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California Pulse
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Burns & Levinson Collapse: A 'Cautionary Tale' For Law Firms
After 64 years in business, Boston-based law firm Burns & Levinson LLP is closing its doors this month after a tumultuous year that saw nearly half of its attorneys leave and merger talks fail.
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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week
Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP top this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions after a California federal judge wrapped up a high-profile antitrust fight filed by Epic Games against Google that began in 2020.
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California High Court Rejects Bar Exam Alternative Program
The California Supreme Court has rejected a proposal that would have allowed bar applicants to submit a portfolio of work they did with real clients under supervision instead of taking the bar exam.
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Goodwin Names New Global Litigation Leader
Goodwin Procter LLP's new global litigation department leader has plans to continue building on years of meteoric growth while also preparing the firm's next generation of leaders.
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Kramer Levin Formalizes Its Private Credit Practice
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP has formalized a private credit practice co-led by partners David Berg and Yasho Lahiri, putting a name to the work the firm has already been doing in the space.
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Legal Tech Funding Surges In Q3 Thanks To 3 Megadeals
Three outlier megadeals pushed funding for legal technology companies to $1.57 billion in the third quarter of 2024, up from $392.5 million in the same period last year, but the number of mergers and acquisitions fell by about 50%.
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Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz
This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as BigLaw firms made a slew of hires and a state judge was admonished for lip synching "Jump" by Rihanna in a TikTok. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.
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JAMS Launches AI Tools For Alternative Dispute Resolution
Alternative dispute resolution provider JAMS has launched a suite of artificial intelligence-powered tools that attorneys, their clients and panelists can use in the dispute resolution process as part of its new initiative JAMS Next.
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Snell & Wilmer Employment Litigator Joins Procopio In Calif.
Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP is expanding its Orange County team, bringing in a Snell & Wilmer LLP employment litigator as a partner and a Jackson Lewis PC employment attorney as an associate.
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Israel-Palestine Suits Tested In Court With Mixed Results
A slew of lawsuits related to the Gaza war in the Middle East have already yielded mixed outcomes and, in the view of some, contradictory rulings as they've moved through the courts, revealing a tension between free speech and college campus safety while also stoking concerns over the fairness of the judicial system.
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Inflammatix Adds MedTech Veteran As First General Counsel
Inflammatix Inc., a medical diagnostics company working on a novel testing technology, said Thursday that it has named a new general counsel and two other executives to help launch the new product once it receives final approval.
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Why Dickinson Wright Launched IP-Focused San Diego Shop
Looking to be at the so-called epicenter of life sciences, Dickinson Wright PLLC discovered in San Diego the ideal spot to expand its West Coast footprint.
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Cleary Is Latest Firm To Add Nonequity Partner Tier
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP said Thursday that it has added a nonequity partnership tier to better manage talent.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Legal Sector Regulatory Reform Is Key To Closing Justice Gap
In order to improve access to justice for those who cannot afford a lawyer, states should consider regulatory innovations, such as allowing new forms of law firm ownership and permitting nonlawyers to provide certain legal services, says Patricia Lee Refo, president of the American Bar Association.
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How Attys Can Guard Against Rising Settle-And-Sue Claims
Certain precautions can help lawyers avoid post-settlement malpractice claims and create a solid evidentiary defense, as settle-and-sue lawsuits rise amid pandemic-induced dispute settlements, say Bethany Kristovich and Jeremy Beecher at Munger Tolles.
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What I Learned As A Virtual Summer Associate
It is necessary in a virtual law firm summer program to think twice about asking questions you may be able to answer on your own, but this independence and other aspects of a remote internship may help to instill habits that would be useful for future full-time associates, says law student Kelley Sheehan, who interned at Patterson & Sheridan this summer.