California Pulse


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    Milbank Latest To Ink Trump Deal To Avoid Executive Order

    Milbank LLP became the fourth firm to strike a deal with President Donald Trump in the wake of a series of executive orders targeting BigLaw, pledging on Wednesday to provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal work supported by the administration and to refrain from what the White House deems discriminatory and "illegal" diversity hiring.

  • Ex-Kirkland Atty To Drop Bias Suit, Appeal Atty Firing Ruling

    A former Kirkland & Ellis LLP intellectual property associate is expected to drop her claims against the law firm and related defendants, while also appealing a ruling that precluded her from firing her attorney in the case, the parties told a California federal court Tuesday.

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    Former Calif. Legislator, Prosecutor Named US Atty In LA

    Former California State Assemblyman Bilal A. "Bill" Essayli was sworn in Wednesday as the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, after he was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

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    When Can Attys Decide To Drop Clients? ABA Says It Depends

    Lawyers can drop clients at will as long as doing so won't harm the client's legal objectives or needlessly drive up costs, according to new guidance by the American Bar Association — but the guidance also notes that "getting out of a matter can be a lot harder than getting in."

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    Eversheds Sutherland's New US-Based Leaders Start Roles

    Eversheds Sutherland started April with new leadership in the U.S. as former global energy sector co-head Lino Mendiola III began his term as the firm's global co-CEO and U.S. chief executive, and former global board co-chair Adam Cohen stepped into the role of U.S. executive partner.

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    23 Firms Remain GCs' Top Picks Despite Referral Drop

    Even as corporate legal departments become more selective in recommending outside counsel to their peers, 23 law firms have managed to earn top marks for building trust and relationship management, according to a report released Wednesday by BTI Consulting Group.

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    Signature Resolution Moves Into Central Calif. Via Partnership

    The alternative dispute resolution center Signature Resolution in expanding into Central California by partnering with Bakersfield-based Common Ground Resolutions.

  • UC Regents Face Trimmed Suit Over Antisemitism At Berkeley

    A California federal judge on Monday trimmed two Jewish advocacy organizations' lawsuit accusing UC Berkeley and its law school of tolerating antisemitism, allowing the suit to go forward on their claims the university was "deliberately indifferent" towards Jews on campus.

  • Willkie Becomes 3rd Firm To Reach Deal With Trump

    After issuing a string of executive orders in recent weeks targeting BigLaw firms, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP had agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services for certain causes and to refrain from what Trump has called discriminatory diversity hiring practices.

  • Sanctioned Firm Ordered To Pay Fees In California Patent Row

    Days after attorneys from Texas patent firm Ramey LLP were ordered to pay over $60,000 for practicing in California without a license, a San Francisco federal magistrate judge has ordered them to pay attorney fees in a pair of suits deemed to have been litigated in bad faith. 

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    BCLP Names New COO And Chief People Officer

    Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP has hired Newmark Group's former chief human resources officer as its chief people officer and shifted its chief financial officer to also serve as its chief operating officer, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • Crypto Co. OKX Taps Ex-NY Regulator Linda Lacewell As GC

    Cryptocurrency exchange OKX said Tuesday that Linda Lacewell, former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, has joined the company as its general counsel, a month after the firm agreed to a $504 million deal with federal prosecutors over compliance failures.

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    Hunton Andrews Names New Office, Practice Group Leaders

    Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP announced Tuesday that it has appointed several attorneys to key leadership posts, including new leaders of its Miami and Richmond offices.

  • Atty's Fraud Sentence Upheld In Long-Delayed Ruling

    A California lawyer who was convicted for his role in a pump-and-dump scheme has lost a motion filed in Massachusetts federal court in 2018 seeking to vacate a four-year prison term.

  • Fox Rothschild Names Office, Practice Group, Dept. Leaders

    Fox Rothschild LLP announced Tuesday that it has installed new office managing partners in four cities, added co-chairs to its taxation and wealth planning department, and brought on an aviation practice group co-chair as part of the firm's standard leadership rotation.

  • Former EBay, PayPal Exec Joins Fintech Co. As CLO

    A former legal leader at eBay and PayPal and LendingClub Bank parent company LendingClub Corp. has joined healthcare-focused fintech company PayZen as its top attorney.

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    Approach The Bench: Judge Tymkovich On New Judgeships

    When Tenth Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich testified before Congress recently about the need for more federal judges, it had been about 10 years since he'd made a similar request of Congress, which hasn't expanded the federal bench since 2002.

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    How Lewis Brisbois Is Addressing Associate Pay Delay

    Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has hired two new staff members and is working to refine its process for determining discretionary bonuses and merit pay after the firm notified a portion of its associates this week that those payments would be delayed.

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    Wilson Sonsini Adds Antitrust Attys From MoFo, K&L Gates

    Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC is expanding its antitrust team, bringing in two new partners — a Morrison Foerster LLP trial attorney in San Francisco and a K&L Gates LLP litigator in Chicago.

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    Winston & Strawn Adds Goodwin Transactions Ace In LA

    Winston & Strawn LLP is boosting its transactions team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Goodwin Procter LLP private equity expert as a partner in its Los Angeles office.

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    Supermicro Taps Ex-Norton Rose Atty As GC After Co. Review

    California-based Super Micro Computer Inc. has tapped a former Norton Rose Fulbright attorney to be its new general counsel just months after accelerating its search for a legal leader following an internal review.

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    Public Storage CLO Saw Comp Fall For 3rd Straight Year

    The chief legal officer at self-storage real estate investment trust Public Storage saw his compensation drop for the third consecutive year, as he earned around $2.4 million in 2024 compared to approximately $4.9 million in 2021, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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    Feds Seek 10 Years For Ex-Girardi CFO's 'Brazen' Crimes

    Los Angeles federal prosecutors said Girardi Keese's former head of accounting should spend 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting Tom Girardi in siphoning clients' settlement funds and what the government called a "brazen" side fraud to steal from the firm's operating accounts.

  • Disbarred Fraudster Gets 25 Years For $18M Hemp Scam

    A disbarred attorney with a history of investor fraud was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a scheme in which he solicited more than $18 million from investors by claiming to own a hemp farm that didn't exist and overhyping an edibles company.

  • Ex-Workday Atty's Bias Claims Axed, Stock Dispute Kept Alive

    A California federal judge tossed a Black ex-Workday attorney's claims that he endured race and disability bias that culminated in the software vendor sending police to his house to conduct an unnecessary wellness check, but the judge allowed the attorney pursue claims that he was shorted on stock options.

Expert Analysis

  • 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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    Talking Mental Health: Caring For Everyone As A Firm Leader Author Photo

    Reid Phillips at Brooks Pierce discusses how he manages the pressure of running a law firm, how sources of stress in the legal industry have changed over the past decade, and what firm leaders should do to help manage burnout and mental health issues among employees.

  • How Firms Can Use LinkedIn To Aid Marketing Efforts In 2025 Author Photo

    LinkedIn has several features law firms can use to showcase their capabilities and thought leadership to reach prospective and existing clients, including the Event and Live features, says Sofia Millar at Reputation Ink.

  • Talking Mental Health: Managing Emotions In Trauma Cases Author Photo

    Nikki Hurtado at The Ferraro Law Firm discusses what motivates her to represent victims of catastrophic injuries, how she copes with the emotional toll of such cases, and what other attorneys taking on similar cases can do to protect their mental well-being.

  • Strategies For Successful Law Firm Mergers In 2025 Author Photo

    Law firms are expected to continue consolidating in the year to come, and because these mergers require a different kind of playbook, firm leaders must carefully consider office culture nuances, professional services economics and talent retention strategy before any merger, say directors at FTI Consulting.

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