EDUCATION
Chapman University said its Dale E. Fowler School of Law received a $1.125 million gift from Newport Beach-based personal injury law firm Bergener Mirejovsky APC to fund a scholarship for law school students for six years, among other efforts. The firm has been making annual gifts of $180,000 to support the 4-year-old program, which is open to students who worked full time before starting at Fowler. Sam Mirejovsky received his undergraduate and law degrees from Chapman.
— Deirdre Newman
The University of California-Irvine tied with UC-San Diego and the University of Florida for ninth place on U.S. News & World Report’s latest list of the best public U.S. universities, maintaining the position it held last year. It ranked 42nd among national universities, tying with UC-San Diego. California State University-Fullerton ranked 109th on the public schools list, and Chapman University in Orange ranked fifth on the list of regional universities in the West.
— Hannah Mitchell
UCI said it received a second $1 million gift from the estate of Christian Werner, the late professor emeritus of geography and former dean of the School of Social Sciences. The donations support an endowment for fellowships to be awarded by the social sciences dean beginning this fall. The UCI Graduate Division is giving $25,000 in matching funds that will be awarded to students in the current academic year, according to the university.
— Deirdre Newman
HOSPITALITY
Khanna Enterprises Ltd. in Irvine sold the 12-story, 250-room Custom Hotel in the Westchester area of Los Angeles for more than $40 million, or at least $160,000 per room. The buyer was Kor Group in Venice, backed by Goldman Sachs & Co. Khanna paid $28 million for the hotel in 2014 when it bought it from San Francisco-based Geolo Capital, CoStar Inc. said.
— Neil Nisperos and Paul Hughes
LAW
Sports agent and attorney Jeff Moorad was named chairman of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP’s new global sports business. The founder of private investment firm Moorad Sports Partners in Newport Beach was also named principal of Morgan Lewis Consulting for the Philadelphia-based firm, which has an office in Costa Mesa. Morgan Lewis partner John Concannon III will co-lead the firm’s sports industry initiative. Moorad was one of the first super agents in professional sports, partnering with fellow OCer Leigh Steinberg for more than 18 years.
— Chris Casacchia
PHILANTHROPY
Irvine-based real estate data and analytics provider CoreLogic committed to donate $250,000 to a fund of Operation Hope to help disaster survivors with finances. Operation Hope is helping survivors of recent hurricanes.
— Hannah Mitchell
RESTAURANTS
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar will open two locations in the Sacramento market. The first, in Folsom, opens today; a second is planned for Roseville in November. Both are in shopping malls. The chain has 22 locations in California, Nevada and Texas, and annual revenue of about $117 million, good for No. 16 on the Business Journal’s list of OC-based restaurant chains. Four locations are in Orange County. Lazy Dog of Huntington Beach was founded in 2003 and is led by Chief Executive Chris Simms, whose grandfather and father started Mimi’s Cafe.
— Paul Hughes
