Happy New Year!

All of us at Procopio are grateful for the trust our clients place in us. If you’ve worked with us in the past, we appreciated the opportunity to have served you. We hope you consider partnering with us in the New Year.

John D. Alessio

Managing Partner

Articles

California Advancing Regulations for AI, Other Cybersecurity Issues

California continues to develop new privacy and cybersecurity regulations with a current focus on AI, report Elaine Harwell and Yulian Kolarov. They summarize recent draft regulations and testimony from the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) related to artificial intelligence as well as recent revisions to its proposed cybersecurity audit and risk assessment regulations.

California Employers, Start the New Year Right: Act on Noncompete Provisions by February 14!

California employers face a changed legal landscape that impacts noncompete agreements with employees, with some new legal requirements having a short deadline for personalized communications to certain employees. These legislative changes reflect the state of California’s continuing opposition to noncompete agreements with employees, Wendy Tucker explains.

What to Expect from the SEC’s Examination Focus in 2024

Investment advisers, broker-dealers, fund managers and other financial professionals could be impacted in 2024 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s continued focus on upcoming examinations. Its blueprint identifies certain practices, products and services that the SEC believes present heightened risk to investors. While not an exhaustive list, note Jennifer Trowbridge and Rachel Edwards, it represents areas the SEC anticipates will continue to be significant.

News

Procopio Elevates Five Attorneys to Partner for 2024

Five Procopio attorneys based in downtown San Diego, Del Mar Heights and Orange County have been elevated to Partner status as the firm enters 2024. Corporate litigator Zagros Bassirian, corporate real estate transactional and litigation attorney Steven Casselberry, M&A and strategic joint ventures attorney Shai Larkin, corporate tax attorney John Miles, and family law attorney Sarah Taylor are the latest to assume this role at the AmLaw corporate, intellectual property and litigation law firm.

Learn more about these five outstanding attorneys in our press release.

Seasoned Finance and Operations Professional Varun Bahl Named Procopio CFO

Varun Bahl, a senior finance strategy professional with significant law firm leadership experience, has joined Procopio as its CFO. He brings an extensive background helping law firms grow profitability through strategic initiatives across various departments while introducing new KPIs and adopting a culture of inclusiveness, empowerment, and accountability. His educational and professional background includes India, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

Meet Helen Goldstein, Corporate Deal Maker

She’s an Englishwoman in Arizona, but Helen Goldstein is far more than that. The award-winning life sciences M&A and corporate attorney has developed an outstanding reputation for striking deals and crafting contracts that benefit businesses and investors while advancing cutting-edge technology. “I enjoy the process of building and facilitating relationships,” Helen says. “My input is focused on bringing the parties together and getting the deal done.”

This is the latest in a series of profiles of Procopio attorneys.

Awards

Jeff Stoke Named a Top Real Estate Attorney in California

Procopio Partner and Real Estate Team Leader Jeff Stoke was named to the 2023 Lawyers in Real Estate awards list by Connect CRE News. Jeff was only one of 12 attorneys recognized in California, and one of only 110 across the United States. In their online profile, Connect CRE notes that Jeff advises clients on various matters related to real estate, leasing, environmental issues, finance, and corporate and securities matters. Connect CRE also noted his extensive community leadership roles with industry associations and nonprofits as well as other awards recognitions including Best Lawyers®.

Events

Critical Employment Information Every Charter School Needs to Know! | webinar | 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PT

This two-hour informative webinar held in conjunction with the CCSA features Wendy Tucker and Greta Proctor covering hot-button employment issues, new employment laws for 2024, tips for credentialing compliance, and more.

Annual Privacy Summit, California Lawyers Association | Los Angeles, CA

Elaine Harwell moderates a panel Feb. 8 in L.A. on privacy litigation trends at the 2024 Privacy Summit, organized by the California Lawyers Association Privacy Law section. Topics include class actions, evolving uses of wiretapping laws, common law privacy rights, biometric privacy laws, data breaches, and the Video Privacy Protection Act. Procopio is a proud sponsor of this two-day summit, which features leading privacy experts from the public and private sectors.

Social Media

Please welcome David Graham as the newest member of our Education practice! David counsels education clients, including unified school districts, on the complex laws and regulations governing special education. He handles all phases of due process hearings while representing clients in the full spectrum of IEP and other matters. After practicing law for several years, David became an Education Specialist. He worked with every grade level from K-12, both as a case manager/teacher and as an administrator. He holds a clear Education Specialist credential, as well as a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential. He has since returned to practicing law, bringing education clients his experience as both a teacher and a school administrator.

Please welcome the newest member of our Construction & Infrastructure team! Robert Oh represents a wide array of construction and real estate clients in commercial disputes, including litigation, with a focus on construction liability, as well as general liability and professional designer liability. He also represents clients in cases involving commercial and consumer warranty claims.

Congrats to Jeff Morton on his re-election as Chair of the Intellectual Property section of the The San Diego County Bar Association! He will serve a second one-year term in 2024. Jeff, a PhD immunologist, leads Procopio's Life Sciences practice and co-leads its Licensing & Technology Transactions practice. He has earned awards from IAM, WIPR and Best Lawyers, and is on the San Diego Business Journal SD 500 list of the Most Influential People in San Diego.

How to assist litigation clients through the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the topic of a Jan. 24 panel featuring Procopio IP Litigation Partner Mindy Morton in San Francisco and virtual, organized by the FBA Northern District California and the The Northern District of California Practice Program. Other speakers include U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim, Northern District of California ADR Program Director Jill Kopeikin, and IP litigator Bijal V. Vakil, moderated by Deborah Gitin, senior counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice (appearing in personal capacity).

Kudos to client Jamul Indian Village and Jamul Casino on its 2023 philanthropic donations totaling about a quarter-million dollars through its member-led Community Champions initiative! Recipients included the NAMI San Diego and Imperial Counties chapter, Wounded Warrior Project, Central Surf San Diego, the The San Diego LGBT Community Center and the Imperial Court de San Diego, and Many Shades of Pink. These contributions reflected the focus of the tribe and Chairwoman Erica M. Pinto of supporting diverse communities. Jamul is a longtime client of Procopio and the leader of our Native American Law practice Kerry Patterson. Earlier this year Kerry and the Procopio team assisted the Jamul Indian Village Development Corporation, owner/operator of Jamul Casino, close on $515 million of Senior Secured Credit Facilities with a syndicate of commercial banks.

Kudos to Procopio IP Team leader Miku Mehta of our Silicon Valley office for providing his insights at the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) Advanced Patent Law Insitute, a conference that also featured the leaders of the USPTO, European Patent Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Office de la propriété intellectuelle du Canada, patent judges from the EPO and USPTO, and more.

We were pleased to be a sponsor for the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists awards ceremony, holiday party and swearing-in ceremony, attended by our Family Law practice leader Michele B. Brown.

Watch via LinkedIn Jan. 11 as our IP team leader Miku Mehta discusses how AI can assist innovators with IP as a participant on a World IP Forum panel. If you happen to be at the conference in person in Bengaluru, India, be sure to seek out Miku and say hello!

Our Sports & Active Lifestyle practice group and its co-leaders Lisel Ferguson and Neil Salyards are thrilled to sponsor the fun and engaging Views from the Bus podcast hosted by Bob Rief and produced by San Diego Sport Innovators! Listen and subscribe.

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