• Kristie Schrader joined the Boyd & Jenerette firm as a partner in the Jacksonville office. She previously was in-house counsel for Nationwide Insurance and its subsidiaries trying jury and non-jury cases throughout Florida. Also, Frank Fratello Jr. and David “Joe” Tiechert joined the Jacksonville office as associates.
• The Brennan, Manna & Diamond firm, which has offices in Jacksonville and Bonita Springs and in Akron, Ohio, will open its first international office in Shanghai, China, on April 9. It will be led by managing partner John Tang. “China has experienced almost three decades of rapid, nearly uninterrupted economic growth, so we already have gotten significant interest from companies in the Jacksonville area that want to tap into that market,” said Michael Freed, managing partner in Jacksonville and president of The Jacksonville Bar Association.
• As part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, attorneys Leslie Goller, Wayne Hogan, Steve Watrel and Rodney Gregory are teaming up with The Casey Feldman Foundation and 60 for Safety to speak to area 11th and 12th graders about the consequences of distracted driving, including texting. To ask a speaker to visit a school, call Goller at 632-2424.
• Jefferson Rall has joined Scott-McRae Advertising as creative director. Rall, a graduate of Flagler College, most recently served as creative director for Brunet-Garcia Advertising Inc.