California Pulse


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    Law Firms Walk DEI Tightrope Amid Political Pressure

    Law firms that once led the charge on diversity initiatives now find themselves walking a tightrope, balancing their long-standing commitments to diversity with shifting corporate priorities and political pressure stemming from the Trump administration's efforts to curtail such programs.

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    Law Firm Leasing Reaches Highest Level Since Before COVID

    Law firms in the United States have broken through years of pandemic-related uncertainty about market conditions and the need for office space to record the highest volume of lease activity in more than five years, according to newly released data.

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    Girard Sharp Adds Atty From Lieff Cabraser In San Francisco

    The former leader of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP's fertility practice has joined Girard Sharp as a partner in San Francisco, according to a Tuesday announcement.

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    Duane Morris Adds Former Federal Prosecutors In NY, Calif.

    Duane Morris LLP has expanded its trial practice group with a pair of former federal prosecutors coming aboard in San Francisco and New York.

  • 'It Was An Accident': Judge Denies Shooting Wife On Purpose

    A California judge who shot his wife to death in their living room following an argument took the stand in his murder trial Monday, fighting hard to maintain his composure while explaining to jurors that his Glock discharged accidentally when he tried to set it down on the coffee table.

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    Venable Litigator Jumps To Steptoe In California

    Steptoe LLP continues growing its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Venable LLP commercial trial lawyer as a partner in its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

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    Apple Antitrust Ace Returns To Latham In Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP announced Monday that it has welcomed back an attorney who was working as in-house counsel for Apple to bolster its antitrust and competition practice and enhance its efforts to handle monopolization cases.

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    Ex-Sheppard Mullin Media Atty Joins O'Melveny In Calif.

    An entertainment attorney with expertise representing stakeholders on all sides of deal negotiations has moved his practice recently to O'Melveny & Myers LLP's office in the Los Angeles area after more than six years with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

  • ABA Suspends Law School DEI Standards Until Summer

    The American Bar Association has announced that it is holding off on enforcing its diversity and inclusion standards for law schools in light of recent executive orders by the new presidential administration.

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    Squire Patton Boggs Promotes 17 To Partnership

    Squire Patton Boggs LLP said Monday it has elevated 17 of its lawyers to partnership and three to principal across 13 of the firm's global offices.

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    Former Top San Francisco Judge Joins Signature Resolution

    Signature Resolution, the Southern California-based alternative dispute resolution service, is expanding its services in Northern California, announcing the opening of a San Francisco office and bringing in a former San Francisco Superior Court presiding judge as one of its neutrals.

  • Quinn Emanuel-Backed Clients Join Eaton Fire Litigation Fray

    Southern California Edison on Friday was hit with yet another lawsuit over the destructive Eaton Fire, this time by an Altadena family represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, the largest firm yet to get involved in the litigation.

  • 'I Shot Her To Death:' Video Shown Of Judge After Killing Wife

    Prosecutors showed a video to jurors Friday of a California judge at the police station following his arrest for shooting his wife, where he's seen sobbing, cursing and saying, "My son is going to hate me forever, and she's dead. I shot her to death."

  • California Justices Accept Court Reporter Shortage Case

    The California Supreme Court has accepted a case that aims to address the state's court reporter shortage by mandating the use of electronic recording when court reporters are unavailable.

  • 9th Circ. Revives Atty's Ownership Claims Over Calif. Winery

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Friday revived an attorney's ownership claims over a California winery, finding factual disputes over an alleged oral agreement with the winery's former owner require a trial, while also upholding a jury's verdict that found a breach fiduciary duty claim against the attorney that awarded no damages.

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    Psychedelic Law Community Copes With Industry Ego Death

    After emerging as a hot-ticket practice a few years ago, the psychedelic law sector has encountered some recent setbacks as progress toward loosening state and federal restrictions on mind-altering substances has stalled. But while several psychedelic boutiques have folded, attorneys say that the small community of lawyers passionate about this area of law aren't going anywhere.

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Law firm Davis Graham's handling of a suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on behalf of Denver Public Schools and Adams and Reese LLP's handling of a $495 million timber sale lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Feb. 7 to Feb. 21.

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    Paul Hastings Seeks To End GenapSys Malpractice Action

    Paul Hastings LLP has moved for summary judgment in a malpractice action from GenapSys Inc., saying the case is barred because the genomic sequencing company failed to disclose its possible claim until after confirmation of its bankruptcy plan.

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    WilmerHale Corporate Ace Joins DLA Piper In California

    DLA Piper has added a former WilmerHale attorney to strengthen its corporate practice, including bolstering its service to clients in the life sciences and healthcare industries.

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    Law Firms Chart New Leadership Paths In Changing Times

    As law firms grow larger and more tech-driven, law firm leaders are shifting their focus more on embracing technology, refining communication strategies and building stronger personal brands to guide their firms through changes, an upcoming white paper found.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Clement & Murphy PLLC, Ropes & Gray LLP, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the First Circuit determined that a major avenue for False Claims Act enforcement requires proof that kickbacks directly changed medical treatment decisions.

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    Jackson Lewis Adds Hopkins Carley Employment Pro In Calif.

    Labor and employment firm Jackson Lewis PC is bringing in a Hopkins Carley employment law veteran as a principal in its Silicon Valley office.

  • Latham Promotes 19 Counsel To Partner In US, Europe & Asia

    Less than three months after electing two dozen associates to the partnership, Latham & Watkins LLP said it has elevated 19 counsel from 14 offices around the world to partner, effective March 1.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    The legal industry marked another action-packed week with a bevy of BigLaw hires and a new special spring bonus. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • Judge's Son Concedes Misstatement To Police After Shooting

    The son of a California judge on trial for allegedly murdering his wife with a handgun acknowledged during cross-examination Thursday that he didn't see his father pull the gun out and aim it at the victim before firing, despite telling police otherwise.

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Expert Analysis

  • Resume Gaps Are No Longer Kryptonite To Your Legal Career Author Photo

    Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.

  • Law Firm Guardrails For Responsible Generative AI Use Author Photo

    ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools pose significant risks to the integrity of legal work, but the key for law firms is not to ban these tools, but to implement them responsibly and with appropriate safeguards, say Natalie Pierce and Stephanie Goutos at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Opinion

    We Must Continue DEI Efforts Despite High Court Headwinds Author Photo

    Though the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down affirmative action in higher education, law firms and their clients must keep up the legal industry’s recent momentum advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession in order to help achieve a just and prosperous society for all, says Angela Winfield at the Law School Admission Council.

  • Law Firms Cannot Ignore Attorneys' Personal Cybersecurity Author Photo

    Law firms that fail to consider their attorneys' online habits away from work are not using their best efforts to protect client information and are simplifying the job of plaintiffs attorneys in the case of a breach, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy and Protection.

  • Why Writing CLE Should Be Mandatory For Lawyers Author Photo

    Though effective writing is foundational to law, no state requires attorneys to take continuing legal education in this skill — something that must change if today's attorneys are to have the communication abilities they need to fulfill their professional and ethical duties to their clients, colleagues and courts, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona.

  • How To Find Your Inner Calm When Client Obligations Pile Up Author Photo

    In the most stressful times for attorneys, when several transactions for different partners and clients peak at the same time and the phone won’t stop buzzing, incremental lifestyle changes can truly make a difference, says Lindsey Hughes at Haynes Boone.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Support Gen Z Attorneys? Author Photo

    Meredith Beuchaw at Lowenstein Sandler discusses how senior attorneys can assist the newest generation of attorneys by championing their pursuit of a healthy work-life balance and providing the hands-on mentorship opportunities they missed out on during the pandemic.

  • Law Firm Cybersecurity Should Not Get Lost In The Cloud Author Photo

    A recent data leak at Proskauer via a cloud data storage platform demonstrates key reasons why law firms must pay attention to data safeguarding, including the increasing frequency of cloud-based data breaches and the consequences of breaking client confidentiality, says Robert Kraczek at One Identity.

  • Advice For Summer Associates Uneasy About Offer Prospects Author Photo

    There are a few communication tips that law students in summer associate programs should consider to put themselves in the best possible position to receive an offer, and firms can also take steps to support those to whom they are unable to make an offer, says Amy Mattock at Georgetown University Law Center.

  • How Law Firms Can Cautiously Wield AI To Streamline Tasks Author Photo

    Many attorneys are going to use artificial intelligence tools whether law firms like it or not, so firms should educate them on AI's benefits, limits and practical uses, such as drafting legal documents, to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving legal market, say Thomas Schultz and Eden Bernstein at Kellogg Hansen.

  • Keys To Managing The Stresses Of Law School Author Photo

    Dealing with the pressures associated with law school can prove difficult for many future lawyers, but there are steps students can take to manage stress — and schools can help too, say Ryan Zajic and Dr. Janani Krishnaswami at UWorld.

  • Can Mandatory CLE Mitigate Implicit Bias's Negative Impacts? Author Photo

    Amid ongoing disagreements on whether states should mandate implicit bias training as part of attorneys' continuing legal education requirements, Stephanie Wilson at Reed Smith looks at how unconscious attitudes or stereotypes adversely affect legal practice, and whether mandatory training programs can help.

  • Ditch The Frills And Start Writing Legal Letters In Plain English Author Photo

    To become more effective advocates, lawyers need to rethink the ridiculous, convoluted language they use in correspondence and write letters in a clear, concise and direct manner, says legal writing instructor Stuart Teicher.

  • 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.

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