California Pulse


  • Ex-Angels Staffer Says Attys Botched Skaggs Overdose Case

    A former Los Angeles Angels press officer asked a Texas federal judge to undo the 22-year prison sentence he's currently serving after being convicted of giving pitcher Tyler Skaggs fentanyl-laced pills that caused his fatal overdose in 2019.

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    More US Attorneys Out In Three States

    U.S. Attorney Dena J. King of the Western District of North Carolina announced that she is stepping down from her role as the district's top prosecutor, joining her counterparts in California's Southern District and the District of Maryland in the recent parade of U.S. attorneys to leave their posts since President Donald Trump retook the White House.

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    How Lambda Legal GC Is Trying To Stem Anti-DEI 'Hatred'

    Jennifer Pizer, general counsel of the LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group Lambda Legal, went from handling intellectual property cases in private practice in California to leading a national legal team fighting for civil rights amid today's heated anti-diversity backlash.

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    Kirkland Outpaces BigLaw Rivals In Law Grad Hiring

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP has hired the most Class of 2023 law graduates among the top 50 law firms, bringing on 411 new attorneys, almost as many as the second and third-ranking firms combined, according to an analysis released Wednesday by legal data company Firm Prospects LLC.

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    Skarzynski Marick Adds Duane Morris Bankruptcy Team in LA

    Insurance coverage litigation boutique Skarzynski Marick & Black LLP is expanding its services, announcing Wednesday it is bringing over a team of Duane Morris LLP bankruptcy experts in its Los Angeles office.

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    Willkie Partner To Lead Weath.Com's Private Wealth Team

    Wealth.com, an estate planning tool that allows users to create optimized legal documents, has expanded its legal team with the addition of a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner.

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    A&O Shearman Ups IVF, Adoption Benefits For US Employees

    A&O Shearman has increased the benefits it offers U.S.-based personnel, with unlimited in vitro fertilization treatment and $40,000 in adoption or surrogacy services, the firm said.

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    Munger Tolles Coaxes Corporate Pro Out Of Retirement

    Munger Tolles & Olson LLP announced Wednesday that it has added a mergers and acquisitions specialist with 30 years of experience to its roster at its Los Angeles headquarters, in a role that will have him spearheading the expansion of the firm's corporate practice to meet clients' growing needs.

  • California Judge Chided For Entering Other Jurists' Chambers

    A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has been publicly admonished for entering other jurists' chambers after hours and without permission to access confidential files and computers, in what the state's Commission on Judicial Performance called a "serious breach of the expected trust shared among judicial colleagues."

  • Orion Telescope Partly Revives $4M Fraudulent Transfer Suit

    A California appellate court on Monday partially revived Orion Telescope's suit accusing rival Celestron Acquisition of orchestrating a fraudulent $4.2 million transfer to help another company avoid paying a judgment owed to Orion, ruling that Orion indeed adequately alleged conspiracy or aiding and abetting a fraudulent transfer.

  • Rodney King's Former Atty Gets Prison For $7M Tax Evasion

    A Los Angeles criminal defense and civil rights attorney who once represented Rodney King was sentenced by a California federal court Tuesday to 1½ years in prison for evading $7.2 million worth of taxes on income from his law practice.

  • What Judges Want You To Know: Litigate Smarter

    Federal judges regularly sit on panels at conferences and similar events, sharing their best practices and most valuable pieces of advice with patent lawyers and others in the room. In the second installment of a two-part series, Law360 has pulled together advice from over the last few years that remains as relevant as ever.

  • Eaton Fire Victim Wants Sanctions Against SoCal Edison

    A victim of the recent devastating Eaton Fire in Altadena has told a California state judge that Southern California Edison and its attorneys should face sanctions for allegedly concealing efforts to reenergize electrical transmission lines while the blaze was still burning last month.

  • Insurer May Need To Pay Landlord Row Atty Fees, Panel Says

    A California state appeals court found in a partial reversal that an insurer may not be owed more than $300,000 in disputed attorney fees following a $925,000 settlement it contributed to on behalf of a landlord it insured over a tenant dispute.

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    Beyond Averages: The Under- And Over-Performance Of Firms

    Each quarter, Law360 Pulse reports on U.S. law firms' financial results from Wells Fargo and Citibank, often highlighting industry averages. But I wanted to dive deeper into the 2024 year-end results that just came out to dissect the highs and lows of law firm performance last year.

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    How Sushi Dinner Led Calif. Land Use Firms To Join Forces

    Law360 Pulse caught up with Amrit Kulkarni and Margaret Sohagi to discuss how a conversation that began over sushi ultimately led to the merger of their respective firms in Los Angeles.

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    Bowman And Brooke Names New Firm Chair

    Bowman and Brooke LLP announced a number of changes in firm leadership Tuesday, led by the appointment of a new chair alongside election of a new vice chair.

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    Baker Botts Lands DLA Piper Atty To Head Litigation In SF

    Baker Botts LLP has brought on a former federal prosecutor, most recently with DLA Piper, to serve as chair of litigation for the firm's San Francisco office.

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    Approach The Bench: Judge Frederic Block On Resentencing

    New York federal Judge Frederic Block has been on a campaign lately, arguing that state court judges should enjoy the same discretion he does to reconsider the sentences of people condemned to spend decades in prison.

  • LegalZoom Acquires Formation Nation, Posts $30M Profit

    Online legal services provider LegalZoom Inc. has acquired small business services company Formation Nation for around $49 million cash and an estimated $20 million in common stock.

  • What Judges Want You To Know: You Can't Fool The Court

    Federal judges regularly sit on panels at conferences and similar events, sharing their best practices and most valuable pieces of advice with patent lawyers and others in the room. In the first installment of a two-part series, Law360 has pulled together advice over the last few years that remains as relevant as ever. 

  • GenapSys Can't Claw Back Some Docs From Paul Hastings

    A California judge ruled that GenapSys Inc. can claw back some documents it inadvertently released during discovery in a legal malpractice suit against Paul Hastings LLP, but that some documents discussed during depositions cannot be clawed back because attorneys for GenapSys did not lodge proper objections during the proceedings. 

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    Morgan Lewis Adds 5 Knobbe Martens IP Attys On West Coast

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP continues expanding its intellectual property team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a team of five Knobbe Martens IP litigators as partners in its West Coast offices.

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    Orrick Lands 13-Atty VC Team From Gunderson Dettmer In LA

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced Monday that it has hired a 13-attorney team from Gunderson Dettmer, including the co-founders of its Los Angeles office, to bolster its tech company and venture capital services.

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    Conservative Groups Say ABA Clerk, Intern Programs Illegal

    Conservative advocacy groups urged the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday to scrutinize the American Bar Association's diversity and internship programs, claiming the organization is committing unlawful discrimination in the name of diversity.

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Expert Analysis

  • A Law Student's Guide To Thriving As A Summer Associate Author Photo

    Summer associates are expected to establish a favorable reputation and develop genuine relationships in a few short weeks, but several time management, attitude and communication principles can help them make the most of their time and secure an offer for a full-time position, says Joseph Marciano, who was a 2022 summer associate at Reed Smith.

  • Burnout Prevention Requires Effort From Attys And Firms Author Photo

    To avoid physical and emotional exhaustion, attorneys must respect their own and their colleagues' personal and professional boundaries, but law firms must also play a role in discouraging burnout culture — especially if they are struggling with attorney retention, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • How I Owned My Power As An Asian American Woman In Law Author Photo

    Gibson Dunn's Debra Yang shares the bumps in her journey to becoming the first female Asian American U.S. attorney, a state judge and a senior partner in BigLaw, and how other women can face their self-doubts and blaze their own trails to success amid systemic obstacles.

  • Successful In-House Alt Legal Services Start With 4 Questions Author Photo

    Law firms that are considering creating an in-house alternative legal service provider should focus not on recapturing revenue otherwise lost to outside vendors, but instead consider how a captive ALSP will better fulfill the needs of their clients and partners, say Beatrice Seravello and Brad Blickstein at Baretz & Brunelle.

  • 3 Reasons To Embrace Jargon In Legal Marketing Content Author Photo

    Ignore what you've been told about jargon — adding insider industry terms to your firm's marketing and business development content can persuade potential clients that you have the specialized knowledge they can trust, says Wayne Pollock at Law Firm Editorial Service.

  • Future Lawyers Expect DEI Commitments Beyond Recruiting Author Photo

    To attract future lawyers from diverse backgrounds, firms must think beyond recruiting efforts, because law students are looking for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that invest in employee professional development and engage with students year-round, says Lauren Jackson at Howard University School of Law.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can Law Students Build Real-World Skills? Author Photo

    Allison Coffin at Akin Gump discusses how summer associates going back to school can continue to develop real-world lawyering skills by leveraging the numerous law school resources that support professional development both inside and outside the classroom.

  • How Firm Leaders Can Build And Sustain Culture Author Photo

    In uncertain and challenging times, law firm leaders can build and sustain culture by focusing attention on mission, values and leadership development, and applying a growth mindset across their firms, says Scott Westfahl at Harvard Law.

  • The Case That Showed Me The Value Of E-Discovery Plans Author Photo

    Robert Keeling at Sidley reflects on leading discovery in the litigation that followed the historic $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger and how the case highlighted the importance of having a strategic e-discovery plan in place.

  • Opinion

    CLE Accreditation Should Be Tied To Learning Outcomes Author Photo

    Given the substantial time and money lawyers put toward mandatory continuing legal education, CLE regulators and providers should be held to accreditation standards that assess learning outcomes, similar to those imposed on law schools and continuing medical education providers, says Rima Sirota at Georgetown Law.

  • Why You Should Leverage AI For Privilege Review Author Photo

    While many lawyers still believe that a manual, document-by-document review is the best approach to privilege logging, certain artificial intelligence tools can bolster the traditional review process and make this aspect of electronic document review more efficient, more accurate and less costly, say Laura Riff and Michelle Six at Kirkland.

  • Persuading The Court With Visual Aids In Written Argument Author Photo

    Robert Dubose at Alexander Dubose describes several categories of visuals attorneys can use to make written arguments easier to understand or more persuasive, and provides tips for lawyers unused to working with anything but text.

  • BigLaw Vs. Mid-Law Summer Programs: The Pros And Cons Author Photo

    There are major differences between BigLaw and Mid-Law summer associate programs, and each approach can learn something from the other in terms of structure and scheduling, the on-the-job learning opportunities provided, and the social experiences offered, says Anna Tison at Brooks Pierce.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Take Time Off? Author Photo

    David Kouba at Arnold & Porter discusses how attorneys can prioritize mental health leave and vacation despite work-related barriers to taking time off.

  • Law Firms Must Prioritize Mental Health In Internal Comms Author Photo

    The traditional structure of law firms, with their compartmentalization into silos, is an inherent challenge to mental wellness, so partners and senior lawyers should take steps to construct and disseminate internal action plans and encourage open dialogue, says Elizabeth Ortega at ECO Strategic Communications.

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