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California Pulse


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    With More Rainmakers On The Go, Firms Pay Them Millions

    Amid a growing gap between the most profitable BigLaw shops and everyone else, top law firms can afford to pay a lot more to lure rainmakers and their practices.

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    Sheppard Mullin Adds Trial Pros From Venable, Kasowitz

    Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP announced Tuesday that it has bolstered its business trial practice group with a partner in Houston who arrived from Kasowitz LLP and a partner in Los Angeles who came aboard from Venable LLP.

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    Buchalter Adds Ex-Carlton Fields Attys To LA Office

    Buchalter has hired two former Carlton Fields attorneys as shareholders for its corporate team in Los Angeles, and one of the announced hires is returning to the firm after almost 30 years.

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    Perkins Coie Grows Litigation Group With Ex-Calif. Deputy SG

    Perkins Coie LLP has continued expanding its litigation team with former state and federal prosecutors, announcing Monday it is bringing in the former deputy solicitor general of California as a partner in its San Diego office.

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    AI Startup Anthropic Picks Legal Legend As GC

    Anthropic, a multibillion-dollar AI startup and public benefit corporation focused on safety, has hired a much-honored California attorney who was special counsel to former President Barack Obama, a corporate chief legal officer and a law clerk to late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

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    PierFerd Co-Founder Talks Hitting 250-Atty Milestone

    A little over a year and a half after launching the firm with commitments from 130 attorneys leaving FisherBroyles, Pierson Ferdinand LLP has reached 250 attorneys, with the founders saying the firm plans to keep growing.

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    Davis Polk Picks Up White & Case Finance Atty In Calif.

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP announced Monday that it has added a former White & Case LLP debt finance partner to its Northern California office.

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    Ballooning BigLaw Rates Create Opportunities For Mid-Law

    Some midsize, regional and boutique firms are using their lower rates to attract both clients and lateral attorneys against the backdrop of spiraling BigLaw rates, though there are definite limits to the strategy.

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    Elite Deal Partners Command Rates That Soar Above Peers

    Lawyers who orchestrate massive transactions make up the lion's share of attorneys charging top-tier rates that have broken far away from average billing rates for law firm partners in recent years, experts say.  

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Wiley Rein LLP's work on a $3.65 billion telecommunications merger and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC's pursuit of privacy claims against a health and wellness app lead this edition of À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Aug. 8 to 22. 

  • Judge Can't Become Public Defender After Not Practicing Law

    A California state appellate panel has ruled that a sitting superior court judge is ineligible to serve as public defender because he had not been a practicing attorney in the state's courts for the year before he sought the appointment.

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Jackson Lewis PC lead this week's edition of À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ Legal Lions, after the Fifth Circuit upheld injunctions barring the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies.

  • Jay-Z Aims To Keep Buzbee Suit Alive After Losing Other Case

    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee's request to shut down a federal lawsuit in Alabama based on a state trial court's dismissal of a different action in California related to sexual abuse allegations connected to Sean "Diddy" Combs is a "desperate attempt to evade accountability," rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter has argued.

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    Ex-Calif. Judge Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Court Staffer

    A former California Superior Court judge has been charged with sexually assaulting a court employee and seeking to cover up that purported incident and another alleged assault, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

  • Voir Dire: À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as U.S. firms expanded their practice offerings with new talent across the country. Test your legal news savvy here with À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    DLA Piper Adds Wilson Sonsini Emerging Growth Ace In SF

    DLA Piper is boosting its West Coast corporate team, bringing in a Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC emerging growth specialist as a partner in its San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices.

  • 9th Circ. Dissenters Rip Judge's 'Weaponization Of Sanctions'

    A half-dozen Ninth Circuit judges Thursday denounced six-figure sanctions against attorneys for prominent politicians challenging Arizona election procedures, accusing a lower court of "twisting and contorting" allegations in order to punish lawyers "based on the nature of the complaint and the clients that they represented."

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    OnlyFans Flags Bogus Citations In RICO Fraud Suit

    Attorneys for a proposed class of OnlyFans subscribers alleging racketeering by the company notified a California federal judge Thursday that they would be seeking permission to fix earlier filings found to have errors created by artificial intelligence, days after the web platform's parent company notified the court of the citation errors.

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    California Bar Board Of Trustees Gets 1st Nonattorney Chair

    The California Supreme Court announced Thursday that for the first time ever, a nonattorney will lead the State Bar of California's Board of Trustees starting Sept. 19.

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    Odell Beckham Wants Attys Sanctioned In Diddy Assault Suit

    NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. is looking to sanction attorneys representing a woman accusing him in California federal court of participating in a Bay Area gang rape alongside rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs, claiming the allegations are frivolous and the attorneys willfully ignored available evidence in making them.

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    Greenberg Traurig Adds Goodwin Real Estate Ace In SF

    Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in a Goodwin Procter LLP real estate transactions expert as a shareholder in its San Francisco office.

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    Most Lawyers Feel Prepared To Meet Clients' AI Expectations

    The majority of surveyed attorneys feel ready to meet client demands regarding artificial intelligence, according to survey results released Thursday by legal professionals network Best Lawyers.

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    Loeb & Loeb Adds Allen Matkins Employment Atty In SF

    Loeb & Loeb LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in an Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP employment litigator as a partner in its San Francisco office.

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    Unlawful Law Practice Reforms Needed To Account For AI

    State bar associations and state supreme courts have to reimagine the rules governing the unauthorized practice of law if artificial intelligence is going to help close the justice gap, according to a new paper out Wednesday.

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    King & Spalding Adds 2 More Former Goodwin Litigators

    Two California attorneys who were key players in the legal dispute between the Winklevoss twins and Mark Zuckerberg over the origin of Facebook are reportedly the latest intellectual property litigators to exit Goodwin Procter LLP for King & Spalding LLP.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 5 Life Lessons From Making Partner As A Solo Parent Author Photo

    Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Turn Deferral To My Advantage? Author Photo

    Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.

  • 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.

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