Legal News

MOVERS AND HONORS: Ogletree, Horvitz, and Sedgwick

By Richard Binder

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. has announced that Stuart D. Tochner has joined its Los Angeles office as a shareholder. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Tochner was a labor and employment partner at Musick Peeler in Los Angeles.

Mr. Tochner represents employers in a diverse array of labor and employment matters. He regularly defends employers against claims for wrongful termination, wage and hour violations (including class-action defense), sexual harassment and discrimination. He also represents employers in litigation arising from non-competition agreements and claims for misappropriation of trade-secrets. He further advises employers with respect to employee discipline, discharge and leave of absence issues, and personnel policies and practices. Mr. Tochner has presented seminars for employers on many labor and employment law topics, including wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and discrimination. He also has conducted seminars on employment issues of specific interest to colleges and universities.

Mr. Tochner earned his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981 and his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1985.

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The nation?s largest civil appellate law firm, Horvitz & Levy LLP, has added attorney James A. Sonne to its team. With more than 30 attorneys specializing exclusively in civil appeals, the firm has appeared more frequently in civil cases in the California appellate courts than any other firm. Since 1990, Horvitz & Levy has prevailed in more than 70 percent of its appeals nationwide, vastly exceeding the average success rate for appeals.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sonne helped start the labor and employment academic program at the newly founded Ave Maria School of Law, where he was later granted tenure. Before that, Mr. Sonne was an associate at McGuireWoods LLP, specializing in labor, employment, and employee benefits. He is a former law clerk to Judge Edith Brown Clement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the state courts of California, Michigan, and Virginia, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits.

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Jim Holmes, a partner in Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP's Los Angeles office and chair of the Media, Entertainment & Sports Law Group, has been appointed to be a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), effective August 2009 after the adjournment of the ABA's 2009 annual meeting. Holmes, an active member of the ABA, currently serves as a liaison from the Torts, Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) to the ABA Commission on SOGI. He is a member of the section's Committee on Diversity in the Profession and is involved in the National Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association (NLGLA). In addition, he served as chair of TIPS' Media Privacy and Defamation Law General Committee for the 2008-2009 term.

Outside of the ABA, Holmes has performed pro bono work for the HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance and received commendations from the California Bar Association and Los Angeles Superior Court for his pro bono activities.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on August 07, 2009 (boomark / email).