Mariah S. Cooks joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Cooks counsels clients in a variety of matters relating to business law, professional liability and all forms of civil litigation. She served as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County assigned to the Juvenile Unit. She has a keen interest in advocating for social justice issues, and in her spare time, volunteers as both a mentor and basketball coach.

Patrick J. Ferguson joined Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Ferguson helps clients develop, sell, and operate renewable energy, storage, and transmission projects throughout the United States. Recognized as a market-leading authority in energy regulatory law, Ferguson guides clients through the transition of the electric power grid to renewable resources. He advises solar, wind, geothermal, and energy storage project sponsors on site acquisition, transmission, and power purchase agreement negotiations. He also assists producers of new technologies that combat climate change, including renewable fuels, carbon capture, and carbon offset credits, in drafting and negotiating key commercial transactions.

Harrison Brown was promoted to partner of Blank Rome LLP in Los Angeles.

Brown's practice encompasses a wide range of complex litigation and class action defense, with an emphasis on fraud, consumer protection, and privacy disputes. His strong business acumen, courtroom skills, and appellate experience make Harrison a trusted advocate for his clients.

Caitlin I. Sanders was promoted to partner of Blank Rome LLP in Los Angeles.

Sanders concentrates her practice on all aspects of employment law, compliance, and litigation, with an emphasis on wage and hour compliance and litigation. She represents public and private employers in state and federal court litigation, in arbitration, and before administrative agencies, and provides strategic advice and defense counsel to human resources professionals and other stakeholders on employee-related issues.

Scott D. Tenley was promoted to partner of ZFZ LLP in Los Angeles.

An experienced trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor, Tenley regularly represents individuals and businesses faced with high-stakes criminal, civil, and regulatory challenges. His practice focuses on criminal and regulatory enforcement defense, complex civil litigation in state and federal courts, and compliance counseling.

Gerald Agnew joined Judicate West as neutral in Los Angeles.

With nearly five decades of litigation experience, Agnew has successfully tried more than 100 civil trials to verdict or judgment, including catastrophic injury and wrongful death actions involving defective products; construction, premises and vehicular accidents; medical malpractice; elder abuse and other acts of negligence. In 1984, Agnew co-founded Agnew Brusavich where he focused on representing seriously injured plaintiffs in various personal injury matters.

Erica A. Swensson was promoted to of counsel of Blank Rome LLP in Los Angeles.

Swensson has focused her career on helping individuals face their matrimonial matters with dignity. She concentrates her practice on complex matrimonial issues, including pre- and post-nuptial agreements, inter-state jurisdictional disputes, move-away cases, division of intricate financial estates, privacy and protective orders, contentious custody cases, spousal support, and attorneys' fees.

Shauna W. Avrith was promoted to partner of YOKA SMITH, LLP in Los Angeles.

Avrith's practice includes catastrophic injury/wrongful death defense, class-action and complex tort actions, commercial and contracts litigation, premises liability and product liability defense.

Mary Childs was promoted to partner of YOKA SMITH LLP in Los Angeles.

Childs' area of practice focuses on civil litigation, including premises liability, product liability and catastrophic injury/wrongful death defense. Her practice also includes the representation and defense of fraternities as well as construction defect litigation.

An Nguyen Ruda was promoted to co-managing principal of Bartko Zankel Bunzel & Miller APC in San Francisco.

Ruda is co-chair of the Labor and Employment practice group. She takes a problem-solving approach to personnel issues brought by her clients whether it be advice, counseling, collective bargaining, or litigation. She has and seeks long-term legal and business relationships with her clients. She would much rather provide compliance review and strategic advice on the front end, rather than have clients pay for litigation on the back end.

Marina R. Pacheco was promoted to partner of Kabateck LLP in Los Angeles.

Pacheco has risen quickly during her three-year tenure at KBK to secure impactful settlements in cases involving sexual abuse, insurance bad faith, complex litigation, and class-action matters. Over the past year, Pacheco recovered $5.7 million in an insurance bad faith case against two insurance companies that refused to cover extensive property damage following a hurricane. Marina is also a member of the KBK litigation team, helping restaurant owners across the state recoup wrongfully collected operational fees incurred during the government-mandated closures and reduction in services due to the pandemic.

Stephanie Charlin was promoted to partner of Kabateck LLP in Los Angeles.

Charlin has earned a stellar reputation during the past seven years at Kabateck LLP for obtaining verdicts and settlements for clients in matters involving insurance bad faith, property damage, personal injury, and mass torts. Over the last few years, Charlin led the KBK litigation team that recovered over $169 million dollars on behalf of homeowners and small business owners who suffered property damage from California's most devastating wildfires.

Christine C DeMetruis was promoted to partner of YOKA SMITH, LLP in Los Angeles.

DeMetruis' practice includes general civil litigation in state and federal court, including insurance defense, insurance coverage, bad faith, and appeals. She helped develop a federal civil rights class action against the California Department of Education and a local school district for violation of state and federal special education laws.

Ellis E. Herington joined BraunHagey & Borden LLP as associate in San Francisco.

Herington has substantial experience with securities litigation, shareholder derivative suits, and other complex commercial disputes. She has served as a strategic corporate advisor to companies and worked on internal investigations. She has a dedicated pro bono practice where she has represented clients in civil rights litigation and housing and domestic violence disputes.

Andrew M. Silver was promoted to principal of Much Shelist in Newport Beach, CA.

Silver is a corporate attorney who represents privately held businesses and private equity firms. He often serves as outside general counsel, advising owners, investors, and C-suite executives. In his transactional work, Andrew manages mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings.

Jesse Brody was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Brody's practice includes ensuring legal compliance for companies in the technology, entertainment, advertising, retail, financial services, automotive and consumer products industries. He is primarily focused on advertising and marketing, privacy, e-commerce, and intellectual property matters.

Thomas Michael was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Michael represents founding entrepreneurs and venture-backed companies at every phase of their life cycle. Having represented companies in over $1 billion of venture capital financing transactions, his practice focuses on venture capital and private equity growth stage financings as well as mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions.

Brandon Reilly was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Costa Mesa.

Reilly is a trusted go-to adviser on privacy and data security issues for a sophisticated client base, including consulting, counseling, regulatory enforcement and litigation. He is skilled at developing business-focused privacy and security frameworks aimed at mitigating future enforcement and litigation risk. Reilly's practice includes a wide array of consumer protection and privacy matters, including data privacy, security compliance and procedures, and data breach responses.

Matthew Williamson was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Costa Mesa.

Williamson is an environmental lawyer who regularly advises clients on matters relating to complex permitting and enforcement matters and all other aspects of compliance with federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations. He represents clients in litigation, administrative proceedings and enforcement actions, including on matters involving hazardous waste, water, clean air, FIFRA/pesticides, Prop 65 and natural resources, among others.

Sophia Yen was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Yen represents clients in a variety of commercial sectors, counseling both lenders and borrowers in debt financing transactions. She also advises entertainment industry clients on debt and equity finance deals as well as other transactional matters.

Brandon Young was promoted to equity partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Young's practice focuses on representing clients in all phases of public and private procurement, including local, state and federal government contracts. He also has experience with commercial contracts involving bridges, tunnels, rail transit, nuclear remediation, information technology and various government service providers.

Megan Ingraham was promoted to managing director of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in San Francisco.

Ingraham advises health care leaders on priority issues related to their strategic direction, organizational transformation and the ever-evolving policy landscape. She works with large health systems, health plans, state and local governments, and foundations.

Sarah Moses was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Moses focuses her practice on a variety of complex litigation and commercial disputes. A significant portion of her practice is dedicated to white collar criminal defense work, representing high-net-worth individuals, politicians and companies in government investigations and prosecutions, and guiding companies through internal investigations.

Tara Shabahang was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in San Francisco.

Shabahang's practice focuses on real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, development, joint ventures, leasing, financing and construction.

Kier Wallis was promoted to managing director of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in San Francisco.

Wallis helps private and public clients navigate the rapidly evolving health care landscape. Using her knowledge of delivery system and payment reform, coverage and access, and health information technology and exchange, she assists clients in program development and implementation.

Jessica Wood was promoted to partner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Wood focuses her practice on intellectual property transactions, including domestic and foreign trademark prosecution, maintenance and enforcement, copyright registration and content protection, licensing and transfers of rights, domain name proceedings, ex parte and inter partes proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and litigation in U.S. Federal District Courts.

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

Meller's practice focuses on music transactions, including negotiating and drafting agreements in the music industry.

Jonah M. Mekebri joined Duckor Metzger & Wynne, A Professional Law Corporation as associate in San Diego.

Mekebri served as a legal intern for the Placer County District Attorney's Office and held other positions with political offices and campaigns.

Nathaniel R. Smith joined Duckor Metzger & Wynne, A Professional Law Corporation as senior counsel in San Diego.

Smith focuses on finding the best outcomes for clients at the earliest litigation stage. Clients rely on him to help them navigate complex and difficult challenges. Utilizing his years of experience, including as a litigator at one of the nation’s largest law firms and as an in-house attorney, Smith works strategically to help individuals and businesses resolve disputes efficiently and with optimal outcomes.

James H. Sipple joined Duckor Metzger & Wynne, A Professional Law Corporation as shareholder in San Diego.

Sipple has more than 20 years of experience practicing business law and managing all aspects of trust and estates for clients. He advises clients in developing and implementing comprehensive estate plans and provides guidance on more advanced tax planning strategies for larger, tax-sensitive estates.

Cynthia G. Aaron joined Judicate West as neutral in San Diego.

Justice Aaron has nearly four decades of combined legal experience, including serving the last 20 years on the appellate bench. During her judicial tenure, she resolved all types of cases on appeal, including complex civil, probate and family law matters. Prior to her 2003 appointment to the Court of Appeal, she served as a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, a position she held for eight years.

Sharon Smith joined Goodwin Procter LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Smith focuses on complex trials, and business and intellectual property litigation, including trademark infringement, copyright infringement, patent infringement, false advertising, unfair business practices, business torts, trade secrets, fraud, defamation, and breach of contract matters. In the biotechnology, medical device and technology industries, she represents clients in high-stakes contested matters including 22 trials and arbitrations. She also represents clients across these industries in prosecuting, enforcing, and minimizing risk related to intellectual property and trade secret matters.

Bailey Heaps was promoted to partner of Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Heaps represents clients in a range of high-stakes civil litigation. He has handled cases in federal and state courts throughout the country for several leading tech and biotech companies, including the former shareholders of FerroKin BioSciences, Scripps Research Institute, Calithera Biosciences, Nextiva, and Zscaler.

Katie Lynn Joyce was promoted to partner of Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Joyce has handled high-stakes commercial and intellectual-property matters in a wide range of industries and litigations, including for Netflix, Crexi, Google, Zscaler, Instacart, and Kitty Hawk. Katie Lynn has played a central role on several trial teams, including an arbitration that secured a multi-million-dollar award and recovered attorneys' fees for former shareholders of a tech company.

Chris Sun was promoted to partner of Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Sun maintains a broad practice representing major corporations in matters ranging from complex commercial litigation, class action defense, and intellectual property disputes. Chris helped win a complete defense verdict in a rare class action trial threatening more than $150 million in damages against his client Public Storage.

Kristin Hucek was promoted to of counsel of Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Hucek represents clients in high-stakes commercial disputes and a broad spectrum of intellectual property litigation. She has played a key role on several trial teams, including the team that defended Qualcomm against an antitrust lawsuit brought by the FTC that challenged the company's licensing practices, and on appeal, secured the reversal of the lower court's order granting a preliminary injunction in the case.

Ian Kanig was promoted to of counsel of Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Kanig focuses his practice on complex civil cases, sophisticated commercial disputes, and civil rights actions. He has particular experience litigating in San Francisco federal court, where he recently secured a dismissal with prejudice for Google of a nationwide consumer class action alleging the secret collection of third-party app data from Android phones.

Agatha H. Liu joined Duane Morris LLP as partner in Silicon Valley.

Dr. Liu concentrates her practice on IP analysis, portfolio management and strategic counseling. She routinely advises investors, business owners and inventors on all areas of IP related to computer technology. Liu also speaks and writes extensively on different IP topics, such as eligibility for IP protection, IP protection for emerging technology and global IP protection. Prior to entering the legal profession, Liu held positions in technology and management consulting. She has a significant research background in artificial intelligence as applied to internet communications, database system management, computational biology and speech recognition.

Ashley Breakfield was promoted to partner of Farella Braun + Martel LLP in San Francisco.

Breakfield, a real estate transactional lawyer and former environmental litigator, represents large-scale urban developers, real estate investors, renewable energy companies, and private property owners in sophisticated land use and real estate matters.

Sushila Chanana was promoted to partner of Farella Braun + Martel LLP in San Francisco.

Chanana, a high-stakes technology litigator, co-leads Farella's Platforms Initiative and Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice. She represents companies in general business litigation and IP matters, including trademark, copyright, trade secrets, patent, and privacy disputes.

Rebecca Stephens was promoted to partner of Farella Braun + Martel LLP in San Francisco.

Stephens, an employment advisor and litigator, co-leads Farella's Consumer Products Initiative. Rebecca counsels employers ranging from small businesses to global corporations on developing and implementing sound workplace policies, conducting investigations, managing accommodations and leaves of absence, and administering separations from employment.

Joseph M. Welch joined Blank Rome LLP as partner in Orange County.

Welch represents secured and unsecured creditors in all elements of insolvency and bankruptcy matters and documents multimillion-dollar loan transactions secured by property and personal collateral. Additionally, he counsels clients in lending, leasing, and real estate matters. He has served as lead counsel in representing investors, large banks, lenders, and international and Fortune 100 companies.

Trevor R. Witt was promoted to partner of Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani in Woodland Hills.

Witt focuses his practice on representing employers before federal and state courts in both complex class actions and individual claims asserted by employees. He regularly advises and counsels clients about workplace issues, policies, and practices, providing out-of-the-box strategies for dealing with complex issues.

Vincent Gannuscio was promoted to partner of Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani in Woodland Hills.

Gannuscio represents insureds in coverage and bad faith matters against insurers, worker’s compensation claims disputes, and has a wide-ranging business/commercial litigation practice. He has been part of some of RPNA’s most high-profile cases over his tenure.

Ben Davis was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in Los Angeles.

Davis focuses his practice on achieving a resolution-oriented approach while representing large businesses in commercial transportation, complex tort and premises liability cases.

Shannon L. Santos was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in Los Angeles.

Santos handles a diverse range of matters on behalf of insurers, including coverage and extra-contractual litigation, coverage advice and defense of insurers.

Lisa S. Passalacqua was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in San Francisco.

Passalacqua maintains a civil litigation practice, with trial work defending product manufacturers, trucking and premises liability cases.

Juliana Salfiti was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in San Francisco.

Salfiti is an accomplished trial attorney with vast experience in complex and commercial litigation, insurance defense, transportation, toxic tort, premises liability, general business advice and counseling companies on risk management.

Marty B. Ready was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in San Diego.

Ready is an experienced litigation and trial attorney primarily focused on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, including trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement, breach of fiduciary duty and business torts. In addition, as a registered patent attorney, he provides counsel to corporations to help reduce the risks of litigation and defend their intellectual property assets.

Justina L. Tate was promoted to partner of Wilson Elser in San Diego.

Tate is licensed in California and Oregon, defends business entities and individuals against a range of complex personal injury and commercial tort matters involving technology, transportation, and products.

David Levine joined Harvest LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Levine is a veteran attorney with decades of industry experience and a particular expertise in the acquisition, management, financing and leasing of hotels and other hospitality products. He also has significant experience with all asset classes, including multifamily, single-family rental, hotel, industrial and office, and advises clients in a variety of matters involving real estate development, acquisition, construction, financing, land banking and joint venture transactions. Levine's clients include national and regional developers, REITs, institutional investors, public and private companies, and high-net-worth individuals.

Julie Scher joined Harvest LLP as associate in San Diego.

Concentrating on complex commercial litigation matters and internal investigations, Scher has represented a variety of clients across a wide array of businesses, including the commercial real estate, life sciences and healthcare industries. At Harvest, she focuses her practice on representing commercial real estate landlords in a wide variety of real estate-related disputes, and representing real estate owners, lenders and court-appointed receivers in workouts, bankruptcies and other high-stakes disputes.

David M. Keithly was promoted to partner of Mortenson Taggart Adams LLP in Irvine.

Keithly's practice focuses on complex business litigation, breach of warranty litigation, employment law counseling and litigation, and contract disputes. He has represented clients in high-stakes litigation matters in state and federal courts across the United States, including class action litigation.

Robert A. Schultz was promoted to partner of Mortenson Taggart Adams LLP in Irvine.

Schultz is an experienced complex commercial litigator and trial attorney who has represented and litigated against a variety of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, mid-market companies, nascent startups, and individuals. Utilizing his business background, Bob has developed a keen sense for aligning his clients’ legal goals with their business goals and achieving both.

Sherry S. Hamilton was promoted to partner of Mortenson Taggart Adams LLP in Irvine.

Hamilton’s practice focuses on employment law, unfair competition, intellectual property rights, state and federal franchise laws, products liability, and general business disputes. Sherry has represented clients in a wide range of industries, including automotive, sports and fitness, security services, and restaurant and food services.