DLA Piper announced today that Joel Athey has joined the firm’s Litigation practice as a partner in Los Angeles. Athey, who previously served as the managing partner of Holland & Knight LLP’s Los Angeles office, focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense, US Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement, private securities litigation, internal corporate investigations, banking and regulatory investigations and litigations, consumer protection matters and complex civil litigation. More >>

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, continued the expansion of its Los Angeles office with intellectual property partner Caroline Mankey and commercial litigation partner Kanika Corley. They join from a prominent national law firm, where Mankey chaired its Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Group. The lawyers join Akerman’s Los Angeles team at a time when it has more than doubled in size since 2015 to 32 lawyers. In recent months, the office relocated to the CalEdison DTLA to accommodate continuing growth. More >>

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has added Gary Caris to its Los Angeles office as a partner in the Finance, Insolvency and Restructuring Department. He joins the firm from Diamond McCarthy LLP. More >>

The U.S. law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is pleased to announce that Dennis N. Lueck Jr. has joined the firm as a partner in the downtown Los Angeles office. As a member of Hinshaw’s consumer financial services group, Lueck will focus his practice on representing financial institutions, loan servicers and debt collectors in consumer finance litigation defense, with particular focus on mortgage and student loan-related claims. More >>

Nixon Peabody is expanding its West Coast corporate practice with the addition of seasoned tax attorney Shahzad A. Malik, who joins the Los Angeles office as a partner in the firm’s M&A and Corporate Transactions practice. Shahzad joins Nixon Peabody from Stradling, Yucca, Carlson & Routh, P.C., where he was chair of the firm’s tax practice. More >>

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that its combination with Liner LLP, a Los Angeles-based boutique law firm, is now effective. More >>

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Linda Kornfeld, David Thomas, and Julia Holt have joined the Firm’s Los Angeles office in the Insurance Recovery group. Ms. Kornfeld joins as partner and vice chair of the group, Mr. Thomas joins as partner, and Ms. Holt joins as of counsel. The team comes to Blank Rome from Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, where Ms. Kornfeld was the Los Angeles office’s managing partner. The move to Blank Rome also reunites Ms. Kornfeld with Jim Murray, Chair of Blank Rome’s Insurance Recovery practice, and a number of her colleagues who joined Blank Rome from Dickstein Shapiro in February 2016. More >>

Cozen O’Connor is thrilled to announce that effective October 1, 2017, all of the lawyers from the Los Angeles real estate and commercial litigation boutique, Gilchrist & Rutter, will join the firm. This transaction continues Cozen O’Connor’s ongoing expansion of its fast-growing and nationally recognized Real Estate Practice and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups. Consistently ranked among the top real estate firms in the country, Gilchrist & Rutter’s full-service real estate practice encompasses commercial office, retail, multi-family, industrial, manufactured housing, development, financing, leasing, purchases, sales, joint ventures, exchanges, along with a regulatory and government relations practice. The following Gilchrist & Rutter attorneys will be joining Cozen O’Connor as Partners: Frank Gooch, III, Jonathan S. Gross, Richard H. Close, Paul S. Rutter, Thomas W. Casparian, Diane J. Hvolka, Peter E. Swain, and Duane M. Montgomery. Donald C. Nanney will join as Of Counsel, and Adam P. Wiley as an Associate. More >>