Frederik P Spiess as senior attorney in San Diego from sole practice.

Practicing in general liability matters, civil litigation, business and contract disputes, professional liability and legal malpractice, Spiess has acted as outside counsel for businesses and consulted in legal ethics and law practice management.

Vincent Y. Ling as Partner in Los Angeles

Vincent Y. Ling, based in Los Angeles, focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling, including patent infringement and trade secret matters. He has represented clients across a range of industries, spanning biopharmaceuticals, wireless communications and computer technologies. Ling joined the firm after clerking for Judge Sharon Prost of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also clerked for Judge Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Sue L. Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Jonathan S. Meltzer as Partner in Washington, D.C.

Jonathan S. Meltzer handles appellate and complex civil litigation from Munger Tolles’ Washington, D.C., office. He frequently briefs cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts, including as a member of the team that defended before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also regularly represents a range of clients in complex civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Meltzer served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nicholas D. Fram as Partner in San Francisco

Nicholas D. Fram is a litigator in the San Francisco office whose practice focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation, internal investigations and mass torts. He is active in the community and with local bar associations. Prior to joining the firm, Fram clerked for Judge Michael A. Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge George B. Daniels of the Southern District of New York.

Tyler Hilton as Partner in Los Angeles

Tyler Hilton, a Los Angeles lawyer, advises buyers and sellers in public and private M&A transactions. He also represents companies and investors in a variety of equity financing and commercial transactions, as well as corporate governance matters. He was part of the team that advised Intel Corp. in the $9 billion sale of its NAND memory chip business to SK Hynix Inc. Hilton maintains a pro bono practice representing immigrants before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and in asylum proceedings.

Craig Jennings Lavoie as Partner in Los Angeles

Craig Jennings Lavoie handles high-stakes civil litigation from Munger Tolles’ Los Angeles office. His major representations include the owners of the LA Clippers in litigation related to the team’s new arena in Inglewood, and Kobe Bryant’s widow in litigation against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Fire Departments regarding the improper taking and sharing of photos of human remains, which is scheduled for trial in February. He is a former law clerk to Judge Michelle T. Friedland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Jennifer L. Bryant as Partner in Los Angeles

Jennifer L. Bryant, based in Los Angeles, focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on legal challenges faced by the entertainment and technology industries, including trade secret, copyright and privacy issues. She has experience litigating cases at all stages, from providing pre-suit counseling to writing dispositive motions, and from taking and defending depositions to examining witnesses at trial. A former clerk to Chief Judge George H. King of the Central District of California, Bryant was named one of The LGBT Bar's "Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40" in 2021.

Wesley T.L. Burrell as Partner in Los Angeles

Wesley T.L. Burrell’s practice spans a broad range of high-profile litigation matters concerning complex, often novel, finance, intellectual property and corporate governance issues on behalf of clients ranging from financial institutions and major corporations to start-ups. A Los Angeles litigator, Burrell also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing asylum seekers and domestic trafficking victims. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also served as a judicial extern to Judge Consuelo M. Callahan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Anya Griffith as of counsel in San Diego from Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP.

Beginning her career at the Office of Chief Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Griffith has specialized in investment company registration, commercial contracts and stock purchase agreements, among other fields.

Matthew D Segal as partner in Sacramento from U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.

Formerly the chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit in the Eastern District, Rives worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office for 17 years. He now focuses his practice on internal investigations, white-collar crime and antitrust litigation.

Lee A Kaplan as associate attorney in Los Angeles from Harding Larmore Kutcher & Kozal LLP.

Kaplan was an in-house attorney with the California Association of Realtors, started a land use practice at Harding Larmore Kutcher & Kozal LLP and advised municipalities
with Richards Watson & Gershon. He also practices environmental law.

Stephe B Ballas as partner in Century City from DLA Piper.

After a 19-year legal career encompassing in and out of house counsel, attorney Stephen B. Ballas has joined Sidley Austin LLP
as a partner in Century City. Ballas had been a partner at DLA Piper since 2019.
Ballas' ties to Sidley Austin LLP run deep, dating back to his time at the New York offices of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. It was there that he met Sidley partner Dan Clivner, who at the time worked at Simpson's Los Angeles offices.
"Dan is one of the people I liked working with at Simpson, and one of the lessons you learn as you go through your career is that you keep the relationships you build and develop them, because those are people whose paths you'll cross later," Ballas said. "So Dan was one of the first people I reached out to when I was looking
for jobs out in L.A."
Clivner said, "I'm a little older than Stephen, and I served as a trusted adviser to him during his career, both internally when we worked at the same firm and then when he relocated to L.A."
Ballas moved to Los Angeles in 2011, where he joined real estate firm CBRE as senior counsel. By 2013, he had risen to the rank of senior vice president and deputy general counsel.
"I oversaw M&A and SEC reporting and public company governance," Ballas said. "So not totally dissimilar from the things I hope to do at Sidley."
In 2016, Ballas moved on to communications firm Global Eagle Entertainment, where he served as executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. In these capacities, Ballas continued to work in mergers and acquisitions and SEC reporting while also overseeing compliance functions and employment litigation.
"That was true general counsel, a little bit of everything," Ballas recalled.
Ballas' various positions helped him find a true passion for legal work, which he initially pursued in his father's footsteps.
"When I actually went to law school and then had my first job at Simpson, I realized I actually like the negotiation aspects of it, I like the attention to detail aspects of it, and I'm kind of drawn to the power of language," Ballas said. "I recognize legal contracts are so dry and not the most exciting thing in the world, but there's a lot packed in them."
Clivner believes that the addition of Ballas to Sidley will only strengthen the firm's practice as part of an ongoing effort to bring in fresh new talent.
"What we've done at Sidley over the last decade in Los Angeles is really very special, and it's because people like Stephen have joined us to make it so special," Clivner said. "It's been a lot of recruiting and a lot of lateral movement -- we expect more to come -- and that's really elevated us in the market nationwide."

Rachel McRoskey as Special Counsel in Miami

Rachel McRoskey has been promoted to Special Counsel in Akerman's national Real Estate Practice Group. She has experience representing investors, owners, lenders, and developers in a range of local and national transactions, including shopping center development, acquisitions and dispositions, and public and private sector financing.

Jana Balik FitzGerald as Senior Associate in Indian Wells from Paul Hastings .

Ms. FitzGerald's practice experience has included litigation and all aspects of labor and employment law. She has worked on the defense of class actions, representative actions, and individual plaintiff lawsuits involving federal and California anti-discrimination and equal pay laws; California wage-and-hour laws; the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), and others. She has provided advice and counseling to numerous clients, and has conducted workplace training.

Lee Kaplan as Associate Attorney in Los Angeles from Richards, Watson & Gershon .

Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3), a rapidly growing commercial real estate law firm, has announced the addition of Lee Kaplan as an associate attorney. Prior to joining CGS3, Kaplan advised municipalities and other public entities with Los Angeles-based Richards, Watson & Gershon and established a land use practice at Harding Larmore Kutcher & Kozal in Santa Monica. He also has in-house experience working as a staff attorney for the California Association of Realtors, a statewide trade association for real estate professionals. In addition to his extensive general real estate and land use experience, he has broad expertise in environmental law. He is particularly adroit at conducting due diligence and shepherding development projects of all sizes through complex entitlement processes throughout Southern California. Kaplan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics from New York University and earned his J.D., from the UCLA School of Law.

Amy Senia as Attorney in San Francisco from Law clerk for Hon. Michael W. Fitzgerald of the Central District of California.

After wrapping up her clerkship for Hon. Michael W. Fitzgerald of the Central District of California, Impact associate Amy Senia joins the firm's San Francisco office. As a recent Stanford Law School graduate, Amy started as a trial attorney at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California. During her time at the Federal Public Defender's office, Amy handled felony and misdemeanor cases across all stages of litigation, with a focus on motion work. Amy is joining the BHB Impact Project where she will continue to hone her court room skills and fight for broad systemic change on behalf of the underserved and underrepresented.

Jeff Cohen as Partner

Mr. Cohen represents lenders, developers and investors in the development, financing, acquisition and disposition of large-scale infrastructure and energy projects. He maintains a focus on the renewable energy sector, including advising on all stages of wind, solar and hydrogen projects, which is of particular interest to firm clients focused on energy transition. Mr. Cohen is a certified public accountant, and he received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and his B.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Kimberly Rowe as Partner in Los Angeles

Ms. Rowe represents private equity funds and public and private companies across a wide variety of industries on a broad range of strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, carve-out transactions, cross-border transactions, minority investments and other complex corporate matters. Ms. Rowe received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and her B.S.M. from Tulane University, magna cum laude.

Alvaro J. Peralta as Associate in Los Angeles from White & Case LLP .

Peralta is a business litigator with experience representing clients in state and federal courts in diverse matters including contract, fraud, and copyright disputes.

Neva Cirkveni as Associate in Los Angeles from OBLIN RECHSTANWALTE.

Cirkveni is a business litigator with experience representing clients in diverse matters, including contract, fraud, entertainment, and investment disputes.