Daniel I. Spector joined Hanson Bridgett LLP as partner in Sacramento.

Spector was a Sacramento sole practitioner focusing on trust, probate, and complex civil cases involving families. He serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and expert witness of trust, probate, and complex family civil disputes. He is one of only a handful of practitioners included in both the Sacramento Superior Court's list of Pro-Tem Settlement Conference judges and its list of approved mediators qualified to mediate trust and estate disputes pending in Sacramento Superior Court.

Brianna Hutton joined Hanson Bridgett LLP as associate in Sacramento.

Hutton practices trust and estate law. She represents clients in mediation and all stages of litigation. She is adept at drafting briefs and motions as well as taking and defending depositions.

Candice Choh was promoted to co-partner-in-charge of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Century City.

Choh is the firm's Co-Partner in Charge of the Century City and Los Angeles offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practices in the firm's Corporate Transactions Practice Group. Ms. Choh has a broad-based practice encompassing public and private company mergers and acquisitions across a wide variety of industries and other private equity transactions, including investment fund formation, co-investments, secondary transactions, and investments in sponsors. Ms. Choh regularly counsels private equity sponsors on firm structuring and internal governance matters.

Kahn A. Scolnick was promoted to co-partner-in-charge of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles.

Scolnick is the firm's Co-Partner in Charge of the Los Angeles and Century City offices, Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group, and is also an active member of the Appellate and Constitutional Law and Securities Litigation Practice Groups, among others. He specializes in class actions, complex commercial cases, and litigating a variety of constitutional issues—both in the trial courts and on appeal.

Janine M. Braxton joined Meyers Nave as senior of counsel in San Diego.

Braxton advises and defends employers in all aspects of California labor and employment law and litigation, including wage and hour class and representative PAGA actions, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wrongful termination, and other labor code violations.

Julio E. Martinez joined Gilson Daub as managing partner in San Clemente.

A seasoned professional with a knack for leadership, Martinez has been managing teams and handling workers' compensation claims since becoming an attorney in 2007. Passionate about issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), Martinez has consistently prioritized improving diversity in the workers' compensation industry throughout his career. Most recently, in August 2022, he was appointed Board Member of the Hispanic Insurance & Risk Management Association (HIRMA) as their Director of Legal Affairs. He is also a frequent speaker at many industry conferences.

Jason Solomon joined National Employment Lawyers Association & National Institute for Workers' Rights as director in Concord.

Solomon will lead the Institute in identifying, responding to, and advocating for the evolving needs of workers. Solomon most recently served as the executive director for the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. He also worked as the chief legal officer, and senior director of advocacy and engagement, for Summit Public Schools, a school network serving students from diverse backgrounds in California and Washington state. His pro bono clients have included habeas petitioners challenging criminal convictions and immigrants seeking relief from deportation.

Daniel P. Hoffer was promoted to co-partner-in-charge of Venable LLP in Los Angeles.

Hoffer, a co-chair of the Commercial Litigation California Practice Group, is an accomplished litigator who focuses on all aspects of employment law, commercial matters, and class action defense. He advises companies and individuals in a wide variety of industries, including media and entertainment, financial services, healthcare, real estate, retail, and communications.

Kayla Berlin was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Berlin is a partner in the Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Litigation Practices

Tracey L. Stromberg was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Stromberg is a partner in the General Liability Practice.

Kellian Summers was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Los Angeles.

Summers focuses her practice on cases involving governmental entity defense, personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, and premises liability. Her experience includes defending claims of constitutional violations such as excessive use of force, assault, battery, and false arrest/imprisonment, as well as defending claims of product defect, sexual molestation of a child, and dangerous condition of public property.

Christopher Choi was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Sacramento.

Choi is a partner in the Healthcare, Medical Malpractice, and Long-Term Care Practices.

Caitlin E. Higgins was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Sacramento.

Higgins represents clients in a variety of matters, including cases involving trade secrets, commercial contract disputes, and fiduciary duties, as well as trademark and copyright disputes. She has also defended medical providers and other individuals and businesses against claims of negligence and intentional torts. As part of the Transportation Practice, she represents railroad clients in regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters.

Maren MacAdam was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Sacramento.

MacAdam handles a wide range of litigation for a diverse client base, including commercial matters, insurance defense, wage and hour class actions and employment litigation representing public entities, businesses, and corporations of all sizes, as well as their management and employees in employment-related lawsuits.

Alyssa Garchie was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Orange County.

Garchie’s practice emphasizes general liability, products liability, and professional liability. Her experience spans the representation of a broad range of individuals, professional corporations, and financial and industrial companies. Her client representations throughout California have been in state court, federal court, and courts of appeal.

Connie McHugh was promoted to partner of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in Orange County.

McHugh began her career as an associate attorney at a firm specializing in personal Injury and civil litigation. Prior to joining Lewis Brisbois, she worked at an Orange County firm that specialized in workers' compensation law. She is well-versed in all aspects of workers' compensation litigation and has experience handling many types of claims.

Peter Yim joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Yim's practice concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, intellectual property strategic planning and technology litigation support. In addition, he has extensive post grant experience, including having handled numerous supplemental examinations, ex parte reexaminations, reissues, post grant reviews, covered business method reviews and inter partes reviews.

Christopher Eide joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Eide's practice concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, strategic planning, due diligence, technology licensing and intellectual property disputes involving complex technology. He frequently works on matters involving critical technology infrastructure, including Internet and software technology, natural language processing, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality technology, unmanned aerial vehicle software and hardware, semiconductors, data storage, and medical devices and provides patent prosecution and counseling services to companies of all sizes, from industry leaders to early-stage companies.

Brian Ho joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Ho's practice specializes in patent prosecution, patent litigation support, and IP diligence in a wide range of technologies, including computing systems, medical devices, biotechnology, and emerging technologies.

Randy Omid joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Omid focuses his practice on US and foreign patent protection for large established companies and startup companies. He applies his prior experience as a senior engineer to advise clients on all aspects of intellectual property, including matters related to patent preparation and prosecution, reexamination, licensing, infringement, trade secrets, acquisitions and competitive analysis.

Parker Kuhl joined DLA Piper LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Kuhl focuses his practice on providing patent prosecution, litigation support and due diligence services to companies in the electronic, mechanical and industrial sectors. His technological knowledge includes computer software and hardware, computer network systems, semiconductor devices, sensors and detectors, signal processing, optical systems and mechanical systems.

Ronnie M. Schmelz joined K&L Gates LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Schmelz spent the first part of her career at an international law firm defending clients in complex litigation, including consumer class actions and disputes involving reinsurance, general commercial, real estate, and healthcare-related matters. She now spends a significant amount of her time counseling clients on litigation-avoidance strategies so they can confidently focus on building and operating their businesses in a way that reduces the risk of regulatory oversight and consumer challenges.

Nitesh Daryanani joined Lewis & Llewellyn LLP as attorney in San Francisco.

Daryanani is a litigation attorney whose practice focuses on civil and commercial disputes across a broad range of industries. He has practiced in trial and appellate courts across the U.S. and India since 2012, on cases relating to contractual disputes, securities law, corporate governance, intellectual property, and antitrust law.

Mary Manukyan joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Manukyan is a litigator admitted to practice in California. She has experience representing individuals and entities in diverse matters including breach of contract, labor and employment, product liability, antitrust, and asylum claims.

Danielle Novelly joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Novelly is a litigator admitted to practice in California and New York. She has represented clients in a variety of matters including contract and business tort claims, white-collar defense, intellectual property, and class actions.

Brandon Orewyler joined Miller Barondess, LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Orewyler is a litigator admitted to practice in California. He has represented clients across the financial sector, insurance industry, and Web3 space in complex commercial disputes, consumer class actions, and government enforcement proceedings. He has experience with white-collar matters, including conducting internal investigations, and has handled cases involving securities fraud, wage and hour claims, and entertainment contract disputes.

Brian Neach joined Miller Barondess, LLP as counsel in Los Angeles.

Neach is a litigator admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia. He represents clients in state and federal courts in a broad range of matters including contract, fraud, employment, Section 1983, and merger and acquisition litigation.

Michelle McCarthy joined Nossaman LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

McCarthy's practice focuses on advising clients of all types - from tax-exempt organizations to Fortune 100 companies - regarding every facet of employee benefits law, including the design, structure, implementation, administration and termination of pension health and welfare benefit plans. Her broad experience in the employee benefits area includes the representation of clients in collective bargaining, litigation, restructuring and mergers and acquisitions, among other things.

Morten Lund joined Foley & Lardner LLP as of counsel in San Diego.

For more than 25 years, Morten has advised developers, lenders, investors, and other project participants and has extensive experience in the energy sector. His focus is on solar energy and energy storage projects, but his wide range of project experience also includes wind energy projects, combustion generator projects, nuclear energy facilities, hydroelectric facilities, cogeneration facilities, chemical facilities, forestry/paper facilities, large aircraft, and shipping fleets.

Lily Zhang joined Jones Day as partner in San Diego.

Zhang is a strategic counselor in a complex arena where biotechnology and computer science overlap. She develops patent portfolios for clients conducting R&D in artificial intelligence and machine learning, structural biology, drug discovery, cybersecurity and cryptography, medical technologies, network hardware and software, and electronic payment systems.

Todd J. Canni joined Baker & Hostetler LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Canni is one of the nation's preeminent government contracts lawyers, with deep experience helping his clients resolve their most important and complex matters with the U.S. government, including counseling, litigation, investigations and debarment proceedings. He previously served as a government debarring official with the U.S. Department of the Air Force.

Ralph H. Winter joined Snell & Wilmer as partner in Orange County.

Winter is a corporate and securities partner who focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, equity and debt financings, joint ventures, and general corporate matters. He represents investment groups and individuals in sales and investment transactions, as well as businesses with negotiating intellectual property license agreements, distribution agreements, manufacturing agreements, buy-sell agreements, option and compensation agreements, and other business contracts. Winter represents his clients during all stages of business, beginning with formation, through growth and financing transactions, as well as facilitating acquisitions and sales. He has extensive experience working with companies across a wide range of industries including action sports, apparel, technology, media, software, finance, restaurants, consumer products, food and beverage, retail, and manufacturing.

John Metzidis joined Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Metzidis is an appellate lawyer with a broad practice covering civil matters. He spent the first 15 years of his career litigating matters mostly at the trial level, first at a large international law firm and then at a trial litigation boutique. He knows and has lived the challenges that trial lawyers face.

Gayatri S. Raghunandan joined Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP as associate in Burlingame.

Raghunandan specializes in antitrust & global competition. At the California Attorney General's Office, she assisted with behavioral and merger antitrust investigations in the e-commerce, social media, and natural gas markets. Raghunandan worked as an antitrust attorney at one of India's leading law firms in New Delhi, India. She represented several domestic and international clients (plaintiffs and defendants) in litigation and merger control matters before the Supreme Court of India, the Delhi High Court, and the competition regulator. She has also advised clients on internal corporate antitrust compliance.

Grace Y. Park joined Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP as counsel in Santa Monica.

Park specializes in False Claims Act Litigation, California Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, Commercial Litigation, Employment Law and False Claims/Whistleblower Law. As an assistant U.S. attorney, Park investigated and prosecuting whistleblower complaints alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act. After graduating from Stanford Law School, she clerked for U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin of the Central District of California.

Elise Bonine joined Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP as associate in Burlingame.

Bonine specializes in Defective Products/Mass Torts and Elder Abuse. While attending Columbia Law School, Bonine interned for the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in the Hague, Netherland where she worked with the prosecutorial team to appeal the verdict in the Stanišić & Simatović case and set new precedent in the field of International Criminal Law. Upon her return to the United States, she represented detained immigrants awaiting final decisions on their asylum claims in an externship with the Legal Aid Society. Bonine later joined the Columbia Mediation Clinic where she mediated a wide variety of issues from housing issues to alleged violations of the Equal Employment Opportunities Act, as well as prepared and conducted trainings for members of the United Nations and Judicial Ethics Committees, and supervised and trained other mediators.

David G. Hollenberg joined Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP as senior associate in Burlingame.

Hollenberg specializes in Consumer Protection Class Actions, Defective Products/Mass Torts, Elder Abuse, Employment Law, False Claims/Whistleblower Law and Personal Injury & Wrongful Death. He was previously an assistant state's attorney in Montgomery County, Maryland, and then a criminal defense attorney.

Laurie Carr Mims was promoted to managing partner of Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP in San Francisco.

Mims is a first-chair trial lawyer with extensive experience litigating complex civil matters. She has created a unique practice in the life sciences space representing clients in litigation related to post-merger disputes, trade secret theft, securities fraud, shareholder derivative actions, and other complex commercial cases. Mims has served as first chair in several trials, and respected biotech and pharmaceutical companies regularly tap her to untangle complicated mergers, collaboration, and licensing agreements and to protect their innovations. She has also handled high-stakes matters involving the False Claims Act, breach of contract, fraud, and copyright infringement, and has represented corporate victims, witnesses, and individuals in white-collar criminal matters. She also spearheads the firm's contingency practice, which has recovered hundreds of millions in awards for Keker, Van Nest & Peters clients.

Cole F. Morgan was promoted to partner of Stuart Kane LLP in Newport Beach.

Morgan practices real estate and corporate transactional law, including negotiating and drafting agreements, conducting due diligence, and advising on legal and compliance issues. He represents a wide range of companies in many industries, from start-up businesses, to mature companies with complex corporate structures.

Kimberly A. Klinsport was promoted to office managing partner of Foley & Lardner LLP in Los Angeles.

Klinsport represents clients within the insurance industry on complex insurance brokerage and agency litigation. In addition to her experience leading bad faith litigation matters, she has particular expertise in coverage issues involving cybersecurity and data privacy, director and officer liability, construction projects, additional insureds, and policies with multiple insurers on the risk.

Hershini Gopal joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Gopal is an associate on the tax and litigation teams in Murphy Pearson's San Francisco office. Prior to joining the firm, she worked at a Big 4 accounting firm on corporate tax matters, including state refund claims and California tax controversies. Her legal experience also includes defending the U.S. government in commercial litigation disputes at the U.S. Department of Justice and representing private clients in commercial litigation matters. She also worked for Colorado Supreme Court Justice William W. Hood III on matters before the Colorado Supreme Court regarding land and water rights, family law, and contract disputes. She also served as a clerk for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Tribal Legal Development clinic, where she drafted tribal code, served as a clerk to tribal courts, and conducted research on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.