California Pulse

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    As Debt Rises, New Grads More Likely To Pick Law Firm Jobs

    More than half of recent law school graduates are choosing jobs at law firms, an uptick from recent years, and some students and administrators say there’s a simple reason: mounting student loan debt.

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    Sullivan & Cromwell Latest Firm To Launch Global AI Practice

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP announced Thursday that it has launched an artificial intelligence practice to help clients address complicated legal questions surrounding the new technology and its adoption in the workplace, naming partners based on both U.S. coasts and in London as its new practice leaders.

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    Judicate West Adds Former California Federal Judge

    The alternative dispute resolution service Judicate West is expanding its roster of neutrals, bringing in a recently retired Southern District of California federal judge to act as a mediator.

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    ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

    It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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    ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

    An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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    Skadden Taps SoFi Bank, Shearman Attys For Co-Lead Roles

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has hired two new co-leaders of its financial institutions regulatory group to advise banks, financial institutions and other market participants on regulatory and legislative developments, the firm announced Wednesday.

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    DLA Piper Taps Danske Bank Officer For New AI Leader Role

    Global law firm DLA Piper has brought on the former group chief data officer for Danske Bank A/S — Denmark's largest bank — as its inaugural chief data and artificial intelligence officer, making it the latest BigLaw firm to have created an AI-related leader role to focus on the emerging technology.

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    These Law Schools Are The Tops For BigLaw

    The law schools at Georgetown, Harvard and Columbia are renowned for effectively serving as training grounds for BigLaw. But while they may consistently send the most graduates, other law schools are sending a higher percentage of their grads to larger firms.

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    Top Law Schools For Legal Industry Careers: By The Numbers

    Despite a growing interest in alternative career paths, most law students still gravitate towards joining private law firms, according to the American Bar Association's latest data. Find out which schools came out on top for job placements in BigLaw, federal and state court clerkships, public interest and more.

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    The Law School Legal Industry Job Tracker: Class Of 2023

    Want to know which schools are sending the highest percentage of graduates to BigLaw? How big a slice are landing those prized clerkships in federal or state courts? Explore the ins and outs of law school graduate placement in our interactive graphic.

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    How In-House Leaders Are Deploying Generative AI

    Corporate legal department leaders are using and planning to use generative artificial intelligence to automate legal tasks, manage contracts and eliminate duplicate data, panelists said at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's annual conference in Las Vegas.

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    Atty's GC Role Helps Her Fulfill Her Childhood Dream

    At the age of 9, Hazel-Ann Mayers decided she would become a lawyer because she wanted to help people — and she never thought about any other career. She shared with Law360 Pulse how she has lived out her childhood dream, most recently as general counsel at the education technology company Turnitin.

  • Nossaman Gains 2 Benefits Partners In Los Angeles, Texas

    Nossaman LLP is expanding its pensions team, bringing in a Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP benefits expert as a partner in its Los Angeles office and a Texas Municipal Retirement System pension pro as a partner in its Austin, Texas, office.

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    Steptoe Adds SEC Enforcement Head From Miller & Chevalier

    Steptoe LLP has hired a former Miller & Chevalier Chtd. member, who joins the firm to lead its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement practice in the firm's Washington and New York offices.

  • Calif. Panel Says Court Could Undo Order Disqualifying Attys

    A California trial court correctly reconsidered its earlier ruling on a truck body manufacturer's bid to disqualify a workers' side firm from a wage and hour suit, a state appellate panel said, ruling that a temporary missing document led the court in the wrong direction.

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    Reed Smith Hires Epiq Exec As 1st Director Of Applied AI

    Reed Smith LLP has hired legal technology company Epiq's managing director of applied artificial intelligence to serve as its first director of applied AI, the firm said Tuesday.

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    Ferguson Braswell Adds 4 Attys In Calif.

    Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC, which now goes by the name FBFK Law Firm, is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in four new attorneys — three of whom come from Hall Griffin LLP — to join its Orange County office.

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    FordHarrison Taps Longtime Atty As New General Counsel

    FordHarrison LLP tapped an Atlanta partner who has spent her entire career at the management-side labor and employment law firm to serve as its next general counsel.

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    Why BigLaw Is Gutting Midsize Firms' Transaction Practices

    Midsize law firms have been getting pummeled lately as large law firms position themselves to take on transactional work in a warming mergers and acquisitions market, in some cases hiring away groups that make up 10% or more of the lawyers at their previous firms.

  • Amazon Blasts Writer's Ownership Claim Over New 'Road House'

    Amazon Studios and others involved in the 2024 remake of 1989's "Road House" movie told a California federal court that the writer behind the original film who is suing for copyright infringement does not own the rights to the script for the original.

  • Elevate Services Acquires Language Support Co. CJK Group

    The software-powered legal services company Elevate Services Inc. announced Tuesday that it has acquired the CJK Group, a discovery service for non-English-language environments.

  • Docusign Agrees To $165M Lexion Deal To Bolster AI Potential

    Docusign has agreed to acquire the artificial intelligence-powered contract and agreement management software company DocuSmart Inc., better known as Lexion, for $165 million in cash.

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    Sidley Brings On Wilson Sonsini Employment Pro In Palo Alto

    Sidley Austin LLP has boosted its labor and employment practice with a partner joining from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC who boasts more than a decade of experience handling employment-related matters in Silicon Valley.

  • Workday Defeats In-House Atty's Bias Suit, For Now

    A California magistrate judge on Monday dismissed, for now, a lawsuit by a Workday Inc. in-house attorney who accused the company of discriminatory and retaliatory behavior, which included pay inequities and calling the police to conduct an unnecessary wellness check at his house when he was hospitalized. 

  • Berkeley Law Faces Claims Over Anti-Israel Student Protests

    A group of Jewish advocacy organizations suing the University of California, Berkeley, and its law school since November for purportedly tolerating antisemitism on campus have amended their complaint to add allegations stemming from recent campus protests, including an allegedly antisemitic campaign against the law school's dean.

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Expert Analysis

  • A Call For Personal Accountability On Diversity And Inclusion Author Photo

    While chief legal officers are increasingly involved in creating corporate diversity, inclusion and anti-bigotry policies, all lawyers have a responsibility to be discrimination busters and bias interrupters regardless of the title they hold, says Veta T. Richardson at the Association of Corporate Counsel.

  • Learning How To Code Can Unleash New Potential In Lawyers Author Photo

    Every lawyer can begin incorporating aspects of software development in their day-to-day practice with little to no changes in their existing tools or workflow, and legal organizations that take steps to encourage this exploration of programming can transform into tech incubators, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Supporting Associates Amid Pandemic's Mental Health Toll Author Photo

    As junior associates increasingly report burnout, work-life conflict and loneliness during the pandemic, law firms should take tangible actions to reduce the stigma around seeking help, and to model desired well-being behaviors from the top down, say Stacey Whiteley at the New York State Bar Association and Robin Belleau at Kirkland.

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    Ask A Mentor: Should My Law Firm Take On An Apprentice? Author Photo

    Mentoring a law student who is preparing for the bar exam without attending law school is an arduous process that is not for everyone, but there are also several benefits for law firms hosting apprenticeship programs, says Jessica Jackson, the lawyer guiding Kim Kardashian West's legal education.

  • The Importance Of Client Engagement In Law Firm Innovation Author Photo

    As clients increasingly want law firms to serve as innovation platforms, firms must understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach — the key is a nimble innovation function focused on listening and knowledge sharing, says Mark Brennan at Hogan Lovells.

  • The Unique Challenges Facing Women-Owned Law Firms Author Photo

    In addition to establishing their brand from scratch, women who start their own law firms must overcome inherent bias against female lawyers and convince prospective clients to put aside big-firm preferences, says Joel Stern at the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.

  • The Pursuit Of Wellness In BigLaw: Lessons From My Journey Author Photo

    Jane Jeong at Cooley shares how grueling BigLaw schedules and her own perfectionism emotionally bankrupted her, and why attorneys struggling with burnout should consider making small changes to everyday habits.

  • Why We Must Recruit And Advance More Black Prosecutors Author Photo

    Black Americans make up a disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated population but are underrepresented among elected prosecutors, so the legal community — from law schools to prosecutor offices — must commit to addressing these disappointing demographics, says Erika Gilliam-Booker at the National Black Prosecutors Association.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can Associates Deal With Overload? Author Photo

    Young lawyers overwhelmed with a crushing workload must tackle the problem on two fronts — learning how to say no, and understanding how to break down projects into manageable parts, says Jay Harrington at Harrington Communications.

  • A Scientific Path For Improving Diversity At Law Firms Author Photo

    Law firms could combine industrial organizational psychology and machine learning to study prospective hires' analytical thinking, stress response and similar attributes — which could lead to recruiting from a more diverse candidate pool, say Ali Shahidi and Bess Sully at Sheppard Mullin.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can Associates Seek More Assignments? Author Photo

    In the first installment of Law360 Pulse's career advice guest column, Meela Gill at Weil offers insights on how associates can ask for meaningful work opportunities at their firms without sounding like they are begging. 

  • Legal Sector Regulatory Reform Is Key To Closing Justice Gap Author Photo

    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.

  • How Attys Can Guard Against Rising Settle-And-Sue Claims Author Photo

    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.

  • What I Learned As A Virtual Summer Associate Author Photo

    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.

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