California Pulse

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    Big Jump In Outside Counsel Spending Forecast For 2025

    Spending on outside counsel will rise 6.9% in 2025, the largest increase in 10 years, according to a report Thursday from BTI Consulting Group, which forecasts that litigation spending will see the biggest jumps and that practice areas including labor and employment and mergers and acquisitions will also see large spending increases.

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    Legal Sector Is Adopting GenAI, Preparing For Talent Shifts

    The integration of generative AI is fundamentally transforming how legal professionals manage their daily tasks, with many anticipating that these AI-driven efficiencies will lessen the reliance on billable hours, according to a survey report posted Thursday.

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    BigLaw Partner Pay Soars, But Not At The Same Clip For All

    Average partner compensation at the 200 largest law firms in the U.S. by revenue has almost doubled in the last decade and has increased by 26% in the past two years alone, according to the results of a survey by recruiter Major Lindsey & Africa LLC that were released Thursday.

  • Biden Names Judicial Nominees For Calif. Courts

    President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced two new judicial nominees for the Central District of California and Southern District of California, picks that include a Los Angeles County judge and federal magistrate judge.

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    Leech Tishman Adds East Coast Restructuring Chair

    Leech Tishman announced Tuesday that it is adding another chair to its business restructuring and insolvency practice, giving the team leadership on both coasts.

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    Once An Actor, She Now Finds More 'Joy' As EBay's CLO

    The new chief legal officer at San Jose, California-based eBay Inc. quit law school to pursue a career in acting, but when that turned out not to be the dream job Samantha Wellington envisioned, she returned to law.

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    Ex-SEC Atty, Fintech GC Joins Stradling's Securities Team

    Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC has added a former fintech general counsel and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, reinforcing the firm's offerings for companies facing enforcement investigations or grappling with other compliance issues. 

  • 9th Circ. Orders Michael Avenatti To Be Resentenced

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered the resentencing of Michael Avenatti over his California conviction for tax violations and stealing from clients, saying the lower court made multiple mistakes when it handed down a 14-year prison term to the onetime celebrity attorney.

  • 9th Circ. Backs Injury Firm's Win In Fight Over Google Ads

    The Ninth Circuit has upheld an Arizona federal court's ruling in favor of a Tempe-based personal injury firm that was sued by another personal injury firm, Lerner & Rowe, over its purchases of Google advertising search terms, with the judges finding little "actual confusion" was caused by the advertising strategy.

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    New Perkins Coie Litigation Heads Embark On 'Listening Tour'

    As the new co-leaders of Perkins Coie LLP's litigation practice, partners Shari Brandt and Julia Markley are setting off on a "listening tour" among the more than 400 attorneys within the group.

  • Calif. Supreme Court Signs Off On Remote Bar Exam

    The California Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the green light to the California State Bar's push to make the Golden State's bar exam mostly remote starting in February 2025, according to an order that also backed a study pretesting "experimental" exam questions.

  • Ex-Google GC Must Be Investigated By Calif. Bar, Groups Say

    A trio of groups led by the American Economic Liberties Project on Tuesday pressed the State Bar of California to investigate former Google general counsel Kent Walker for "coaching" the company to "engage in widespread and illegal destruction of records relevant to multiple ongoing federal trials."

  • Calif. Official Cops To Taking Bribes For $10M In Contracts

    A member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors has admitted to steering $10 million worth of COVID-19 relief funds to a charity affiliated with his daughter in exchange for more than $500,000 in bribes, California federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

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    Stigma Of Disability In Legal Industry Is 'Very Real,' Panel Says

    People with disabilities still face challenges when pursuing a legal career, but law firms, law schools, bar associations and corporate legal departments can take steps to help advance disability equality, according to panelists speaking Tuesday for National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

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    Norton Rose Names Atty Duo As Global Arbitration Leaders

    Norton Rose Fulbright has elevated the firm's U.S. arbitration team leader and a London-based partner to co-lead its global international arbitration practice, shaking up the group's leadership for the first time in over a decade, the firm announced Tuesday.

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    Lawyers For Good Government Recognizes Yale Law, 3 Firms

    The nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government, or L4GG, announced the recipients of its 2024 Pro Bono Awards on Monday, recognizing three law firms and Yale Law School for their work in support of environmental justice, immigrant rights, children's rights, racial equity and reproductive freedom.

  • Haynes Boone Adds Fish & Richardson Patent Atty In SF

    Haynes and Boone LLP announced Tuesday the firm has added a patent prosecutor from Fish & Richardson PC to its San Francisco office, where the leader said the new partner's AI experience will assist the firm in helping clients to innovate and remain competitive.

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    How Law Firms Get And Keep Elite Status

    For decades, a handful of New York-based law firms thoroughly dominated the national consciousness when it came to power, profitability and prestige. But in today's legal market, increased movement of partners and clients from one firm to the next has begun to shake things up and create opportunities for go-getters to ascend the ranks.

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    Prestige Leaders: The Firms In The Billionaires' Club

    As many BigLaw firms see their revenues climb ever higher, we highlight those that reported topping the billion-dollar mark in the most recent calendar year.

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    These Firms Are The 2024 Prestige Leaders

    Clients flock to firms with prestigious reputations, and so does top talent. Here are this year's Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders — the 100 firms the industry recognizes for their prominence, power and distinction

  • Procurement Tool Zip Worth $2.2B After Series D Investment

    Zip, an artificial intelligence-powered procurement orchestration platform used by legal and other corporate teams, secured a $190 million Series D funding round on Monday.

  • Calif. Atty Disbarred For Gambling With Client Cash

    A California attorney has been disbarred after misappropriating almost $117,000 from his clients and using much of that money for his gambling habit while claiming to be terminally ill with cancer.  

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    Fraud Cases Tee Up State Fights Over Stolen Election Claims

    A "flood" of lawsuits by Republicans and allied groups are sowing doubt in the 2024 elections and potentially setting the stage for destabilizing courtroom showdowns if former President Donald Trump loses, according to law professors and good government groups.

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    Junk Call Foe Puts 'Professional' In 'Professional Plaintiff'

    Diana Mey is one of the most successful “professional plaintiffs” to sue telemarketers under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. While she's won class settlements worth tens of millions of dollars, she said a recent counter-suit in a far-off venue, Puerto Rico, has been the “worst experience” of her litigation career.

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    Cisco Top Atty Sees FY 2024 Compensation Climb To $12.5M

    The chief legal officer at California-based technology giant Cisco earned around $12.5 million in total compensation for fiscal year 2024, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • AI Is Reshaping Lawyering: What To Expect In 2024 Author Photo

    The future of lawyering is not about the wholesale replacement of attorneys by artificial intelligence, but as AI handles more of the routine legal work, the role of lawyers will evolve to be more strategic, requiring the development of competencies beyond traditional legal skills, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Embrace Active Voice In Legal Writing — In Most Cases Author Photo

    Legal writers should strive to craft sentences in the active voice to promote brevity and avoid ambiguities that can spark litigation, but writing in the passive voice is sometimes appropriate — when it's a moral choice and not a grammatical failure, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Help Associates Turn Down Work? Author Photo

    Marina Portnova at Lowenstein Sandler discusses what partners can do to aid their associates in setting work-life boundaries, especially around after-hours assignment availability.

  • How AI Legal Research Tools Are Shifting Law Firm Processes Author Photo

    Although artificial intelligence-powered legal research is ushering in a new era of legal practice that augments human expertise with data-driven insights, it is not without challenges involving privacy, ethics and more, so legal professionals should take steps to ensure AI becomes a reliable partner rather than a source of disruption, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Data Source Proliferation Is A Growing E-Discovery Challenge Author Photo

    With the increased usage of collaboration apps and generative artificial intelligence solutions, it's not only important for e-discovery teams to be able to account for hundreds of existing data types today, but they should also be able to add support for new data types quickly — even on the fly if needed, says Oliver Silva at Casepoint.

  • Bracing For A Generative AI Revolution In Law Author Photo

    With many legal professionals starting to explore practical uses of generative artificial intelligence in areas such as research, discovery and legal document development, the fundamental principle of human oversight cannot be underscored enough for it to be successful, say Ty Dedmon at Bradley Arant and Paige Hunt at Lighthouse.

  • Why I Use ChatGPT To Tell Me Things I Already Know Author Photo

    The legal profession is among the most hesitant to adopt ChatGPT because of its proclivity to provide false information as if it were true, but in a wide variety of situations, lawyers can still be aided by information that is only in the right ballpark, says Robert Plotkin at Blueshift IP.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Use Social Media Responsibly? Author Photo

    Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.

  • Yada, Yada, Yada: The Magic Of 3 In Legal Writing Author Photo

    Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.

  • How Firms Can Stop Playing Whack-A-Mole With Data Security Author Photo

    In order to achieve a robust client data protection posture, law firms should focus on adopting a risk-based approach to security, which can be done by assessing gaps, using that data to gain leadership buy-in for the needed changes, and adopting a dynamic and layered approach, says John Smith at Conversant Group.

  • 5 Life Lessons From Making Partner As A Solo Parent Author Photo

    Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Turn Deferral To My Advantage? Author Photo

    Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.

  • Resume Gaps Are No Longer Kryptonite To Your Legal Career Author Photo

    Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.

  • Law Firm Guardrails For Responsible Generative AI Use Author Photo

    ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools pose significant risks to the integrity of legal work, but the key for law firms is not to ban these tools, but to implement them responsibly and with appropriate safeguards, say Natalie Pierce and Stephanie Goutos at Gunderson Dettmer.

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