California Pulse

  • $2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'

    Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."

  • Judge OKs Plan For Those Hit By Rescinded Trump Travel Ban

    Immigration advocates who sued the federal government said they were celebrating "a glimmer of hope" this week after a federal judge OK'd a plan that would require immigration officials to reconsider visa applications for people denied entry into the U.S. because of a Trump-era travel ban affecting individuals from Muslim-majority countries.

  • Smollett Atty Says Attackers' Defamation Suit Must Fail

    An attorney who represented "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett asked an Illinois federal judge Wednesday to end claims that she defamed two brothers accused of attacking Smollett by suggesting they wore "whiteface," arguing it was an unimportant detail that meshed with their own descriptions.

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    Lowenstein Sandler Pro Bono Head Leaves Legacy Of Service

    As she winds down her tenure leading Lowenstein Sandler LLP's Center for Public Interest this month, Catherine Weiss is leaving behind a legacy as a fierce public advocate for immigrants and reproductive rights at a time when public interest law as a whole faces new challenges.

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    Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

    The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

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    Deepfake Rule Proposals Navigate 'Perfect Evidentiary Storm'

    As federal judiciary officials explore how to handle evidence faked by artificial intelligence, attorneys are divided over the need to change evidence rules, with some worried that current rules are not up to the challenges posed by deepfakes, and others fearful that altering them might do more harm than good.

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    Baker Botts Grows IP Group With Perkins Coie Atty In Calif.

    Baker Botts has welcomed a Perkins Coie LLP partner to its Palo Alto, California, office, strengthening its intellectual property department with a litigator whose clients include Chinese and Taiwanese technology companies, the international law firm announced Thursday.

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    From 'Deadhead' To Womble Bond's Next Chair And CEO-Elect

    Merrick Benn, a global finance partner at Womble Bond Dickinson and a member of the firm's global board, is preparing to take over as U.S. chair and CEO. Here, Benn talks to Law360 Pulse about his goals for the new position and how the Grateful Dead influenced his career trajectory.

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    Norton Rose Taps Texas Atty As Co-Head Of Regulatory Group

    Norton Rose Fulbright has selected the former leader of its Austin, Texas, shop to fill the role of co-head of the firm's U.S. regulation, investigations, securities and compliance practice.

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    Mayer Brown Recruits Akin Gump Public Policy Pro In LA

    Mayer Brown LLP has brought back a public policy and regulatory expert from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where he spent over a decade leading its California public law and policy practice.

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    Haynes Boone Adds Sheppard Mullin RE Finance Pro In Calif.

    Haynes and Boone LLP continues to grow its Orange County office, announcing Wednesday that a Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP real estate finance ace is joining the office in Costa Mesa, California, as a partner.

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    Brown Rudnick Taps Kasowitz Vet As Biz Development Leader

    Brown Rudnick LLP has hired the former chief marketing and business development officer at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, who joins the firm to continue helping elevate its attorneys' work and the firm's overall business operations.

  • 'Not Enough Money': Atty. Objects To Plan For Dead Law Firm

    An attorney representing a small group of creditors of failed California debt relief law firm Litigation Practice Group raised concerns at a hearing Wednesday that once the bankruptcy estate pays professional fees and administrative claims, little money will be left.

  • 'Excellent' Altria MDL Deal Earns Attys Fees Above Benchmark

    A California federal judge on Wednesday awarded $13.65 million in plaintiffs' attorney fees as part of tobacco giant Altria's $45.5 million deal resolving consumer claims in multidistrict litigation alleging the company helped fuel a youth vaping crisis created by e-cigarette maker Juul, saying the "excellent result" merited fees above the normal 25% benchmark.

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    Airbnb CLO Ron Klain To Help Biden Prepare For June Debate

    Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff to President Joe Biden who now leads the legal department at Airbnb, told Law360 Pulse on Wednesday that he plans to help his former boss prepare for his upcoming debate in June.

  • Monsanto's $23M False Ad Deal Challenged At 9th Circ.

    Counsel representing a certified class of Missouri consumers urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to reverse Monsanto's nationwide $23 million settlement resolving consumer false ad claims over risks associated with its Roundup weedkiller, arguing that Monsanto hid the settlement from the Missouri plaintiffs and that the class is effectively "getting absolutely nothing."

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    BCLP Taps Slew Of New Office, Sector Leaders

    Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP on Wednesday elevated three longtime partners into leadership roles in its Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles offices, the firm said in an announcement that also named a spate of new sector leaders and a new co-head of its Seattle outpost.

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    Womble Bond Names 'Fearless Leader' As Chair, CEO-Elect

    Womble Bond Dickinson announced Wednesday that global finance partner Merrick Benn has been elected U.S. chair and CEO, for a three-year term effective Jan. 1.

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    Reed Smith Launches Emerging Technologies Practice

    Reed Smith LLP announced the launch of a practice group focused on helping clients with the legal complexities posed by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and fintech.

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    Buchalter Starts Fintech And AI Practice With New Seattle Hire

    Buchalter PC announced that it hired the former chief legal officer at mortgage-focused fintech company Sagent as a Seattle-based shareholder and chair of its newly launched fintech and artificial intelligence practice group.

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    Women In GC Roles Are Closing In On The Gender Pay Gap

    Though the gender pay gap persists, the difference in compensation between women and men at the general counsel level is narrowing — from 4.9% in 2023 to 4.3% in 2024 — according to a report out Wednesday.

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    Paul Weiss Establishes Center To Combat Hate

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP announced Wednesday that it has launched the Center to Combat Hate, an organization that will partner with civil rights groups and educational institutions to use litigation in tackling violence and intimidation driven by hate.

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    Nvidia GC's Comp Climbed Past $11M Last Fiscal Year

    Silicon Valley-based tech company Nvidia's general counsel earned more than $11 million in compensation during the last fiscal year, which marks a nearly $2 million increase from the previous one, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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    Winston & Strawn Adds Buchalter IP Atty As Trademarks Lead

    Global firm Winston & Strawn LLP has hired a Buchalter PC attorney to bolster its intellectual property practice and lead its global trademark prosecution and counseling efforts.

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    Spencer Fane Adds Another Hopkins & Carley Atty In Calif.

    Spencer Fane LLP has hired another attorney from Hopkins & Carley who has spent nearly the entirety of her more than 30-year career with her former firm, and most recently helped lead its litigation department, according to a recent announcement.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Innovative Ways AI May Be Used In Legal Practice
    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly be used by outside counsel to better predict the outcomes of litigation — thus informing legal strategy with greater precision — and by clients to scrutinize invoices and evaluate counsel’s performance, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Roundup

    My Nonpracticing Law Job Author Photo

    Not every law degree leads to a law practice. In this Law360 Pulse series, former practicing attorneys share the stories of how they went from practicing corporate law to using their knowledge and background to carve out a nontraditional career path in the legal industry.

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    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Librarian Author Photo

    Lisa A. Goodman at Texas A&M University shares how she went from a BigLaw associate who liked to hang out in the firm's law library to director of a law library herself in just over a decade, and provides considerations for anyone interested in pursuing a law librarian career.

  • Legal Briefs Can Benefit From Cleaned Up Case Citations Author Photo

    Federal courts have recently been changing the way they quote decisions to omit insignificant details and string cites, and lawyers should consider adopting this practice to enhance the readability of their briefs — as long as accuracy stays top of mind, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

  • 5 Best Practices For Firms Designing DEI Programs Author Photo

    Nikki Lewis Simon, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Greenberg Traurig, discusses best practices — and some pitfalls to avoid — for law firms looking to build programs aimed at driving inclusion in the workplace.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs Author Photo

    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Do I Juggle Billables And Other Activities? Author Photo

    While involvement in internal firm initiatives can be rewarding both personally and professionally, associates' billable time requirements don’t leave much room for other work, meaning they must develop strategies to ensure they’re meeting all of their commitments while remaining balanced, says Melanie Webber at Fisher Phillips.

  • Making Legal Cents: How To Adapt As Clients Tighten Budgets Author Photo

    Amid a dip in corporate legal spending and client pushback on bills, Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants highlights specific in-house counsel frustrations and explains how firms can provide customized legal advice with costs that are supported by undeniable value.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • General Counsel And Legal Ops Must Work Together Author Photo

    It is critical for general counsel to ensure that a legal operations leader is viewed not only as a peer, but as a strategic leader for the organization, and there are several actionable ways general counsel can not only become more involved, but help champion legal operations teams and set them up for success, says Mary O'Carroll at Ironclad.

  • How Generative AI's Growing Memory Affects Lawyers Author Photo

    A new ChatGPT feature that can remember user information across different conversations has broad implications for attorneys, whose most pressing questions for the AI tool are usually based on specific, and large, datasets, says legal tech adviser Eric Wall.

  • A Model For Optimal Legal Tech Investment Strategy Author Photo

    Legal organizations struggling to work out the right technology investment strategy may benefit from using a matrix for legal department efficiency that is based on an understanding of where workloads belong, according to the basic functions and priorities of a corporate legal team, says Sylvain Magdinier at Integreon.

  • Series

    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Recruiter Author Photo

    Self-proclaimed "Lawyer Doula" Danielle Thompson at Major Lindsey shares how she went from Columbia Law School graduate and BigLaw employment associate to a career in legal recruiting — and discovered a passion for advocacy along the way.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job? Author Photo

    Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Personality Tests And Machine Learning Applications In Law Author Photo

    Mateusz Kulesza at McDonnell Boehnen looks at potential applications of personality testing based on machine learning techniques for law firms, and the implications this shift could have for lawyers, firms and judges, including how it could make the work of judges and other legal decision-makers much more difficult.

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