M&C Expands Insurance Law and Real Estate Practices

July 12, 2010

LOS ANGELES – July 12, 2010 – Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Carlos E. Needham and Steven C. Spronz have become Of Counsel to the firm and that Molly E. Healy has joined the firm as an associate.  “We are very pleased to welcome these attorneys to Murchison & Cumming, each of whom brings unique expertise, talents and interests to the firm, benefiting not just the firm’s clients, but also the firm, the greater legal community and those whose lives they touch through their volunteer work,” said Jean M. Lawler, the firm’s managing partner. 

Carlos Needham, formerly a partner at Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP, focuses his practice on insurance coverage/bad faith and complex civil litigation matters involving product liability, science-related issues, mass tort claims, consumer class actions and environmental matters. "Murchison and Cumming's well-respected coverage practice and its excellent product liability and commercial coverage practices make the firm a perfect fit for me," said Mr. Needham.  

Mr. Needham has represented national and international insurers and manufacturers in some of the highest-profile litigation in the last ten years, including insurance matters adjudicating trigger of coverage issues under CGL policies and representing prescription drug and medical device manufacturers in matters such as Vioxx and welding rod litigation. He has specialized in science-based challenges to plaintiffs' causation theories and has also handled numerous complex commercial contract disputes in various contexts, including entertainment, construction, employment, and commercial real estate. He also has considerable experience in the defense of consumer and mass tort class actions. As part of his pro bono work, Mr. Needham has taken disability litigation matters before the Court of Veteran Appeals, on behalf of veterans. 

Steven Spronz is a business and real estate transactions attorney who has represented a broad spectrum of domestic and foreign business entities, including public and private equity funds, in a variety of transactions including mergers and acquisitions; partnership, joint venture, financing and corporate business matters; and the acquisition, disposition, financing, development and leasing of real estate. 

Mr. Spronz also serves as a private mediator, a mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Court, and has served as a mediation-training coach for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office. Long active in the international arena, each year Mr. Spronz spends a month in Johannesburg, South Africa as a Law Professor, teaching a Commercial Law Practicum in a program jointly sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Black Lawyers Association of South Africa, and the International Senior Lawyers Project. In the 1990’s, he participated in the environmental issues section of the academic conferences among Israel and the Palestinians, which paralleled the Multilateral Talks (the Madrid Process).

"I am excited by the opportunity to help develop and grow Murchison & Cumming's transactional practice, and look forward to working with my colleagues at the firm to achieve that goal," said Mr. Spronz. 

Molly Healy has joined the firm’s Insurance Law practice group and also practices in the areas of product and general liability defense. 

A recent graduate of the University of Santa Clara Law School, Ms. Healy interned for the Northern California Innocence Project, volunteered with New Orleans Legal Aid, and was a mentor with Fresh Lifelines for Youth, which works to reduce juvenile crime by providing at-risk and disadvantaged youth with vital information regarding the decisions they make in their lives. She was honored with a Public Interest and Social Justice Law Certificate and Pro Bono Recognition Award for her work. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Healy worked in Washington, DC for two years after graduation from Georgetown University, where she was a Big-East Academic All-Star (2000-2003) and Captain of Georgetown’s Women’s Volleyball Team.