Chris Grogan joined Perkins Coie LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Grogan has counseled startups and emerging companies from formation to exit and has advised investors in financing transactions to support companies in their growth process. As a general counsel and attorney, he has worked on equity financing and M&A transactions and has experience leading a legal team as a company increased its workforce, expanded its geographic footprint, diversified its product base, and scaled its revenue.

Randall Jackson was promoted to executive vice president and associate general counsel of Lionsgate in Los Angeles.

Jackson leads Lionsgate's risk management function, directs the company's IP enforcement strategy, oversees responses to governmental inquiries, manages bankruptcy matters, and advises the c-suite and the company's business units on a wide range of critical strategic issues. Jackson will also oversee Lionsgate's content protection and contract compliance/third-party audit groups, and extend his involvement in corporate transactions and compliance matters.

Christopher Chiou joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as partner in Los Angeles.

Chiou represents clients in high-stakes complex commercial litigation and investigations, with an emphasis on business disputes. He is experienced in all stages of litigation, from counseling clients before lawsuits are filed through trying cases before juries. He also leads internal investigations on behalf of corporations and advises them on compliance issues, including providing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act training to executives at multinational companies.

Clayton S. Friedman joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Friedman represents clients in attorney general regulatory actions and handles regulatory matters involving the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other local, state, and federal agencies.

Michael Yaghi joined Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP as partner in Orange County.

Yaghi represents high-profile clients in regulatory enforcement investigations spanning numerous areas, including advertising campaigns, promotional materials, marketing and sales practices, marketing through emerging media, telemarketing campaigns, email marketing, and other regulatory issues affecting consumer marketing and sales.

Clare Capaccioli Velasquez joined Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel. as associate in San Jose.

Capaccioli Velasquez works closely with her clients in all stages of litigation including counseling and advising through mediation and trial. She also has relevant experience with Trust and Probate disputes in cases involving financial elder abuse, will and trust contests involving issues of capacity and undue influence, breach of fiduciary duties, removal and surcharge actions, reformation, construction and modification issues, and recovery of trust assets.

Gina Lough was promoted to directing attorney of the immigrants' rights project of Public Counsel in Los Angeles.

Lough will assume her new duties on Sept. 6, leading a 30-member team of attorneys, paralegals, administrative staff, and social workers who serve asylum seekers, immigrants in detention, survivors of violent crime, and unaccompanied children.

Donna Tobar joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP as partner in Irvine.

Tobar provides a full range of litigation and counseling services in the areas of construction and suretyship, with experience in government contracting as well. She has successfully represented contractor and surety clients in various legal settings, including litigation (state and federal), mediation, arbitration, and various informal settings including counseling services during contract performance.

Courtney Cahill joined The University of California, Irvine School of Law as professor of law in Irvine.

Cahill is a scholar of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, sex equality, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ equality. Her work examines the role of disgust in lawmaking, the synergies between sex equality and LGBTQ equality, and the mutually constitutive relationship between marginal practices (same-sex marriage, alternative reproduction) and mainstream norms.

Jason Rabbitt-Tomita joined Baker Botts L.L.P. as partner in Palo Alto.

Rabbitt-Tomita represents clients in a wide variety of M&A transactions, joint ventures, and financings. He has represented clients in the technology, finance, retail, and energy industries in both U.S. and cross-border deals, with a deal value of $100 billion.

Daniel Ray Brown joined Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Brown's clients include insurance companies, start-ups, agents, brokers and other stakeholders in the insurance industry. He has extensive experience advising alien or foreign insurers on how to comply with various state laws in placing business; early-stage and developed insurtech entities on regulatory and corporate issues; insureds on exempt and specialty lines; producers on licensing, placement and premium tax issues, including digitization of the process; and insureds on coverage and placement issues. He also advises London market participants on how to comply with US insurance laws, either by becoming admitted insurers or by using a variety of methods of covering US risks without being licensed.

Benjamin J. Kim joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Kim's practice is focused on litigating workplace health and safety matters, harassment and discrimination cases involving high-level executives, nationwide and California-wide class and other representative actions, and executive contract and partnership disputes. Ben has also advised entertainment and esports organizations on a variety of workplace-related issues.

Ashley N. Kim joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Kim is a litigation associate whose practice areas include professional liability, employment law, medical malpractice, and construction defect cases.

Peter A. Dafter joined Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney P.C. as associate in San Francisco.

Dafter counsel's clients in a wide variety of matters relating to professional liability and all forms of civil litigation. He has extensive experience developing and executing legal strategies for insurance defense auto accidents.

Scott C. Cutrow was promoted to partner of Katten in Century City.

Cutrow's practice focuses on entertainment, media and intellectual property issues. He has experience negotiating film, television and new media development, production and distribution agreements, as well as counseling clients regarding complex entertainment finance transactions, employment contracts and talent agreements for film, television and digital media.

Erinn E. Sheppard was promoted to partner of Katten in Los Angeles.

Sheppard represents creditors and debtors in complex financial transactions. She leads work with other practices to provide well-rounded, informed analyses of issues that affect the lending industry.

Marc Indeglia joined Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Indeglia's practice focuses on securities, financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate representation. He has represented public and private companies and financial institutions such as broker-dealers, investment banks, venture capitalists, private investment funds, and family offices.

Brian Horne was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in Los Angeles.

Horne has taken over as Office Managing Partner in charge of the firm's Los Angeles office. Horne's cases involve a variety of industries, and he has won trials involving a wide range of disputes, including patent, trade secret, trademark, trade dress, and breach of contract.

Dr. Andrew N. Merickel was promoted to office managing partner of Knobbe Martens in San Francisco.

Dr. Merickel's practice focuses on helping clients build and leverage their patent portfolio and navigate the patent landscape in their technology area. Working primarily in patent prosecution, licensing, due diligence, freedom to operate, opinions and challenges to third party patents, he has clients in a wide variety of technology areas, including biotechnology, integrated circuit fabrication, thin film deposition, agriculture and food technology.

Caroline Cao joined Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP as partner in Sacramento and San Francisco.

Cao's practice focuses on managing securities and corporate finance, cross-border transactions, and real estate matters. She works with clients of all sizes across several industries. She is fluent in Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese and has considerable experience assisting China-based companies with compliance, investments, financing, international licensing, and joint ventures.

Sabrina A. Larson joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Larson's practice focuses on trademark and copyright clearance, prosecution, and enforcement, as well as complex litigation, with an emphasis on intellectual property and commercial litigation. She represents clients in domestic and international trademark clearance, prosecution, and enforcement, including in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and federal court.

Allison Moser joined Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Moser partners with clients on challenging workplace issues, including internal harassment and discrimination complaints, termination and discipline decisions, wage and hour disputes, reasonable accommodation issues, managing leaves of absence, and protection of proprietary information. She also negotiates and prepares employment-related agreements, drafts and updates employment policies and manuals, and conducts training seminars on employment law compliance.

Brian Russell joined Hanson Bridgett as counsel in Napa.

Russell's practice areas include business, real estate, land use, CEQA, water rights and natural resources, trademark and municipal law. He has advised clients on contract negotiation, real estate acquisitions, alcohol beverage licensing, drafting purchase agreements, entity formation, and securing land use entitlements in Napa and Sonoma Counties.

Alex Baghdassarian joined Hanson Bridgett in Los Angeles.

Baghdassarian focuses his practice on construction contract administration, development agreements, and claims and litigation, including construction defects and delays, and claims involving defaults and terminations. He handles binding arbitrations, and jury and bench trials in Federal and State Court, and represents clients in Northern and Southern California.

Barry G. Edwards joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Edwards practice focuses his practice on commercial retail leasing. Over the past 30 years, he has reviewed and negotiated thousands of leases for owners and operators of shopping centers and commercial properties in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Gregg A. Martin joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Martin primarily represents businesses in the real estate industry, handling jury and non-jury trials, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals. His clients, mostly based in Southern California, are owners and operators of commercial retail spaces, office, and industrial properties. He also has experience with residential income property disputes, as well as disagreements between single family homeowners.

Ann S. Lee joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Lee has more than 20 years of experience in business and real estate litigation, helping clients across industries resolve disputes, assess risks, and achieve their desired outcomes. In 2015, her interest in the significant ways technology was changing business led her to obtain a CIPP/US privacy certification.

G. Michael Brelje joined Cappello & Noël LLP as associate in Santa Barbara.

Brelje's practice includes all forms of civil procedure, discovery and motion practice, as well as trial and appellate appearances. He has worked on and tried numerous complex civil and appellate cases, including arguing cases in the California Court of Appeal.

Alex Flumenbaum was promoted to partner of Fragner Seifert Pace & Mintz, LLP in Los Angeles.

Flumenbaum's practice concentrates on the legal aspects of sophisticated commercial real estate transactions. He represents institutional and non-institutional clients in a wide variety of real estate transactional matters, including real property purchases and sales, retail and commercial leasing, and mortgage financings, refinancings and restructurings.

Steven J. Sweeney was promoted to special counsel of Duane Morris LLP in Los Angeles.

Sweeney concentrates his practice in M&A, bank and financial institution regulatory matters, technology law, corporate finance, corporate governance, technology law, bank regulatory matters, and loan and credit transactions. He has extensive experience in a broad range of corporate transactions, with a focus on banking and financial institutions.

Sean Patterson was promoted to special counsel of Duane Morris LLP in San Francisco.

Patterson's practice focuses in the area of complex litigation, including toxic tort and general liability claims. He also represents and defends public agencies in state and federal court, judicial officers and state officials in civil rights actions involving allegations of violation of constitutionally protected rights.

Jennifer DePalma joined Arentfox Schiff LLP as partner in San Francisco.

DePalma represents technology companies at all stages of growth in transactions and general corporate matters. Her experience includes the negotiation of mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and financing, as well as counseling boards on corporate governance matters. She serves as primary outside counsel to private and public companies and handles alternative investments for clients in the private equity, hedge fund, and venture capital space.

Lisa Von Eschen joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Von Eschen's practice includes advising companies and executives on employment contracts, commission and bonus plans, restrictive covenants, trade secret and confidentiality issues, and severance agreements. She routinely drafts and audits personnel policies and handbooks, leads internal investigations, and conducts preventive training sessions on harassment and other employment topics.

Jack Morse joined Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP as attorney in Los Angeles/Berkeley.

Morse focuses on conducting impartial workplace investigations. With deep experience investigating law enforcement, he is also available for police monitoring and to do investigations involving police practices. He is based in Los Angeles.

Jonathan D. Consani was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Irvine, CA.

Consani is a real estate transactional attorney in the firm's Orange County Office, whose practice focuses on purchase and sales and leasing for various types of commercial property.

Alexander J. Doherty was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Francisco.

Doherty is a litigation attorney in the firm's San Francisco office with a special focus on appeals and water law-related litigation. He has successfully advocated on behalf of clients in various industries, including the financial services, healthcare, and publishing industries.

Amanda D. Donson was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Irvine, CA.

Donson is a real estate transactional attorney in the firm's Orange County office, representing a wide variety of clients including developers, homebuilders, private investors, institutional investors, and global technology companies in their acquisition, disposition, development and leasing of industrial, retail, office, and multifamily assets throughout the United States.

Seth A. Garrett was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in San Diego, CA.

Garrett is a real estate transactional attorney in the firm's San Diego office who provides counsel to commercial and industrial real estate developers, business owners and investors on a wide range of matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, planning and development, construction, and property management of real property.

Jared C. Kassan was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Los Angeles, CA.

Kassan is a member of the firm's Tax and Joint Ventures department in the firm's Los Angeles office. He counsels individuals and companies on tax-related planning and structuring matters often involving issues related to partnership tax, 1031 exchange issues, California property tax, and local real estate transfer tax.

Morgan L. Medlin was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Irvine, CA.

Medlin is a real estate transactional attorney in the firm's Orange County office, providing counsel on acquisitions and dispositions, and leasing of industrial, retail, mixed-use, office, and residential properties across the United States. Morgan often represents clients on challenging, environmentally impacted projects.

Shannon I. Snell was promoted to partner of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP in Los Angeles, CA.

Snell is a real estate transactional attorney in the firm's Century City office, structures, negotiates, and executes sophisticated commercial real estate transactions for office, retail, multifamily, mixed-use, and industrial properties. In recent years, she has represented developers, private equity firms, and institutional owners and investors in the acquisition and disposition of more than $3 billion of real estate, and leasing of millions of square feet of space, across the United States.

Ann Maas was promoted to partner of Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP in San Diego.

Maas is a real estate attorney whose carefully honed her skills at peak efficiency to work in getting deals drafted, negotiated, and signed while maintaining a keen awareness of her client's needs and business goals.