Scott S. Humphreys—a litigator with wide-ranging experience handling complex commercial, products liability and intellectual property matters for clients across industries—has rejoined Ballard Spahr as a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Humphreys returns to Ballard Spahr after serving as chief legal officer and general counsel for a biotech startup. As a member of the firm’s commercial litigation and dispute resolution group, he will litigate matters in California federal and state courts, as well as other courts across the country. Humphreys’ experience includes handling a billion-dollar case in the automotive sector, a 1,000-plus-plaintiff toxic tort action, high-profile media and entertainment litigation, a trade secret case involving an aerospace rocket startup and complex franchise litigation.

Blank Rome has welcomed Jerry A. Katz as senior counsel to the firm’s real estate practice. He joins the firm from Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro. Katz has more than three decades of experience handling every aspect of real estate-related transactions, including real estate acquisitions and dispositions, development, real estate secured and asset-based financing, loan workouts, tax-deferred exchanges, complex title insurance matters, ground leases, and commercial leasing. Throughout his career, he has represented a variety of clients, including publicly traded and privately held companies, institutional investors, developers, lenders, borrowers, joint venture partners, pension funds, REITs, retailers, management companies, private equity firms, media ventures, Internet companies, entertainment companies, studio owners, technology companies and sports franchises.