Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Wendy M. Lazerson is joining the firm’s Labor, Employment and Immigration practice as a partner in the Palo Alto office.

Goodwin Procter, a national Am Law 50 firm, today announced that Kristen Garcia Dumont has joined the firm’s Litigation Department in its Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices as a member of Goodwin’s Labor & Employment and Technology Companies Practices. She will focus on defense work for technology companies related to a wide range of employment disputes, including employee mobility lawsuits, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and whistleblower complaints. Dumont joins Goodwin from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s San Francisco office where she was a partner.

International law Firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP is pleased to announce that S. Michael Song has been named a partner in the Firm’s Intellectual Property (IP) Litigation Practice Group, based in the Silicon Valley office.

Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Vera M. Elson is joining the firm’s Palo Alto office as a partner in the intellectual property litigation practice. Ms. Elson focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation and counseling clients in the technology arena, including a number of Silicon Valley’s leading technology companies. She has tried numerous intellectual property cases to verdict in district courts across the country, and has extensive experience representing high technology clients before the International Trade Commission.

Corporate lawyers Kyle Guse and Amar Murugan, who represent a number of innovative companies in the life sciences and technology sectors, joined Baker Botts L.L.P. today as partners in the firm’s Palo Alto office.

DLA Piper today announced that a team of five prominent Silicon Valley lawyers will join the firm as partners. Rich Scudellari, Armando Castro and Matt Oshinsky join the Corporate and Securities Group, while David M. Lisi joins the Litigation practice and Craig P. Opperman will join the Intellectual Property Group, effective January 11. Scudellari, the senior member of the group, will also assume the role of co-office managing partner in Silicon Valley with Sang Kim, the current office managing partner.

International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP today announced that Eric J. Schwartzman has joined the firm as a partner in its Silicon Valley office. Mr. Schwartzman joins Weil’s Private Equity/Mergers & Acquisitions practice from Latham & Watkins LLP where he was a partner and former co-chair of its corporate department in New York.

Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP is pleased to announce that it has opened an office today in Silicon Valley at 333 Twin Dolphin Drive in Redwood Shores, California.  Douglas E. Lumish, chair of the firm’s intellectual property group, will serve as managing partner of the office.

Responding to client requests for a greater Silicon Valley presence, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP opened a new office in Cupertino, Calif., on October 1st. The new office will focus on Intellectual Property and Patent law pertaining to the tech industry.

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP today announced that it has opened a Silicon Valley office, adding more depth and reach to its world-class intellectual property practice. The firm welcomes prominent IP partners Paul J. Andre and Lisa Kobialka, who both specialize in high-technology and life sciences litigation, to its new Silicon Valley office. These new partners will work closely with attorneys in the New York office, including those who already spend a significant amount of time in Silicon Valley servicing existing clients. Mr. Andre and Ms. Kobialka join Kramer Levin from the Silicon Valley office of King & Spalding.