California Pulse


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    Retiring Kessler Topaz Leader Reflects On Legacy Of Growth

    After leading Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP's evolution into a major player in plaintiff-side securities class actions, name partner David Kessler says he's reached the point where he can step away from the Philadelphia-area firm and enjoy a meaningful retirement after 28 years.

  • ABA Tweaks Planned Changes To Law School Diversity Rules

    The American Bar Association is revising the language of its diversity standards for law schools after its August decision to remove references to race, ethnicity and other identities in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision striking down affirmative action in higher education was met with pushback from legal professionals.

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    Emerging Cos. Pro With SEC Background Returns To Latham

    Latham & Watkins LLP is expanding its West Coast team, welcoming back an emerging companies expert who was a founding partner at Ketsal PLLC and worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is now joining Latham as a partner in its San Francisco Bay Area offices.

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    On The Ground: How Attorneys Safeguarded The Election

    Attorneys worked tirelessly Tuesday to support citizens and election workers on the final day of voting in one of history's most contentious presidential contests.

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    How General Counsel Can Help Offset Geopolitical Risks

    Despite a belief among in-house attorneys that geopolitical risks are rising, most of 200 legal department leaders recently surveyed by the Association of Corporate Counsel stated their employers are planning to maintain or grow engagement with some of the riskiest countries, leading to a rising need for risk management policies, training and collaborative preparation.

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    Attys At These Firms Donated The Most To Harris, Trump

    Attorneys and staff at the country's largest law firms have donated more than 15 times as much money to Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign as they have to former President Donald Trump's, federal election records show.

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    Tesla Fights Sanctions Bid Over Atty's Mediation Appearance

    Tesla Inc. has pushed back against a widow's sanctions bid over allegations a company in-house attorney appeared at a mediation in her wrongful death case despite lacking settlement authority, saying her attorneys improperly disclosed the contents of confidential mediation communications.

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    Freshfields Boosts Capital Markets Team With Latham Atty

    A partner with experience advising companies on capital markets transactions is joining Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, which has recently represented clients in life sciences deals totaling more than a billion dollars, the firm announced Monday.

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    Guidewire's GC Sees FY 2024 Compensation Climb To $3.4M

    The general counsel at insurance software company Guidewire earned nearly $1 million more in total compensation during fiscal year 2024 than a year earlier, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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    Barnes & Thornburg Leadership Panel Debuts New Ohio Head

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP is getting new leadership in Columbus, Ohio, the firm said as it announced its 2024-2025 management committee.

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    Duane Morris Litigator Joins Scale LLP In Calif.

    National dispersed law firm Scale LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Duane Morris LLP litigator as a partner in its Northern California office.

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    Procopio's New Managing Partner Is Living 'American Dream'

    A self-described "poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks" in Brockton, Massachusetts, Dennis Doucette said he's living the "American dream" having been named managing partner of Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP.

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    How 2024 Election Litigation May Look Different From 2020

    Courts are fielding a flood of lawsuits over the 2024 presidential election, with more certainly to come, but those suits may have some significant differences from the ones that played out in 2020, according to experts.

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    Proskauer Elevates 15 To Partnership, 6 To Senior Counsel

    Two years after announcing its largest ever promotion class of 33, Proskauer Rose LLP announced Friday another large group of 21 attorneys being promoted across its U.S. and U.K. offices.

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    Legal Hiring Continued Upward Trajectory In October

    The U.S. legal sector logged its second month in a row of job number increases in October, following a four-month-long period of decline this spring and summer, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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    The Top In-House Hires Of October

    Legal department hires and changes during the month of pumpkins and goblins included new roles for top attorneys with Nike, a high-profile appointment at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. and a promotion to CEO for the general counsel at UnitedLex.

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Motley Rice's handling of Los Angeles County's plastic pollution-related suit against Pepsi and Coca-Cola and Cole Schotz's work on a Manhattan redevelopment project lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Oct. 18 to Nov. 1.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Kicking off this week's legal lions list are nine large law firms celebrating a big win in New York after a federal judge threw out a $14 billion complaint against their retailer and drugmaker clients in multidistrict litigation accusing them of making and selling ineffective over-the-counter decongestants.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    The legal industry marked the end of October with another action-packed week as BigLaw firms made new hires and promoted attorneys to partner. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • Judge 'Duped' By BigLaw Attys Urged To Preserve Sanctions

    Guardant Health urged a California federal judge Thursday to reject a request from Natera's Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys to lessen sanctions barring clinical trial evidence in Guardant's false advertising case, noting the court said it had been "duped" by false and misleading statements from Natera's expert and counsel.

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    Hinshaw Sees Fintech Pro Rejoin Firm From Ballard Spahr

    Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on Thursday said a former partner has returned to the firm's consumer financial services practice in Los Angeles after two years at Ballard Spahr. 

  • Latham Hit With Sanctions In Banc Of California Securities Suit

    A California federal judge found Latham & Watkins LLP and its ex-client, former Banc of California CEO Steven A. Sugarman, in civil contempt for "flagrant violations" of a protective order covering discovery produced by investment firm Muddy Waters Capital in a securities fraud class action, according to an order unsealed this week.

  • 10 Firms Vie To Lead, Consolidate Super Micro Investor Suits

    Ten firms have submitted competing bids to lead and consolidate proposed class actions alleging that artificial intelligence server manufacturer Super Micro Computer Inc.'s shares fell roughly 20% after a short seller report accused it of violating its previous settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over accounting improprieties.

  • $268K Fee Challenge Nixed In 9th Circ. Chevron Award Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday refused to reconsider its order slapping a six-figure fine against a Seattle attorney for fabricating a news article to bolster his clients' efforts to enforce an allegedly fraudulent $18 billion arbitral award against Chevron, effectively ending the long-running saga for now.

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    Nixon Peabody Lands Norton Rose Real Estate Pros In LA

    Nixon Peabody LLP took another step this week to strengthen its affordable housing and real estate practice on the West Coast and beyond, bringing on a pair of real estate attorneys from Norton Rose Fulbright with six years of experience working together.

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Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Negotiate My Separation Agreement? Author Photo

    Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey discusses how a law firm associate can navigate being laid off, what to look for in a separation agreement and why to be upfront about it with prospective employers.

  • DoNotPay Cases Underscore Hurdles For AI-Fueled Legal Help Author Photo

    Recent legal challenges against DoNotPay’s "robot lawyer” application highlight pressing questions about the degree to which artificial intelligence can be used for legal tasks while remaining on the right side of both consumer protection laws and prohibitions against the unauthorized practice of law, says Kristen Niven at Frankfurt Kurnit.

  • For The Future Of Legal Practice, Let's Learn From The Past Author Photo

    At some level, every practicing lawyer is experiencing the ever-increasing speed of change — and while some practice management processes have gotten more efficient, other things about the legal profession were better before supposed improvements were made, says Jay Silberblatt, president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

  • Why All Law Firms Should Foster Psychological Capital Author Photo

    Law firms will be able to reap great long-term benefits if they adopt strategies to nurture four critical components of their employees' psychological wellness and performance — hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, says Dennis Stolle at the American Psychological Association.

  • A GC's Guide To Litigation, Inspired By Sun Tzu's 'Art Of War' Author Photo

    With caseloads and spending increasing, in-house counsel might find themselves called to opine on the risks and benefits of litigation more often, and they should look at five Sun Tzu maxims from the ancient Chinese classic "The Art of War" to inform their approach to any suit, says Jeff Golimowski at Womble Bond.

  • Mentorship Is Key To Diversity In The Legal Industry Author Photo

    Not only can effective mentorship have a profound impact on women and people of color entering the legal field, but it also benefits mentors and the legal profession as a whole, creating a true win-win situation for all involved, says Natasha Cortes at Grossman Roth.

  • ChatGPT Is A Cool Trick, But AI Won't Replace Lawyers Author Photo

    Generative AI applications like ChatGPT are unlikely to ever replace attorneys for a variety of practical reasons — but given their practice-enhancing capabilities, lawyers who fail to leverage these tools may be rendered obsolete, says Eran Kahana at Maslon.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Valuable In IP And Continued Learning Author Photo

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent elimination of a rule that partially counted pro bono work toward continuing legal education highlights the importance of volunteer work in intellectual property practice and its ties to CLE, and puts a valuable tool for hands-on attorney education in the hands of the states, say Lisa Holubar and Ariel Katz at Irwin.

  • Increasing Public Access To Legal Services: A Practical Plan Author Photo

    Recommendations recently issued by a special committee of the Florida Bar represent a realistic, pragmatic approach to increasing the accessibility and affordability of legal services, at a time when the disconnect between the legal profession and the public at large has widened considerably, says Gary Lesser, president of the Florida Bar.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Relay Shortcomings To Associates? Author Photo

    Michael Cohen at Duane Morris discusses the best ways to articulate how an associate is not meeting expectations, and why documentation of performance management is crucial for their growth and protecting the firm from discrimination suits.

  • 10 Principles For Effective Partner Reward Systems Author Photo

    Several forces are reshaping partners’ expectations about profit-sharing, and as compensation structures evolve in response, firms should keep certain fundamentals in mind to build a successful partner reward system, say Michael Roch at MHPR Advisors and Ray D'Cruz at Performance Leader.

  • Why Interdisciplinarity Is Key To Designing The Future Of Law Author Photo

    The legal profession faces challenges that urgently demand new solutions, and lawyers and firms can address this by leaning on other industries that have more experience practicing, teaching and incorporating innovation into their core business and service models, says Jennifer Leonard at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Incorporating ADA Guidance Into Lawyer Wellness Movement Author Photo

    The Americans with Disabilities Act and rules of professional conduct may help the legal profession promote lawyer well-being by focusing on mental conditions' actual impact, rather than on associated stereotypes, says Alex Long at the University of Tennessee College of Law.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can New Partners Generate Business? Author Photo

    Christine Wong at MoFo discusses how newly elected partners can prioritize business development by creating a strategic plan with the firm's marketing team and strengthening relationships with professional and personal networks.

  • 9 Writing Tips From The Justices' Opinions Last Term Author Photo

    Hidden in the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions from the last term are each justice’s talents for crafting choice turns of phrase, highlighting best practices for attorneys to jump-start their own writing, says Ross Guberman at BriefCatch.

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