Peter J. Rho Joins Dreier Stein and Kahan LLP
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Dreier Stein and Kahan LLP announced recently that Peter J. Rho has joined the firm’s Transactional Department as a member of its Asia Pacific Practice, further strengthening the firm’s expertise in cross-border transactions and expertise in the Korean market.
Rho has served as director of the global transactional team and senior foreign legal consultant for one of the top law firms in Seoul, South Korea, providing counsel on a variety of transactions from a $63 million buy-lease back of real property to the issuance of $600 million in collateralized bonds and the sale of a Korean bank’s investment trust management subsidiary.
Prior to working in Seoul, Rho was an assistant deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, where he worked in the Bureau of Family Support Operations.
Rho also serves as General Counsel for The Manna Foundation for Humanity, a global charitable organization.
Funding One’s Karnard Promotes Oakland Arts
OAKLAND, Calif. — Indian American financiers Kevin and Rubina Karnad last week hosted the Oakland International Film Festival Salute to the Oakland Ballet.
Kevin Karnard of Funding One Mortgage Company is related to Indian film great Girish Karnad.
The Karnads’ home served as a platform for David Roach, founder of the Oakland International Film Festival; Ronn Guidi, founder of the Oakland Ballet; Jacquie Taliaferro, founder of LaHitz Media’s pianist Ricardo Scales; singer Lawrence Beamen; and other notables to highlight the Oct. 18-24 Oakland International Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theatre and the inaugural performances of the Oakland Ballet at Paramount Theater.
The idea for the salute came from Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises after meeting Guidi and Tami Adachi, also with the Oakland Ballet.
Woo on Top 100 Calif. Lawyers List
SAN FRANCISCO — The state’s leading legal newspaper, the Daily Journal, has named Darryl M. Woo, chair of Fenwick & West’s Patent Litigation Group, as one of the top 100 lawyers in California for 2007.
Woo was instrumental in obtaining a $75 million jury verdict in a patent case for Asyst Technologies. He also secured a defense summary judgment in Boston for a client with more than 250 million users in the world.
Among Woo’s clients are Cisco Systems, Google and Shutterfly Inc. Woo’s firm is ranked by Managing Intellectual Property as one of the top five West Coast firms for IP litigation and by IP Worldwide as among the top dozen firms that Fortune 500 companies use for IP litigation.
The Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Northern California chapter, has selected Woo as a “Super Lawyer” in Northern California for the past three years.
Hung, Patel Promoted at Convention Bureau
SAN FRANCISCO — Anita Hung has been named national sales manager for the S.F. Convention & Visitors Bureau, whose 1,800 members promote $7.3 billion in tourism — the city’s largest industry.
The former convention sales coordinator will be booking for groups from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Hung worked in convention services for the San Francisco Marriott.
Hung holds a hospitality management degree from S.F. State University.
Sarika Patel was elevated to convention services manager a year after joining the bureau in 2006 as member services coordinator. Patel previously worked for Tourism Industry Association New Zealand in Wellington City. She will coordinate site inspections for clients and ensure that their needs are met. She will also assist in managing and coordinating trade shows and other events.
Patel holds degrees in international business and marketing and tourism management from Victoria University of Wellington.