California Pulse

  • Ex-Venable Trusts And Estates Partner Joins Stradling In LA

    Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC announced that it launched a trusts and estates practice with the hiring of an experienced Los Angeles-based partner from Venable LLP.

  • Calif. Judge Admonished For Saying Victim Smelled Of Pot

    A California state judge was publicly admonished for making a series of inappropriate remarks in court, including one instance where he said a victim smelled of marijuana, according to a decision by the California Commission on Judicial Performance.

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    K&L Gates Employment Attys Join Shook Hardy In LA

    Shook Hardy announced Wednesday it hired a pair of longtime K&L Gates employment litigators as partners in the firm's fast-growing Los Angeles office.

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    ArentFox Schiff Lands IP Atty From Morgan Lewis In SF

    ArentFox Schiff LLP has added a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP associate in the firm's office in San Francisco, strengthening its intellectual property practice with a former prosecutor and litigator who helped a client win a $268 million award.

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    Haynes Boone's Office Moves Put Spotlight On Atty Wellness

    In relocating eight of its 19 locations over the past two years, international law firm Haynes and Boone LLP developed a set of standards for the new spaces that prioritize efficiency and attorney wellness. Law360 Pulse recently sat down with Chief Operating Officer Dave Boden to discuss the relocations and the firm's priorities for their design.

  • Glaser Weil Atty Fee Arbitration Award Upheld In Calif. Appeal

    A Los Angeles-area entrepreneur cannot escape a $462,000 legal fee arbitration judgment in favor of his former legal counsel, a California appellate panel determined, finding that a trial court was correct to approve the amount after he failed to appear at the arbitration, despite his claims of being bedridden due to COVID-19.

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    Russo Bros.' Media Company Hires Ex-Amazon Studios Atty

    AGBO, the media company co-founded by brother directors Anthony and Joe Russo, announced Wednesday that it had recruited as chief legal officer a seasoned entertainment and media in-house lawyer who has held senior positions at Amazon MGM Studios and HBO.

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    Law Firms Upsizing M&A Teams For Expected Deals Rebound

    With the deals market showing signs of recovery, law firms are once again actively hunting top corporate lawyers, especially those skilled in mergers and acquisitions and private equity, as they seek to get ahead of the anticipated uptick in transactional activity.

  • Smirnov Wants David Weiss DQ'd After Trump Docs Ruling

    Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov said Monday that a Florida federal judge's order disqualifying the special prosecutor in the Donald Trump classified documents case means special counsel David Weiss should also be disqualified from Smirnov's case, according to a motion filed in California federal court.

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    Tesla Swaps Cravath Out, WilmerHale In For Antitrust Defense

    WilmerHale has taken over from Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP as counsel for Tesla in a proposed class action in California federal court alleging the company runs an unlawful monopoly on parts for its electric vehicles.

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    Procopio Gets Experienced HR Pro From Deloitte

    Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP announced Tuesday that it has hired as its new chief human resources officer an HR pro who worked at professional services giant Deloitte for more than two decades.

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    California Atty Accused In $282M Theft Put On Inactive Status

    A California lawyer who's accused of stealing as much as $282 million from debt relief clients has been placed on involuntary inactive status, and bar discipline authorities say he deserves to lose his license permanently.

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    Jackson Lewis Adds Tech Officer From Citrin Cooperman

    Jackson Lewis PC has brought aboard a new chief technology officer with decades of law firm-focused information technology and management experience, who most recently held the role of chief digital officer for professional services firm Citrin Cooperman.

  • Groups Slam UC Berkeley's 'Misreading' Of Antisemitism Case

    Jewish organizations suing the University of California, Berkeley, and its law school for allegedly tolerating an antisemitic culture on campus fought to keep their suit alive this week in the face of a motion to dismiss, maintaining their claims are ripe despite UC Berkeley's "bold misreading" of the case.

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    Universal Music Exec Joins Pierson Ferdinand In Los Angeles

    Alison Finley had always loved music, but she didn't know she could be an attorney in the industry until her first year at New York Law School when she walked into a panel on music.

  • Whirlpool CLO Joins Calif. Tech Biz Lam Research

    The former chief legal officer at Whirlpool Corp. has jumped to Fremont, California-based Lam Research Corp. as its top attorney, the company said Tuesday.

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    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know

    Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.

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    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: Representation in the Ranks

    Attorneys of color now represent 27.6% of nonpartners at law firms, a new high-water mark for the industry. But progress has lagged higher up. Here's a more detailed look at the representation of minority attorneys at the associate and partner levels.

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    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: How Firms Stack Up

    Data from Law360 Pulse's law firm survey reveals that while firms are continuing to diversify their attorney ranks, progress has slowed. Just 15.6% of firms top the benchmarks for the 2024 Diversity Snapshot ranking — a lower percentage than last year. Here’s the latest look at how diversity in law firms' headcounts compares with what it could be based on the potential marketplace of new hires.

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    These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships

    Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.

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    Does Work-Life Balance Apply To BigLaw Partners?

    Have initiatives and programs to address work-life balance reached the equity partnership, or is it still the exception in the legal industry?

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    JD Vance's Wife Leaves Munger Tolles As Campaign Launches

    Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance, has resigned as a litigator at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, her now-former law firm told Law360 on Monday afternoon, presumably to trade her Washington, D.C.- and San Francisco-based litigation career for the campaign trail.

  • 9th Circ. Centers On Atty's Duties In Winery TM Feud

    Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Monday that a Houston lawyer could represent a prominent Napa Valley vintner while also claiming partial ownership rights to the name of its popular cabernet sauvignon, with one judge saying that conflict of interest rules for attorneys operating in California are "very strict."

  • Judge Says Attys Must Hash Out Conflict In Twitter Row

    A California federal judge has rebuked both sides of a suit alleging Twitter violated federal labor laws amid a mass layoff in late 2022, ordering lead attorneys to attend a meet and confer session in August to work through ongoing conflicts that have arisen since the claims were filed in April 2023.

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    Girardi Seeks 2-Month Delay For Client Theft Trial, To October

    Disgraced lawyer Tom Girardi's defense attorneys want to push back his closely watched wire fraud trial to October from its current August start date, claiming they've been "misled" by "sharp-elbowed" federal prosecutors who have unexpectedly sought to expand the scope of their case against Girardi in recent weeks.

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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.

  • Series

    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.

  • Series

    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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