California Pulse


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    How Freeman Mathis Maintains Its '1 Office, 1 Firm' Culture

    Atlanta-based Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP recently expanded its roster to include more than 400 lawyers across 21 states, but its managing partner said the firm remains committed to a “one office, one firm” philosophy.

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    Shifting Market Winds Blew Kramer Levin To HSF Deal

    In the span of four years, Kramer Levin co-managing partner Howard Spilko went from "very happy" with the firm's geographical footprint to announcing a combination with a more-than-2,000-lawyer global giant. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at the increasing headwinds for smaller law firms that led to that change in position.

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    Law Firms Positioned To Finish 2024 On 'Very Strong' Note

    The legal market is positioned to have a very strong year, with firms seeing increases in demand, revenue and attorney productivity during the first three quarters of 2024, according to the results of a survey by Citi Global Wealth at Work.

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    What's Next For Court Reform In This New Political Climate?

    Advocates are not holding out hope for bills that would firm up a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court, impose term limits on justices or give judiciary employees antidiscrimination job protections, saying Republican control of the federal government will likely stall any progress that's been made with court reform efforts.

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    Kilpatrick Cybersecurity Leader Joins BakerHostetler In LA

    BakerHostetler has welcomed the cochair of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP's cybersecurity, privacy and data governance practice in California, continuing the firm's plan for strategic growth on the West Coast.

  • Calif. Bar Latest To Offer Smokeball Billing Software For Free

    Legal practice management software provider Smokeball furthered its plan to provide state bar associations with free access to its trust accounting billing software, adding the California Lawyers Association to its growing list of partnerships, according to a Tuesday announcement.

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    Jones Day Real Estate Ace Jumps To Greenberg Traurig In LA

    Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast real estate team, bringing in a Jones Day real estate transactions pro as a shareholder in its Los Angeles office.

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    In-House Counsel Less Wary Of Making BigLaw Jump

    While most in-house counsel aren't actively looking to shift to private practice, a survey out Tuesday found there may be an increasing openness to that career lane shift if certain conditions — such as better salaries, work-life balance, and firm culture — are met.

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    OpenX Promotes Atty To Chief Privacy Officer, Deputy GC

    OpenX Technologies Inc. has looked within for a new privacy leader in what the online advertising exchange company described as a strategic move doubling down on its commitment to privacy-first practices in the ad tech industry.

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    Polsinelli Adds Kirkland AI And Tech Ace In San Francisco

    Polsinelli PC is expanding its West Coast technology transactions team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a Kirkland & Ellis LLP data privacy and artificial intelligence expert as a principal in its San Francisco office.

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    Deloitte In-House Atty Joins Foley & Lardner In LA

    Jose Sanchez, a former senior trial counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division, has joined Foley & Lardner's Los Angeles office following nearly six years in Deloitte's office of the general counsel.

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    Girardi Prosecutor Joins Edelson's Trial Bench In LA

    A former federal prosecutor who helped secure Tom Girardi's conviction in August is now moving to Edelson PC, the law firm that shined a spotlight on the disbarred lawyer's theft and fraud, leading to criminal charges and a public downfall.

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    Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q3

    A promotion to partner or election to practice group chair means a slew of new responsibilities and also lots of well-deserved recognition. Law360 reveals the list of attorneys whose commitment to legal excellence earned them highly coveted spots in the law firm leadership ranks. Find out if your old legal friends — or rivals — moved up in the third quarter of the year.

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    Morgan Lewis M&A Pro Jumps To Baker Botts In Palo Alto

    Baker Botts LLP has hired an attorney who previously worked at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Winston & Strawn LLP and other firms to bolster its mergers and acquisitions practice on the West Coast.

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    BigLaw Bonus Season Starts With A Move By Milbank

    Milbank LLP announced Monday that it will hand its associates year-end bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $115,000 depending on seniority, numbers that nearly align with bonuses the firm and its peers handed out last year.

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    Herbert Smith Freehills To Merge With US-Based Kramer Levin

    Herbert Smith Freehills LLP said Monday that it is joining forces with U.S. law firm Kramer Levin to form a global legal powerhouse in a move that could signal further consolidation in the sector.

  • Sullivan & Cromwell Fees Questioned In Kidde-Fenwal Ch. 11

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and the attorney general of California clashed in Delaware bankruptcy court over the firm's interim fee requests for its representation of debtor chemical company Kidde-Fenwal Inc., with the state alleging overbilling and Sullivan & Cromwell claiming California is seeking "payback" for the results of a recent mediation.

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    Exec Exodus At Hospitality Platform Sonder Includes CLO

    Hospitality platform Sonder announced Friday its chief legal officer will be resigning from her role later this month as one of three executives who have announced their plans to leave the company by the end of 2024.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP lead this week's list of Law360 legal lions for helping a California biotech startup beat a nearly $460 million trade secrets trial before a federal jury in Delaware.

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    Cozen O'Connor Vet Leader On Affinity Group, Military Service

    Affinity groups have become one way for law firms to make sure diverse groups of lawyers in their organizations feel connected and supported. Cozen O' Connor is among the firms that provide a forum for attorneys with military service to link up with one another along with provide pro bono work to veterans dealing with legal issues such as benefits and disability compensation matters.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    The legal industry had another action-packed week as BigLaw firms named new leaders and Donald Trump became president-elect. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    New Top LA Judge Discusses Being Latino Leader, Advocate

    Law360 Pulse caught up with Judge Sergio C. Tapia II, who in January will become presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, to discuss what it means to be a Latino in a position of authority and how he remains “an advocate for justice and neutrality.”

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    How General Counsel Are Preparing For Trump 2.0

    While the stock market surge after Donald Trump won election this week shows that business considers him a friend, corporations are still bracing for the impact of changes that a new administration will bring in 2025.

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    Latham Elevates 24 Associates To Partner In Reduced Class

    Latham & Watkins LLP will promote 24 associates to partner at the start of 2025, a number that is down significantly from the 34 associates who were promoted to partner in January 2024, the firm has announced.

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    Wilson Sonsini Accused Of Wrongfully Firing Legal Assistant

    A former practice group assistant at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has filed a wrongful termination suit in California state court, accusing the firm of discriminating against her because of her disabilities and firing her in retaliation for raising hostile work environment and other concerns.

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Expert Analysis

  • How Generative AI's Growing Memory Affects Lawyers Author Photo

    A new ChatGPT feature that can remember user information across different conversations has broad implications for attorneys, whose most pressing questions for the AI tool are usually based on specific, and large, datasets, says legal tech adviser Eric Wall.

  • A Model For Optimal Legal Tech Investment Strategy Author Photo

    Legal organizations struggling to work out the right technology investment strategy may benefit from using a matrix for legal department efficiency that is based on an understanding of where workloads belong, according to the basic functions and priorities of a corporate legal team, says Sylvain Magdinier at Integreon.

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    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Recruiter Author Photo

    Self-proclaimed "Lawyer Doula" Danielle Thompson at Major Lindsey shares how she went from Columbia Law School graduate and BigLaw employment associate to a career in legal recruiting — and discovered a passion for advocacy along the way.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job? Author Photo

    Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 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.

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