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 (

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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