David W. Schecter was promoted to partner of Miller Barondess, LLP in Los Angeles.

Schecter is a trial attorney and focuses on media, technology, entertainment and environmental litigation.

Keith Cochran was promoted to partner of Fitzgerald Knaier LLP in San Diego.

Cochran has extensive experience in business litigation and intellectual property disputes. In addition, he serves as an arbitrator for the San Diego County Bar Association's fee dispute arbitration program. He also serves as a public arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Prior to joining Fitzgerald Knaier, Cochran practiced with Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP where he defended clients in complex civil litigation matters.

Andrew C. Myers was promoted to partner of Solomon Ward Seidenwurm & Smith LLP in San Diego.

Myers' practice focuses on representing a diverse corporate client base in business- and employment-related matters. Experienced in all phases of civil litigation, he has litigated extensively in both state and federal courts.

Dustin J. Priebe was promoted to partner of Foley & Mansfield PLLP in Los Angeles.

Priebe is the chair of the firm's Transportation Practice Group. He has acted as the first-chair attorney in several multi-day trials and handled numerous appeals.

Jason Grinnell joined Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP as partner in Century City.

Grinnell uses his years of experience in leading real estate transactions and financings to help clients navigate the California real estate market. In the transactional sector, He handles acquisitions, dispositions and leasing across multiple asset classes, with particularly deep experience in the retail leasing. He represents global technology and video game clients in office and studio leases. He also has strong ties to the Los Angeles private equity and family office firms and assists these clients with their real estate needs.

In his real estate finance practice, he advises financial institutions in construction, permanent and mezzanine debt financing. Jason also represents both financial institutions and investors in loan workouts, forbearances, and other distressed debt transactions. Jason's practice includes a special emphasis on renewable energy project finance, including construction and permanent debt financing and tax credit investments for solar and wind portfolios.

Sabrina D. Johnson joined Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagley LLP as associate in San Diego.

Johnson's practice focuses on business and real estate litigation and risk management. She graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she was a member of the San Diego Law Review. She served as a Judicial Extern for Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel on the Southern District of California.

Brian J. Wagner was promoted to partner of Kutak Rock LLP in Irvine.

Wagner joined Kutak Rock in 2021 as a transition partner. He focuses his practice on commercial, real estate, employment, and consumer finance litigation. He primarily represents lenders, real estate developers, property management companies, family offices, as well as small and mid-sized companies.

Tony Rowles was promoted to partner of Irell & Manella LLP in Newport Beach.

Rowles represents clients in district court patent litigation, appeals at the Federal Circuit, Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission and prosecution and post-grant review proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Andrew Strabone was promoted to partner of Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles.

Strabone focuses his practice on complex business disputes, with an emphasis on IP and securities litigation.

Christine E Ellice was promoted to partner of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP in Los Angeles.

Having worked at the firm since graduating from law school 15 years ago, attorney Christine E. Ellice has been promoted to partner at the Los Angeles office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
"I've dedicated my legal career to Stroock, and I obviously believe in the firm and am appreciative of the culture," Ellice said in an interview.
"Christine is a true Stroock success story," said a statement from co-managing partner Alan M. Klinger. "Her career with us began as a summer associate in the New York office, and she joined us there as a firstyear after graduating from law school. Christine later transferred to our LA office as a third-year associate and now has made partner based on her fine legal work, commitment to clients and firm citizenship."
Ellice has developed a strong reputation in trial litigation, thanks in part to a forward-looking approach to her work.
"I approach every case as if it is going to trial," she said. "I'm always working backwards from the assumption that I'm going to eventually have to prove the case to a jury, a judge or, as is often the case, an arbitrator."
Among the many cases Ellice has tried, the class action TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 stands out as exemplifying her no-stone-unturned approach.
"What's interesting about that case is it actually went up all the way to the Supreme Court," she said. "While Stroock didn't handle the appeal, many of the arguments we had raised leading up to trial, that we had made and preserved, were the ones that we ultimately prevailed on at the Supreme Court."
"That was a great experience because those cases so rarely go to trial, and a class action is such a different beast that having that experience is so rare," she added. "It was very valuable to me to be able to work up a class action case for trial as opposed to an individual case."
Some of the work Ellice has been most proud of has been litigating pro bono cases in immigration law, which she said she's always been passionate about.
"One of the things that really drew me to Stroock was that it has this amazing pro bono platform called the Public Service Project," she said.
Ellice worked pro bono cases from her first summer at the New York office, and since then has dedicated herself to immigration cases involving asylum.
"It's been one of the most rewarding aspects of my legal career," she said. "It's something I feel passionately about, and it gives me an opportunity to make an actual real world impact on a family's life."
As a newly-minted partner at Stroock, Ellice says she looks forward to continuing to work with what she calls the firm's "extremely talented legal minds."
"Two maternity leaves, moving cross-country and all the ups and downs of life -- it's all happened at Stroock. So I'm just very excited to be promoted to partner and to be able to hopefully do more in that position at the firm," she added.

Ronald L Cheng joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as litigation partner in Los Angeles.

Following a distinguished career that has taken him across the Pacific and back, former government attorney Ronald L. Cheng has joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP as a litigation partner in Los Angeles, where he will handle cases for Chinese clients in the U.S.
"I've already been able to start working on client matters and I see a lot of potential to develop this area, which has been an interest of mine ever since I did my time in China at the U.S. Embassy on behalf of the Department of Justice in the mid- 2000s," Cheng said in an interview.
Cheng worked as the DOJ's resident adviser at the embassy in Beijing from 2005 to 2007, trying to promote rule-of-law development in criminal matters.
"My assignment was to develop relationships within and outside the Chinese government with all parties involved in the criminal process," Cheng said. "That involved the public security bureaus and ministry as well as the prosecutors, courts, defense lawyers and academics doing research and proposing reforms
in this area."
Traveling through about 25 of China's provinces and self-governing cities, Cheng's work included a high profile embezzlement case that reached all the way to federal court in Las Vegas.
"That involved corrupt officials from a Chinese bank who had embezzled $482 million from the bank and then absconded to the United States to avoid prosecution," he said.
Continuing his work in the U.S. attorney's office in Nevada as chief of the criminal division, Cheng guided 40 up-and-coming federal prosecutors during the uncertain early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
"We had to deal with keeping the criminal system running during this period when trials were not taking place, when it was even difficult to have initial appearances, charge cases and make sure the defendants were guaranteed their right to indictment by grand jury," Cheng said. "Some of these basic things we took for granted were very difficult to implement, but we got it up and running and I think we kept the dislocation to a minimum."
Cheng also oversaw cases involving civil unrest, including an alleged plot to commit violence in Las Vegas by the Boogaloo movement, as well as narcotic and firearms trafficking by the MS13 gang.
"There was quite a bit that we were able to accomplish during that time," he said. "Of course, that's against the backdrop of bringing in a large number of new AUSAs, getting them trained and making sure that they got responsibility and were in a position to handle it in the office and in court."
"I'm ecstatic to have Ron join our team," Geoffrey Sant, co-chair of Pillsbury's China practice, said in a news release. "Just in the last year, we won judgments totaling nine figures for our clients in U.S.-China litigation matters, and we are busier than ever. Adding one of the most experienced and accomplished trial litigators in the United States is a tremendous coup. Ron has a skill set and track record of success in China-related trials and litigations that is unrivaled."

Elizabeth M Bock was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Representing prominent health care companies, Bock is also on the board of governors and the Foundation Board of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.

Brian M Cook was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

A nuclear physicist and former Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer in addition to his litigation work, Cook represents clients in patent, trade secret and licensing matters throughout the consumer electronics, broadcasting, software and wireless communication industries, among others.

J. Jorge deNeve was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Specializing in SEC enforcement, deNeve has represented issuers, executives and investment advisers in investigations involving accounting, disclosure and internal control issues.

Megan K Smith was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Century City.

Smith has represented fashion houses, hoteliers, automobile manufacturers, real estate companies and financial institutions, and once helped a prominent homebuilder defeat a nine-figure suit in a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wenting Yu was promoted to partner of O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Silicon Valley.

Yu specializes in venture financing, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt offerings and joint ventures. She also has experience working with Cayman Islands based entities operating in the U.S. and China.