Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce that the firm has elevated eleven of its attorneys to partner. The new partners are Katharine E. Allen (San Francisco), Rena Andoh (New York), Daniel P. Bane (Orange County), Jeralin Cardoso (San Diego (Del Mar)), Jeffrey S. Crowe (Orange County), Ruben D. Escalante (Los Angeles), Brian D. Murphy (New York), Jennifer E. Renk (San Francisco), James Rusk (San Francisco), W. Ray Rutngamlug (Washington, D.C.) and Reid Whitten (Brussels).
Katey Allen is a member of the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group and is based in the San Francisco office. Allen’s practice focuses on sophisticated commercial real estate transactions. She has experience with a variety of commercial real estate dealings, including purchase and sales agreements, lease agreements and amendments, real estate financing, construction contracts, easement issues, licenses, and related matters. Allen has worked with many types of properties, including retail shopping centers, office buildings, industrial facilities and warehouses, and hotel and resort properties. Allen received her J.D. from University of California, Davis in 2006 and her undergraduate degree, with honors, from University of California, Berkeley in 2003.
Rena Andoh is a member of the Business Trial practice group in the New York office. Andoh has a broad-ranging litigation practice with substantial trial and arbitration hearing experience, including acting as lead counsel/first chair trial counsel in complex commercial matters. She also maintains an active appellate practice and has argued before courts such as the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division. Andoh also has extensive experience litigating in many state and federal jurisdictions, and has a particular expertise litigating in the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court system. Andoh received her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2003 and her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan in 1995.
Dan Bane is a member of the Business Trial practice group and is based in the Orange County office. Bane’s practice focuses on general business litigation with an emphasis on land use litigation, real estate litigation, business torts/contracts, intellectual property, and litigation involving internet usage. He handles all aspects of litigation, including administrative, trial court, and appellate proceedings in both state and federal courts. His transactional experience includes counseling clients regarding intellectual property rights, environmental compliance issues, water rights, and the reuse of real property. Bane received his J.D. from Pepperdine University in 2007 and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from University of Missouri - Columbia in 2003.
Jeralin Cardoso is a member of the Corporate practice group and is based in the San Diego (Del Mar) office. Cardoso’s practice encompasses general corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing, venture capital, public offerings, securities compliance and general corporate governance. She is also a member of the healthcare team and has experience representing a wide variety of healthcare-related clients in California and nationally. Cardoso received her J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Pepperdine University in 2007 and her undergraduate degree from University of California, San Diego in 2004.
Jeff Crowe is a member of the Business Trial practice group in the Orange County office. Crowe focuses his practice in insurance-related litigation, class actions and unfair competition claims. For more than 14 years, he has defended insurers in state and federal courts in California against claims for breach of contract, bad faith, unfair business practices, fraud and other torts. Crowe also represents insurers in matters before the California Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He handles all aspects of insurance disputes involving a variety of personal and commercial lines policies, including homeowners, renters, auto, property and commercial general liability. Crowe received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Whittier Law School in 2001 and his undergraduate degree from California State University, Long Beach in 1998.
Ruben Escalante is a member of the Labor and Employment and Business Trial practice groups in the Los Angeles office. Escalante provides frequent counsel to employers on compliance with state and federal employment laws and regulations, litigation prevention, and civil litigation and trials. He has experience defending employers in both state and federal courts and agencies in multiple areas of employment law, including wage and hour class actions, breach of contract, claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, defamation, and other related matters. Escalante also handles a wide range of complex civil litigation in both state and federal courts. He has experience handling large consumer class action lawsuits, arbitrations, shareholder derivative actions, purchase price adjustment disputes, breach of contract claims, and other related matters. Escalante received his J.D. from University of Southern California in 2006 and his undergraduate degree, summa sum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from University of California, Los Angeles in 2003.
Brian Murphy is a member of the Labor and Employment practice group and is based in the New York office. Murphy has extensive experience in all areas of labor and employment law, and focuses on the defense of class and collective wage and hour litigation in New York, New Jersey, and California federal and state courts. Murphy also defends companies in discrimination litigation, restrictive covenant and non-competition cases, and breach of contact cases. Murphy advises clients on matters relating to harassment, employment contracts, employment and personnel policies, reductions-in-force, independent contractor agreements and compliance with Title VII, ADEA, ADA, WARN, FMLA, COBRA, USERRA, OSHA, and other federal, state and local employment statutes. Murphy received his J.D., cum laude, from Saint John’s University School of Law in 2004 and his undergraduate degree from University of Buffalo in 2001.
Jennifer Renk is a member of the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group in the San Francisco office. Renk’s practice focuses on land use and environmental law, with particular expertise in the California Environmental Quality Act. She advises clients on the regulatory and political hurdles facing development projects across California, with an emphasis on commercial, residential, mixed-use, and high tech projects. Over the course of her career, Renk has worked on a diverse range of projects, including Facebook’s Menlo Park Headquarters, the Bohannon Development Group’s Menlo Gateway mixed-use project, the Carlyle Group’s mixed-use project in Mountain View, as well as numerous multi-family developments and independent school projects across the Bay Area. Renk received her J.D. from Santa Clara University in 2003 and her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1990.
Jim Rusk is a member of the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group and is based in the San Francisco office. Rusk specializes in project permitting, compliance and litigation involving endangered species, wetlands and water quality, and related environmental review requirements. He guides landowners and developers through the complex permitting and compliance processes under federal and state natural resources laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the California Fish and Wildlife Code and Porter-Cologne Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. Rusk also represents clients in litigation defending federal and state permits against challenge by project opponents, and in suits challenging arbitrary agency action. Rusk received his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from University of California, Hastings in 2007 and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from University of Houston in 1997.
Ray Rutngamlug is a member of the Corporate practice group in the Washington, D.C. office. Rutngamlug’s practice focuses on the negotiation of a broad spectrum of communications service agreements, including agreements for providers and large-scale users of communications services. He regularly assists some of the nation's largest cable MSOs in drafting and negotiating agreements for access to infrastructure necessary for the provision of voice, high-speed internet and other next generation communications services. Rutngamlug also has considerable experience advising communications providers on a wide range of commercial matters including the sale and provision of voice and data services to other communications companies, enterprise communications users, and federal and state government agencies. Rutngamlug received his J.D. from Cornell University in 1999 and his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1995.
Reid Whitten is a member of the Government Contracts, Investigations & International Trade practice group and is based in the Brussels office. Whitten’s practice focuses on international trade compliance and investigation work. He advises clients on detecting and deterring potential compliance issues with U.S. and international anti-corruption laws, export controls, and sanctions regulations. He has also advised on anti-dumping, anti-boycott and CFIUS issues. Whitten received his J.D. from Wake Forest University in 2007 and his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from The College of William & Mary in 2002.