January 2, 2018 (San Diego) – Procopio enters 2018 with its first new Managing Partner in nearly two decades as well as other changes to senior leadership and practice area teams.

As announced previously, Partner John D. Alessio assumed the Managing Partner position on January 1, 2018, having been elected unanimously by his fellow partners. Alessio’s practice focuses on complex class action, business and employment litigation. He joined the Management Committee in January 2015.

Previous Managing Partner Thomas W. Turner, Jr., has stepped down from Management Committee and returned to full-time real estate law practice after seventeen years of services as Managing Partner. He has also assumed leadership of Procopio’s Real Estate and Environmental Practice Team. Turner replaces in that position longtime leader Michael E. Lyon, who remains a Partner on the Team.

The New Year also marks the retirement as General Counsel of Partner Robert G. Russell. He has served in the position for many years while also practicing environmental law. Russell will continue to practice law for Procopio as Of Counsel. He has been with Procopio more than forty-two years, joining as an associate in 1975 when it was a boutique firm of fifteen attorneys.

Assuming the role of General Counsel is Carole J. Buckner, who joined Procopio on June 1, 2017 as Deputy General Counsel. Previously Dean of the St. Francis School of Law based in Newport Beach, California, Buckner has more than fifteen years of legal experience in business litigation and fifteen years as a legal educator. Her legal practice focuses on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and the law of lawyering, including advising lawyers and rendering opinions. She is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney, with a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law and a B.A. with Honors from the University of California-Berkeley.

Continuing their service on the Management Committee are Partners Michael J. Changaris, Marie Burke Kenny, Craig A. Ramseyer, Craig P. Sapin, and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer James G. Perkins.