Steven R. Hilst was promoted to partner of Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys, LLP in Newport Beach.

Hilst has presented more than 35 jury trials to verdict and has recovered more than $30,000,000 on behalf of victims and their families. He is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only association of the most elite trial attorneys in the United States. He is also a Master of the American Inns of Court and is a member of The Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an organization limited to those select attorneys who have obtained seven-figure awards or more for clients.

Alidad Adam Damooei joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in Westlake Village, CA.

Damooei represents public and private companies, as well as private equity firms, in domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, PIPEs, minority investments, and joint ventures. His industry experience includes retail & consumer products, healthcare & life sciences, technology and REITs & real estate. He also provides general corporate representation to public and private company clients in connection with corporate governance matters and SEC filings.

Erik J. Carlson joined Baker & Hostetler LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Carlson litigates and tries patent cases involving complex technology, including spine surgery systems and other medical devices, medical diagnostic and screening tests, spoken language understanding systems, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, telecommunications, cryptography, cloud computing, mobile apps and smart devices.

Alejandro (Alex) E. Moreno was promoted to office managing partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Downtown San Diego.

Moreno practices general business and commercial litigation in state and federal courts, and also handles appeals in the California Court of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit. He is experienced in private dispute resolution and arbitration, including FINRA arbitration. Moreno also represents clients in the banking and finance, mortgage, cannabis, hospitality, technology and telecommunications, restaurant and franchise, energy and extraction, and healthcare industries. Moreno defends consumer class actions, securities litigation and shareholder derivative suits, cross-border litigation, and litigation for high-net-worth individuals and companies with a need for Spanish speaking counsel.

Marisa B. Miller was promoted to office managing partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Del Mar, San Diego.

Miller is a seasoned litigator whose practice focuses on commercial litigation matters and internal investigations for public and private companies. She regularly handles complex, multi-party disputes involving contracts, trade secrets, corporate governance, partnership and fiduciary relationships, inverse condemnation and other strict liability claims, business tort and fraud. These disputes range from high-stakes commercial litigation to matters involving construction, energy, environmental, statutory, technology and shareholder rights issues. She counsels clients through all stages of litigation, from pre-lawsuit strategy and advice to post-trial motions and appeals.

Dennis Landin joined ADR Services Inc. as neutral in Los Angeles.

Landín brings 20 years of judicial experience to his ADR practice. As a judge assigned to the Mandatory Settlement Conference program, Landín holds a distinguished record of success in settlements and earned recognition for his ability to resolve even the most intractable disputes encompassing complex issues in nearly every area of civil law, including employment, wage & hour, business and commercial disputes, personal injury, and insurance coverage. In addition to his settlement work, Landín's prior judicial assignments include presiding over an Independent Calendar Court, a Personal Injury Hub Court, a Felony Trial Court, and serving as an Associate Justice Pro Tem for the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District.

James M. Peterson was promoted to managing partner of Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP in San Diego.

Peterson succeeds current HFM Managing Partner Steve Cologne, who will return to his business litigation practice and expand his work as a panel arbitrator. Cologne has served as the firm's Managing Partner since 2017. In his law practice, Peterson currently counsels management and litigates disputes for business clients of various sizes on claims involving the employment relationship including individual, representative and class actions. He has extensive litigation and trial experience throughout the state of California on matters involving wage and hour class action and PAGA matters, discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment claims and general claims for wrongful termination. He also counsels clients on hiring practices, wage and hour compliance, employment agreements, policy manuals, employee handbooks, termination decisions, lay-offs, and disability management.

James W. Beach joined Morrison & Foerster LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Beach's practice focuses on representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies in complex U.S. and cross‑border transactions, including leveraged buyouts of private and public targets, divestitures, and growth equity investments. He also advises private equity-owned and public companies in all stages of their life cycle. He has a particular focus on the tech sector, including enterprise software, data and security and hardware, as well as strong experience with logistics, manufacturing, and consumer products.

Monica Mazzei joined Buchalter as shareholder in San Francisco.

As Chair of the Family Law Group, Mazzei takes a modern approach to the practice of family law - addressing various needs for her clients related and unrelated to their family law case. She is a Certified Family Law Specialist representing high net-worth clients throughout California, with a concentration in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles. She specializes in dissolution actions involving complicated valuation and financial matters, complex community property and support issues, including international issues, and dissolutions of marriage matters involving hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and privately held businesses. Mazzei also represents clients in creating pre-marital agreements which reflect the goals of the individual couple.

Yan Zhang joined Norton Rose Fulbright as partner in San Francisco.

Zhang represents public and private companies in corporate and securities matters along with the financial institutions that invest in or provide services to them. His experience includes public offering and private placement of securities, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and licensing and foreign direct investment, general corporate governance and compliance matters. Zhang regularly advises China- and Asia-based clients on their most significant legal matters in the US and internationally and also helps international clients who have interest in doing business in Asia.

Elizabeth A. Frohlich joined Locke Lord LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Frohlich has represented U.S. and ‎international companies in their most important commercial and financial services disputes ‎nationwide. She represents banks and securities broker-dealers in complex, high-stakes civil and criminal actions in federal and state courts as well as arbitrations. She is particularly ‎experienced with litigation involving asset-backed securities.‎ In addition to her securitization litigation work, she handles investor cases, trust instruction proceedings, National Fair Housing Act cases, actions by ‎municipalities, and County Recorder/Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems actions. ‎Frohlich often provides clients with advice concerning pre-litigation legal strategy as well as post-‎litigation consulting.

Rachael G. Weatherly joined Blank Rome LLP as associate in Los Angeles.

Weatherly focuses her practice on a wide range on litigation matters. She has experience developing strategies for multi-district litigations in federal and state court, arguing in court, performing extensive research, and drafting briefs.

Michael Guan joined Knox Ricksen LLP as associate in Walnut Creek.

Guan has defended clients in several types of general liability insurance matters. He has handled all aspects of discovery, including briefs, requests and responses, as well as pre-trial motions and motions for summary judgment. Prior to graduating from law school, Guan clerked for an insurance defense firm, representing clients in various general liability matters. He is fluent in Mandarin.

Richard D. Gluck joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as of counsel in San Diego.

Gluck's practice focuses on complex, "bet-the-company" cases, including securities and consumer class actions, construction and real estate development disputes, unfair competition, trademark infringement and trade secret theft actions and wrongful termination, and other employment matters. He also has extensive experience representing public companies and their officers and directors in SEC and other government investigations and enforcement actions. Gluck investigated and prosecuted claims under federal and state securities laws, helping to recover more than $4 billion for investors. Before that, he spent nearly 20 years defending accounting firms, law firms, investment managers, contractors and subcontractors, and other businesses of all sizes and forms against claims of negligence, professional liability, fraud, and breach of contract.

Rebecca F. Zipp joined Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek as of counsel in San Diego.

Zipp focuses her practice on complex business litigation and criminal defense. She served as a San Diego County deputy district attorney, where she prosecuted 50 jury trials to verdict, and as chief deputy of domestic violence and sex crimes for the San Diego City Attorney's Office, where she supervised over 60 jury trials. Active in the community, Zipp is a member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and American Inns of Court, Louis M. Welsh San Diego Chapter, as well as a former board member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, California Women Lawyers Association, and Ohr Shalom Synagogue. She also volunteers for the Jewish Family Services of San Diego.

Agustin Ceballos was promoted to of counsel of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek in San Diego.

Ceballos joined the firm as an associate in 2017. His practice focuses on cross-border tax and corporate matters, international estate planning, advising on tax reporting and compliance, and tax controversy. He has extensive experience structuring international transactions, operations, and investments, including the use of tax treaties for reduced tax rates, optimum use of foreign tax credits, and entity classifications.

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.

Pascal Benyamini was promoted to los angeles office leader of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Los Angeles.

Benyamini teams up with employers to defend them against employment law claims -- including wage and hour, discrimination and wrongful termination claims -- and to advise them on compliance, claim prevention, investigations and employment best practices. He previously served as co-leader of the firm's consumer products and retail industry team. As a former hockey player, Pascal applies the teamwork and tenacity he learned on the ice to his client relationships and advocacy.

Summer Conley was promoted to benefits and executive compensation practice group leader of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Los Angeles.

Conley guides companies through the complicated legal landscape surrounding employee benefits. She advises on qualified plan, health and welfare and executive compensation issues related to retirement plan committee fiduciary responsibilities, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) correction procedures, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), Section 125, Health care reform, and Alternative plan investments. She helps companies comply with HIPAA privacy regulations and health care reform rules, and she assists plan sponsors and fiduciaries in complying with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code.

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.

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.

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.

Mark V. Boennighausen joined Hopkins & Carley as of counsel in San Jose and Redwood City.

Boennighausen has broad civil litigation experience, with specific capabilities and successes in trusts and estate litigation, trade secret law, real estate and commercial disputes involving technology companies.

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.

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.