Akin Gump today announced that Neal R. Marder has joined the firm in Los Angeles as a partner, adding significant depth to its West Coast litigation team. Mr. Marder, whose practice focuses on class and mass actions, bet-the-company litigation, and complex business and commercial litigation, comes to Akin Gump from Winston & Strawn, where he helped launch that firm’s Los Angeles office and chaired its national consumer class actions practice. More >>

Attorneys Brian D. Huben and Dustin P. Branch have joined Ballard Spahr as partners in Los Angeles, firm chair Mark Stewart announced today. Mr. Huben and Mr. Branch have extensive experience representing owners, developers, and managers of commercial real estate in litigation and bankruptcy matters. More >>

Dentons, the global law firm, today named Nick S. Pujji as partner in both the Firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Venture Technology practices. With an international client base spanning Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada and the United States, Pujji strengthens Dentons’, litigation, employment, class actions, securities, and venture technology and emerging growth companies capabilities. More >>

Squire Patton Boggs is pleased to announce that Gregory J. Morrow has joined as principal in the firm’s Litigation Practice, based in Los Angeles. Most recently in private practice, Mr. Morrow previously served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Contessa Premium Foods, a fully integrated international consumer products company, for fifteen years. More >>

Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today the arrival of partner Gregg D. Bernhard to the Real Estate practice in Los Angeles. Bernhard joins from Greenberg Traurig LLP’s Los Angeles office where he was a shareholder in the real estate and hospitality industry groups. More >>

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, has bolstered its growing Los Angeles office with veteran real estate lawyer William “Bill” Ellis, who joins the firm as a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group. Ellis brings substantial experience to Akerman’s formidable real estate team, enhancing the firm’s transactional work on behalf of financial institutions and investment funds. As former general counsel of global real estate conglomerate Reading International, Inc., Ellis also expands the firm’s capabilities for domestic and international clients in the hospitality and retail sectors. More >>

International law firm Proskauer today announced the arrival of two nationally acclaimed litigators, Bart Williams and Manuel Cachán, as partners in its Los Angeles office. They will become members of Proskauer’s Commercial Litigation, White Collar Defense & Investigations and Sports Law Practice Groups. Mr. Williams will become the co-chair of Proskauer’s Los Angeles Litigation practice. More >>