Sophia Tao joined The Hassell Law Group as associate in San Francisco.

Tao brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. Before joining our firm, she was a paralegal at a well-known San Francisco personal injury law firm where her duties included filing pleadings, trial management motions, and organizing discovery responses for personal injury cases. She also served as a judicial extern for the 1st District Court of Appeal during law school where she researched legal issues on appeal and prepared draft legal memoranda. She is very committed to seeking justice for those injured in accidents and to ensuring they are fairly compensated for their losses.

Felton T. Newell joined Newell Law Group as co-managing partner in Los Angeles.

Newell is an experienced trial attorney who provides sophisticated legal counsel to corporate and individual clients. In his 25 years of practice, Newell has successfully represented clients, including Fortune 100 companies, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals, in complex business litigation, entertainment litigation, and employment litigation matters.

Michael A. Jacobs joined JAMS as neutral in San Francisco.

Jacobs tried numerous high-profile cases to juries, judges, and arbitrators and co-founded and led his firm's intellectual property litigation group. Throughout his years in private practice, he handled cases across a variety of practice areas, including intellectual property, life sciences, and business and commercial. He has also served as a recurring speaker for the Practicing Law Institute and a faculty member for the annual FJC-BCLT IP Education Program for Federal Judges.

Nili T. Moghaddam joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as partner in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Moghaddam will split her time between the firm's Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. She brings a diverse skill set to the firm, focusing on corporate litigation, white-collar defense, and trial work. She has spent the past five years in increasingly senior in-house roles at digital tech startups, including financial services platform Robinhood, where she was one of the unicorn's first lawyers and quickly rose to Head of Litigation & Investigations. Before working in-house, Nili served six years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, where she investigated, prosecuted, and tried complex cases involving national security, racketeering, and financial offenses.

Jesse Berg joined Withers as special counsel in San Francisco.

Berg has served as both in-house and outsourced general counsel to individuals and businesses, including startups, privately held companies and entrepreneurs principally in the areas of technology, e-commerce, digital publishing, new media and gaming. He has also represented buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions as well as companies and investors in various stages of financing. Berg has counseled founders, management, and boards of directors on best practices in areas such as business growth, capital raising and investor and employee relations, and has advised companies and individuals on commercial disputes. In the area of technology transactions, Berg has advised on drafting and negotiating various types of agreements such as license, manufacturing and SaaS agreements.

Michael Sweet was promoted to office managing partner of Fox Rothschild LLP in San Francisco.

Sweet is chair of Fox Rothschild's nationwide Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy Department and is a member of the firm's Executive Committee. In practice for more than 25 years, Sweet is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading California Bankruptcy and Restructuring lawyer. He represents debtors, creditors, creditors' committees and trustees throughout the state of California and nationally.

Brent Johnson PhD. joined Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP as partner in Irvine.

Johnson focuses his practice on intellectual property matters, including patent prosecution and generating and managing portfolios in life sciences and other chemistry and material-based sciences. His experience includes post-grant proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board, IP due diligence, and IP import/export issues. Brent counsels life sciences and medical device industry clients in a wide range of areas, including pharmaceutical and chemistry-related technologies.

Brian Coleman joined Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Coleman counsels in all aspects of intellectual property law including patent and trademark prosecution. An entrepreneur, lawyer and engineer, he represents companies in industries such as enterprise software, robotics, medical software and technology, artificial intelligence, clean tech, fintech, gaming, and Web3. His services include portfolio management, blue sky patent development, handling IP audits and strategy, opinions of counsel, prelitigation patent defense and assertion, appeals, reissues, and reexaminations.

Joseph V. Marra III joined Pazzani & Sandhu LLP as senior counsel in Glendale.

Marra is a seasoned litigator with nearly two decades of experience in vigorously representing his clients before state and federal courts. He focuses his practice on defending employers facing discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower, and related claims, and also has substantial experience defending wage and hour claims, including those brought as class and representative actions. In addition to his employment practice, for the past decade, Marra has performed pro bono work for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Veterans Legal Services Project, assisting armed forces veterans with their record expungements, and clearing citations and warrants.

Scott M. Stanton was promoted to office managing member of Mintz in San Diego.

Stanton has more than 30 years of experience on transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, and public and private equity financings. He represents companies, boards of directors, and board committees in a wide variety of industries, including software, medical devices, life sciences, semiconductors, manufacturing, consumer products, insurance, and financial services.

Ryne C. Posey was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

Posey also has extensive experience advising clients on the labor and employment aspects of business transactions, as well as structuring, negotiating and drafting employment agreements, consultant agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, arbitration agreements, severance agreements, collective bargaining agreements, and all labor and employment components of corporate transaction agreements. He represents clients in litigation and alternative dispute resolution matters concerning wage and hour class, collective and representative actions; unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims; breach of contract claims; unfair competition claims; trade secret misappropriation claims; and traditional labor law disputes.

Caroline Van Ness was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Van Ness’ practice focuses on commercial civil litigation, often involving intellectual property, product liability, contract and competition issues. She has a diverse client base and represents corporations and their officers in industries including technology, automotive and consumer goods. Her experience spans the trial court and appellate levels and includes considerable experience in plaintiff-side commercial litigation.

Ross E Bautista joined Carpenter & Zuckerman as senior trial attorney in Beverly Hills.

Bautista represents plaintiffs in cases involving product liability, vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, aviation accidents, premises liability and elder abuse.

Michael A. Lawson joined Ellis George LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Lawson has over three decades of experience in providing legal counseling in business financings, private investment companies, and mergers and acquisitions. He has extensive experience in advising clients on executive compensations and employee benefits such as stock options and other equity-based compensation plans, tax-qualified and non-qualified pension plans, fiduciary responsibility and prohibited transactions, single and multi-employer plan liability matters, severance agreements, as well as ERISA-related issues in structured finance transactions, bankruptcy proceedings, and proxy contests. He has regularly counseled boards of trustees, investment advisors, investment managers, trustees, and other fiduciaries, including ERISA litigation cases, U.S. Department of Labor exemption requests, matters involving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and cases before various government agencies.

Zachary Rothenberg joined Polsinelli LLP as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Rothenberg is a healthcare lawyer focused on litigating business disputes. He regularly represents a range of healthcare clients, from individual doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to physician practice groups and IPAs to hospitals and hospital systems.

Caitlin C. Blanche joined Venable LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Blanche is a seasoned litigator and skilled client-counselor who works side by side with clients to navigate complex advertising and regulatory matters, along with bet-the-company litigation. As the co-lead of Commercial Litigation and chair of the Consumer Products and Beauty and Wellness practices at her prior firm, she has represented top manufacturers and distributors of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other equipment in false advertising, unfair competition, or other fraud-based claims, as well as product liability litigation, including under California's Proposition 65. She is nationally recognized as an environmental and social governance leader.

Jill Fannin joined JAMS as neutral in Walnut Creek.

Fannin will serve as a mediator, arbitrator, special master/referee and neutral evaluator, handling business/commercial, breach of contract, personal injury/torts, employment, professional liability, real estate/real property, family law and construction/construction defect cases. She is available to conduct sessions in person, as well as virtually, for clients across the country.

Kenneth Michael Trujillo-Jamison was promoted to managing partner of Willenken LLP in Los Angeles.

Trujillo-Jamison's practice focuses on representing major corporations in a variety of industries in complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property, copyright, class action defense, and entertainment-related disputes. He serves as president of the board of Inner-City Law Center, a non-profit organization that works towards ending the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles. He is also active in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal community, and he recently was elected to the California Minority Counsel Program's Board of Directors. He has served as a 2018 Pathfinder and 2022 Fellow in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity program.

Josh A. Maltzer joined Rogers Joseph O'Donnell, PC. as of counsel in San Francisco.

Maltzer has more than a decade of experience litigating high-stakes construction, insurance coverage, commercial business disputes and product liability matters. He has represented contractors, business owners, property managers, developers, real estate buyers and public housing agencies. Leveraging his deep experience in all phases of dispute resolution, including pre-litigation mediation, settlement negotiations, arbitration and trial, Maltzer's work has resulted in millions of dollars in insurance recoveries, judgments and settlements for his clients. He has tried cases in state and federal courts throughout California, Arizona, Washington and Wyoming.

Steven J. Elie was promoted to co-managing partner of Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP in Los Angeles.

Elie has extensive experience defending and prosecuting a broad range of environmental, administrative and litigation matters. He has handled a wide variety of insurance, commercial litigation and white-collar criminal matters as well as pre-litigation counseling for businesses, non-profit organizations and public entities.

Richard A. Galafaro was promoted to co-managing partner of Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP in Los Angeles.

Galofaro has experience structuring and implementing sophisticated transfer tax planning techniques, including sales to defective grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning. He also advises clients concerning business and succession planning, charitable giving, and the establishment and administration of private foundations.

Anne Wang joined Frost Brown Todd AlvaradoSmith as partner in Los Angeles.

Wang has expertise in building and maintaining patent portfolios in the fields of mechanical, electromechanical, and electrical systems, including computer graphics, optical lasers, musical instruments, apparel, cosmetics, and toys. Leveraging her strong background in physics, Wang also has particular familiarity with medical devices, interferometers, amusement park rides, and gas sensors and detectors. Throughout her career, she has worked on a range of trademark matters, patent prosecutions, infringement actions, enforcement and licensing programs, and due diligence analysis.

Lauren E. Schneider joined Frost Brown Todd AlvaradoSmith as partner in Los Angeles.

Schneider's practice focuses on U.S. and international patent procurement and portfolio development, as well as licensing and monetization. She provides patent strategy and portfolio planning and management for numerous major clients across a diverse array of technical disciplines, both in the United States and internationally.

Tom Curtis was promoted to partner, co-chair of Nossaman in Orange County.

Curtis has represented clients in the healthcare sector on a wide range of issues including, medical staff peer review proceedings, licensing proceedings, writ proceedings, State and Federal Court civil litigation and related appellate proceedings. He represents hospitals, health systems, health plans, medical staffs, medical groups, ambulatory surgery centers and other healthcare providers on regulatory and compliance issues and the development of long-range plans and has done so for more than 40 years. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. This recognition is limited to 1/3 of 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

Mike Gawley was promoted to partner, co-chair of Nossaman in San Francisco.

Gawley leads a broad range of litigation matters, including medical staff and peer review hearings, whistleblower claims, administrative enforcement actions, regulatory investigations, labor and employment disputes, reimbursement actions with public and private payors. He also collaborates with clients to develop policies and strategies to comply with ever-changing legal and regulatory requirements.

Scott Hyman joined Womble Bond Dickinson as partner in Irvine.

Hyman has three decades of experience representing financial institutions, national banks, automobile finance companies, and loan servicers. He has counseled and defended clients on privacy and cybersecurity, licensing and regulatory matters, and individual and class actions brought under state and federal Truth-in-Lending laws, UDAP laws, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Genevieve Walser-Jolly joined Womble Bond Dickinson as partner in Irvine.

Walser-Jolly represents financial institutions, including banks, lenders, and loan servicers. Her practice includes defending individual and consumer class actions (e.g., data privacy, mortgage servicing, TCPA, and auto finance) and developing data privacy and security programs that comply with federal statutory schemes and the evolving patchwork of state privacy laws. Walser-Jolly also assists clients as they compile data maps, update vendor management programs, draft contractual privacy requirements and policies, and operationalize comprehensive consumer response programs.

Jennifer Mizrahi joined Cole Huber LLP as partner in Ontario.

Mizrahi served as city attorney for Desert Hot Springs for over a decade. Mizrahi also served as assistant city attorney for the cities of Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, and Victorville, and deputy general counsel for the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, Glendale Oversight Board, the Victorville Water District, Victor Valley Economic Development Authority and prior, the City of Lynwood and the Water Replenishment District, as deputy legal counsel. During her career representing public entities, Mizrahi has acquired extensive experience in many facets of municipal law, including land use planning, environmental analysis, annexation proceedings, contract negotiations, public works, prevailing wage compliance, Proposition 218, eminent domain, and sales and property tax measures and is one of the leaders in cannabis law regulation.

Jacob Lager joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Lager maintains an active tax controversy practice, advising clients at all stages of federal, state, and local tax audits, appeals, and court actions. He regularly defends clients in income tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and the Franchise Tax Board, employment tax disputes with the Employment Development Department, sales and use tax disputes with the Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and property and transfer tax matters with county assessors throughout California.

Robert Lepore joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as partner in Los Angeles and Washington D.C..

Lepore most recently led the Transportation, Energy and Agriculture Section, leveraging his skills as an antitrust trial lawyer to achieve government wins in high-profile, multi-billion merger challenges, including JetBlue/Spirit Airlines. In his 13 years at the Antitrust Division, he has overseen more than 40 investigations and four trials in a range of industries--including airlines, travel technology, electricity, livestock, telecommunications, software, railroads, shipping, oil field services, seeds, and agricultural biotechnology. He routinely interacted with and served as a Division spokesperson to other federal, state and international agencies: among others, the Department of Transportation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Surface Transportation Board, Department of Commerce, Federal Communications Commission, European Commission, and offices of state attorneys general. Lepore is a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, and a nine-time recipient of the Assistant Attorney General Award.