LOS ANGELES, June 9, 2004 – LAWFUEL – Six young attorneys from the Los Angeles offices of Piper Rudnick LLP have been selected as Southern California Rising Stars for 2004, the law
firm announced.
They are Angela E. Dotson, Katherine M. Marelich Dugdale, Samantha S. Goodman, Audra
Mori, Edward D. Totino, and Patricia Jones Winograd.
“We are not surprised that these exceptional attorneys were named to this list.
We already regard them as rising stars,” said Jeffrey Rosenfeld, partner in
charge of the Los Angeles office.
The six were chosen as a result of polling among all the 2004 Southern California
Super Lawyers—attorneys identified in a complex process of peer nomination and
independent research as the best in their fields of practice. The Rising Stars poll
is a joint project of the magazines Law and Politics and Los Angeles. Although
such polls have been conducted in other parts of the country for more than ten
years, this is the first time Rising Stars have been identified in Southern
California.
Nationwide law firm Piper Rudnick has been enjoying tremendous strategic growth in
California in recent times. Its first California office opened in Century City in
2001. The firm opened a San Francisco office in January this year and opens a second
Los Angeles office, downtown, in June.
The results of the Southern California Rising Stars poll will appear in the
September 2004 issue of Los Angeles magazine.
About the attorneys:
Angela E. Dotson, an associate in the Litigation practice group, concentrates her
practice on labor and employment and general commercial litigation. She has
represented private entities and agencies in administrative proceedings and before
various state and federal courts on many levels, including at trial. Ms. Dotson has
also resolved many disputes using alternative dispute resolution techniques. In the
area of labor and employment, her practice focuses on wrongful termination
litigation; counseling and litigation avoidance; policy implementation; and
harassment, discrimination, and wage and hour litigation. Active in the Los Angeles
community, Ms. Dotson is on the board of JobStarts, Inc., and is a member of Black
Women Lawyers.
Katherine M. Marelich Dugdale, a partner in the Litigation paractice group, focuses
on intellectual property litigation, with an emphais on copyright, trademark, trade
secret, and unfair business practices litigation. She also has experience in
general commercial litigation. She manages national anti-piracy litigation for a
major software developer. Her work includes obtaining seizure orders, temporary and
preliminary injunctions, and contempt orders.
Samantha S. Goodman, an associate in the Real Estate practice group, concentrates on
commercial leasing for major Fortune 500-type companies, representing both tenants
and landlords. Many of the most sophisticated companies in the United States turn
to her for representation in commercial office, industrial, and retail leasing
matters. During lease negotiations, she focuses on following the “loose dollars”
with respect to operating expenses, assignment and subletting, and tenant
improvements, while at the same time perfecting a tenant’s exist strategy. Her
clients include major automobile manufacturers, banks, brokerage companies, and
institutional landlords. She also has experience in the acquisition and sale of
property.
Audra Mori is a partner in the Litigation practice group who handles both
intellectual property and general commercial cases. Ms. Mori manages anti-piracy
litigation throughout the country for a major software developer. She has
successfully defended a class action concerning a popular software program and has
represented a well-known airline in an infringement and unfair competition action
against a travel web site. In addition, she has represented financial institutions,
churches, and manufacturers in contract and tort cases. Ms. Mori serves as the
hiring partner of the Los Angeles office and is a member of the firm’s diversity
committee. Active in the Los Angeles legal community, Ms. Mori is on the boards of
the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation and the Japanese American Bar Association.
Edward D. Totino, Of Counsel to the Litigation practice group, represents plaintiffs
and defendants in both federal and state trial and appellate courts in a wide
variety of cases. Mr. Totino’s practice includes securities litigation, commercial
disputes, unfair competition and other business torts. In such litigation, he
represents domestic and international banks, securities broker-dealers, issuers, and
investment funds. During the last few years, while representing plaintiffs, Mr.
Totino has obtained approximately $20 million in judgments and settlements for his
clients. In the same period, while representing defendants in several securities
fraud actions seeking in excess of $400 million in damages, Mr. Totino obtained
dismissals of his clients, by motion or otherwise, without any payments being made
to plaintiffs.
Patricia Jones Winograd, Of Counsel to the Litigation practice group, has a diverse
practice including litigation in the employment, insurance, commercial business,
securities, and product liability arenas. The substantive disputes she has handled
run the gamut from employment terminations, discrimination and harassment, insurer
bad faith, unfair competition, and breach of contract, to securities and common law
fraud, fiduciary duty, breach of warranty, shareholder derivative liability, agency
issues and relationships, and patent malpractice. Since joining Piper Rudnick, Ms.
Winograd has been heavily involved in defending a Fortune 100 company in its complex
tort litigation.
About Piper Rudnick LLP
Piper Rudnick is a business law firm of about 975 lawyers with offices in Baltimore,
Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Edison, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia,
Reston, San Francisco, Tampa, and Washington.
In 2004, Chambers USA named 40 of the firm’s lawyers (up from 28 in 2003) among
America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, including two who received the rare
“Exceptional” rating and one “Senior Statesman,” particularly in the areas
of real estate, corporate, litigation, and labor and employment.
The firm’s practice is focused on:
Litigation, including national business and securities, product liability and
toxic torts, intellectual property, antitrust, labor and class action litigation,
and a white-collar group featuring a former Watergate prosecutor. This group
includes eight members of the American College of Trial Lawyers (one of whom also
served as president), two former United States Attorneys and a former federal judge.
Real Estate, comprising one of the largest and most diverse practices in the
United States, with a focus on transactional, finance and securities capabilities
for owners and investors in all property sectors. In 2004, Chambers and Partners,
the Practical Law Company and Who’s Who Legal in separate independent surveys of
clients and competitors all ranked the Real Estate group as the undisputed leading
real estate practice in the nation. The group includes the President-elect and a
former President of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, as well as 16 other
members of the College.
Business and Technology, including corporate and securities, corporate
governance, franchise and distribution, intellectual property, media, information
technology, taxation, bankruptcy, biosciences, IPOs, private equity, mergers and
acquisitions, project finance, and other major transactions for companies of all
sizes.
Government Affairs, including the nationally known federal affairs and
legislation group formerly with Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand; a
government controversies practice headed by the former general counsel of a leading
telecommunications company; and prominent regulatory practices in government
contracts, environmental, e-commerce and privacy, tax legislation, antitrust and
communications. This group includes former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell
and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.
International, including international commerce and litigation, international
dispute resolution, and public international law, supplemented by the firm’s
strategic alliance with The Cohen Group, an international strategic business
advisory firm headed by former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, former
NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Joseph Ralston, and former U.K. Defense
Minister and NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson.
