Arent Fox LLP has just hired Harry Johnson III as a partner in its Los Angeles office. Johnson focuses his practice on employment litigation, specifically wage-hour complex litigation and traditional labor. He joins from Jones Day.

Source:  www.jdjournal.com

Although Los Angeles has picked up some steam within the past few weeks, the lateral movement there still does not compare to the markets in Silicon Valley, New York and Chicago. LA has never been a hot spot for lateral movement and the state of the economy does not help matters. But not all is lost! There has been more activity there as of late in such practice fields as labor and employment, patent litigation and white collar defense. There has also been some movement with attorneys specializing in bankruptcy and commercial finance, banking, energy and entertainment. In LA, firms are hiring one or two experienced attorneys at a time, as opposed to large groups.

Source:  www.law.com

California law firms may be more diverse than firms across the nation as seen by the results of a study commissioned by Fenwick & West.  For instance, major California firms have twice as many minority partners as compared to firms elsewhere.  California also takes the cake for the number of female and minority nonpartners.

Source:  www.amlawdaily.typepad.com

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP added partner James L. Hsu last week. Hsu joins the Los Angeles office. He focuses his practice on business transactions in China. Hsu most recently worked at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.

Source:  www.nylj.com

Blank Rome has hired six attorneys in its Los Angeles office. Denis Codon joins from Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi as a partner. Name Partner Howard Knee from Knee, Ross & Silverman, also joins the firm as a partner, bringing with him attorneys: Michael Ludwig, Colleen Carolan, Jim Newman and Mary Pierce.

Source:  www.jdjournal.com

John Schulman is set to join Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp to help grow the firm’s new entertainment practice. Schulman spent 25 years with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. where he served as the general counsel. He joins the Los Angeles office.

Source:  www.nylj.com

Drinkle Biddle has just launched its 13^th office. The latest addition resides in Century City, California. The four partners who joined the firm to open the office are: George Caplan and Henry Shields Jr., from Epstein Becker Green; Kate S. Gold, previously with Kaye Scholer, and Kristopher S. Davis. The office primarily focuses on commercial litigation.

Source:  www.philadelphia.bizjournals.com

Los Angeles partner Gary J Cohen is taking a leave of absence from Sidley Austin for his appointment as Special Business Counsel to the newly created Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The commission came about in response to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act.

Source:  www.ad-hoc-news.de

A group of five Land Use Lawyers have left the Los Angeles office of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis for Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Land Use Chairman Jarold Neuman led the group and brought along partner Michael Kiely. The three associates who made the jump are: Alfred Fraijo Jr., Claudia Gutierrez and Phillip Tate.

Source:   www.nylj.com

Cozen O’Connor has boosted its Los Angeles office with the hire of Nathan Dooley.  Dooley joins the firm’s commercial litigation group as an associate.  He was previously with Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver & Hedges, LLP. 

Source:  www.losangeles.dbusinessnews.com