The land use and real estate firm of Brown Winfield & Canzoneri Inc. has reorganized its operations this month to bring in younger managers.
Steven Abram, a shareholder and head of the transactional department, assumed the top position of managing officer, while co-founders Tony Canzoneri and Thomas Winfield were elected as co-chairmen.
“Now, we have co-chairs who are two of the three name partners, but the day-to-day operations and managerial decisions will primarily be made by me,” said Abram. “I’m part of the next tier of partners after the original founders. So, I’m relatively young at 50.”
The former managing officer, Nowland Hong, 70, will head the litigation department.
Abram said he would like to grow the 37-attorney office to about 100 during his two-year term.
Barbie Moves
Mattel Inc. has hired a new vice president and assistant general counsel to manage the legal aspects of the El Segundo-based company’s intellectual property transactions.
Jeffrey Korchek, former senior executive at USA Entertainment, will oversee license agreements and technology and entertainment deals.
Korchek was an agent at Broder Kurland Webb Uffner before working at USA Entertainment. He had joined the agency after 12 years at Universal Pictures, where he was executive vice president of legal and business affairs from 1996 to 1999.
He began his career as an attorney at Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP.
Legal Beachhead
Two former O’Melveny & Myers LLP partners have opened the first Los Angeles office of Nixon Peabody LLP.
Richard Jones and Travis Gibbs, both public finance specialists, are the only attorneys in the new office. Jones, who was in the transactions department at O’Melveny, is bond counsel for several California state and local agencies. Gibbs, who was in the tax department, handles municipal finance transactions, such as school district bonds and variable rate financings.
Richard Hoffman, managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s California offices, said the Los Angeles office would grow to include other practice areas and potentially reach the size of the firm’s office in San Francisco, which has 88 attorneys.
Around Town
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP has hired its first administrative partner of the Los Angeles firm. Robert Beall, an Orange County partner with the business trial practice group, will handle firm-wide management issues such as hiring, recruiting and working with associates and practice groups Cozen O’Connor PC named a new managing attorney of its Los Angeles office. Mark Roth, a partner specializing in catastrophic insurance claims, will manage the six-attorney office that opened in 1995.
Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at
[email protected]
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