Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management, is pleased to announce that Leslie Helmer will join the firm’s Los Angeles office as a shareholder. Helmer joins Ogletree Deakins from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where she practiced in the firm’s Labor and Employment Department for 27 years. More >>

Holland & Knight announced today that Ryan M. Leaderman has joined its Los Angeles office as a partner in the firm’s West Coast Land Use and Environmental Practice Group. Mr. Leaderman focuses on obtaining and negotiating land use entitlements for complex land use planning and mixed-use developments and securing project approvals for all types of major developments in Southern California. He also represents clients in all aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including CEQA litigation. Most recently, he was a partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles. More >>

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP continues to expand its Litigation Practice in California with the addition of Lisa M. Simonetti as shareholder in the Los Angeles office. Simonetti, who joins the firm from Vedder Price, focuses her practice on the defense of complex litigation, including financial services class actions and mass actions. More >>

Morgan Lewis today welcomes Michelle McCarthy, who has worked extensively with multiemployer and single employer pension and welfare plans, as a partner resident in Los Angeles. She arrives from a large national law firm. More >>

Pillsbury today welcomes partner Jorge Medina, who joins the firm’s Tax practice and Energy Industry team in Los Angeles. Following closely on the hires of corporate and project finance partners in New York and London, his arrival supports the firm’s aggressive focus on providing a market-leading, international service platform to clients in the energy industry. Medina is particularly well-known within the renewables community, coming to Pillsbury from a post as Associate General Counsel at Tesla, Inc., after previous stints at Dewey LeBoeuf and Sidley Austin, where he handled a wide range of U.S. tax matters, particularly those in the renewable energy, equipment leasing, securitization, tax equity and other special project matters. More >>

Leading litigator and SEC enforcement lawyer Randall Lee has joined Cooley as a partner in Los Angeles. He arrives from WilmerHale, where he founded its Los Angeles office and served as the office’s partner-in-charge for a decade. More >>

Morgan Lewis has added a three-partner labor and employment team from Sidley Austin headed by Douglas Hart, one the leading class action litigators in the United States who serves as national counsel for several Fortune 100 companies. Joining Doug from the same global law firm are Jennifer Zargarof, who co-led her prior firm’s global labor and employment practice, and Max Fischer. All three are resident in Los Angeles. More >>