The law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP is pleased to announce the establishment of the Firm’s second California office with the addition of seven attorneys and other professional staff from San Francisco’s Ongaro Law Firm. Opening on March 1, the office will be led by longtime San Francisco litigator David R. Ongaro and will remain in its current Financial District location. Thompson & Knight opened a Los Angeles office in October 2012.

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Cooley LLP announced today that it represented client Cylex Inc., a Maryland-based life sciences company, whose diagnostic test kit detects immune function in organ transplant patients, in a highly successful sale of the company’s assets through a distressed M&A process.

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Philip Albert, an IP attorney with two decades of experience, has joined the expanding IP practice at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Albert joins the firm as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office.

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O’Melveny & Myers LLP represented Thornridge Holdings Limited, a significant stockholder of Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. (ALC), in connection with ALC’s US$280 million proposed sale to TPG, a global private investment firm.

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Robert J. Guite has joined the San Francisco office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm’s Business Trial practice group. Guite joins from Squire Sanders, where he was hiring partner for that firm’s Northern California offices.

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King & Spalding has recruited veteran intellectual property lawyer Kenneth Steinthal as a partner in its San Francisco office. Steinthal joins King & Spalding from Greenberg Traurig, where he served as head of its San Francisco office, and prior to that, as co-head of Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ IP/media practice. Also joining King & Spalding’s San Francisco IP practice, as counsel, is Joseph R. Wetzel, who practiced with Steinthal at Steinthal’s previous two firms.

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On March 1, the attorneys from the top-tier trial and litigation defense firm of Brown Eassa & McLeod LLP will join Sedgwick LLP. Brown Eassa is a well-known civil defense firm, with a breadth of experience in product liability, class action, commercial litigation, mass tort, labor and employment, and environmental matters. Seven partners and their team of associates will be based in Sedgwick’s San Francisco office, and one partner and one associate will work out of Sedgwick’s Los Angeles office.

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Continuing with its plan for strategic growth, Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg LLP, the IP super boutique, announced that attorney Marcus T. Hall has joined the firm as a partner. He will practice out of the firm’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices where he will focus on intellectual property litigation and complex commercial litigation.

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Arnold & Porter LLP client PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. (in receivership) recently entered into definitive agreements with Arch Capital Group Ltd. for its U.S.-based subsidiaries, Arch U.S. MI, to acquire CMG Mortgage Insurance Company from PMI and CMFG Life Insurance Company. The agreements also involve the acquisition of PMI’s mortgage insurance information technology operating platform and related assets from PMI. The value of the consideration for these transactions are estimated to be approximately $300 million. Arch U.S. MI will also enter into a services agreement with PMI to provide for necessary services to administer the run-off of PMI’s legacy business at the direction of PMI. An affiliate of Arch U.S. MI will reinsure the run-off of in-force insurance on current, non-delinquent loans included in the primary mortgage insurance originated by PMI for book years 2009-2011.

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Fox Rothschild LLP continues to grow its West Coast offices by welcoming veteran real estate and land use attorney Kenneth A. Kecskes as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office.

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