Lue, who is fluent in Mandarin, earned her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, LL.M in Taxation from the University of San Francisco, and B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.

Suzanne C. Farley joined Hopkins & Carley as of counsel in Redwood City.

Farley handles estate planning and tax matters for high-net-worth clients, with a particular emphasis on family wealth transfers, audits of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax returns, business succession planning, and complex trust and estate administration. Farley is a member of both the Taxation and Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate sections of the State Bar of California. Additionally, she belongs to the San Francisco Bar Association’s Estate Planning and Probate sections and the Marin County Bar Association.

Amanda Rosenberg joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Rosenberg focuses on the development and financing of renewable energy projects, with an emphasis on tax aspects of energy finance deals, energy tax credits, government incentive programs, energy M&A and domestic and international project finance transactions. Amanda regularly represents sponsors, investors, buyers and sellers and lenders in project finance transactions. She is a Chambers USA and Global-ranked attorney for Projects: Renewables and Alternative Energy.

Rina Plotkin joined Lewis & Llewellyn LLP as attorney in San Francisco.

Plotkin represents clients in the technology and life sciences industries in a broad range of high-stakes litigation matters and government investigations. Rina also maintained an active pro bono practice related to immigration law and civil rights, obtaining asylum for applicants and pursuing justice for individuals bringing excessive force and Eighth Amendment claims.

Leeanne S. Mancari joined Covington & Burling LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Mancari strategically counsels clients on complex discovery issues to form defensible, efficient, and creative solutions for litigations and investigations. She routinely litigates discovery-related issues and appears in state and federal courts. Leveraging her deep knowledge of cutting-edge technology - including AI and machine learning - Mancari formulates efficient and effective workflows for all phases of data preservation, collection, review, and production and has expertise in dealing with extraordinary volumes of documents and complex data sources.

Jae H. Lee joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP as partner in San Diego.

Lee has experience in all stages of litigation, having represented clients in pre- litigation case assessment, pleadings, fact discovery, expert discovery, motion practice, trial preparation, trial, and post-trial motion practice. He has deposed numerous fact and expert witnesses, and has cross-examined fact and expert witnesses at trial. Lee has briefed and argued dispositive motions, Daubert motions, discovery motions, and evidentiary motions in both state and federal courts. He has maintained an active pro bono practice. Dr. Lee led the expert discovery team in Vietnam Veterans of America v. Central Intelligence Agency, helping to obtain health care benefits for military veterans who were the subjects of chemical and biological warfare experiments. He has been awarded the State Bar of California's Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services multiple times over the course of his career.

Abbas Hadjin joined Alternative Resolution Centers as neutral in Los Angeles.

Hadjin is an internationally recognized family law specialist. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers. He will be serving as a consultant and cultural mediator through ARC's Family Law Panel. Hadjian has been a legal analyst and specialist (live television and radio commentator in Farsi) for cases involving Islamic Dowry, Child custody, and Support. He closely follows significant changes in Iranian law and procedures as they affect properties and personal relations. He keeps an updated library of Iranian civil and criminal codes and relevant legal publications in his office. He is in ongoing contact with the legal community in Iran.

Raghav Krishnapriyan joined Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Krishnapriyan has technical experience with cases involving small molecule drugs, fusion proteins, computer software, web design technology, and video games. He leverages his technical background to distill complex multifaceted issues in a manner that is understandable to a general audience.

Madison S. Spach joined Frost Brown Todd AlvaradoSmith as partner in Santa Ana.

Spach brings more than 30 years of litigation experience in a variety of industries, including real estate and construction. He also advises clients both within and outside bankruptcy proceedings and litigation.

Kevin Crisp joined Haynes & Boone LLP as partner in Orange County.

Crisp's practice covers a range of commercial litigation matters, including corporate fiduciary duty, securities, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcy matters, as well as all manner of business torts and contract disputes.

Judge Nita L. Stormes joined Judicate West as neutral in San Diego.

Stormes served 23 years as a U.S. magistrate judge on the Southern District of California, including five years as presiding U.S. magistrate Judge. During her tenure, she presided over thousands of civil cases as a settlement judge, resolving disputes involving intellectual property, employment discrimination, civil rights, real property, commercial issues, bad faith insurance, personal injuries, and medical malpractice.

Rachel Proffitt was promoted to chief executive officer of Cooley LLP in San Francisco.

Proffitt currently heads Cooley's San Francisco corporate practice and serves on the firm's board of directors. She also co-chairs the firm's legal education committee and has served as a member of the firm's strategic committee and board nominating committee. Proffitt has a robust corporate and securities law practice and is a trusted strategic advisor to public and private companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms and other institutional investors, across a broad range of industries. She will be Cooley's first woman CEO.

Jena Watson joined Arentfox Schiff LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Watson will counsel both private and public companies on a range of financing transactions. Her practice will focus on serving as counsel in municipal finance transactions, assisting clients in financing, real estate, and other aspects of infrastructure deals; and advising on public-private partnership (P3) projects. She has represented both lenders and borrowers in private debt financings, recapitalizations and acquisition facilities, leveraged and structured financings, mezzanine debt, securitized executions and distressed debt situations, among other complex transactions. She has worked on large financial transactions in numerous industries, including housing, energy, and manufacturing projects.

Amy Alexander joined Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Alexander represents Fortune 100 companies in the automotive industry and has significant experience in the construction industry as well. Her primary practice includes litigation pertaining to automotive product liability claims, including the alleged failure of vehicle systems and sub-systems, consumer fraud, and consumer warranty litigation. She has litigated numerous matters throughout California, preparing them for trial and successfully negotiating settlements on behalf of her clients. She also provides counsel in overseeing and implementing general litigation strategies aimed at reducing mass litigation against her manufacturer clients.

Jennifer L. Liu as partner

Liu is the co-managing partner of the firm's new San Francisco office. Liu is a nationally recognized litigator in employment discrimination and wage and hour class actions. She also represents individuals in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Liu frequently represents executives and other professionals in the technology, financial services, and health care industries. Liu was managing partner at Liu Peterson-Fisher and also founded the firm's predecessor, The Liu Law Firm, P.C., in 2015.

Rebecca B. Peterson-Fisher as partner

Peterson-Fisher litigates individual cases and class actions involving discrimination and wage and hour violations, with a focus on cases that advance social justice. Previously, she was an attorney with a Los Angeles civil rights law firm, a senior staff attorney with Equal Rights Advocates, and a trial attorney with the Brooklyn Family Defense Project (now Brooklyn Defender Services).

Leah Kennedy as associate

Kennedy represents plaintiffs in employment and civil rights matters. She graduated in 2022 from Stanford Law School, where she was involved in disability justice, immigrant rights and worker rights causes, and founded the Racial and Disability Justice Project, a pro bono project centered on empowering Latinx families in attaining services for their children with disabilities.

Alesha Dominique joined Norton Rose Fulbright as partner in Los Angeles.

Dominique advises clients in connection with trademark, false advertising, unfair competition, copyright, and patent matters before federal district courts, the US International Trade Commission, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She works with clients to acquire, develop, and exploit intellectual property assets and assists with comprehensive trademark clearance, prosecution, and enforcement matters.

Leon E. Johnson joined Goodwin Procter LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Johnson advises private equity sponsors and public and private company clients in complex business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital investments, leveraged buyouts, and related general corporate counseling.

Judge Linda S. Marks joined Judicate West as neutral.

Marks served two decades on the Orange County Superior Court bench where she presided over all types of civil matters. During her judicial tenure, she presided over a wide variety of civil matters ranging from contentious real estate disputes to emotionally charged sexual assault cases, as well as all types of wrongful death and injury cases.

Gregory G. Spaulding joined JAMS as neutral in San Francisco.

Spaulding will serve as a mediator, arbitrator, special master/referee, and neutral evaluator, handling estate/probate/trusts, personal injury/torts, employment, business/commercial, construction defect, civil rights, intellectual property, and appellate cases. He is available to conduct sessions in person, as well as virtually, for clients across the country.