Julia B. Strickland joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Strickland is a market-leading lawyer who leads a substantial team on the defense of class actions and other complex actions for some of the biggest consumer financial services companies. In addition to her decades of experience representing clients through dispositive motion practice, trial and/or appeal, she has a well-deserved reputation for negotiating and structuring settlements of complex disputes and class actions. She is versatile and creative in developing settlement structure options tailored to the client's unique needs. She also routinely represents companies in compliance counseling, regulatory proceedings, and responding to claims by federal and state regulators and enforcement authorities. Julia's client list is a "Who's Who" of financial services companies, including American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Early Warning Services/Zelle, Discover, Citigroup, and Synchrony Bank, among others.

Stephen J. Newman joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Newman handles class action defense and other representative litigation, including multidistrict cases, as well as proceedings launched by government officials on behalf of the general public. He has extensive experience representing companies including internet businesses, retailers, banks, insurers, and manufacturers under California’s Unfair Competition Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act. Stephen’s extensive experience extends to data security, consumer privacy, securities fraud, insurance and accountancy, and actuarial malpractice.

Christopher R. Fredrich joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Fredrich focuses his practice on complex civil litigation, with an emphasis on defending financial institutions and other commercial clients in class actions, arbitration, and enforcement matters. He represents banks, digital payment companies, credit card issuers, loan servicers, investors, and technology companies in state and federal court proceedings, at both the trial and appellate levels. He has significant experience litigating claims arising under banking and consumer protection laws, including the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, Truth in Lending Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Telephone Consumer Protection Act, as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

Landon R. Schwob joined Fisher & Phillips LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Schwob defends employers in a wide range of workplace disputes, from single-party harassment and discrimination claims to large wage and hour class action and California PAGA matters. Landon has mediated and resolved hundreds of cases and has tried cases before judges, juries, arbitrators, and administrative agencies. He also has briefed and argued matters before the California Courts of Appeal.

Teri Mae Rutledge joined Kennedys Law LLP as special counsel in San Francisco.

Rutledge advises clients on coverage matters, including commercial general liability, professional liability, employment practices liability, director's and officers' liability, and first-party coverages, with a focus on California law. She has litigated at the trial and appellate level in courts throughout the Ninth Circuit and nationwide. In addition, Rutledge has trained clients regarding California claims handling requirements.

Michael W. Melendez joined Kennedys Law LLP as partner in San Francisco.

As an insurance coverage attorney, Melendez focuses his practice on all types of complex insurance coverage, including construction defects, advertising injury, personal injury, professional liability, and general liability. He advises insurers on claims handling and coverage issues, defends bad faith suits, and litigates declaratory relief and contribution actions. He has designed and given several presentations to claims professionals and attorneys on insurance coverage and general legal issues, including claims practices, construction defects, additional insurance, independent counsel, ethics, and bad faith.

Kristina Lawson was promoted to chair of the board and executive committee of the bay area council of Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.

As Hanson Bridgett's chief executive, Lawson is responsible for all aspects of the firm's strategy and management. She is the first female Managing Partner in Hanson Bridgett's 60+ year history. Over the course of her career, Lawson has been deeply committed to public service. She is a former mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and was appointed by both Governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom to serve on the Medical Board of California, where she currently serves as the Board's President.

Abraham Tabaie joined Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Tabaie's practice focuses on large-scale commercial business litigation for companies on the West Coast, often involving trade secret misappropriation, breach-of-contract, breach of fiduciary duty, false advertising, hacking, data privacy, debt collection, and unfair competition claims. He has represented clients across a range of industries, including technology, real estate, venture fund, private equity, manufacturing, and financial services at both the federal and state levels, as well as in private arbitration.

Josh A. Cohen joined Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Cohen has advised high-profile Fortune 500 companies and senior executives of public and multinational corporations on cases involving a wide range of criminal and regulatory issues. Cohen also has significant experience in litigation involving class actions, shareholder derivative suits, and antitrust matters. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and Vice Chair of the College’s Federal Criminal Procedure Committee, He also has experience in civil proceedings in federal and state courts in California and nationwide.

Megumi Horiuchi joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Horiuchi defends clients against claims involving property development, construction, transportation and trucking, product liability, toxic tort, breach of contract, and general liability. Her construction litigation practice includes the representation of builders, developers, general contractors, engineers, subcontractors, and manufacturers in commercial and residential high-rise, mid-rise, and conversion projects.

Raymond J. Park joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Park is a civil litigation attorney who defends clients against claims involving property development, construction, product liability, toxic tort, environmental, trucking and transportation, breach of contract, subrogation, and general liability. His construction litigation practice includes the representation of builders, developers, general contractors, engineers, subcontractors, and manufacturers in commercial and residential high-rise, mid-rise, and conversion projects.

Dominic J. Nunneri joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Nunneri's practice focuses on civil litigation in state and federal courts. He has experience representing defendants and plaintiffs in high-profile disputes, including product liability, business litigation, healthcare litigation, and trust and estates litigation.

Justine M. Phillips joined Baker & McKenzie LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Phillips focuses her practice on both proactive and reactive cybersecurity and data privacy services, advising clients through the development of practical and actionable programs and solutions to manage data, technology, cyber threats, privacy, security, and digital assets.

Venna Dubai joined University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor in Irvine.

Dubal's research examines the intersection of law, technology, and precarious work. She uses ethnography and critical theory to understand the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on the lives of workers, the co-constitutive influences of law and work on society, and the role of law and lawyers in social and labor movements.

Kevin S. Haeberle joined University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor in Irvine.

Haeberle's research has centered on the stock market and other secondary markets for financial instruments. His scholarly work has been twice selected for republication in the Securities Law Review and for presentation at a number of events, including the 2022 Columbia Business Law Review Symposium on the Future of Securities Regulation, the 2020 Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum, and the 2015 George Washington University Center for Law, Economics, and Finance Junior Faculty Workshop. In 2022, he was named program fellow with the Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets.

Ari Ezra Waldman joined University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor in Irvine.

Waldman is internationally recognized in academic, advocacy, and policy circles for his expertise at the intersection of law, technology, and society. Recognizing the impact of law and technology on marginalized and minoritized groups, he has dedicated his research to understanding the social dynamics of law, particularly with respect to privacy, artificial intelligence, misinformation, and the LGBTQ+ community. Waldman's extensive and award-winning scholarship explores the relationship between technology and power, often through an interdisciplinary lens. His most recent book, "Industry Unbound: The Inside Story of Privacy, Data, and Corporate Power" (Cambridge University Press, 2021), pulls back the curtain on tech companies' manipulation of privacy law.

Adam Cowing joined University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor in Irvine.

Cowing is an assistant clinical professor of law and teaches in the Community and Economic Development Clinic at UCI Law. Before coming to UCI Law, Cowing was a clinical teaching fellow and lecturer at Yale Law School, where he co-taught Yale's Community and Economic Development Clinic.

Heather Tanana joined University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor in Irvine.

Tanana previously served as an Assistant Professor (Research) and Wallace Stegner Center Fellow at the S.J. Quinney College of Law. She has clerked at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah and founded the Indian Law Section of the Utah State Bar Association. Tanana's contributions to the legal field have earned her recognition and accolades from organizations such as the Natural Resources & Environmental Law Section of the Utah State Bar, the Utah Minority Bar Association, and the Environment, Energy, and Resources Section of the American Bar Association.

Carolina Bustillo joined Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP as associate in San Diego.

Bustillo counsels multinationals on an array of international tax matters, including efficient tax structuring, restructurings, cross-border transactions and IP migrations. Her clients operate in many industries, including life sciences and technology.

Ryan H. Weinstein joined Ropes & Gray LLP as counsel in Los Angeles.

Weinstein's practice focuses on complex, high-stakes civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense. Over his career, he has defended and prosecuted individuals and corporations in a wide variety of criminal, civil, and regulatory matters, spanning several industries, including health care, technology, sports, and financial services.

Jessica L. Grant joined Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Grant has significant first-chair experience in high-stakes matters. This includes successfully trying three cases over $100 million and two cases over half a billion dollars. Her ability to handle trials across disciplines at a moment's notice makes her a highly sought-after litigation lawyer. Grant also handles mediation and pre-suit attempts to resolve cases without litigation.

Richard D. Schramm joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel as of counsel in San Jose.

Schramm represents employers in resolving class action lawsuits and PAGA actions, along with other labor, employment, and contract disputes. He routinely advises and counsels public and private enterprises as well as nonprofit groups on a variety of employment-related issues. He represents clients in state and federal courts before the California Civil Rights Department, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Labor Commissioner's Offices, the Employment Development Department, the U.S. Dept. of Labor, and the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. He represents clients in individual cases as well as class actions, representative actions, Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) lawsuits, trade secret disputes, and disability access discrimination claims. He also advises on independent contractor agreements and statutory compliance challenges.

Robert Bard Smith was promoted to partner of MLG Attorneys at Law in Costa Mesa.

With 18 years of experience in California and Nevada, Smith spent 15 years representing hospitals and medical providers. He then shifted his focus to cases against automotive manufacturers. Smith has taken more than twenty cases to trial, and most recently obtained a $1.5 million settlement in a motorcycle accident case.

Michael P. Reiter joined Cole Huber LLP as partner in Ontario.

Reiter serves as the assistant city attorney for Yucaipa. His practice focuses on municipal law and litigation. Previously, Reiter was an in-house deputy city attorney for San Bernardino, assistant city attorney for Redlands, and advised cities and private parties regarding municipal law, particularly code enforcement. Reiter has criminally prosecuted hundreds of code enforcement defendants, reviewed dozens of administrative warrants, been involved with about 10 Health & Safety Code receiverships, participated in revocations of conditional use permits, revised and drafted ordinances, written extensively regarding code enforcement on the internet, lectured to community groups and legal organizations, and has been quoted in the media.

Jillian Martins joined Cole Huber LLP as partner in Ontario.

Martins serves as the assistant city attorney for Indio and advises on all aspects of municipal law issues involving zoning and land use, open government, and ethics (the Brown Act, the Public Records Act), contract formation and negotiation, drafting and amending ordinances, resolutions, parliamentary procedure, code interpretation, and employment policies. Her practice focuses on municipal law. Before joining Cole Huber, Martins had devoted her entire professional career to public service.

Frank A. McGuire joined Complex Appellate Litigation Group LLP as counsel in Newport Beach.

McGuire was the 26th clerk of the California Supreme Court and former managing attorney of the 1st District Court of Appeal. In these roles, he gained vast insight into how justices think about and decide civil and criminal petitions, briefs, and writs at all appellate levels, as well as the processes and practices of California's appellate courts. In addition to these positions, he also previously served as a chambers attorney on the California Supreme Court, a research attorney for two 1st District justices, and a law clerk on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He also worked for several private law firms.

Stephen D. Simpson joined Tully Rinckey PLLC as associate in Ladera Ranch.

Simpson spent nearly eight years on active duty as a Marine Corps Judge Advocate Corps., where he focused on litigation and criminal matters. He also has experience serving as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and victim's legal counsel. He still serves as a captain in the Marine Corps Reserves. His practice focuses on military law, one of the firm's core practice groups.

Margaret R. Akerblom was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Los Angeles.

Akerblom has experience handling a broad mix of civil litigation matters in state and federal court, including actions involving 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, contracts, due process, takings, CEQA, premise liability, and writs of mandate. She is a trusted strategist for her clients, advising them as they work through federal, state, and local regulatory and entitlement processes related to their developments. She has represented clients in securing land use entitlements on a variety of commercial, residential, and mixed-use development projects in jurisdictions throughout California.

Nicholas DuBroff was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

DuBroff is a land use attorney who helps clients take projects from vision to entitlement by guiding them through the state, local planning, and environmental laws that govern development in California. He enjoys collaborating with developers, planners, and architects. He has the ability to distill complex concepts and in-depth research into actionable recommendations and has worked with clients ranging from start-ups to some of the Bay Area's most prominent companies.

Emily Feder was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Los Angeles.

Feder's practice focuses on all types of real estate transactions, from acquisition and disposition to leasing and finance. By monitoring and researching real estate trends, emerging industries, and new approaches and areas of law, she is able to provide thorough and efficient counsel to her clients. Feder began her professional career as a teacher and currently serves on the Associates' Board for Teach for America, a non-profit organization working to combat education inequality.

Peter A. Griffin was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Los Angeles.

Griffin has represented clients in jury trials and argued before federal and state courts throughout California. His recent successes include obtaining a 12-0 jury verdict for a food manufacturer in an employment discrimination case, a judgment for an architecture firm in a bench trial over a contractual dispute, and a substantial arbitration award in a commercial landlord-tenant dispute. He previously had a successful career in technology, working for a Silicon Valley software company prior to attending law school.

Timothy R. Kelly was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

Kelly regularly represents some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s largest institutional office landlords and multifamily owners in connection with their acquisition, financing, leasing, and disposition of assets located throughout the United States. He has represented the landlord on the largest office lease signed in the United States in 2021. In 2022 he was involved in the acquisition, disposition, and financing of transactions totaling more than $1 billion.

Grayson "Trey" W. Marshall III was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

Marshall's litigation practice focuses on complex commercial, technology, and real estate litigation in both state and federal court.

Nathaniel Touboul was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

Touboul's recent successes include representing a landlord in connection with a single-tenant 802,836 square-foot office lease for a property in California and subsequently representing the same landlord in connection with a $515 million construction loan secured by the subject property.

Andrew A. Wood was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Orange County.

Wood's litigation experience ranges from negligence claims, fraud, breach of contract, construction contract disputes, alleged wrongful non-judicial foreclosure practices, unfair business practices, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and management of e-discovery.

Patrick Albasha joined Everett Dorey LLP as associate in Orange County.

Albasha specializes in defending clients in general liability matters. He represents individuals and businesses in tax controversy and collection matters. He transitioned to consulting some of the largest companies in the world in mergers and acquisitions tax matters. He uses his past experience and continuous desire to learn to develop his skills in defense litigation.

Michael Rosenblum joined Thompson Coburn LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Rosenblum focuses his practice on advising public and private companies on regulatory and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate, and financing transactions.

Melanie Tomanov joined Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC as partner in Los Angeles.

Tomanov represents production companies, animation studios, toy companies, video game companies, and technology companies. She also works with individual creators, writers, animation designers, producers, and directors. Her clients include Matt Groening (The Simpsons), United Plankton Pictures (SpongeBob), and Legendary Entertainment. She is regularly listed in industry and trade publications like Variety's Legal Impact Report.

Tanya M. Schierling was promoted to managing partner of Solomon Ward Seidenwurm Smith, LLP in San Diego.

Schierling represents a wide range of clients, from large public corporations to small start-up companies to individuals, with the wisdom forged from significant trial and arbitration experience. After graduating with honors from both Dartmouth College and George Washington University Law School, Schierling began her legal career as a military prosecutor serving in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps, where she advised tank and infantry commanders and tried felony cases to court-martial. After honorably serving four years in the army, she began her life in private practice in San Diego in 2000. She would go on to join Solomon Ward in 2003 and become a partner in 2006. She focuses on business litigation and employment matters, including partnership and corporate disputes, real estate litigation, labor code, wage, and discrimination and harassment claims, and distribution and franchise matters.

Michael C. Douglass joined Parker Shaffie LLP as senior counsel in Los Angeles.

Douglass brings extensive experience representing corporate and municipal clients in complex commercial, professional liability, trucking, employment, insurance bad faith, consumer finance, and product liability matters. He has defended clients in arbitration, tried cases to verdict, and successfully argued before the California Court of Appeal, resulting in reported decisions. He is pragmatic, seasoned, and well-versed in providing his clients with strategic counsel to help them make better-informed decisions to assist in managing their legal risks and protecting their brands.

Allison M. Whitmore was promoted to partner of Withersworldwide in San Diego.

Whitmore focuses her practice on estate planning, estate and trust administration, estate and gift taxation, business succession planning, and charitable giving. She advises clients on advanced estate planning techniques to mitigate income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. She works with high net-worth individuals and families to implement sophisticated wealth transfer strategies, including the creation of intentionally defective grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, annual exclusion gift trusts, and irrevocable life insurance trusts, among others. In addition, Whitmore counsels fiduciaries and beneficiaries with respect to complex estate and trust administration matters.

Gina M. Cavalier joined Arnold & Porter as partner in Los Angeles.

Cavalier is a leading fraud and abuse lawyer who dedicates her practice to guiding life sciences entities through complex healthcare laws and regulations. She has particular experience advising clients on issues arising under the Anti-Kickback Statute and other federal and state anti-fraud authorities. She also helps clients successfully navigate related data sharing and privacy issues.

Malhar Oza was promoted to counsel of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP in San Francisco.

Oza assists clients on various operational, transactional, and regulatory matters related to digital assets, including fund formation (domestic and offshore). He also counsels crypto managers, investment advisers, digital asset fund managers, and other members of the digital asset investment management industry on complex compliance matters related to state and federal securities laws.