Jon Atzen has joined the Los Angeles/Downtown office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm's Corporate practice group and member of the Emerging Companies practice.  Atzen most recently was a partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles.  

Atzen has devoted virtually his entire career to working with leading entrepreneurs and innovators, as well as emerging and established companies, primarily in the southern California region.  He focuses his corporate practice on representing emerging growth and established companies, and venture capital and private equity funds, in such technology sectors as life sciences, semiconductors, wireless communications, internet, software and clean/alternative energy technologies.

"Jon has an impressive emerging growth company background, which includes private practice and corporate counsel for both a tech company and a venture capital firm.  His practice dovetails well with our existing emerging growth/venture capital practices throughout California, while broadening our existing corporate practice capabilities in Los Angeles," said Guy N. Halgren, chairman of the firm. 

In addition to private practice, Atzen previously held the positions of Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. 

"I am excited about joining Sheppard Mullin, a top-notch full service firm with a strong corporate practice in Los Angeles and throughout the state," Atzen commented.  "I am impressed with firm management's dedication to growing the Corporate practice group, and excited to be part of a partnership that values teamwork and fosters collegiality."  

In addition to his venture capital and private equity practice, Atzen provides corporate and strategic counsel to publicly-traded companies with respect to securities offerings including initial public offerings, secondary offerings, PIPEs and spin-offs, and reporting and compliance matters under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  He also has significant experience in public and private company mergers and acquisitions.

Atzen received a J.D. from Loyola Law School Los Angeles in 1990 and a B.A. from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1987. 

Sheppard Mullin has 200 attorneys based in its Los Angeles offices.  The firm's Corporate practice group includes 100 attorneys firmwide. 

In April, Kevin Rooney joined the firm's Silicon Valley office as a partner in the Corporate practice group.  Rooney most recently practiced at Hayden Bergman & Rooney in San Francisco, as a name partner.  Previously, Rooney was an attorney with Wilson Sonsini in Palo Alto and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineburg in Toronto.  

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 550 attorneys in 11 offices located in the United States and Asia.  Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions.  In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.  For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com. 

The American Civil Liberties Union says school officials cannot reach beyond school grounds to impose discipline. The two school districts argue the postings could be disruptive at school, and say they have the right to maintain order.

In a rare move, all 14 eligible judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday.

Legal experts hope the Supreme Court will clarify the rules in these types of cases.

Not since 1972 has a president picked someone for the high court who hasn't been a judge. So what the 50-year-old Kagan has said about judging might be the best indicator of the kind of justice she would be.

Republicans have said that because Kagan hasn't left a trail of judicial opinions, they will pore over her records as a Clinton White House aide and academic for any clues. Her speeches and papers from her time as dean of the Harvard Law School and, before that as a law professor and graduate student, are certain to get close attention at her confirmation hearing in late June.

Her words stand in contrast to the more technical view of judging voiced by Chief Justice John Roberts at his confirmation hearing five years ago. Roberts said he considered himself an umpire merely calling balls and strikes.

Kagan apparently has never directly addressed Roberts' comments. Republicans have held his description of the job as a model of judicial restraint and used it to criticize President Barack Obama for what they call his support of judicial activism — judges imposing their own views on the law.

The first defendant to be tried for a triple murder in a schoolyard that shocked New Jersey's largest city into action has been convicted on all counts.

A jury returned the verdict Monday in state Superior Court in Newark against Rodolfo Godinez (goh-DEE'-nez). He was among six men and boys charged with the August 2007 slayings. The jury deliberated for nearly four hours and found him guilty on all 17 counts.

The victims' family members, including several parents, wept quietly as the verdict was read.

The three victims each suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head. A fourth victim survived and testified against Godinez.

Godinez's attorney had argued his client was at the scene but didn't take part in the attacks. Godinez could face life in prison at sentencing.

Three appeals court judges said in an unanimous decision that because Afghanistan is a war zone and that the United States in effect has sovereignty over Guantanamo Bay swing the balance against the detainees.

Unlike Guantanamo Bay, "it is undisputed that Bagram, indeed the entire nation of Afghanistan, remains a theater of war," the judges said in turning aside the requests of a Tunisian and two Yemeni prisoners.

In the case of Guantanamo Bay detainees, who do have the right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts, the United States has maintained its total control of the Guantanamo Bay facility for over a century, even in the face of a hostile government, the court noted.