California Pulse


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    Procopio Adds Stubbs Alderton Atty In Southern California

    Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP continues growing its Southern California team, bringing in a Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP corporate attorney as a partner in its Orange County office in Irvine.  

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    Nonprofits, Not BigLaw, Lead Legal Challenges To Trump

    Public interest groups are handling a majority of the lawsuits filed against the second Trump administration, while most large firms remain on the sidelines, according to a review by Law360 of more than 400 lawsuits filed in the first year of Trump's second term.  

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    Robins Kaplan Name Partner Shaped Trial Firm's Identity

    Elliot Kaplan, a name partner at Robins Kaplan LLP who died this month after more than six decades with the firm, is being remembered for helping to build it into a national trial firm while also maintaining a jovial personality that endeared him to clients.

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    Data Center Power Co. Names GC To Oversee Real Estate

    Data center infrastructure company Crusoe Inc. said Wednesday that it has added the managing partner of a boutique California business law firm as its general counsel.

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    Crowell & Moring Atty Named CLO For Agentic AI Defense Co.

    Vannevar, a company that builds artificial intelligence agents for national security missions, has hired an experienced government contracts attorney from Crowell & Moring LLP as its legal leader.

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    Baker Botts' Record Hiring Builds On Strengths, Leader Says

    With the 2025 addition of the most lateral partners in a single year in firm history, Baker Botts LLP is pursuing a strategy its leader said is designed to build "strength on strength" and bulk up practice areas where the firm has "true market edge."

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    From Judge To Neutral: Losing Power Of 'Robe,' Gaining Time

    In this first of a two-part series, 10 former California federal and state judges discuss their adjustment from the bench to working as neutrals, a transition that comes with losing the prestige of the "robe" but provides more time for cases.

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    Sony Pictures Elevates Atty Who Led CBS Litigation

    Sony Pictures Entertainment has promoted one of its in-house attorneys, who recently drove the litigation behind the settlement with CBS regarding the syndicated distribution of "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," to executive vice president of global litigation, the entertainment giant exclusively told Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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    Cozen O'Connor Brings On Ex-Federal Prosecutor In LA

    Cozen O'Connor is expanding its West Coast team, bringing in a former assistant U.S. attorney as a member in its Los Angeles area offices.

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    LA Judge Faces Ethics Probe Over 'Bizarre' Comments

    California's judicial ethics watchdog announced Tuesday it is looking into misconduct allegations against a Los Angeles judge whose "extreme and bizarre" comments led a state appeals court to reverse a $10 million sexual harassment verdict.

  • Lyft's 'Priority Pickup' Service Fails to Deliver, Suit Says

    Lyft tells passengers they can get a faster pickup for a premium price but frequently fails to deliver on that promise, a customer says in a proposed consumer class action filed Tuesday in California federal court.

  • Willkie Accused Of Aiding $735M Fraud In Buyout Deal

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP on Tuesday was accused of aiding a $735 million fraud carried out by an investment manager to secure financing for a 2023 take-private transaction involving Franchise Group Inc., which was then used to pay off the manager's personal debts.

  • Orrick Expands IP Team With Cadwalader, Kirkland Litigators

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has beefed up its intellectual property litigation team with three new partners experienced in counseling technology and life sciences clients, adding two former Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP litigators in New York and a former Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner in Los Angeles.

  • Plaintiffs Atty Who Disclosed Uber MDL Docs On 'Thin Ice'

    A California federal magistrate judge warned plaintiffs attorney Bret Stanley of Johnson Law Group during a hearing Tuesday that he's on "thin ice" after Uber argued he should be sanctioned for allegedly repeatedly using discovery in multidistrict litigation over sexual assault liability to litigate other cases against Uber.

  • Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 48 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, achieving milestones such as high-profile litigation wins at the U.S. Supreme Court and 11-figure merger deals.

  • 9th Circ. Revives Malpractice Suit Against Bankruptcy Atty

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday reinstated a California woman's malpractice lawsuit against her bankruptcy attorney, but said the bankruptcy court needs to significantly narrow the permission to sue it granted to the debtor.

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    Stranch Jennings Opens In Calif. With Bleichmar Fonti Team

    Nashville-based firm Stranch Jennings & Garvey PLLC has launched an office in Oakland, California, with a nine-attorney team from another plaintiffs' class action firm, Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP.

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    Massumi & Consoli Lands M&A Pro In Los Angeles

    Massumi & Consoli LLP announced Monday that it has added an attorney who previously operated his own talent management business for athletes and also spent time at Paul Hastings LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP to enhance its capacity to handle mergers and acquisitions.

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    Womble Bond's Consumer Finance Team Eyes Growth

    Womble Bond Dickinson has added a 36-person consumer financial services team from McGlinchey Stafford PLLC led by Cleveland partner Mark Edelman. Law360 Pulse talked with Edelman about why his team made the move.

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    Private Equity Eyes Legal Field As Alternative Paths Open Up

    This could be the year that private equity finally cracks the ramparts of the U.S. legal sector, as the rise of alternative business structure programs and managed services organizations chip away at the long-standing ban on nonlawyer ownership of law firms.

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    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2025, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • Littler Adds Epstein Becker Employment Litigator In Calif.

    Littler Mendelson PC announced that an attorney from Epstein Becker Green is joining its Century City, California, office as a shareholder, bringing a wealth of experience in employment law. 

  • Calif. Atty Wins Fee Appeal In Dispute With Ex-Firm

    A California appellate panel on Thursday approved an attorney fee award for a lawyer in dispute with his former firm but also denied that attorney's attempt to get attorney fees for a post-arbitration hearing.

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    Boutiques Loomed Large In Latest Bonus Season

    Sometimes referred to as the BigLaw bonus scale, year-end associate bonuses of more than $100,000 have included prestigious boutique law firms in recent years, with a notable outpouring of large bonuses among such firms in 2025, an analysis of data compiled by Law360 Pulse shows.

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Kellogg Hansen's handling of an antitrust suit against Google and Choate's work on a $215 million acquisition of a medical device maker lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight on Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Jan. 2 to 16.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

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    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.

  • For The Future Of Legal Practice, Let's Learn From The Past Author Photo

    At some level, every practicing lawyer is experiencing the ever-increasing speed of change — and while some practice management processes have gotten more efficient, other things about the legal profession were better before supposed improvements were made, says Jay Silberblatt, president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

  • Why All Law Firms Should Foster Psychological Capital Author Photo

    Law firms will be able to reap great long-term benefits if they adopt strategies to nurture four critical components of their employees' psychological wellness and performance — hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, says Dennis Stolle at the American Psychological Association.

  • A GC's Guide To Litigation, Inspired By Sun Tzu's 'Art Of War' Author Photo

    With caseloads and spending increasing, in-house counsel might find themselves called to opine on the risks and benefits of litigation more often, and they should look at five Sun Tzu maxims from the ancient Chinese classic "The Art of War" to inform their approach to any suit, says Jeff Golimowski at Womble Bond.

  • Mentorship Is Key To Diversity In The Legal Industry Author Photo

    Not only can effective mentorship have a profound impact on women and people of color entering the legal field, but it also benefits mentors and the legal profession as a whole, creating a true win-win situation for all involved, says Natasha Cortes at Grossman Roth.

  • ChatGPT Is A Cool Trick, But AI Won't Replace Lawyers Author Photo

    Generative AI applications like ChatGPT are unlikely to ever replace attorneys for a variety of practical reasons — but given their practice-enhancing capabilities, lawyers who fail to leverage these tools may be rendered obsolete, says Eran Kahana at Maslon.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Valuable In IP And Continued Learning Author Photo

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent elimination of a rule that partially counted pro bono work toward continuing legal education highlights the importance of volunteer work in intellectual property practice and its ties to CLE, and puts a valuable tool for hands-on attorney education in the hands of the states, say Lisa Holubar and Ariel Katz at Irwin.

  • Increasing Public Access To Legal Services: A Practical Plan Author Photo

    Recommendations recently issued by a special committee of the Florida Bar represent a realistic, pragmatic approach to increasing the accessibility and affordability of legal services, at a time when the disconnect between the legal profession and the public at large has widened considerably, says Gary Lesser, president of the Florida Bar.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Relay Shortcomings To Associates? Author Photo

    Michael Cohen at Duane Morris discusses the best ways to articulate how an associate is not meeting expectations, and why documentation of performance management is crucial for their growth and protecting the firm from discrimination suits.

  • 10 Principles For Effective Partner Reward Systems Author Photo

    Several forces are reshaping partners’ expectations about profit-sharing, and as compensation structures evolve in response, firms should keep certain fundamentals in mind to build a successful partner reward system, say Michael Roch at MHPR Advisors and Ray D'Cruz at Performance Leader.

  • Why Interdisciplinarity Is Key To Designing The Future Of Law Author Photo

    The legal profession faces challenges that urgently demand new solutions, and lawyers and firms can address this by leaning on other industries that have more experience practicing, teaching and incorporating innovation into their core business and service models, says Jennifer Leonard at the University of Pennsylvania.

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