Christian Nickerson was promoted to partner of Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP in Santa Monica.

Nickerson focuses on employment, business, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death litigation.
He is based in Santa Monica.

Mandana Massoumi joined Seyfarth Shaw LLP as partner in Century City.

Seyfarth Shaw expanded its Los Angeles employment and labor practice with the addition of partner Mandana Massoumi from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP.
Massoumi practiced at Manatt for seven years and is the former co-chair of the national retail and consumer products industry practice group. What drew Massoumi to Seyfarth was the firm's deep bench strength in employment law, she said.
"The quality of client service and the work for me was very impressive and was a draw in wanting to be part of the team and providing my clients with the opportunity to have this additional bench strength that can assist them not just here in California, but across the country and even internationally," she explained.
As a litigator, Massoumi specializes in class and collective actions, but her practice also includes advising clients on day to day employment matters and defending them in litigation and audits by government agencies.
"I've been fortunate enough to have a practice that's allowed me to work with clients across industry groups, but I've had particular experience and I have a large number of clients that are in the retail and consumer industry groups, as well as those who are in the technology and digital space," she said.
Massoumi said she enjoys most "being able to really partner with my clients and really fully understanding their businesses and being effective in that way, where I'm able to step in and work side by side with them or provide counsel in a way that can make a difference in how they're doing their work or how they're operating their business."
Massoumi has an active pro bono practice that has included advising nonprofits on employment matters and assisting in immigration and refugee cases.
She is also a board member of Orange County Coastkeeper, a nonprofit clean water organization.

Bobby Lutzker was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in San Francisco.

Lutzker specializes in drafting and negotiating licenses, collaboration, supply, distribution and other commercial agreements for life sciences and technology companies.
He is based in San Francisco.

Mark Chen was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in Los Angeles.

Chen is a litigator and specializes in intellectual property and complex commercial disputes.
He is based in Los Angeles.

Richard R. Sheridan joined Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton LLP as of counsel in San Diego.

Sheridan is the former general counsel and corporate secretary of Scripps. He specializes in governance and corporate law.
Sheridan is based in San Diego.

Alexa Belonick joined Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Belonick advises companies in securities and transactional matters including public offerings, compliance, public reporting and governance.
She is based in San Francisco.

David A. Gay joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as shareholder in Los Angeles.

Greenberg Traurig has added shareholder David A. Gay, formerly with Jones Day, to its Los Angeles office, expanding its intellectual property, technology, life sciences and medical technology practices.
A former biochemical research scientist, Gay practiced at Jones Day for 10 years and has more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry.
Gay considers the move a natural progression for his career, adding he was attracted to the firm's strategic focus on expanding its intellectual property and life sciences practices and the full range of services it would provide for his clients.
"As you can imagine with biotech, well most technology clients, they operate in sophisticated arenas and require seamless legal advice across a number of different disciplines other than intellectual property --corporate, products liabilities etc.," said Gay. "Greenberg Traurig is just exceptionally well suited to provide those sophisticated legal services, not only in the U.S., but globally."
Throughout his career, Gay has focused his practice on life sciences companies, primarily those within the biotechnology sector ranging from companies that specialize in metabolic engineering to small molecule therapeutics. He advises clients on strategic design, acquisition and management of intellectual property rights. He also evaluates patent portfolios and conducts due diligence investigations.
Gay's interest in law was sparked during his time as a research scientist, when he came to the realization that patent law bridges two of his passions: science and the law. Just 10 years after receiving his doctorate in biochemistry from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he returned to school at the University of San Diego School of Law, graduating in 2002.

Cecilia O'Connell Miller joined Buchalter PC as shareholder in San Diego.

Insurance coverage litigation attorney Cecilia O'Connell Miller joined Buchalter in San Diego from Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.
"What stood out for me was the firm's established insurance recovery practice," said Miller of her decision to move. "It's over 20 years old and there are some fantastic attorneys within the practice group, who have been litigating insurance coverage issues for policyholder clients for decades."
"I was really attracted to the opportunity to grow and expand my insurance practice here with their established practice and the network of offices throughout the West Coast," she added. Miller, who was with Procopio for eight years, specializes in representing policyholders, with the bulk of her practice focusing on liability policies and helping clients obtain insurance coverage for lawsuits. Since the pandemic she, like many in her field, has been focusing on assisting clients in pursuing insurance coverage for their COVID-19 losses.
Her clients range from health care companies to financial services companies and municipalities.
"What drew me to insurance law and policyholder work was when I started as an attorney at Latham and I had the opportunity to work on cases like the Montrose case, which really is a gold standard for defense coverage for policyholders. Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 10 Cal. 4th 645 (Cal. 1995).
What I found is that insurance law is really a specialized form of contract law and insurance litigation is a specialized form of civil commercial litigation," she said, adding insurance law provided a marriage of both of those interests.
"When I meet my clients, they're in a difficult situation, they're facing a lawsuit or they're facing a catastrophic fire at their home, and they're looking to their carrier to abide by their promises," she said. "My favorite part of the practice is being able to obtain insurance coverage for my clients, giving them the peace of mind that they do, in fact, have the coverage that they procured." Miller is a member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego and is a former chair of the insurance and bad faith section of the San Diego County Bar Association.
She also has an active pro bono practice that has included projects with Free to Thrive, a San Diego nonprofit that provides legal and supportive services to survivors of human trafficking.

Bryan R. Delgado joined Klinedinst PC as associate in Sacramento.

Delgado specializes in premises liability, professional liability, employment and personal injury matters.
He is based in Sacramento.

Mark Masao Imada joined Klinedinst PC as associate in San Diego.

Imada focuses on lawsuits brought against attorneys and other professionals as well as defending personal injury claims and other general liability cases in the insurance defense context.
He is based in San Diego.

Alyssa Caitlin Garchie joined Klinedinst PC as associate in San Diego.

Garchie focuses on professional liability, general liability and products liability.
She is based in San Diego.

Thaila K. Sundaresan joined Davis Wright Tremaine LLP as partner in San Francisco.

Sundaresan focuses on legal matters before the Federal Communications Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, as well as other appellate and regulatory matters.
She is based in San Francisco.