Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has hired a new partner in its Los Angeles office. Jon Atzen joins the firm’s Corporate practice. He was previously a partner with DLA Piper.

Source:  www.pehub.com

Venable has boosted its Los Angeles office with a hire from Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP. Hamid R. Rafatjoo has joined the firm as a Bankruptcy partner. Rafatjoo specializes in insolvency and corporate restructurings.

Source:  www.nylj.com

Chadbourne & Parke has just hired two big names for its intellectual property practice. Stephen Manetta, previously the IP executive at General Electric is joining the firm after 15 years of experience in the field. Also joining is Rajappan (“BG”) Balagopal, formerally Walt Disney Company’s VP of Tech IP Management. Rajappan joins the Los Angeles office.

Source:  www.jdjournal.com

Loeb & Loeb LLP has hired a Land Use and Regulatory Affairs senior counsel. Nicole Kuklok-Waldman has joined the firm in Los Angeles. Kuklok-Waldman focus her environmental law practice on land use and real estate development.

Source:  www.metnews.com

Brian R. Michael has joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Los Angeles. Michael was most recently an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2003 to 2010. He joins as counsel.

Source:  www.mainjustice.com

Sonnenschein Rosenthal LLP has boosted its Los Angeles office with the hire of Duccio Mortillaro as counsel. He joins the public law & policy strategies practice. Mortillaro was most recently of counsel with Ropers Majeski Kohn Bentley PC.

Source:  www.franchising.com

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