Scott P. DeVries joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as special counsel in San Francisco.

DeVries has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth's insurance coverage practice as special counsel in San Francisco from Winston & Strawn.

DeVries is a former chair of Winston & Strawn's insurance recovery practice. His first day at Hunton Andrews Kurth was May 11. He is a trial lawyer with over three decades of experience.

"My practice has been primarily an insurance recovery practice and I've been doing that largely since the late 1980s. I represent a wide range of businesses with a wide range of insurance issues. It runs the gamut from counseling at the one end through submission of claims and proof of loss through litigation and trial," said DeVries.

He has also represented companies such as Aerojet-General Corp. and Hyundai Motor America. He has also represented businesses in the manufacturing and steel sectors as well as the financial and international retail industries.

In light of the pandemic, a majority of his recent work has included helping clients like restaurants, auto dealerships, law firms and manufacturers with insurance issues, according to DeVries.

After 13 years with Winston & Strawn, DeVries said he decided to move after the firm made the decision to get out of the policyholder's side of the business and represent insurance companies.

"...From a personal practice perspective, [Hunton Andrews Kurth] represents policyholders not insurance companies, so there are no conflicts. They have a 27 attorneys in the insurance recovery group, which gives incredible breadth and depth on all things insurance, and they are extraordinarily client focused, it's first and foremost..," he said.

He was additionally impressed by the firm's management and of the way the San Francisco office's cross disciplinary teams and practices dovetailed nicely with his practice.

"I come to businesses [when] they have extended or are extending considerable losses.. I am there and my practice is there to help them recover those losses and that's pretty cool.."

He added that he also enjoys working with clients across different sectors.

"There is a freshness to seeing all these different operations taking place and learning what I need to learn to give [clients] the services they need for their particular niche."

Raphael D. Javid as founding partner in Los Angeles

Javid founded Javid Trial Firm after 20 years at BD&J. The firm specializes in complex personal injury litigation. He is based in Los Angeles.

Jeffrey F. Webb joined Paul Hastings LLP as partner in Paul Hastings LLP.

Webb joined Paul Hastings' employment law department in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He joined the firm as partner after seven years with Ropes & Gray.

He said he decided to join Paul Hastings because of its outstanding roster of blue-chip clients, the challenging work the firm handles and its recognition as the top tier employment firm in California.

"I talked with a small handful of other elite firms, but concluded that the Paul Hastings platform and the depth and breadth of their employment practice were just hard to match. In the course of the last year, my practice has taken me to New York, D.C., London and the Bay Area and Paul Hastings is very strong in all of those markets, so it was a really good fit," said Webb.

As an employment litigator, Webb's work primarily focuses on disputes with highly compensated workers, as well as class actions and collective actions involving discrimination, wage and hour issues, the WARN Act and other employee benefit matters.

His work involves the representing companies in the financial services, life sciences, telecommunications, entertainment and technology industries.

With move, Webb expects his practice to include more work in the entertainment industry now that he will be based in Los Angeles instead of Boston and San Francisco.

For Webb his favorite part about his practice is representing clients, finding the best arguments and winning, adding that what makes his practice unique is the challenging work he handles.

"I'd say the practice at Ropes and now at Paul Hastings is different in that it focuses on client's most challenging work, the matters that they're most concerned about...matters that are of the utmost importance to the client and that makes them all the more interesting."

In the past, Webb has served as a senior government regulator in Massachusetts, where he oversaw a team of prosecutors and civil enforcement attorneys that handled compliance with employment laws, and as a senior in house counsel at Fox Entertainment Group. He served as vice president of legal affairs for Fox from 1998 to 2001.

Charles H. Samel joined Stoel Rives LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Samel joins the firm's litigation practice group. He focuses his practice on complex commercial and antitrust litigation and has over 30 years of experience. He is based in San Francisco.

Kimberly O. Branscome joined Dechert LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Branscome has joined Dechert as managing partner of the Los Angeles office.

She joins the firm's product liability and mass torts practice after six years at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Before she was approached by Dechert, Branscome said she knew of the firm's product liability and mass torts practice co-chairs, Mark Cheffo and Sheila Birnbaum in New York, by reputation.

"[T]he opportunity to come to Dechert was really a unique chance for me to join a very well established, well respected product practice, but also to be able to build something of my own because Dechert had asked me to build and develop the Los Angeles office, but also the West Coast products practice. And so, it's an opportunity for me to be able to develop something, which is always exciting, but to do it in a very established platform in the area in which I practice."

Branscome represents clients in many industries including pharmaceutical, consumer products, and oil and gas. Most recently her work has
ncluded the Johnson & Johnson talc litigation.

As managing partner, Branscome will work to grow the office.

"I'd like to strengthen our practice out here and continue to work with clients that I've worked with in the past, but also build relationships with other existing Dechert clients."

Her first day at Dechert was April 24. She came to the firm with partner Jay Bhimani, counsel Benjamin Sadun and associate Allie Ozurovich.

Gregory K. Jones joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Jones advises lenders, creditors' committees, debtors, assignees for the benefit of creditors, purchasers of assets in bankruptcy cases, lessors and defendants in preference and fraudulent transfer lawsuits. He is based in Los Angeles.

Gregory P. Barchie was promoted to partner of Sauer & Wagner LLP in Los Angeles.

Barchie's practice includes litigating commercial, entertainment, real estate, employment and intellectual property disputes in federal and state courts. He also has experience in arbitrations. He is based in Los Angeles.

Amir A. Torkamani was promoted to partner of Sauer & Wagner LLP in Los Angeles.

Torkamani's practice is focused on commercial, entertainment, real estate, employment and intellectual property litigation. He is based in Los Angeles.

Sonya D. Goodwin was promoted to partner of Sauer & Wagner LLP in Los Angeles.

Goodwin advises clients on employment issues including wage and hour issues, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. She is based in Los Angeles.

Christopher K. Wong joined Atheria Law as associate in San Francisco.

Chris advises insurers in connection with errors and omissions policies issued to a variety of professionals including but not limited to architects, engineers, and other design professionals. In addition to professional liability insurance, Chris advises both domestic and London-based insurers in connection with general liability policies. He gained significant litigation and insurance coverage experience as an associate at a prominent local insurance coverage firm in the Bay Area. Chris received his J.D. from the Chapman University, Fowler School of Law in 2014, and his B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.

Michele J. Bongiovanni joined Klinedinst PC as associate in San Diego.

Michele J. Bongiovanni is an attorney in the San Diego office of Klinedinst PC. Ms. Bongiovanni represents a variety of clients in business, product liability, professional liability, and environmental litigation. Ms. Bongiovanni is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a member of the State Bar of California. Ms. Bongiovanni earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. During law school, Ms. Bongiovanni was recognized by the University of San Diego School of Law for volunteering over one hundred hours of pro bono legal service and received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Patent Law Policy. Prior to law school, Ms. Bongiovanni earned a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biopsychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ms. Bongiovanni has co-authored eight peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals.

Cecilia Dyba joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in San Diego.

Dyba focuses on revenue based electric, water and wastewater utility financings and disclosure matters. She is based in San Diego.

Erin Murphy joined Latham & Watkins LLP as partner in Menlo Park.

Murphy joins the firm's tax department and benefits, compensation and employment practice group. She is based in Menlo Park.

Rachel D. Kleinberg joined Sidley Austin LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Kleinberg's official first day as a Sidley Austin partner in Palo Alto is Monday. She brings her tax practice that focuses primarily on private equity and corporate clients to the firm.

"I work with private equity clients on buy- and sell-side transactions and financings and have in the past done several complicated cross border carve outs with private equity fund buyers," Kleinberg said. "And then I represent corporate clients on a wide array of transactions, including M&A and capital markets transactions. And I also have significant experience with spin off transactions."

She joined Sidley Austin from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where she practiced the past 17 years.

The opportunity to help Sidley grow its merger and acquisitions and private equity practices on the West Coast, influenced her decision to move.

"I've been really immensely impressed by the talent and breadth of experience at Sidley," Kleinberg said. "It's obvious to me that Sidley has made an enormous investment in private equity and M&A over the past five years. And I think that my tech skills will help the firm continue to expand that practice."

She also said she hopes to continue providing the best legal services for tax clients.
"I tend to work in all kinds of different areas, I have familiarity with both corporate clients and PE clients. I've worked in M&A, but also in capital market credit transaction and partnership derivative," Kleinberg said. "I really have tried it all, which has been fun for me, but just gives me a broader practice than most people have."