Nadia Bermudez as Principal in San Diego from Klinedinst PC.

With more than two decades of experience, Bermudez represents businesses, public agencies, and individuals in state and federal courts in a wide range of employment matters, such as class and Private Attorneys General Act actions, wage and hour matters, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, unfair competition and trade secret claims. She was recently appointed to the Advisory Board for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, serving a three-year term through 2026.

Mary H. Strobel as Neutral in Los Angeles from Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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

Amanda Rosenberg as Partner in Los Angeles from Mayer Brown.

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.

Suzanne C. Farley as Of Counsel in Redwood City from Thompson Welch Soroko & Gilbert LLP.

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.

Jill K. Ernst as Associate in Redwood City from Thompson Welch Soroko & Gilbert LLP.

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 as Associate in Redwood City from Thompson Welch Soroko & Gilbert LLP.

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.

Leeanne S. Mancari as Partner in Los Angeles from DLA Piper.

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.

Rina Plotkin as Attorney in San Francisco from Fenwick & West LLP.

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.

Jae H. Lee as Partner in San Diego from Dechert LLP.

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.

Rachel Proffitt as Chief Executive Officer 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.

Kevin Crisp as Partner in Orange County from Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP.

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.

Raghav Krishnapriyan as Partner in San Francisco from Morrison & Foerster LLP.

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.

Abbas Hadjin as Neutral in Los Angeles from Law Offices of Abbas Hadjian .

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.

Madison S. Spach as Partner in Santa Ana from Spach Capaldi & Waggaman LLP.

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.

Judge Nita L. Stormes as Neutral in San Diego from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California .

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.

Judge Linda S. Marks as Neutral from Orange County Superior Court.

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.

Leon E. Johnson as Partner in San Francisco from Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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.

Alesha Dominique as Partner in Los Angeles from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.

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.

Amy Alexander 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.

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).

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.

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.

Jena Watson as Partner in San Francisco from HomeStreet Bank.

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.

Gregory G. Spaulding as Neutral in San Francisco from Spaulding McCullough & Tansil LLP.

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.

Robert Klyman as Partner in Los Angeles from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Klyman represents companies, lenders, other creditors, acquirers, and boards of directors in all phases of restructurings and workouts. His practice includes advising companies and key stakeholders in complicated workouts, including traditional, prepackaged, and pre-negotiated bankruptcies, structuring cutting-edge distressed mergers and acquisitions, negotiating bankruptcy financings, and litigating complex bankruptcy and commercial matters related to financial distress.

Helen B. Kim as Partner in Los Angeles from K&L Gates LLP.

Kim has more than 30 years of experience representing public and private companies, as well as their directors, officers and principal shareholders before the courts and in arbitration proceedings. She defends clients in shareholder derivative suits, nationwide securities class actions, and securities and commodities enforcement proceedings. She also guides companies and their officers through regulatory investigations.

Adrienne Gurley as Partner in Los Angeles from Silicon Valley Bank.

Gurley most recently served as senior counsel at the former Silicon Valley Bank, where she was the head of litigation. She focused on conducting internal investigations and advising the enterprise on fraud, regulatory, ethics, compliance, Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), data and privacy governance, and global employee relations matters. Prior to this, she was senior counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she investigated and prosecuted federal securities law violations, including market manipulation, EB-5 visa program fraud, cryptocurrency, financial fraud, cybersecurity and data breach, offering fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and insider trading. She was an assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she represented the United States in briefing 12 cases and presenting four appellate oral arguments in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and District of Columbia Court of Appeals. In addition, she served as lead prosecutor in 57 criminal trials, including 15 felony jury trials, in the District of Columbia Superior Court. Earlier in her career, Gurley was an associate with an international law firm, where she represented pharmaceutical companies and technology companies in complex false labeling, unfair competition, and patent infringement cases.