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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

James Edward Brownstein joined O'Melveny & Myers as partner in Century City.

Brownstein has deep experience advising sophisticated private equity sponsors in Northern and Southern California and nationally --principally in the middle market on new platform investments and add-on acquisitions. He also advises private equity-owned companies on general corporate, commercial, and governance matters.

Daniel Guggenheim joined Quarles & Brady as partner in San Diego.

Guggenheim represents clients in a variety of industries, including health care, health technology, life sciences and information technology. He delivers strategic advice, innovative solutions and practical guidance on commercial agreements, privacy and data protection, regulatory guidance, product and compliance counseling, and artificial intelligence (AI) law.

Mohammed B. Shihabi was promoted to partner of FordHarrison in Los Angeles.

Shihabi has represented employers in claims asserted under federal statutes such as Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as state and local regulations including the New York Labor Law, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. He has litigated matters on behalf of clients in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies at the federal and local level, appearing before the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

William E. Johnston joined Bird, Marella, Rhow, Lincenberg, Drooks & Nessim, LLP as partner in Century City.

Johnston is a former federal prosecutor and accomplished trial lawyer who represents corporations and individuals in government investigations, enforcement matters and complex business disputes. is a respected white collar defense lawyer and investigator who has significant trial experience in federal court. He has supervised and prosecuted hundreds of fraud cases across the country in a wide array of industries, including the technology sector, financial services, healthcare, and government programs.

Mitchel Jones was promoted to partner of Patterson + Sheridan LLP in Silicon Valley.

Jones brings to the firm more than 15 years of experience counseling clients over a wide range of technical disciplines and cutting-edge fields, including 3D computer graphics, virtual reality, computer networking, electronics and semiconductor technologies, artificial intelligence and machine-learning applications, medical devices, and complex software and information technology.

Peter S. Burke joined Sidley Austin LLP as partner in Century City.

Burke joins Sidley's Global Finance practice. His practice focuses on commercial, corporate finance, and special situations transactions, where he represents direct lenders, private credit funds and banks in working capital facilities (cash flow and asset-based), acquisition financings, structured financings, and restructurings and recapitalizations - both cross-border and U.S. focused.

Joseph S. Leventhal joined Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP as partner in San Diego.

Leventhal has been named head of litigation for the San Diego office. He has extensive trial experience in state and federal courts, representing clients across diverse industries. Noteworthy accomplishments include leading Milacron to victory in an eight-day federal jury trial, successfully defending against a $23 million breach of contract lawsuit and securing a counterclaim award. He also overturned sanctions against a global logistics company after an appeal to the 9th Circuit. Leventhal achieved a judgment in favor of a real estate developer and owners' association, resolving claims of fraud, breach of contract and RICO, and securing attorneys' fees. Additionally, he played a key role in a cybersecurity dispute, resulting in the minority member relinquishing interest and agreeing to a multiyear noncompetition agreement.

Quinn Johnson joined Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP as partner in Redwood Shores.

Johnson's practice focuses on a broad range of complex commercial litigation. Johnson brings over two decades of unparalleled experience as both in-house counsel and a trial lawyer. Her responsibilities include crisis response, intellectual property protection, mergers and acquisitions, and government relations, adeptly managing risk, conducting corporate investigations, and ensuring corporate compliance.

Staci Jennifer Trager joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Trager is an established intellectual property litigator managing high-profile cases and has significant experience in courts throughout the country, particularly across California federal and state courts. A former apparel company executive, Trager works closely with fashion and consumer products companies on the business, trade secrets, and intellectual property issues they face, both in and out of the courtroom, but her top-flight practice extends to other industry sectors as well. Her extensive experience also encompasses crisis management to help clients mitigate unexpected reputational risk.

Rockard Delgadillo joined Sheppard Mullin as partner in Los Angeles.

Delgadillo has more than 30 years of experience in real estate transactions, economic development and government. He served as the City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles from 2001 to 2009. Prior to his tenure as Los Angeles City Attorney, Delgadillo was a deputy mayor of Los Angeles for economic development, where he helped spur the development of jobs in emerging neighborhoods. During his term, Delgadillo also worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce to attract and implement the Minority Business Opportunities Committee in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake and secured $6 billion in contracts for diverse businesses.

Kimberlina N. McKinney joined Newell Law Firm P.C. as senior counsel in Los Angeles.

McKinney specializes in intellectual property, deal strategy, and negotiations, catering to diverse entertainment realms, including television, film, new media, music, entertainment and technology combined ventures, and live events.