Murchison & Cumming Welcomes Associate to Los Angeles Office

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce Stephanie S. Poli has joined the Los Angeles office as Associate. Her experience includes handling various personal injury, breach of contract, bad faith, and class action matters.

Stephanie graduated with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in business administration magna cum laude from the University of Arizona. After college, she worked as a legal assistant, where she learned the administrative side of a law firm and developed organizational skills highly valuable to her career. Stephanie spent her childhood watching her father grow a successful legal practice and was inspired to follow in his footsteps.

Stephanie continued onto the University of California, Hastings College of Law, during which she worked as a law clerk for the Children’s Law Center in Los Angeles and a law firm in Tucson, Arizona. She was the Executive Submissions Editor for the Hastings Business Law Journal, a UC Hastings Pro Bono Society member, and a volunteer for the Homeless Legal Services. Stephanie also worked as a Teaching Assistant for Legal Writing and Research and Moot Court.

Stephanie was involved in Lawyers Club, a prominent specialty bar organization dedicated to advancing women in law and society, and was the past Chair of numerous committees, such as the Bench Bar Committee and Networking Events Committee.

Murchison & Cumming Welcomes Associate to Los Angeles Office

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce Clarence E. Ellington III has joined the Los Angeles office as an Associate. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA and earned his J.D. at Howard University School of Law. Prior to his legal studies, Clarence spent six years developing his skills in a real-world environment. His work experience ranges from running a property management company with his father to supply chain management for Beachbody, LLC.

At Howard University School of Law, Clarence had the privilege of becoming a Henry Ramsey Dean’s Fellow, a selective group of seven highest-performing students chosen to mentor and teach students to improve their writing. This opportunity allowed Clarence to foster imperative communication and writing skills while he worked as a writer and editor for the Howard Human & Civil Rights Law Review. Clarence enhanced his law school experience by assisting the D.C. Public Employee Relations Board, becoming a Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association member, and being appointed vice president of the Sports & Entertainment Law Students Association.

After his second year of law school, Clarence accepted a position as a Summer Associate at Murchison & Cumming, LLP in 2020 and continued on as a Post-Bar Clerk in 2021 before becoming an Associate. He is interested in Employment Law due to his eagerness to help all kinds of businesses grow. The corporate aspect of the law intrigues him, and he seeks to play an integral role in keeping industries afloat. Clarence is trained in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and certified in conducting mediations as a third-party neutral.

Murchison & Cumming Welcomes Senior Associate to Irvine Office

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce Richard A. McFarlane has joined the Irvine office as a Senior Associate, focusing his practice on general liability matters. He is a seasoned legal professional with more than 20 years of experience in business law and civil litigation in State and Federal Courts.

Richard received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Fullerton before continuing onto Southwestern University School of Law during which he clerked for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, Criminal Branch. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California, Riverside, in the legal history of the Western United States. Richard received the Rupert Costco Chair in American Indian Affairs Medal for research, teaching, and service while earning his Ph.D. He taught undergraduate students U.S. constitutional and Supreme Court history for three years as an Adjunct Lecturer at UC Riverside.

Richard pursued a career in practicing law because he enjoys helping people solve complex and intellectual legal problems. Richard excels at Law and Motion and has substantive experience with all aspects of pre-trial and trial litigation to prosecute or defend clients’ interests. He has practiced law in different areas ranging from real estate litigation, business litigation, employment litigation, and public entity defense.

Murchison & Cumming Names Two New Partners and Associate Partners

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Matthew Voss has been elevated to Partner and Celim Huezo and Peter Martin have been elevated to Associate Partner.

Matthew E. Voss is based in the Los Angeles office focusing his practice on Law & Motion and Appellate work. Matthew has applied to the California State Bar to be recognized as a certified appellate specialist. Over the past 20 years, he has built a diverse practice spanning from general civil litigation to entertainment law. Mr. Voss is a graduate of Southwestern University School of Law and obtained a B.S. in Political Science from Illinois State University.

Celim E. Huezo is based in the Los Angeles office focusing his practice on general liability. With more than 15 years of experience, Mr. Huezo understands the nuances of his clients’ cases and ensures they are an active part of the litigation process. Celim is a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law and received a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Peter A. Martin is based in the Irvine office focusing his practice on Employment Litigation, Medical and Legal Malpractice, and General and Premises Liability. Mr. Martin’s diverse background stems from his almost 30-year career representing a wide range of clients and litigating a broad spectrum of legal issues. Peter is a graduate of Western State University College of Law, received an M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from Azusa Pacific University.

About Murchison & Cumming

Murchison & Cumming, LLP is a premier “Go-To” civil litigation firm with multiple offices throughout California and Nevada. Our attorneys specialize in the defense of domestic and international businesses, insurers, and high-networth individuals, at trial and on appeal. Additionally, the firm’s attorneys handle employment matters and business transactions. Murchison & Cumming, LLP is a member of the USLAW Network and other prestigious bench and bar organizations, including the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC) and American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

Murchison & Cumming Welcomes Senior Associate to Los Angeles Office

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Mirth White has joined the Los Angeles office as a Senior Associate, focusing her practice on professional and general liability matters. She has more than 25 years of litigation and transactional experience with a diverse background in personal injury litigation, finance law, civil rights, and insurance coverage issues.

With her strong legal writing and passion for research, Mirth enjoys finding solutions to complex legal problems. She stays on top of dynamic changes by constantly learning new things about the law, businesses and products, and enjoys meeting a wide range of people she would not have crossed paths with in any other profession.

Mirth received her A.B. in Liberal Arts at Sarah Lawrence College before earning her J.D. at Whittier Law School. While in law school, she was a Lead Articles Editor for the Law Review, graduated magna cum laude, and won multiple American Jurisprudence Awards.

Mirth began her legal career as a law clerk in the corporate legal department of a large insurance company, where she focused on the analysis of insurance provisions in multi-state policies, escheats and assisted the Corporate Secretary with Board of Directors issues.

Murchison & Cumming Welcomes Associate Partner to Los Angeles Office

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce Richard C. Hatem has joined the Los Angeles office as an Associate Partner, focusing his practice on construction defect matters. With more than 20 years of experience, he has represented general contractors as well as numerous construction trades and material suppliers. Richard has also handled premises liability, automobile, and personal injury cases.

Richard graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and earned his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Murchison & Cumming, LLP Named to U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” 2022 List

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Murchison & Cumming has received a Metropolitan Tier 1 ranking in San Francisco for Insurance Law and Metropolitan Tier 2 rankings in Los Angeles for Appellate Practice, San Diego for Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, and Las Vegas for Commercial Litigation in the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list for 2022.

“Best Law Firms” is “based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.” Best Lawyers is “the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession.”

Founded by R. Bruce Murchison in 1930, M&C is an AV-rated AmLaw 500 “Go To” law firm for litigation in California and Nevada. We represent domestic and international businesses, insurers, professionals and individuals in litigated, non-litigated and transactional matters. With more than 85 attorneys in our six offices, we are large enough to provide clients with the resources of a large firm while ensuring the level of personalized service one would expect to receive from a small firm.

Murchison & Cumming’s Dan Longo Recognized by L.A. Times

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Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Managing Partner Dan L. Longo has been recognized as a Visionary by the L.A. Times B2B Publishing Division in the Business of Law: Trends, Updates, Visionaries & In-House Counsel Leadership Awards Magazine.

When Dan Longo started at Murchison & Cumming, LLP back in 1982, the Firm’s Los Angeles headquarters were based in the Mid-Wilshire area, that had for many years been home to Los Angeles based insurance companies and the law firms that they worked with. The 80’s were a much different time, most everyone at the office smoked, there were no computers, laptops or even word processors, documents could be transmitted “instantly” by something called a Telecopier. Every secretary had an IBM Selectric on a side desk, by which dictation onto cassette tapes were transformed into pleadings, discovery, and correspondence. The firm was almost by definition an old-school insurance defense operation.

Fast-forward, not with a cassette tape, or even a compact disc, but in time to present day 2021. Longo is currently overseeing the renovation of M&C’s downtown Los Angeles office, which first moved there in 1993. When the major construction work is completed in a few months, it will be a completely updated, modern office that includes “hotel” stations for attorneys who do not need or want to work out of a traditional office. The renovations will also be emblematic of the many positive changes and transitions that Longo has instituted during his tenure as Managing Partner.

Chief among those transitions is employing a highly successful Covid-19 remote-working plan so that even a litigation firm like M&C could not only be fully functional, but thriving and growing. During the last 15 months, when many law firms were doing anything but that, M&C remained a leader in the field without any disruption to day-to-day business or our clients despite literal overnight changes.

“We feel very fortunate to have gotten through the worst of Covid-19, thanks to the loyalty of our clients and the hard work and dedication of all our attorneys and employees,” Longo said. “I think we are emerging as a stronger, better law firm and am very proud to be able to say that.”

Longo has been committed to the ongoing initiative of diversity, equity, and inclusion achievements at the firm. Between continuing programming within the firm and outreach to new organizations, including a partnership through USLAW NETWORK with Howard University, Longo continues to ensure positive and diverse growth with the firm’s employees. Under his leadership the two most recent senior partners were both women and the 2020 summer associate program was the most diverse group the firm has ever recruited. Of the six summer associates, five were from a diverse background.

On a personal level, Longo, a native Angeleno, attended John Marshall High School in Los Feliz, University of Southern California, and Loyola Law School. A true family man, Longo and his wife Marti have been married for 33 years and raised their three children in Orange County. The family played a major role in the planning and development of Serra Catholic School in Rancho Santa Margarita, where Marti taught.

In an era where many competitors have either closed their doors or merged into mega-operations where most of the lawyers do not even know each other, Murchison & Cumming, LLP is more valued by its longtime clients than ever. M&C continues to serve a wide array of clients including insurance companies, corporations, public entities, small businesses, and individuals.

Murchison & Cumming Welcomes New Senior Associate to Los Angeles Office

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Murchison & Cumming is pleased to announce Julie A. Esposito has joined the Los Angeles office as a Senior Associate focusing her practice on general liability, products liability, and professional liability.

With extensive experience in the arena of SIU (fraud) claims, she has assisted in suspicious motor vehicle accidents and various property theft claims for several major insurance carriers. Known among her peers as attentive to detail, she consistently works toward obtaining a successful outcome on clients’ behalves as early as possible.

Julie received her B.A. in Political Science at California State University Northridge, awarded cum laude. She earned her J.D. at the Loyola Law School, in which she attended law school at night and worked as a law clerk. After law school, Julie moved on to a legal career, practicing all phases of litigation, including real property litigation, civil litigation, construction defect litigation, and more.

Among her recent accomplishments, Julie succeeded on a motion for summary judgment in a civil fraud case where her client, an insurance carrier defrauded by a former employee, was awarded a large sum of money. The motion was based upon the proceedings and disposition in a criminal case in which the former employee was convicted of the same underlying facts that constituted the fraud in the civil action.

Julie sits on the board of directors for a non-partisan civil liberties organization and is involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution, a historical society advocating for education concerning the United States Constitution. Moreover, Julie served as a volunteer Judge Pro Tem for Los Angeles County for three years and has also represented indigent clients pro bono and prepared amicus briefs on crucial constitutional issues.

Five Murchison & Cumming Lawyers Recognized by Best Lawyers

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Chip Farrell, Jean Daly, William Snyder, and Tyler Ure have been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America 2022. Joshua Praw has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch; this is an honor for lawyers who have been in practice for 5 – 9 years.

Edmund G. “Chip” Farrell, III is a Senior Partner in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Farrell serves as Chair of the firm’s Appellate Law practice group and Co-Chair of the Professional Liability practice group. As chair of the Appellate Law group, he has been involved in the handling of over 400 appeals and writ petitions and has argued before the California Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in all six districts of the Court of Appeal of the state of California. He has been certified as an Appellate Specialist by the State Bar of California. Additionally, Mr. Farrell has devoted much of his practice to the defense of professional liability claims, including attorneys and brokers.

William J. Snyder is a Partner in the San Diego office and serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Foodborne Illnesses practice group. In addition to foodborne illnesses litigation, he focuses his practice in the areas of product liability, catastrophic injury, general liability, professional liability, employment, representation of public entities, and environmental law/toxic torts.

Tyler N. Ure is Senior Associate in the Las Vegas office and focuses his practice on insurance coverage, professional liability, and commercial general liability. He has experience in all areas of commercial litigation as well as creditor’s rights.

Joshua W. Praw is an Associate in the Los Angeles office focusing his practice on commercial general liability, products liability, and toxic tort. Mr. Praw Co-Chair’s the firm’s Summer Associate Program and Post-Bar Law Clerk Program where he trains, mentors, and oversees the firm’s summer associates and post-bar law clerks.

Best Lawyers is “the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession. Recognition in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers.”