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California Pulse
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Longtime Mayer Brown Counsel Joins Potomac Law Group
Alan Velasco worked for years as an engineer before launching his law practice at Mayer Brown in the early 2010s. Now, after 11 years with the firm, he's closed the book on the first chapter of his legal career to join Potomac Law Group as a partner in San Francisco.
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Robbins Geller Atty, Fed. Prosecutors Tapped For Calif. Bench
A Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP partner, former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partner, former Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP associate and federal prosecutors were among California Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest picks for judgeships, according to an announcement made Wednesday.
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US BigLaw Firms Accelerate Enviro Efforts, But Diversity Lags
Amid a number of recent legal challenges, large law firms in the U.S. have amped up many of their environmental, social and governance-related efforts, with particular growth in environmental sustainability action, while areas like diversity, equity and inclusion have been less successful, according to a report out Wednesday that examined firms' public-facing communications.
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Girardi Seeks New Fraud Trial Over Memory Issues
Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi has called on a California federal court to overturn his conviction for misappropriating $15 million in client settlement funds, arguing he was not competent to stand trial due to memory problems that left him unable to remember witnesses or even his own attorneys.
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Constangy Appoints Additional Immigration Leadership
Labor and employment boutique Constangy said Wednesday that a North Carolina partner is stepping up to co-chair the firm's immigration practice group.
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Disbarred Calif. Atty To Pay $14M Over Crypto Ponzi Scheme
A disbarred California attorney has been ordered by a Nevada federal judge to pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his role in promoting a $9.5 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
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9th Circ. Rejects Judicial Ethics Complaint Over Case Delays
The Ninth Circuit has tossed an attorney's ethics complaint against a federal district judge accused of failing to promptly rule on a motion to dismiss as part of an alleged pattern of slow rulings by the court.
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AI-Focused Exec Roles Are Having A Moment At Law Firms
Several law firms this year, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP, have filled artificial intelligence-focused chief and director roles to keep up with technological advances and client demands, according to legal recruiters.
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Ex-Girardi Keese CFO Inks Plea Deal Over Firm Embezzlement
Girardi Keese's former Chief Financial Officer Christopher K. Kamon reached a plea agreement Tuesday with Los Angeles federal prosecutors, who allege he spearheaded a "side fraud" that bilked millions of dollars from the embattled law firm's accounts behind disbarred attorney Tom Girardi's back.
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Ex-Uber Exec's Actions Smell Like Cover-Up, 9th Circ. Judge Says
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of Uber's ex-security chief's effort to overturn his convictions for obstructing an investigation into an Uber data breach, with one judge saying the defendant's abrupt changes to Uber's policies "does smell to me like a cover-up."
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Western Digital's Ex-Legal Chief Saw Comp Dip In Final Year
The former chief legal officer at Western Digital Corp. saw a slight fall in his overall compensation package for fiscal year 2024 compared to the previous two, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
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Judge Security Data Reflects Policy Shifts As Much As Threats
Former employees of the U.S. Marshals Service say that while judicial security has never been more urgent, finding trends is nearly impossible: The way threats against federal judges are tracked has varied so much from year to year, the data is essentially meaningless.
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Polsinelli Taps Chief Of Staff As First Practice Strategy Leader
Polsinelli PC announced Monday that it promoted its chief of staff to serve as both its staff lead and as its first chief practice strategy officer, tasking her with managing how its practices work together to benefit clients and promoting innovation through strategies such as the use of artificial intelligence.
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Manatt RE Leader Found Common Ground Without An Ego
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has lost a Silicon Valley real estate partner with the death of Michael Polentz, and former colleagues are praising his ability to seamlessly break down complex ideas and his achievement of great success in the legal world — and doing so without an ego.
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9th Circ. Affirms Atty Fee Reduction In Cathode Suit
A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to cut more than $2 million from plaintiff's firm Cooper & Kirkham's $3.45 million fee award in a multidistrict litigation settlement over alleged cathode ray tube price-fixing litigation.
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White & Case Adds Marketing, Innovation Execs Amid Growth
White & Case LLP announced Monday the appointment of both a chief innovation officer and a chief marketing officer as the firm continues to expand through hiring and office openings.
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More Law Firms Want To Merge, But Deals Aren't Skyrocketing
Law firm management consultants say they continue to see historic interest among law firms to engage in merger talks, driven further by a spate of big deals announced during the third quarter of the year, but the number of actual combinations inked has remained fairly steady, Law360 Pulse data shows.
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Legal Tech Co. EvenUp Valued At $1B After $135M Series D
The legal technology sector has a new unicorn after artificial intelligence provider EvenUp secured a $135 million Series D funding round and reached a $1 billion valuation on Tuesday.
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Littler Adds Excelitas Exec As Chief Digital Innovation Officer
Labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson PC has added the former executive vice president and chief information officer at photonics and light technology company Excelitas Technologies as its chief digital innovation officer.
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Law Firm Billing Rate Hikes Doubled In 2024
Billing rates for the top 100 law firms in the United States surged by 10% from 2023 to 2024, the largest rate hike in the past three years, according to a new research report on Tuesday.
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Attys Want $20M Fees For Netting $64M Tuna Price-Fixing Deal
Attorneys representing a class of purchasers who sued several canned tuna producers have asked a California federal judge for nearly $20 million in fees and costs associated with their recently inked $64 million settlement, saying the award is fair considering the effort the case took to prosecute and the complexity of the deal.
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Brothers' $10B Real Estate Battle Nets Another $11.6M In Fees
A California judge granted over $11 million in attorney fees Monday to a man who prevailed in a 20-year legal battle with his brother over a real estate empire when a jury awarded him and his other brothers a $10 billion verdict, granting the bulk of the request.
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9th Circ. Nixes Judicial Complaint Over Atty 'Disbar' Threat
The Ninth Circuit has rejected a judicial misconduct complaint against a judge who allegedly suggested that he could "disbar" a lawyer.
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Legal Employers Say AI Is Affecting Hiring
A majority of legal industry employers say that artificial intelligence is changing the skill sets they look for in hiring, according to a report released Monday by business consulting firm Robert Half, with the report also finding that employers prefer to train existing employees than hire externally.
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In-House Teams Using More GenAI And Fewer Law Firms
Nearly 60% of general counsel and chief legal officers expect a reduced reliance on outside legal service providers due to generative artificial intelligence — more than double since a 2023 survey showed 25% of respondents would cut the number of law firms they work with in the next year to slash costs, according to data released Monday.