Jason Lee as Partner in Orange County from Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.

Lee focuses his practice on corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions, as well as general corporate matters. This includes advising public and private clients in the middle-market and emerging growth sectors on company formation, SEC reporting requirements and registrations, federal and state securities laws and compliance, corporate governance matters, joint ventures and executive employment agreements.

William K. Wetmore as Partner in San Francisco from Indaba Capital Management, L.P. .

Wetmore's practice includes crafting strategies for compliance with Sections 13(d) and 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, assisting with litigation strategy and providing guidance on pleadings for Section 16 short-swing trading liability cases, structuring takeovers and private placements to reduce Section 16 exposure, and reviewing client corporate governance policies and advising on governance best practices.

Ima E Nsien as Principal in Los Angeles from Manatt, Phelps & Philips LLP.

Nsien is a healthcare trial and licensing lawyer, specializing in complex disputes. She advises commercial, Medicare and Medicaid managed care entities in a variety of legal disputes in state and federal court, including bad faith, breach of health plan contracts, ERISA and mental health parity claims and also has experience in handling skilled nursing facility enforcement action appeals before state and federal regulators. She assists clients through the Knox-Keene health plan licensing application process and represents healthcare clients in government investigations.

David J. Edwards as General Counsel in San Diego from Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

Edwards has served as deputy city attorney and lead counsel for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power since 2011, defending the city's water rights in the Eastern Sierra and the Los Angeles Aqueduct. He brings nearly 17 years of public service at LADWP, the past 12 of which directly relate to water, natural resources, power, and public utility/agency issues. His current practice focuses on water rights/resource development, the Endangered Species Act, Native American issues, sustainability, legislative/regulatory affairs, and other environmental considerations related to public power/alternative energy development, CEQA and compliance with open government laws, including the Brown Act. He also brings significant experience working on issues related to the Colorado River, the Imperial Irrigation District, and the Salton Sea.

Ellie S. Ruth as Associate in Los Angeles from Greines, Martin, Stein, & Richland, LLP.

Ellie specializes in appeals, writs, and dispositive pre- and post-trial motions on a broad range of legal issues, including premises liability, attorneys fees, contracts, family law/complex divorces, evidence, insurance (bad faith, Cumis counsel), products liability, employment and civil procedure.

Christopher Chiou as Partner in Los Angeles from U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada.

Chiou represents clients in high-stakes complex commercial litigation and investigations, with an emphasis on business disputes. He is experienced in all stages of litigation, from counseling clients before lawsuits are filed through trying cases before juries. He also leads internal investigations on behalf of corporations and advises them on compliance issues, including providing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act training to executives at multinational companies.

Ryan T. Moore as Partner in Los Angeles from Berkes Crane Santana & Spangler LLP.

Moore defends businesses against personal injury, product liability, toxic tort, property damage and other claims at trial and on appeal in state and federal courts. He has particular experience representing businesses in the manufacturing and rail transportation industries in complex commercial litigation.

Chanel Di Blasi as Associate in San Diego from Kimball, Tirey & St. John .

Di Blasi has concentrated her practice on representing landlords' property rights and successfully navigating the regulations that govern their properties - with a particular focus on residential and commercial landlord-tenant disputes, leasing, contracts, affordable housing and compliance.

Clare Capaccioli Velasquez as Associate in San Jose from Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi & Riddle LLP.

Capaccioli Velasquez works closely with her clients in all stages of litigation including counseling and advising through mediation and trial. She also has relevant experience with Trust and Probate disputes in cases involving financial elder abuse, will and trust contests involving issues of capacity and undue influence, breach of fiduciary duties, removal and surcharge actions, reformation, construction and modification issues, and recovery of trust assets.

Gina Lough as Directing Attorney of the Immigrants' Rights Project in Los Angeles

Lough will assume her new duties on Sept. 6, leading a 30-member team of attorneys, paralegals, administrative staff, and social workers who serve asylum seekers, immigrants in detention, survivors of violent crime, and unaccompanied children.

Courtney Cahill as Professor of Law in Irvine from Donald Hinkle Professor of Law at Florida State University College of Law.

Cahill is a scholar of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, sex equality, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ equality. Her work examines the role of disgust in lawmaking, the synergies between sex equality and LGBTQ equality, and the mutually constitutive relationship between marginal practices (same-sex marriage, alternative reproduction) and mainstream norms.

Cynthia J. Cole as Partner in Palo Alto from Baker Botts LLP.

Cole focuses her practice on IP, strategic, and technology transactions; data privacy and cybersecurity. She advises clients across industries including technology, retail, communications, social media, energy and healthcare / life sciences. Cynthia has deep experience in complex cross-border, IP and data-driven transactions. A former general counsel and CEO, she also acts as outside general counsel to a number of executive teams and boards of directors.

Richard Rifenbark in Centrury City from Polsinelli, PC..

Rifenbark's practice is a blend of healthcare regulatory compliance and transactional work. He regularly advises clients on healthcare fraud and abuse laws and other regulatory issues, including the federal anti-kickback statute, stark physician self-referral law, false claims act, state licensing issues, corporate practice of medicine doctrines and state fraud and abuse laws.

Donna Tobar as Partner in Irvine from Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP.

Tobar provides a full range of litigation and counseling services in the areas of construction and suretyship, with experience in government contracting as well. She has successfully represented contractor and surety clients in various legal settings, including litigation (state and federal), mediation, arbitration, and various informal settings including counseling services during contract performance.

Randall Jackson as Executive Vice President and Associate General Counsel in Los Angeles

Jackson leads Lionsgate's risk management function, directs the company's IP enforcement strategy, oversees responses to governmental inquiries, manages bankruptcy matters, and advises the c-suite and the company's business units on a wide range of critical strategic issues. Jackson will also oversee Lionsgate's content protection and contract compliance/third-party audit groups, and extend his involvement in corporate transactions and compliance matters.

Chris Grogan as Partner in Los Angeles from PayPal Inc.

Grogan has counseled startups and emerging companies from formation to exit and has advised investors in financing transactions to support companies in their growth process. As a general counsel and attorney, he has worked on equity financing and M&A transactions and has experience leading a legal team as a company increased its workforce, expanded its geographic footprint, diversified its product base, and scaled its revenue.

Michael Yaghi as Partner in Orange County from Crowell & Moring LLP.

Yaghi represents high-profile clients in regulatory enforcement investigations spanning numerous areas, including advertising campaigns, promotional materials, marketing and sales practices, marketing through emerging media, telemarketing campaigns, email marketing, and other regulatory issues affecting consumer marketing and sales.

Clayton S. Friedman as Partner in Orange County from Crowell & Moring LLP.

Friedman represents clients in attorney general regulatory actions and handles regulatory matters involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other local, state, and federal agencies.

Scott Leipzig as Partner in Los Angeles, CA

Leipzig has been named chair of the firm's global Litigation Department. Leipzig has experience handling complex real estate, partnership, finance, insurance, entertainment, and commercial disputes in state and federal courts, as well as domestic and international arbitration. He is a go-to lawyer for some of the most hotly contested and difficult litigation matters that Allen Matkins handles.

Kamran Javandel as Partner in San Francisco, CA

Javandel has been named co-chair of the firm's Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Group. Javandel's practice focuses on litigating environmental contamination disputes; advising on compliance with environmental laws and regulations; resolving government agency investigations; obtaining project entitlements, permits, and other approvals; and advising on environmental aspects of real estate and business transactions.

Jessica Chu as Partner in Los Angeles, CA

Chu was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Chu's practice focuses on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex joint ventures and business transactions for equity investors, financial institutions, developers, and others. She has counseled clients regarding joint ventures and transactions covering a broad range of real property types, including undeveloped land, industrial, master-planned communities, hotels and resorts, commercial office, retail projects, shopping centers, and mixed-use projects.

Kate Kraus as Partner in Los Angeles, CA

Kraus was named co-chair of the firm's Tax & Joint Ventures Group. Kraus has extensive experience in tax planning and structuring for partnerships, REITs, Opportunity Zone funds, and other types of investments and taxpayers, including formations, financing transactions, acquisitions, restructurings, debt workouts, liquidations, and bankruptcies. Her clients include real estate funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, Fortune 100 companies, REITs, mid-market companies, high net worth individuals, and Opportunity Zone funds.

Jason Rabbitt-Tomita as Partner in Palo Alto from Paul Hastings LLP.

Rabbitt-Tomita represents clients in a wide variety of M&A transactions, joint ventures, and financings. He has represented clients in the technology, finance, retail, and energy industries in both U.S. and cross-border deals, with a deal value of $100 billion.

Daniel Ray Brown as Partner in San Francisco from McDermott Will & Emery.

Brown's clients include insurance companies, start-ups, agents, brokers and other stakeholders in the insurance industry. He has extensive experience advising alien or foreign insurers on how to comply with various state laws in placing business; early-stage and developed insurtech entities on regulatory and corporate issues; insureds on exempt and specialty lines; producers on licensing, placement and premium tax issues, including digitization of the process; and insureds on coverage and placement issues. He also advises London market participants on how to comply with US insurance laws, either by becoming admitted insurers or by using a variety of methods of covering US risks without being licensed.

Benjamin J. Kim as Partner in Los Angeles from Nixon Peabody LLP.

Kim's practice is focused on litigating workplace health and safety matters, harassment and discrimination cases involving high-level executives, nationwide and California-wide class and other representative actions, and executive contract and partnership disputes. Ben has also advised entertainment and esports organizations on a variety of workplace-related issues.

Peter A. Dafter as Associate in San Francisco from Paul F. Sullivan & Associates.

Dafter counsel's clients in a wide variety of matters relating to professional liability and all forms of civil litigation. He has extensive experience developing and executing legal strategies for insurance defense auto accidents.

Erinn E. Sheppard as Partner in Los Angeles

Sheppard represents creditors and debtors in complex financial transactions. She leads work with other practices to provide well-rounded, informed analyses of issues that affect the lending industry.

Scott C. Cutrow as Partner in Century City

Cutrow's practice focuses on entertainment, media and intellectual property issues. He has experience negotiating film, television and new media development, production and distribution agreements, as well as counseling clients regarding complex entertainment finance transactions, employment contracts and talent agreements for film, television and digital media.

G. Michael Brelje as Associate in Santa Barbara from Rogers, Sheffield & Campbell, LLP .

Brelje's practice includes all forms of civil procedure, discovery and motion practice, as well as trial and appellate appearances. He has worked on and tried numerous complex civil and appellate cases, including arguing cases in the California Court of Appeal.