James M. Peterson as Managing Partner in San Diego

Peterson succeeds current HFM Managing Partner Steve Cologne, who will return to his business litigation practice and expand his work as a panel arbitrator. Cologne has served as the firm's Managing Partner since 2017. In his law practice, Peterson currently counsels management and litigates disputes for business clients of various sizes on claims involving the employment relationship including individual, representative and class actions. He has extensive litigation and trial experience throughout the state of California on matters involving wage and hour class action and PAGA matters, discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment claims and general claims for wrongful termination. He also counsels clients on hiring practices, wage and hour compliance, employment agreements, policy manuals, employee handbooks, termination decisions, lay-offs, and disability management.

Rachael G. Weatherly as Associate in Los Angeles from Dechert LLP.

Weatherly focuses her practice on a wide range on litigation matters. She has experience developing strategies for multi-district litigations in federal and state court, arguing in court, performing extensive research, and drafting briefs.

Elizabeth A. Frohlich as Partner in San Francisco from Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP.

Frohlich has represented U.S. and ‎international companies in their most important commercial and financial services disputes ‎nationwide. She represents banks and securities broker-dealers in complex, high-stakes civil and criminal actions in federal and state courts as well as arbitrations. She is particularly ‎experienced with litigation involving asset-backed securities.‎ In addition to her securitization litigation work, she handles investor cases, trust instruction proceedings, National Fair Housing Act cases, actions by ‎municipalities, and County Recorder/Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems actions. ‎Frohlich often provides clients with advice concerning pre-litigation legal strategy as well as post-‎litigation consulting.

James W. Beach as Partner in San Francisco from Massumi + Consoli LLP.

Beach's practice focuses on representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies in complex U.S. and cross‑border transactions, including leveraged buyouts of private and public targets, divestitures, and growth equity investments. He also advises private equity-owned and public companies in all stages of their life cycle. He has a particular focus on the tech sector, including enterprise software, data and security and hardware, as well as strong experience with logistics, manufacturing, and consumer products.

Michael Guan as Associate in Walnut Creek from Tyson & Mendes LLP .

Guan has defended clients in several types of general liability insurance matters. He has handled all aspects of discovery, including briefs, requests and responses, as well as pre-trial motions and motions for summary judgment. Prior to graduating from law school, Guan clerked for an insurance defense firm, representing clients in various general liability matters. He is fluent in Mandarin.

Yan Zhang as Partner in San Francisco from Baker Botts.

Zhang represents public and private companies in corporate and securities matters along with the financial institutions that invest in or provide services to them. His experience includes public offering and private placement of securities, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and licensing and foreign direct investment, general corporate governance and compliance matters. Zhang regularly advises China- and Asia-based clients on their most significant legal matters in the US and internationally and also helps international clients who have interest in doing business in Asia.

Monica Mazzei as Shareholder in San Francisco from Sideman & Bancroft LLP.

As Chair of the Family Law Group, Mazzei takes a modern approach to the practice of family law - addressing various needs for her clients related and unrelated to their family law case. She is a Certified Family Law Specialist representing high net-worth clients throughout California, with a concentration in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles. She specializes in dissolution actions involving complicated valuation and financial matters, complex community property and support issues, including international issues, and dissolutions of marriage matters involving hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and privately held businesses. Mazzei also represents clients in creating pre-marital agreements which reflect the goals of the individual couple.

Kahn A. Scolnick as co-partner-in-charge in Los Angeles

Scolnick is the firm's Co-Partner in Charge of the Los Angeles and Century City offices, Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group, and is also an active member of the Appellate and Constitutional Law and Securities Litigation Practice Groups, among others. He specializes in class actions, complex commercial cases, and litigating a variety of constitutional issues—both in the trial courts and on appeal.

Candice Choh as co-partner-in-charge in Century City

Choh is the firm's Co-Partner in Charge of the Century City and Los Angeles offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practices in the firm's Corporate Transactions Practice Group. Ms. Choh has a broad-based practice encompassing public and private company mergers and acquisitions across a wide variety of industries and other private equity transactions, including investment fund formation, co-investments, secondary transactions, and investments in sponsors. Ms. Choh regularly counsels private equity sponsors on firm structuring and internal governance matters.

Pascal Benyamini as Los Angeles Office Leader in Los Angeles

Benyamini teams up with employers to defend them against employment law claims -- including wage and hour, discrimination and wrongful termination claims -- and to advise them on compliance, claim prevention, investigations and employment best practices. He previously served as co-leader of the firm's consumer products and retail industry team. As a former hockey player, Pascal applies the teamwork and tenacity he learned on the ice to his client relationships and advocacy.

Summer Conley as benefits and executive compensation practice group leader in Los Angeles

Conley guides companies through the complicated legal landscape surrounding employee benefits. She advises on qualified plan, health and welfare and executive compensation issues related to retirement plan committee fiduciary responsibilities, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) correction procedures, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), Section 125, Health care reform, and Alternative plan investments. She helps companies comply with HIPAA privacy regulations and health care reform rules, and she assists plan sponsors and fiduciaries in complying with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code.

Daniel I. Spector as Partner in Sacramento from Law Office of Daniel I. Spector .

Spector was a Sacramento sole practitioner focusing on trust, probate, and complex civil cases involving families. He serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and expert witness of trust, probate, and complex family civil disputes. He is one of only a handful of practitioners included in both the Sacramento Superior Court's list of Pro-Tem Settlement Conference judges and its list of approved mediators qualified to mediate trust and estate disputes pending in Sacramento Superior Court.

Brianna Hutton as Associate in Sacramento from Law Office of Daniel I. Spector .

Hutton practices trust and estate law. She represents clients in mediation and all stages of litigation. She is adept at drafting briefs and motions as well as taking and defending depositions.

Janine M. Braxton as Senior Of Counsel in San Diego from Martenson Hasbrouck & Simon LLP.

Braxton advises and defends employers in all aspects of California labor and employment law and litigation, including wage and hour class and representative PAGA actions, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wrongful termination, and other labor code violations.

Julio E. Martinez as Managing Partner in San Clemente from Testan Law.

A seasoned professional with a knack for leadership, Martinez has been managing teams and handling workers' compensation claims since becoming an attorney in 2007. Passionate about issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), Martinez has consistently prioritized improving diversity in the workers' compensation industry throughout his career. Most recently, in August 2022, he was appointed Board Member of the Hispanic Insurance & Risk Management Association (HIRMA) as their Director of Legal Affairs. He is also a frequent speaker at many industry conferences.

Mark V. Boennighausen as Of Counsel in San Jose and Redwood City from Thoits Law .

Boennighausen has broad civil litigation experience, with specific capabilities and successes in trusts and estate litigation, trade secret law, real estate and commercial disputes involving technology companies.

Agustin Ceballos as Of Counsel in San Diego

Ceballos joined the firm as an associate in 2017. His practice focuses on cross-border tax and corporate matters, international estate planning, advising on tax reporting and compliance, and tax controversy. He has extensive experience structuring international transactions, operations, and investments, including the use of tax treaties for reduced tax rates, optimum use of foreign tax credits, and entity classifications.

Rebecca F. Zipp as Of Counsel in San Diego from San Diego City Attorney's office.

Zipp focuses her practice on complex business litigation and criminal defense. She served as a San Diego County deputy district attorney, where she prosecuted 50 jury trials to verdict, and as chief deputy of domestic violence and sex crimes for the San Diego City Attorney's Office, where she supervised over 60 jury trials. Active in the community, Zipp is a member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and American Inns of Court, Louis M. Welsh San Diego Chapter, as well as a former board member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, California Women Lawyers Association, and Ohr Shalom Synagogue. She also volunteers for the Jewish Family Services of San Diego.

Richard D. Gluck as Of Counsel in San Diego from Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP.

Gluck's practice focuses on complex, "bet-the-company" cases, including securities and consumer class actions, construction and real estate development disputes, unfair competition, trademark infringement and trade secret theft actions and wrongful termination, and other employment matters. He also has extensive experience representing public companies and their officers and directors in SEC and other government investigations and enforcement actions. Gluck investigated and prosecuted claims under federal and state securities laws, helping to recover more than $4 billion for investors. Before that, he spent nearly 20 years defending accounting firms, law firms, investment managers, contractors and subcontractors, and other businesses of all sizes and forms against claims of negligence, professional liability, fraud, and breach of contract.

Kellian Summers as Partner in Los Angeles

Summers focuses her practice on cases involving governmental entity defense, personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, and premises liability. Her experience includes defending claims of constitutional violations such as excessive use of force, assault, battery, and false arrest/imprisonment, as well as defending claims of product defect, sexual molestation of a child, and dangerous condition of public property.

Caitlin E. Higgins as Partner in Sacramento

Higgins represents clients in a variety of matters, including cases involving trade secrets, commercial contract disputes, and fiduciary duties, as well as trademark and copyright disputes. She has also defended medical providers and other individuals and businesses against claims of negligence and intentional torts. As part of the Transportation Practice, she represents railroad clients in regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters.

Maren MacAdam as Partner in Sacramento

MacAdam handles a wide range of litigation for a diverse client base, including commercial matters, insurance defense, wage and hour class actions and employment litigation representing public entities, businesses, and corporations of all sizes, as well as their management and employees in employment-related lawsuits.

Alyssa Garchie as Partner in Orange County

Garchie’s practice emphasizes general liability, products liability, and professional liability. Her experience spans the representation of a broad range of individuals, professional corporations, and financial and industrial companies. Her client representations throughout California have been in state court, federal court, and courts of appeal.

Connie McHugh as Partner in Orange County

McHugh began her career as an associate attorney at a firm specializing in personal Injury and civil litigation. Prior to joining Lewis Brisbois, she worked at an Orange County firm that specialized in workers' compensation law. She is well-versed in all aspects of workers' compensation litigation and has experience handling many types of claims.

Christopher Choi as Partner in Sacramento

Choi is a partner in the Healthcare, Medical Malpractice, and Long-Term Care Practices.

Tracey L. Stromberg as Partner in Los Angeles

Stromberg is a partner in the General Liability Practice.

Kayla Berlin as Partner in Los Angeles

Berlin is a partner in the Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Litigation Practices

Daniel P. Hoffer as co-partner-in-charge in Los Angeles

Hoffer, a co-chair of the Commercial Litigation California Practice Group, is an accomplished litigator who focuses on all aspects of employment law, commercial matters, and class action defense. He advises companies and individuals in a wide variety of industries, including media and entertainment, financial services, healthcare, real estate, retail, and communications.

Peter Yim as Partner in San Francisco from Dentons.

Yim's practice concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, intellectual property strategic planning and technology litigation support. In addition, he has extensive post grant experience, including having handled numerous supplemental examinations, ex parte reexaminations, reissues, post grant reviews, covered business method reviews and inter partes reviews.

Christopher Eide as Partner in Palo Alto from Dentons.

Eide's practice concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, strategic planning, due diligence, technology licensing and intellectual property disputes involving complex technology. He frequently works on matters involving critical technology infrastructure, including Internet and software technology, natural language processing, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality technology, unmanned aerial vehicle software and hardware, semiconductors, data storage, and medical devices and provides patent prosecution and counseling services to companies of all sizes, from industry leaders to early-stage companies.

Brian Ho as Partner in San Francisco from Dentons.

Ho's practice specializes in patent prosecution, patent litigation support, and IP diligence in a wide range of technologies, including computing systems, medical devices, biotechnology, and emerging technologies.

Randy Omid as Partner in San Francisco from Dentons.

Omid focuses his practice on US and foreign patent protection for large established companies and startup companies. He applies his prior experience as a senior engineer to advise clients on all aspects of intellectual property, including matters related to patent preparation and prosecution, reexamination, licensing, infringement, trade secrets, acquisitions and competitive analysis.

Parker Kuhl as Partner in San Francisco from Dentons.

Kuhl focuses his practice on providing patent prosecution, litigation support and due diligence services to companies in the electronic, mechanical and industrial sectors. His technological knowledge includes computer software and hardware, computer network systems, semiconductor devices, sensors and detectors, signal processing, optical systems and mechanical systems.

Jason Solomon as Director in Concord from Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School.

Solomon will lead the Institute in identifying, responding to, and advocating for the evolving needs of workers. Solomon most recently served as the executive director for the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. He also worked as the chief legal officer, and senior director of advocacy and engagement, for Summit Public Schools, a school network serving students from diverse backgrounds in California and Washington state. His pro bono clients have included habeas petitioners challenging criminal convictions and immigrants seeking relief from deportation.

Nitesh Daryanani as Attorney in San Francisco from Latham & Watkins .

Daryanani is a litigation attorney whose practice focuses on civil and commercial disputes across a broad range of industries. He has practiced in trial and appellate courts across the U.S. and India since 2012, on cases relating to contractual disputes, securities law, corporate governance, intellectual property, and antitrust law.

Ronnie M. Schmelz as Partner in Los Angeles from Tucker Ellis LLP.

Schmelz spent the first part of her career at an international law firm defending clients in complex litigation, including consumer class actions and disputes involving reinsurance, general commercial, real estate, and healthcare-related matters. She now spends a significant amount of her time counseling clients on litigation-avoidance strategies so they can confidently focus on building and operating their businesses in a way that reduces the risk of regulatory oversight and consumer challenges.

Mary Manukyan as Associate in Los Angeles from O'Melveny & Myers.

Manukyan is a litigator admitted to practice in California. She has experience representing individuals and entities in diverse matters including breach of contract, labor and employment, product liability, antitrust, and asylum claims.

Brian Neach as Counsel in Los Angeles from Pacheco & Neach.

Neach is a litigator admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia. He represents clients in state and federal courts in a broad range of matters including contract, fraud, employment, Section 1983, and merger and acquisition litigation.

Brandon Orewyler as Associate in Los Angeles from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Orewyler is a litigator admitted to practice in California. He has represented clients across the financial sector, insurance industry, and Web3 space in complex commercial disputes, consumer class actions, and government enforcement proceedings. He has experience with white-collar matters, including conducting internal investigations, and has handled cases involving securities fraud, wage and hour claims, and entertainment contract disputes.

Danielle Novelly as Associate in Los Angeles from Akin Gump.

Novelly is a litigator admitted to practice in California and New York. She has represented clients in a variety of matters including contract and business tort claims, white-collar defense, intellectual property, and class actions.

Morten Lund as Of Counsel in San Diego from Stoel Rives LLP.

For more than 25 years, Morten has advised developers, lenders, investors, and other project participants and has extensive experience in the energy sector. His focus is on solar energy and energy storage projects, but his wide range of project experience also includes wind energy projects, combustion generator projects, nuclear energy facilities, hydroelectric facilities, cogeneration facilities, chemical facilities, forestry/paper facilities, large aircraft, and shipping fleets.

John Metzidis as Associate in Los Angeles from Grodsky, Olecki & Puritsky LLP.

Metzidis is an appellate lawyer with a broad practice covering civil matters. He spent the first 15 years of his career litigating matters mostly at the trial level, first at a large international law firm and then at a trial litigation boutique. He knows and has lived the challenges that trial lawyers face.