Buchalter brought on a team of four attorneys to its San Francisco office. Shareholder Douglas Strauss and attorney Benjamin Ellis join the litigation practice. Of Counsel Peter McGaw and Zachary Young joined the litigation and environmental and natural resources practice. Previously, the attorneys were at Archer Norris.

Mayer Brown brought on Michelle Gross as a technology transactions partner in the Northern California office. Gross's experience includes representing companies on intellectual property matters, and she also represents clients on data privacy and security matters. Previously, she was counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Peter Hsiao joined the government matters practice group at King & Spalding. Hsiao will lead the environmental, health and safety team on the West Coast. Previously, Hsiao was a partner at Morrison & Foerster. He will be based in the Los Angeles office.

Brett Rodda returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Rodda had previously worked 17 years at Munger Tolles. Most recently, Rodda had been general counsel of Silver Point Capital for two and a half years. He will split his time between the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., offices.

Noah Mamet joined DLA Piper as a strategic adviser on Latin American issues. His focus will be developing the firm's practice in Latin America with a focus on Argentina. Previously, Mamet has served as U.S. ambassador to Argentina under President Barack Obama, and has also advised on the political campaigns of Obama and President Bill Clinton. Mamet received his B.A. from UCLA and currently resides in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.

Steven Knott and Joan Cotkin joined Pillsbury's insurance recovery and advisory practice. Knott joined as partner and has served as lead counsel on cases ranging from insurance recovery to products liability defense. Cotkin joined as senior counsel, and has litigated insurance claims under commercial general liability policies, and other forms of liability coverage. They will be based in the Los Angeles office.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton brought on a team of three attorneys in its intellectual property practice. Partner Harper Batts, special counsel Chris Ponder and senior associate Jeffrey Liang join the firm's Palo Alto office. Previously, the team was part of the intellectual property practice at Baker Botts.