Darlene F. Ghavimi has been promoted to the position of principal in the Austin office of Conley Rose. Ghavimi is a licensed patent attorney who primarily represents clients in contentious and complex patent and trademark litigation.

New Positions

Steven Torello has joined Willkie Farr Gallagher as a partner in the firm's Houston office. He primarily represents energy-focused private equity funds forming platform companies focused on building upstream, oilfield service and midstream businesses.

Gary Powell has joined Dallas-based boutique Bailey Brauer as of counsel, and Adam Bell has joined the firm as an associate. Powell represents clients at the federal, state and appellate levels on matters involving, among other things, contracts, business torts, real estate, fiduciary duty claims, lease disputes and tortious interference. Bell represents companies and individuals in complex commercial litigation and government investigations and also assists clients in regulatory and transactional reviews.

Dykema has elected the following attorneys as new members of the firm: Larissa Sanchez Fields and Melanie L. Fry, both in the litigation practice, Van Lindberg, intellectual property, all based in the firm's San Antonio office; and Jeana R. Long, financial services litigation, based in the McAllen office. Fields primarily represents insurance companies in coverage disputes and high-exposure bad faith cases arising from catastrophic weather events. Fry's practice focuses on appellate law. Lindberg's practice focuses on the intersection of technology and law, with particular experience in the area of open source. Long primarily represents lenders in lawsuits against borrowers and guarantors in courts throughout Texas and in arbitration proceedings.

Baker Botts has named the following attorneys to the position of counsel for the firm: Thomas Rooney, Houston; Charles Strecker, Dallas; and Paulina Williams, Austin. Rooney's practice focuses on intellectual property matters, including litigation, prosecution and patent counseling. Strecker has diverse commercial litigation experience, including securities class actions, trade secret claims, professional liability matters and disputes arising from acquisitions and divestitures. Williams' practice focuses on environmental litigation, regulatory compliance and transactional support relating to air, water, waste and natural resources issues.

Jamie T. Katzen has joined Gray Reed in Dallas as senior counsel. Katzen focuses his practice on matters involving international estate planning and wealth planning, as well as on tax planning and estate and trust administration.

Appointed

Jeff Dunn, a Dallas shareholder in Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, has been appointed by the National Automated Clearinghouse Association to its national arbitration board for a term extending to December 2020. Among other matters, Dunn focuses his practice on payments law and related financial services regulatory compliance.

Honor

Marc Cabrera, a Dallas associate in Locke Lord, has been selected as a member of the 2018 Fellows Program for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Cabrera represents banks, lenders, servicers and investors in a high-volume docket of complex business and financial services litigation in state and federal courts.

New Location

Yetter Coleman recently completed a deal to move its offices from Two Houston Center to the 41st floor of 811 Main in downtown Houston. The firm will occupy 24,494 square feet in the building. Yetter Coleman, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017, announced that it expects to relocate sometime this month.