California Pulse


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    Large Law Firm Revenues Climb Despite Dip In Demand

    Even as the demand for legal services fell short of industry expectations, U.S. law firms entered 2025 on solid financial footing, with steady rate hikes fueling an 11.3% jump in first-quarter revenues, according to survey results released Tuesday by Wells Fargo Private Bank.

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    Littler Brings Back Arbitration Pro In Calif.

    Labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson PC is expanding its California arbitration team, announcing Tuesday that it is welcoming back an employment attorney who left briefly to join Whitney Thompson & Jeffcoach LLP.

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    Pillsbury Litigator Jumps To Benesch In San Francisco

    Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP announced that an experienced corporate litigator has joined the firm's fast-growing San Francisco office as a partner from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

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    Cooley Life Sciences Ace Rejoins Latham In Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP has welcomed back an intellectual property attorney who spent the past nine years at Cooley LLP to bolster its healthcare and life sciences practice, including advising clients about licensing and transactional matters.

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    Luxury Furniture Co. RH Seeks New Top Atty As CLO Resigns

    The longtime chief legal and compliance officer at RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, plans to step down for a similar job elsewhere, and the luxury home furnishings company is now searching for his replacement, according to a recent securities filing.

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    Hughes Hubbard Selects Marketing Chief From Ropes & Gray

    Hughes Hubbard & Reed has tapped a former Ropes & Gray LLP marketing director and Legal Marketing Association president to serve as its chief marketing and business development officer, the firm announced Monday.

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    What Attorneys Really Think About Their Profession

    Law360 Pulse asked respondents to our Lawyer Satisfaction Survey for their thoughts on misconceptions about being a lawyer, what the best parts of the job are and what they would tell newer lawyers. Here's what they said.

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    Lawyers Worry About Financial Stability Of Their Careers

    In 2025, even lawyers are feeling anxious about their bottom lines: Only 44% of attorneys described their financial stability as "excellent" in a recent Law360 Pulse survey.

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    How Happy Are Attorneys At Work Now?

    In a time of rising uncertainty and stress, there are signs that spirits are sagging in the legal profession compared with recent years, according to a new Law360 Pulse survey.

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    New Bowman And Brooke DEI Chairs Talk Diversity In 2025

    Trial firm Bowman and Brooke LLP has named two partners based in Philadelphia and Columbia, South Carolina, as the new heads of its diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

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    Law Schools Admit More Men, But More Women Are Applying

    Among law school applicants, women have far outpaced men over the past 10 years, yet the admission rate for men has remained higher, according to the nonprofit AccessLex Institute's Legal Education Data Deck released Tuesday.

  • Class Attys Seek $6.5M Cut In $29.5M Plantronics Settlement

    Lead counsel for Plantronics investors who secured a $29.5 million deal resolving claims the company used "channel stuffing" tactics to bolster revenue are seeking $6.5 million in fees, telling a California federal judge Friday the request is reasonable, given the strong recovery and their track record successfully prosecuting similar securities cases.

  • Former Docusign Leader Hired To Succeed Ironclad CEO

    Contract management software company Ironclad Inc. announced Monday that its co-founder and chief executive, Jason Boehmig, will move into an executive chairman role and former Docusign chief executive Dan Springer will join Ironclad as Boehmig's successor.

  • Robins Kaplan Names Business Litigation, LA Office Leaders

    Robins Kaplan LLP announced that the firm has named a new deputy chair of the national business litigation group and new deputy managing partner of its Los Angeles office.

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    Magna Legal Services Acquires Litigation Support Co. E-Legal

    National litigation support services company Magna Legal Services inked its second tie-up of the month, announcing Monday the acquisition of California-based e-Legal.

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    Alphabet, Google CLO's Comp Climbed Past $30M In 2024

    Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at Alphabet and Google, may have received the largest pay for an in-house lawyer in 2024, raking in nearly $30.2 million for the year, a recent securities filing showed.

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    DLA Piper Hires New CFO From Knight Frank

    DLA Piper said Monday that it has appointed Knight Frank's group chief financial officer to take on a similar role as it looks to achieve its goals for growing the business.

  • Ramey Loses Last-Minute Attempts To Avoid Sanctions

    Texas attorney Bill Ramey and two others will have to pay more than $64,000 and alert disciplinary bodies that they have been sanctioned by Saturday, after a California federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused a last-minute stay on the sanctions.

  • Live Nation Investors Get 1st OK For $20M Eras Tour-Tied Deal

    Event ticketing giant Live Nation and its shareholders on Friday secured a California federal judge's initial green light for their proposed $20 million deal to end proposed class action claims alleging the company misled shareholders in the face of anticompetitive allegations involving its Ticketmaster subsidiary following its missteps selling tickets for pop star Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Ballard Spahr LLP and WilmerHale lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Manhattan federal jury rejected former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's libel claims against The New York Times over a 2017 editorial linking her to political violence.

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    Attorney Ignites Curiosity With Family-Run History Podcast

    They didn't start the fire — but this former BigLaw partner and her family hope to ignite curiosity with their children's history podcast inspired by the Billy Joel tune.

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    Chipotle's Legal Chief Saw Close To $11M In Comp Last Year

    The chief legal officer and general counsel of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. received roughly $10.7 million in total compensation for 2024, according to a public filing from Friday.

  • Calif. High Court Wants Answers On Bar Exam AI Use

    Days after the State Bar of California revealed it utilized artificial intelligence to develop some questions included in its embattled February 2025 exam, the state's Supreme Court released a statement demanding the bar association provide additional details.

  • 9th Circ. Won't Revive 'Recalcitrant' Atty's Judicial Complaint

    The Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit will not revive a judicial complaint brought against a federal judge by an attorney who was held in contempt and taken into custody for repeated outbursts and arguing with the judge during a 2021 jury trial.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as attorneys took on new roles and BigLaw firms expanded their offerings. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

Expert Analysis

  • The 10-Min. Rule For Building A Business Development Habit Author Photo

    Many lawyers assume that becoming a rainmaker requires a significant investment of time and effort, but the truth is that building a consistent habit of business development can start with just 10 minutes of strategic outreach a day, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 5 Pointers For Firm Leaders Communicating Tough Decisions Author Photo

    Certain law firm decisions — such as whether to challenge an executive order — cannot be crowdsourced, but leadership can collaboratively communicate these choices using strategies that build trust, reinforce values and preserve cohesion, says John Hellerman at Hellerman Communications.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Create A Succession Plan Author Photo

    ​​​​​​​Conversations around retirement and succession can be understandably difficult, but when attorneys make a plan for the transition early and effectively, they have the opportunity to not only keep work but also increase it, says Jillian McKenna at Verrill Dana.

  • Looking Under The Hood Of The $3,000 Billable Hour Author Photo

    In recent years, top-tier law firms have pushed hourly rates to unprecedented heights, with some partners commanding $3,000 per hour — but this eye-popping number doesn’t tell the full story, as there are numerous caveats and rigorous winnowing along the way, says Christopher Seck at Squire Patton.

  • How Law Firms Can Keep Nonequity Partners Happy Author Photo

    Law firms that successfully manage two-tiered partnership do so by creating a culture that treats everyone with respect and by establishing financial incentives outside their base compensation to reward performance, says Carol Morganstern at Major Lindsey.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Leverage Your Atty Bio Author Photo

    If maintained properly, your firm bio can help attract potential clients and create authentic connections, so it's crucial to take steps to write an updated attorney profile that goes beyond a list of credentials, says Raychel Lean at Reputation Ink.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Can I Promote Thoughtful Use Of AI? Author Photo

    Eran Kahana at Maslon discusses how partners can encourage responsible use of artificial intelligence tools within their firms by learning to spot pitfalls common to AI-generated work product and championing firmwide procedures and trainings that address the risks of uncritically relying on this powerful but imperfect technology.

  • Making Legal Cents: Firm Culture Is The New Game Plan Author Photo

    Law firm culture is often dismissed as a soft factor — merely platitudes on a website that seem disconnected from the bottom line — but by intentionally embedding a strong culture into day-to-day operations, law firms can achieve sustainable success, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.

  • 5 Questions Firms Must Ask For Successful Lateral Integration Author Photo

    To ensure that lateral partners effectively integrate their books of business, firms should design a structured transition plan based on a few fundamentals, from tracking the right data to implementing meaningful incentives, says Lana Manganiello at Practice Growth Partner.

  • Goldilocks Solution: Why The 4-Day Office Week Is Just Right Author Photo

    As law firms continue to wrestle with return-to-office policies, many are being pulled toward one or the other of two extremes: the rigidity of a five-day in-office schedule and the laissez-faire approach of a flexible three-day hybrid model — but a four-day in-office workweek may be the sweet spot, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • As Attys Adopt Generative AI, 3 Elements Should Be Cardinal Author Photo

    As the legal world increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence, lawyers and firms must develop and utilize strong prompting skills, keep a pulse on forthcoming tech evolutions, and remain steadfast to ethical obligations, say Michele Carney at Carney & Marchi and Marty Robles-Avila at BAL.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises Author Photo

    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Prioritize Connections Author Photo

    One reason business development in the legal industry seems so mysterious is because human relationships are so complex, but lawyers can reorient their thinking in two important ways to drive the process of connecting with new colleagues and contacts, say Jamie Lawless and Angela Quinn at Husch Blackwell.

  • Overcoming US Law Firms' Hesitancy To Enter Indian Market Author Photo

    Successful private equity exits with strong returns have solidified India's buyout market as an increasingly attractive destination for future investments, offering compelling reasons for the U.S. legal community to overcome its caution on the country's markets, says Vaishali Movva at Eimer Stahl.

  • Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Make A Plan For The Year Author Photo

    While firms are busy allocating resources and assessing client demand, individual attorneys should use the start of the year to slow down and create a personal business plan, which can be accomplished with a few steps, say Elizabeth Gooch, Teri Robshaw and Chris Newman at McDermott.

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