Michele J. Bongiovanni joined Klinedinst PC as associate in San Diego.

Michele J. Bongiovanni is an attorney in the San Diego office of Klinedinst PC. Ms. Bongiovanni represents a variety of clients in business, product liability, professional liability, and environmental litigation. Ms. Bongiovanni is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a member of the State Bar of California. Ms. Bongiovanni earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. During law school, Ms. Bongiovanni was recognized by the University of San Diego School of Law for volunteering over one hundred hours of pro bono legal service and received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Patent Law Policy. Prior to law school, Ms. Bongiovanni earned a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biopsychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ms. Bongiovanni has co-authored eight peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals.

Erin Murphy joined Latham & Watkins LLP as partner in Menlo Park.

Murphy joins the firm's tax department and benefits, compensation and employment practice group. She is based in Menlo Park.

Cecilia Dyba joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in San Diego.

Dyba focuses on revenue based electric, water and wastewater utility financings and disclosure matters. She is based in San Diego.

Rachel D. Kleinberg joined Sidley Austin LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Kleinberg's official first day as a Sidley Austin partner in Palo Alto is Monday. She brings her tax practice that focuses primarily on private equity and corporate clients to the firm.

"I work with private equity clients on buy- and sell-side transactions and financings and have in the past done several complicated cross border carve outs with private equity fund buyers," Kleinberg said. "And then I represent corporate clients on a wide array of transactions, including M&A and capital markets transactions. And I also have significant experience with spin off transactions."

She joined Sidley Austin from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where she practiced the past 17 years.

The opportunity to help Sidley grow its merger and acquisitions and private equity practices on the West Coast, influenced her decision to move.

"I've been really immensely impressed by the talent and breadth of experience at Sidley," Kleinberg said. "It's obvious to me that Sidley has made an enormous investment in private equity and M&A over the past five years. And I think that my tech skills will help the firm continue to expand that practice."

She also said she hopes to continue providing the best legal services for tax clients.
"I tend to work in all kinds of different areas, I have familiarity with both corporate clients and PE clients. I've worked in M&A, but also in capital market credit transaction and partnership derivative," Kleinberg said. "I really have tried it all, which has been fun for me, but just gives me a broader practice than most people have."

Raffi Kassabian as founding partner in Pasadena and Irvine

Kassabian focuses on commercial and business disputes and financial services litigation. Additionally, he is a lecturer at the UCLA Department of Communication. He is based in Pasadena and Irvine.

Sareen Bezdikian as founding partner in Pasadena and Irvine

Bezdikian is one of the firm's founding partners. Her practice focuses on areas including corporate, business and real estate transactional law, business and consumer litigation, intellectual property rights and estate planning. She is based in Pasadena and Irvine.

Shawn Collins joined Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as shareholder in Newport Beach.

Collins' practice encompasses government and regulatory enforcement defense, internal investigations and compliance counseling, with a particular focus on enforcement actions and investigations related to issues including consumer protection and privacy and data security. He is based in Newport Beach.

Bradford Korey Newman joined Baker McKenzie LLP as partner in Palo Alto.

Trade secrets litigator Bradford Newman has joined Baker McKenzie as chair of the North American trade secrets practice.

"I focus on helping clients identify and protect their trade secrets and try trade secret cases both for the plaintiff and in cases where defendants are accused of trade secret theft," said Newman. "I also focus on computer forensics and detecting whether data theft occurred, as well as working on artificial intelligence best practices for corporations and AI oversight for corporations."

As the new chair of the practice group, he will lead a group of interdisciplinary attorneys from Canada, the United States and Mexico and form a dedicated practice designed to help clients with data theft and data protection.

Newman has experience working with clients in various industries including technology, biotech and life sciences. In the past, his work has included representing a ride sharing company in a trade secrets case filed by a competitor and representing an electronic game company in a series of lawsuits related to the development of "Call of Duty."

He joined Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto office on April 9 after 15 years at Paul Hastings.

"I wasn't looking to leave Paul Hastings, but Baker McKenzie came along with an incredible opportunity to form and lead this North American trade secret practice group," Newman said. "There are several very accomplished trade secret attorneys throughout Baker McKenzie, and the idea of strategically bringing them all into the same team to create a best-in-class trade secret practice in the marketplace for our clients was a very exciting opportunity that I seized upon."

What makes his practice stand out is his deep knowledge of computer forensics and his experience with legal matters where employment law, intellectual property law, general commercial litigation and tech transactions meet, he said.

"I think there aren't that many practitioners out there who truly spend 100% of their time at that intersection of those four areas doing what I do."

Braden L. Berg joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as partner in San Francisco.

Berg rejoins the firm after serving as general counsel at Cylance. He focuses on corporate and securities law including venture capital transactions, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He is based in San Francisco.

Hyun Sik Byun was promoted to special counsel of Covington & Burling LLP in Palo Alto.

Byun represents clients in technology disputes. He has experience in forums including the U.S. District Courts, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the U.S. International Trade Commission and state courts. He is based in Palo Alto.

Susanna K. Sedrak was promoted to partner of Buckley LLP in Los Angeles.

Sedrak focuses on advising financial services industry clients in federal and state regulatory and compliance matters. She is the co-founder of Winnow. She is based in Los Angeles.

Moorari K. Shah was promoted to partner of Buckley LLP in Los Angeles.

Shah represents clients in transactional, licensing, regulatory compliance and government enforcement matters. His clients include banks, fintechs, mortgage and equipment finance companies and auto lenders. He is based in Los Angeles.

Ashe Puri joined Maynard Cooper & Gale LLP as partner in Los Angeles.

Puri is a trial lawyer that focuses on patent infringement and trade secret cases throughout the country. He has tried cases involving electronics, computer systems, medical devices and consumer products. He is based in Los Angeles.

Mark D. Passin joined McPherson LLP as of counsel in Los Angeles.

Entertainment litigator Mark D. Passin has joined McPherson as of counsel. He joins the firm after 11 years at Robins Kaplan, where he served as chair of the entertainment media group.

His first day with McPherson was April 1.

"I represent primarily artists in litigations against major record companies, music publishing companies and motion picture companies in all sorts of disputes. A lot of times, they're either royalty audit disputes or profit participation disputes," said Passin. "So again in the music industry they are royalty audit cases often, or they're breach of contract cases. And in the motion picture [industry], I do a fair amount of profit participation cases. I also do a fair amount of copyright infringement work and copyright termination issues."

With 38 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Passin has represented high profile clients including Cher, The Ray Charles Foundation, Poison and Axl Rose.

According to Passin, what made him decide to move to McPherson were the similarities between his practice and founder Ed McPherson's practice and the flexibility the opportunity presented.

"Ed McPherson's practice is very similar and compatible with mine. And I thought it'd be nice to get back to a small firm, where I had more flexibility on the types of cases that I can take."

At McPherson, Passin hopes to continue with his artist-oriented practice and to continue promoting the cause of artists against the major record companies and motion picture and television studios.

For Passin, what makes his practice unique is the focus on artists.

"You know, it's very hard to find a firm that has an artist-oriented practice. Most of the firms, especially the big firms, represent the studios and the record companies."

Peter Mair was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

Mair focuses his practice on public and private real estate and corporate real estate transactions. He is based in Los Angeles.

Virginia Milstead was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles.

As a litigator, Milstead represents clients in commercial litigation matters. She focuses on securities and merger litigation, as well as director misconduct. She is based in Los Angeles.

Ken D. Kumayama was promoted to partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Palo Alto.

Kumayama's practice is focused on transactional matters in intellectual property, technology and privacy. He is based in Palo Alto.