Legal News

Sheppard Mullin gets eight land use attorneys from Bingham

By Jason Siegel

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton has lured eight land use attorneys from Bingham McCutchen and two corporate attorneys who previously served as in-house counsel at separate local companies.    

Eight attorneys from Bingham McCutchenıs Costa Mesa, Calif., office have joined Los Angeles-based Sheppardıs office in Costa Mesa.    Geoffrey Willis and Deborah M. Rosenthal have joined as partners in Sheppardıs real estate, land use and environmental practice group.

Willis focuses on land use matters including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act, water rights, the Endangered Species Act, wetlands and the Clean Air Act. He represents shopping centers, houses, golf courses and industrial parks.    

Rosenthal specializes in CEQA, inverse condemnation and general plan litigation, particularly for residential real estate developers. Also joining from Bingham were Marguerite P. Battersby and David R. Hunt joined as special counsel, while David P. Collins II, Jessica A. Johnson, Douglas E. Wance and Gregory E. Woodward joined as associates.    

Also in Costa Mesa, Arturo Sida, most recently the assistant general counsel at Internap Network Services Corp., has joined Sheppardıs corporate practice group. Sida served as chief legal officer and secretary responsible for legal and human resources services at VitalStream Holdings Inc., was acquired last year by Atlanta-based Internap Network Services. In that role, he handled Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance and intellectual property protection and oversaw the companyıs merger with Internap.    

Craig Catarz, most recently chief operating officer and general counsel at the former JAMDAT Mobile Inc. in Los Angeles, will join Sheppardıs corporate practice group in the firmıs Century City, Calif. office.    At JAMDAT, Catarz managed all non-studio operations including legal, human resources, facilities and infrastructure. In that role, Catarz oversaw four rounds of private financing, intellectual property acquisitions, an initial public offering and the companyıs recent merger with Electronic Arts Inc. of Redwood City, Calif.

-- Amanda Bronstad

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on January 29, 2008 (boomark / email).