The Californian law firm, which hired a number of lawyers in areas such as family wealth and tax planning roles, among others, has also moved to Redwood City from Palo Alto.

Silicon Valley law firm Hopkins & Carley, a preeminent Silicon Valley law firm which, as previously announced, is moving from Palo Alto to Redwood City, has added three prominent attorneys, Alma Soongi Beck, Gene Cherng and Paul Jensen, as counsel. (Beck's appointment was also reported here.)

“This move enables us to reinforce our commitment to investment and growth on the Peninsula as we look to increase our capabilities and expand our services regionally,” Ernest Malaspina, the firm’s managing shareholder, said.

Cherng is an experienced trial lawyer and has litigated in the district courts and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in various technologies such as network-attached storage, flash memory, computer peripherals, intelligent power distribution units, modular power supplies, display mounts and web locator services. He has also represented clients in trade secret, copyright and trademark cases. Prior to law school, he worked for two years as a bioanalyst at Chiron Corporation.

Jensen is joining the Hopkins & Carley Manufactured Housing Group in San Jose. For more than 35 years, Jensen has represented community owners and operators in all aspects of manufactured housing communities law. He is deeply involved in the industry, including through his many annual speaking engagements for the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association and committee service. 

Hopkins & Carley also brought in Ivo Daniele, Kenny Gutierrez, Annie Nguyen and Eber Teceros as associates. Daniele and Nguyen are joining the litigation department in the San Jose office. Gutierrez is joining the intellectual property group, and Teceros the corporate department in the Palo Alto office.

Daniele has extensive experience of representing contractors and developers in both complex public construction and private works litigation, including mechanics’ liens and stop notices, construction defects and public works bid and payment disputes. Additionally, Daniele has served as general counsel in the retail industry, with experience in the field of complex business transactions, including purchase and sale agreements, complex commercial lease agreements and acquisitions. Daniele received his JD from Vermont Law School and his BA in comparative literature from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York.

Gutierrez was a Bridge Fellow with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. During law school, he served as a legal intern with Cisco Systems and was a summer associate at Ropes & Gray. He received his JD from University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Science and Technology Law Journal, and a BA in English literature from University of California, Berkeley. 

As part of the litigation team, Nguyen’s practice will primarily focus on employment litigation. After law school, Nguyen first worked for the Board of Veteran Affairs in Washington, DC, and then was selected for the US Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program, where she served as a judicial law clerk at the Atlanta Immigration Court. She received her JD from Notre Dame Law School and her BA in political science from Emory University.

Teceros represents companies in a wide range of corporate transactional and financing matters. He received his JD from Santa Clara University School of Law and his BA in international relations from San Francisco State University.

In addition to the new joiners, Martin Behn and Kevin Hill have been elected shareholders, effective January 1, 2022.

Behn, who is a member of the family wealth and tax planning group in Palo Alto, joined the firm as an associate in 2015. He represents high net worth clients in matters concerning estate planning, trust administration, probate matters, and trust litigation. 

Hill, a member of the real estate group in San Jose, joined Hopkins & Carley in 2014 as an associate. He represents tenants and landlords throughout California with office, retail and other commercial leases. Hill also represents buyers and sellers in acquisitions and dispositions and developers and investors in joint ventures.