Shruti Bhutani Arora was promoted to partner of BakerHostetler in San Francisco.

Arora advises clients on privacy matters, including compliance with U.S. and global privacy laws and regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended from time to time, and the General Data Protection Regulation. She also helps clients prepare and negotiate complex technology contracts. She is one of 13 lawyers BakerHostetler promoted to partner across the nation.

Emily Cunningham was promoted to partner of Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP in San Francisco.

Cunningham defends manufacturers, suppliers, premises owners, and high-profile clients in complex litigation involving product liability, mass torts, catastrophic injuries, commercial disputes, and sensitive issues. She earned recognition for her skills in commercial litigation in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Cunningham graduated from California Western School of Law. She was a judicial extern for Judge Richard D. Huffman at the California Court of Appeal and a law clerk with the California Attorney General's office.

Andrew J. Bedigian was promoted to partner of Larson LLP in Los Angeles.

Bedigian has been with Larson since 2016. His practice focuses on complex civil litigation, commercial disputes, and white collar criminal defense. His experience includes defending oil and gas companies and financial institutions against federal and state investigations.

Catherine S. Owens was promoted to partner of Larson LLP in Los Angeles.

Owens joined Larson in 2021, and her practice focuses on complex commercial and patent litigation and white collar defense. She has represented clients in a variety of industries, including social media, technology, and pharmaceutical companies.

Juliette Tran was promoted to counsel of Larson LLP in Los Angeles.

Tran joined the firm in 2023. She focuses her practice on complex civil litigation, labor and employment disputes, and real estate litigation.

Stephen Payne was promoted to partner of Irell & Manella LLP in Newport Beach.

Payne is an experienced trial lawyer focused on intellectual property and complex commercial litigation. Payne's experience includes five recent federal jury trials that resulted in over $800 million in verdicts for clients. He also litigates matters on appeal and has challenged and defended district court and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rulings in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Charlotte Wen was promoted to partner of Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles.

Wen is an experienced trial lawyer focused on intellectual property and complex commercial litigation. She has been a core member of trial teams that obtained some of the firm's highest profile wins, helping secure nine- and 10-figure jury awards that total over $3.5 billion. She also has an active appellate and pro bono practice.

Douglas Hatherley as founder in Irvine

Hatherley's practice is focused on the issues of family law litigation, including child custody and visitation, spousal support, child support, domestic violence, paternity, and division of assets. He graduated from Loyola Law School. Hatherley has practiced family law exclusively since being admitted to the bar and has worked at prominent family law firms in Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles. He is a former partner of Stegmeier, Gelbart, Schwartz & Benavente, LLP.

Hatherley is a member of the executive committee board for the Orange County Bar Association, Family Law Section.

William V. Gallo joined Judicate West as neutral in San Diego.

Gallo was appointed in 2009 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California where he presided over a variety of civil and criminal cases in his more than 14 years on the bench, which included a two-year tenure as the court's presiding magistrate judge (2020-2022). In this role, he heard more than 2,500 settlement discussions, covering areas including employment law issues, such as discrimination, wrongful termination and wage and hour disputes; intellectual property; Lemon Law; and personal injury and wrongful death. Prior to his appointment, Gallo served as a prosecutor at the state and federal levels for a combined 23 years, including 18 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego. As a criminal trial attorney, he tried approximately 200 jury and bench trials.

Philip E. McDermott was promoted to partner of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP in Los Angeles.

McDermott started his career practicing civil litigation defense in a wide range of areas that included hospitality, business solutions, construction, general liability, product liability, professional liability, and transportation. Philip now focuses on performing general counsel and transactional work for commercial clients primarily in the retail, hospitality, shipping, construction and legal industries. Philip draws upon his extensive experience in litigation to represent and advocate for his clients at all stages with a focus on prevention, compliance, risk mitigation, and productivity.

John Meller was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Meller's practice focuses on music transactions, including negotiating and drafting agreements in the music industry. An advocacy committee member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, he campaigns for the rights of music creators, organizing advocacy and leading meetings with members of Congress for various grassroots events. Meller graduated from UCLA School of Law.

Stephanie Roeser was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Roeser represents clients in a wide variety of employment and commercial litigation matters, including litigation defense of wage-and-hour class actions as well as single-plaintiff discrimination and retaliation matters. She also represents employers before state and federal administrative agencies and advises employers on employment issues and best practices. Roeser graduated from UC Law San Francisco.

Che Salinas was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Sacramento.

Salinas advises clients on complex political matters in addition to legal, legislative and fiscal issues across numerous policy areas, including health care, pharmaceutical manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, taxation and energy policy. In this capacity, he appears before state agencies, regulatory bodies and the California Legislature to advance client objectives. He also advises and collaborates with an array of business industries and trade associations in those efforts. Salinas graduated from UC Davis School of Law.

David L. McGrath was promoted to counsel of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Orange County.

McGrath's practice focuses on an extensive variety of regulatory and transactional matters involving hazardous waste, air quality and climate change, energy projects, land use and development, water quality, and related government compliance issues. He graduated from UCLA School of Law.

Benjamin E. Strauss was promoted to counsel of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Strauss' practice includes complex business litigation, class actions, and appeals involving intellectual property, technology, entertainment, unfair competition, and real estate issues. He has comprehensive experience in all phases of civil litigation in federal and California state courts. Strauss graduated from UCLA School of Law and served as a law clerk to Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr. of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justin Romig joined Coleman & Horowitt, LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Romig represents businesses and individuals in business, complex commercial, banking, real estate, construction, probate, and employment litigation in state and federal courts, as well as arbitration and mediation. He also serves as defense counsel in high-exposure, complex commercial litigation matters.

Gary L. LaHendro was promoted to partner of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP in Los Angeles.

LaHendro focuses his practice on insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. Gary's clients include carriers within the United States and London Markets for whom he has provided coverage advice on various lines of coverage, including commercial general liability, excess, errors and omissions, auto, and representations and warranties. Gary also monitors the defense of insureds with respect to third-party lawsuits. In addition to coverage work, Gary has over 20 years of litigation experience as lead defense counsel on cases involving soil and groundwater contamination, professional liability, construction defect and personal injury cases. He is also a skilled appellate attorney and Certified Mediator.

Melvin F. Marcia was promoted to partner of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP in Sacramento.

Marcia is a member of the firm's Transportation Law, General Liability, Product Liability and Fire Litigation Practice Groups. His practice focuses on litigation of high value cases, ranging from catastrophic injury, wrongful death, premises liability, business disputes, product liability, uninsured/underinsured arbitrations and subrogation matters.

Caleb L.H. Marker was promoted to managing partner of Zimmerman Reed in Los Angeles.

Marker has been instrumental in the opening and growing that office since 2015. He focuses his practice on consumer protection, employment, and privacy cases. In particular, he created the firm's plaintiff arbitration practice. He brought the first merits arbitration in the United States against a ridesharing company to trial, challenging its classification of a "gig economy" worker in 2016. Since then, he has represented clients in class actions and arbitrations against various technology companies involving worker misclassification, equal pay for women, and privacy rights. With his broad experience in various legal areas and focus on the technology field, He has spearheaded various technological advancements at the firm.

Ofelia M. Olmedo joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP as associate in San Diego.

Olmedo has defended skilled nursing facilities and administrators in a variety of elder abuse claims and claims for vicarious liability against affiliated corporate entities. She has also represented hospital medical staff in judicial review hearings and assisted in their corrective action and peer review processes.

Roxanna Palizi joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP as associate in San Diego.

Palizi is a family law attorney who gained experience earlier in her career as both an intern and post-bar law clerk in the firm's Family Law Practice Group prior to becoming a lawyer. Her experience also includes drafting motions for a variety of causes of action and making court appearances on behalf of clients when she served as a certified law clerk at a boutique family law firm.

Natalie Schachner joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Schachner's experience spans both civil and criminal law in state and federal court. As a former deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, she has a robust trial record, and was involved in a diverse array of criminal matters, encompassing all stages of litigation. She has experience conducting widescale internal investigations for Fortune 500 companies, as well as litigating securities class actions.

Edwin Hong was promoted to partner of The Simon Law Group in Los Angeles.

Hong's practice focuses on personal injury.

Jason Sanchez was promoted to partner of The Simon Law Group in Orange County.

Sanchez is an active member of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA), and since 2012, has been a member of the Board of Governors for Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC). He is also very involved with Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire (CAOIE), where he is a member of the organization's Palm Springs Seminar Education Committee and the Board of Governors and was the organization's president from 2015-2018.

Zach Greenberg was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Century City.

Greenberg counsels private and public company clients across a wide array of industries on acquisitions and dispositions, capital markets transactions, corporate governance matters, and SEC compliance and disclosure requirements.

Lauren Kaplan was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Kaplan works with clients facing inquiries and enforcement actions by state attorneys general as well as complex civil litigation. She has represented companies and individuals at trial and appeal in both state and federal courts and in investigations by state and federal agencies. Lauren is also an active member of O’Melveny’s pro bono practice.

Adam Levine was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Levine is a highly skilled and experienced commercial litigator and trial lawyer specializing in healthcare litigation. Levine handles complex healthcare litigation matters, including payor-provider disputes, government enforcement actions, and whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act. He also holds other complex commercial litigation matters relating to product liability, false advertising, all manner of breaches of contract, express and implied warranty, fiduciary duty, violations of unfair competition and consumer protection statutes, and civil fraud.

Russell McGlothlin was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Century City.

McGlothlin is an experienced water resources attorney who has spent decades advising clients on water use and management matters in California and the western United States. His expertise includes compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), water rights permitting and compliance, water transfer agreements, groundwater banking, water quality, regulated water utilities, mutual water companies, and reclamation issues. He represents private companies, large agricultural producers and investors, municipalities, special districts, and landowners with transactional negotiations, litigation, and administrative agency proceedings.

Zoheb Noorani was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Noorani has defended insurance companies in all stages of coverage actions—from pre-litigation counseling to appeals. Along with the day-to-day management of cases, he has been the principal drafter of several case-winning summary judgment motions.

Jason Zarrow was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Zarrow’s practice is devoted to creating and executing legal strategies for bet-the-company litigation. He advises clients on compliance options and litigation risks, with an eye toward building legal and factual arguments if litigation ensues. Once litigation begins, he coordinates legal and appellate strategy, starting with dispositive motions before the trial court. As the case progresses, Jason oversees the development of key points in the factual record, working with trial teams to ensure that his client’s legal arguments have the best factual framing at summary judgment, class certification, trial, and on appeal. And should the case proceed to trial, Jason has extensive experience as on-the-ground appellate counsel, presenting forceful arguments for judgment, crafting jury instructions, and ensuring all appellate points are preserved.

Sanaz (Sunny) K. Soltani was promoted to managing partner of Aleshire & Wynder, LLP in Orange County.

Soltani specializes in constitutional law and complex real property negotiations, with an emphasis on environmental justice and housing issues. She routinely assists her clients with legislative solutions. She has successfully secured the passage of several important legislative bills, significantly improving the regulatory position of her clients and preserving rent control in California.

Haley A. Murphy joined Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, PC as associate in San Diego.

Murphy represents employers in a diverse range of employment litigation matters and counsels clients on a variety of employment-related issues. Her experience includes representing employers in court, arbitration, and mediation.

David Mainzer joined Buchalter as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Mainzer joins the corporate practice group, bringing over 25 years of experience in advising investment management firms and funds. His expertise extends to industry participants on portfolio investments, M&A transactions, securities regulations, tax implications, and employment-related matters. A recognized authority in federal and state laws governing investment management and securities transactions, Mainzer provides comprehensive counsel on an array of domestic and offshore private funds and investment vehicles.

Mainzer previously served as the general counsel and chief operating officer of Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. He oversaw legal affairs, risk management, regulatory compliance, and fund structuring for the firm's hedge funds, mutual funds, and separately managed accounts. Before his legal career, Mainzer served in the U.S. Army.

Deborah H. Petito was promoted to l&e practice group leader of Offit Kurman in Los Angeles.

With more than 35 years of experience and a leader of the firm's Los Angeles office, Petito has handled all types of employment counseling and litigation matters and acts as an outside employment counsel to several companies in various industries providing advice on an ongoing basis.

Sahar Malek joined Arias Sanguinetti as partner in Los Angeles.

Malek is a litigation and trial attorney who founded a boutique law firm in Beverly Hills. She represents clients in personal injury and lemon law cases. She is on the board of directors of the Consumer Attorneys of California and the Iranian American Lawyers Association and is an active member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the American Association for Justice, and various other attorney associations.

Brittani A. Jackson was promoted to partner of Hueston Hennigan in Los Angeles.

Jackson represents clients in a broad range of matters, including commercial contract disputes, trade secret misappropriation, shareholder activism, issues of corporate governance, antitrust, and securities litigation. She has experience litigating cases throughout every process stage--from writing pre- and post-trial briefs to conducting witness interviews, taking and defending depositions, leading discovery efforts, including representing client's interests in court hearings, and leading trial teams to favorable resolutions. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.

Sourabh Mishra was promoted to partner of Hueston Hennigan in Orange County.

Mishra focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and investigations. He represents individuals and companies in complex commercial litigation matters across a wide array of industries, including medical devices, information analytics, food and beverage, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, and technology hardware and equipment. In addition, he regularly represents individuals and corporations in connection with complex and sensitive internal investigations and governmental inquiries. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.

Rajan Trehan was promoted to partner of Hueston Hennigan in Los Angeles.

Trehan focuses his practice on high-stakes matters oriented toward trial. He has experience litigating contract, fraud, intellectual property, and class action disputes on behalf of a diverse array of corporate and individual clients, including several in the entertainment and media space. Trehan has earned clients' trust by achieving noteworthy results in tough cases. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.

Christine Woodin was promoted to partner of Hueston Hennigan in Los Angeles.

Woodin focuses her practice on intellectual property and complex commercial litigation, including patent, antitrust, and breach of contract disputes. She has experience in all these cases, including counseling on pre-suit strategy, conducting effective offensive and defensive discovery, deposing witnesses and defending depositions, drafting dispositive and pre-trial motions, preparing for trial, presenting witnesses at trial, and handling appeals. She has managed and developed the strategy for cases of all sizes in various industries-from global licensing disputes to single patent assertions. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.

Filemon ("Phil") Carrillo joined Mortenson Taggart Adams LLP as partner in Irvine.

Carrillo has handled various business disputes nationwide in state, federal, administrative, and arbitration forums. He has litigated cases involving fraud, trade secrets, statutory violations, trademark, competition, and contract disputes in various industries, including fitness, quick service restaurants (QSR), real estate, construction, and manufacturing equipment, to name a few. He also represents manufacturers, franchisors, licensors, and distributors in government investigations and administrative proceedings.

Debbie Y. Chin joined Fox Rothschild LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Chin provides advice on estate and trust planning, implementation, and administration. This includes working with individuals and families to design sophisticated tax and estate plans using a combination of wealth preservation and transfer strategies. She also represents individuals and professional entities in all post-death trust and estate administration aspects. She also serves on the board of directors of the East Bay Trusts and Estates Lawyers and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Diablo Valley.

Michael Adamson was promoted to partner of Susman Godfrey in Los Angeles.

Adamson represents and has secured victories for his clients in various commercial disputes, including class action, patent, trade secret, unfair competition, environmental torts, and breach of contract suits. He is counsel in several different class actions against life insurance companies, alleging hundreds of millions in damages on behalf of thousands of policyholders. His promotion to partner is effective Jan. 1.

Heejoong Kim joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.

Kim is a multi-faceted litigator who represents clients in a wide array of commercial disputes. With experience ranging from premises liability, habitability, and motor vehicle accidents to claims involving false advertising, unfair competition, and employment disputes, he prides himself on building strong relationships with clients. He also litigates contractual, partnership, fraud, and fiduciary disputes.

Adam B Van Korlaar joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.

Van Korlaar represents clients ranging from small businesses and homeowners associations (HOAs) to international corporations in business disputes, landlord/tenant issues, employment disputes, trade secrets, and other litigation. He has considerable experience defending client interests in matters involving serious personal injuries, premises liability, toxic torts, and “lemon law”/warranty disputes, and he has exposure to several elements of insurance defense and litigation.

Steve Christianson joined McGlinchey Stafford PLLC as associate in Orange County.

Christianson represents clients in matters ranging from personal injury to professional liability to business disputes. He has handled every element of case management, from e-discovery, legal research, and strategy development to pleadings, motions, and trial documentation. For clients in the real estate and transportation industries, he employs a well-rounded approach to risk evaluation and litigation strategy.

Christopher R. Partin was promoted to partner of Gunderson Dettmer in Silicon Valley.

Partin's practice focuses on the formation and structuring of venture capital and growth equity funds and their related general partner and management company entities, as well as all aspects of their day-to-day operations. He also counsels clients on corporate governance matters, securities laws and regulations and other aspects of the regulatory framework applicable to the formation and operation of investment funds. The promotion is effective Jan. 1.

Devin H. Black joined Goldberg Segalla as associate in Orange County.

Black focuses his practice on workers' compensation matters, counseling and defending employers, insurers, and third-party administrators. His experience includes managing workers' compensation claims from referral through closure, including in-depth claim reviews and valuation analyses, conducting depositions and cross-examinations of claimants and medical professionals, drafting pleadings, motions, and settlements, and representing clients before the WCAB.