California Pulse


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    Proskauer Lands Globetrotting Private Funds Atty In LA

    Proskauer Rose LLP announced Tuesday that it has brought on a former Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP partner in its private funds group in Los Angeles.

  • Calif. Firm Accused Of Withholding Fees From Dying Partner

    The wife of a late Carpenter & Zuckerman LLP partner says the firm withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from her husband before he died of cancer, claiming he spent his final months "pleading for funds" and living in "constant fear" that he would die without securing financial security for his family.

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    Orrick Partner Jumps To Pillsbury IP Team In LA

    A longtime Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP partner has joined the Los Angeles office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, bringing years of experience in intellectual property litigation and expertise in the Copyright Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  • Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

    Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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    Davis Polk Lands Skadden's LA Leader To Launch New Office

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is opening an office in Los Angeles and is bringing on the former leader of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's office in the city.

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    Reed Smith Adds Private Equity Partner In LA

    A corporate attorney specializing in private equity transactions has moved his practice to Reed Smith LLP's Century City, Los Angeles, office after nearly three years with Winston & Strawn LLP.

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    Alston & Bird Adds Winston & Strawn IP Leaders In NY, SF

    Alston & Bird announced Monday that it has added three new partners to its IP litigation group, luring two leaders from Winston & Strawn LLP.

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    Women Lag In BigLaw Tech Leadership, Except For One Role

    The percentage of women holding tech-focused C-suite positions at the largest U.S. law firms is just under 20%, though women hold parity in roles centered on innovation, a Law360 Pulse analysis found.

  • Winery's Ex-Lawyer Has No Rights To Wine Brand, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has entered judgment in a battle between a Napa Valley winery and an attorney who had worked with it, ruling that the attorney had no rights to the trademark on the high-end RBS wine brand.

  • California High Court Rejects Dunn's Bid To Nix Suspension

    The California Supreme Court has declined to review a California State Bar decision to impose a one-year stayed suspension on former State Bar executive Joseph Dunn.

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    Grindr CLO Saw Compensation Surpass $6M In 2025

    Grindr's chief legal officer received roughly $6.1 million in compensation for 2025, up about $1.3 million from the prior year due to an increase in stock awards, a public securities filing says.

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    Data Center Boom Unites Wide-Ranging Practice Areas

    As the legal industry vies to take advantage of the trillions of dollars of investment on the horizon for data center development, a range of law firms have formed multidisciplinary groups that can handle various aspects of the projects, from real estate and energy to finance and regulatory work.

  • Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California federal jury cleared Armistice Capital and two of its executives of class action claims that it pumped and dumped $250 million in Vaxart stock during the COVID-19 pandemic and violated federal securities law with insider trading.

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    EBay Legal Chief Gets $8.4M In Compensation In 2025

    The chief legal officer of eBay Inc. received roughly $8.4 million in compensation for 2025, her first full year in the post, according to a public filing.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    Insights on 2026 law firm performance and BigLaw firm efforts to expand practice offerings made this another action-packed week for the legal industry. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • Cannabis Dispute Ends With Plaintiff Co. Facing $1.34M Default

    A California state court snuffed out a Los Angeles cannabis company's fraud lawsuit against its investors and landlords, which were accused of stealing $40 million and wrecking its cannabis license, opening the door for the ex-business partners to score a $1.34 million default judgment.

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    Choice Of Trump's Attys For Bench Worries Some, Not Others

    President Donald Trump is drawing from a pool of his own personal lawyers to fill some seats on the federal bench — a change in strategy from his first term that some experts say is unremarkable, but that others worry will undermine the legitimacy of the courts.

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    This CLO Shifts Mindsets About AI From 'Fear To Innovation'

    When Ali Hartley introduced AI to her team members at electronic health record platform SimplePractice, she asked them to create a cafe menu using AI in less than 30 minutes. She wanted the exercise to show her employees — who at the time ranged from former software coders to people who had never experimented with ChatGPT — that AI can serve as a creative and innovative partner.

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    Buchalter Adds Engineer Turned Patent Atty From Mintz

    Buchalter PC announced Wednesday that it has welcomed an engineer-turned-lawyer to its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, touting her long-standing experience as a patent litigator and registered patent attorney.

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    Law Firm Real Estate Report

    An active April saw several law firms around the country expand their footprints into new markets and move their teams into new spaces.

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    Sheppard Adds 15 Perkins Trial Attys As It Targets IP Growth

    Sheppard announced another major addition to its intellectual property practice on Thursday, welcoming a 15-lawyer litigation team from Perkins Coie that includes five partners.

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    Why A Mid-Law Firm Went All In On One E-Discovery Platform

    Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP selected CS Disco as its preferred provider for e-discovery technology, the mid-sized law firm confirmed exclusively to Law360 Pulse on Thursday.

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    Demand Rebound, Rising Rates Fuel BigLaw Revenue Jump

    BigLaw firms had a strong first quarter of 2026, driven by ever-increasing billing rates and higher-than-expected demand for legal services, according to survey results released Wednesday.

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    Life After BigLaw: These Attys Found Freedom At Boutiques

    Former BigLaw attorneys who are now practicing at boutiques are grateful for their experiences at those large law companies, but they are finding a small law arrangement gives them more control over their practices.

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    Epport Richman Litigator Joins Fox Rothschild In LA

    Fox Rothschild LLP announced Wednesday it has added a Los Angeles-based partner from Epport Richman & Robbins LLP to its litigation department, touting his experience representing corporate clients in commercial disputes, corporate governance lawsuits and securities litigation.

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Expert Analysis

  • The Augmented Lawyer: AI Exercises For Junior Attorneys Author Photo

    As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly adept at handling entry-level legal tasks, firms and organizations must consider new ways to train and mentor junior attorneys to prepare them for leadership in an AI-integrated profession, say attorneys at KXT Law.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Embrace LinkedIn Author Photo

    Attorneys who recognize LinkedIn as a powerful professional platform can gain significant competitive advantages in business development via strategic content creation, meaningful industry discussions and consistent visibility within target markets, says Agatha Mouillet at Horvitz & Levy.

  • Guidance For Attorneys As Tariffs Reshape Legal Hiring Author Photo

    As law firms and in-house legal departments grapple with the uncertainty of evolving tariff policies, attorneys at all career stages should consider how to lean into these shifts to best position themselves for long-term opportunities, says Rena Barnett-Matthews at Attorney Career Coach.

  • How Firms Can Plan For Succession Of Admin Professionals Author Photo

    Many law firms are familiar with the need for attorney succession plans, but it’s also essential to plan for the succession of administrative professionals — from human resources personnel to finance leaders — to ensure continuity of critical day-to-day operations, say Eryn Carter and Travis Armstrong at the Association of Legal Administrators.

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    Expanding The Reach Of A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    I co-founded the Legal Mentor Network with the goal of providing free legal mentoring to law students and early career attorneys, and the experience has highlighted how nonprofits can grow with the help of strong sponsorships and volunteers who all operate from a positive place, says Chrystal Mauro at the Legal Mentor Network.

  • How 1Ls Can Plan For Sped-Up Summer Associate Hiring Author Photo

    The ever-earlier recruiting of summer associates sets high stakes before new law students may even realize, but 1Ls can better land a good 2L summer fit if they hit their first semester focused on the hiring timeline and ready to ask important questions about their would-be firms, says Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

  • How GCs Can Help Build A Geopolitical Command Center Author Photo

    In the face of sustained regulatory and economic uncertainty, general counsel can help businesses move from reactive to proactive management by building a clear, cross-functional geopolitical command center that monitors and coordinates responses to a wide spectrum of issues, says Lars Faeste at FTI Consulting.

  • For Some Lawyers, Building A New Practice Makes Perfect Author Photo

    Leaving an established law firm to start a boutique business of your own requires not only vision and resilience but also a solid business plan to help mitigate risks and increase your chances of unparalleled personal and professional success, says Rebecca Palmer at the Rebecca L. Palmer Law Group.

  • Beyond Billable Hours: The Unseen Labor Of Women In Law Author Photo

    The legal profession has a critical role to play in reducing attrition of women lawyers by addressing the disproportionate burden of the mental load — the often-unseen work of managing tasks and anticipating needs in both personal and professional realms, says Michelle Browning-Coughlin at Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law.

  • 10 Key Strategies For Successful Lateral Partner Integration Author Photo

    To help ensure new partners and practice groups are successfully integrated, firms should embrace specific structured practices that recognize each lateral's distinct value, personalize their integration plans and proactively address transition complexities long after onboarding ends, say Elizabeth Kennedy at NewEdge BD and Erika Steinberg at CMO2Go.

  • How Firms Can Manage DEI Commitments Amid Headwinds Author Photo

    By recalibrating how they structure and communicate their inclusion efforts, law firms can reduce legal exposure and preserve their values, says Angela Vallot at VallotKarp Consulting.

  • Key Ingredients For Effective Law Firm Strategic Planning Author Photo

    As the legal industry faces political turmoil and economic uncertainty, the time is ripe for firms to revisit their strategic plans, ensuring they contain a few essential elements — from accountability systems to broad-based input — to achieve sustainable growth and profitability, says Joe Calve at Calve Communications.

  • AI-Powered Biz Development Can Democratize Rainmaking Author Photo

    As fluency in artificial intelligence becomes a competitive imperative in the legal industry, the next generation of rainmakers likely won’t be defined by their Rolodexes or club memberships, but by their ability to leverage AI business development tools effectively, says Jessica Aries at By Aries.

  • How Law Students Can Effectively Use AI In Their Job Search Author Photo

    Law students can use artificial intelligence tools strategically throughout the job application process to review materials, prepare for interviews and navigate employers’ use of similar tools, but there are several key missteps they should be careful to avoid, says Lauren Wong at University of San Diego School of Law.

  • An After-Placement Plan Maximizes Legal Content's Potential Author Photo

    Before landing a published quote, feature or interview, law firms should articulate the content’s purpose and develop a strategic plan for repurposing it to ensure they’re aligning public relations efforts with measurable business outcomes, says John Hellerman at Hellerman Communications.

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