California Pulse


  • How Leaderboard Firms Define Success

    The 2025 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard law firms are balancing business strength with social responsibility, global reach with local impact, and the ability to lead complex matters while meeting clients' evolving needs. Law360 caught up with firm leaders from this year’s Leaderboard to discuss what success looks like, and how they are positioning their firms for the future.

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    The 2025 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard

    Check out the Law360 Pulse Leaderboard to see which firms are leaders in all-around excellence this year.

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    These Firms Top The 2025 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard

    What makes a law firm stand out in a crowded field of top-tier competitors? What does it take to be a well-rounded firm? Presenting the 2025 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard — showcasing the firms that demonstrate excellence on measures of prestige, responsible business practices, and the reach of their legal work.

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    The Litigation Reach Of The 100 Practice Footprint Firms

    The top 100 firms on Law360's 2025 Practice Footprint ranking have left a clear mark across federal district courts. Our interactive map shows where each firm has appeared in district court cases over the past three years — revealing the breadth of each firm's national reach.

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    The 2025 Practice Footprint Ranking: How Firms Stack Up

    These 100 firms stand out for their impressive litigation footprints and transactions work. See who's leading the pack across four categories: variety of cases, range of jurisdictions, closing large merger and acquisition deals, and handling registered offerings.

  • Robinhood User Attys Forgo Fee Over 'Unusually High' Costs

    Attorneys representing Robinhood users said they will forgo fees after racking up "unusually high" costs brokering the $2 million settlement of a consolidated class action alleging the investing platform failed to disclose financial interests, affecting how customers' orders were handled.

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    Gordon Rees Adds Clark Hill Litigator In Sacramento

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP is expanding its West Coast team, bringing in a Clark Hill PLC litigator as a partner in its Sacramento office.

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    Fired DOJ Attys' Suits May Test Gov't Workers' Protections

    Two lawsuits from fired U.S. Department of Justice attorneys may set the U.S. Supreme Court up to decide between presidential authority and civil service job protections, giving the justices an "unprecedented" chance to reassess the nearly 50-year-old safeguards for lower-ranking government workers.

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    Morgan & Morgan's New Marketing Head Talks Legal Ads

    Personal injury juggernaut Morgan & Morgan PA has hired a new chief marketing officer who comes aboard from Geico to oversee Morgan & Morgan's national advertising efforts, with ambitions to help the firm shake up legal advertising and reach consumers with a message that resonates at a time when institutional trust is low.

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    Cleary Adds 20 Partners In Record-Breaking Promotion Round

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP said Monday it has promoted 32 senior lawyers, the largest crop in the firm's history, including 20 new partners, 11 counsel and one senior attorney.

  • Edelson Looks To Drop Claims Against Ex-Girardi Keese Attys

    Edelson PC has signaled plans to drop civil claims it lodged against two former Girardi Keese attorneys over Tom Girardi's theft of millions from clients, but the Illinois federal judge handling the case said Friday that he wants to discuss the firm's filing.

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    Calif. Justices Reject Plan To Wipe Atty Discipline Records

    California's high court has rejected a proposal that would have imposed a one-time automatic expungement of attorney discipline records in what the state bar hoped would be a "means of redressing historical racial disparities in discipline." 

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    Newly Merged McDermott Will & Schulte Promotes 74 Attys

    Recently merged international law firm McDermott Will & Schulte announced Friday that it has elevated 74 attorneys to partner and 13 to counsel, marking the largest class in the firm's history.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Hecht Partners LLP, Hausfeld LLP, DiCello Levitt and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New York federal jury returned a landmark $20 million verdict against French bank BNP Paribas.

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    Popular TaxProf Blog Returns After Shutdown

    After Typepad's decision to shut down last month, the Association of American Law Schools is giving new life to one of the defunct hosted blogging platform's popular legal blogs.

  • ClerkHero Launches To Help Calif. Drivers Fight Traffic Tickets

    ClerkHero, a California-based legal tech startup that automates traffic ticket defense, officially launched on Oct. 21 by its solo founder and without funding or a broader team.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as one BigLaw firm elected a new managing partner and other shops expanded their rosters. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • Sanctions Threats Mount For Atty Who Ignored Citation Order

    An attorney who ignored a show cause order earlier this summer after his co-counsel included a fake case citation in a filing for their then-client, a former in-house attorney for Workday Inc., told a San Francisco federal judge Thursday that his failure to respond was a "mistake," in response to a renewed show cause order.

  • Calif. Injury Atty Convicted Of Manslaughter Over DUI Crash

    A Southern California personal injury attorney has been convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter for driving while intoxicated and causing a 2019 freeway collision that resulted in the death of a U.S. Postal Service big rig driver, according to Orange County prosecutors.

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    Former TTAB Judge Moves To Greenberg Traurig In Calif.

    A former Trademark Trial and Appeal Board judge has jumped from government work to private practice, building out Greenberg Traurig LLP's bench of Los Angeles intellectual property attorneys.

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    Sullivan & Cromwell Adds Irell & Manella IP Litigator In LA

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Thursday it is bringing in an Irell & Manella LLP intellectual property litigator as a partner in its Los Angeles office. 

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    BigLaw's 'New Normal' Is Fewer Hours Per Lawyer

    Lawyers are billing fewer hours, even as their rates soar, ushering in what appears to be a "new normal" for billable hours.

  • AI Co. Eudia Acquires ALSP Out-House

    California-based legal artificial intelligence startup Eudia announced Thursday the acquisition of alternative legal services provider Out-House, as well as its founder and attorney Lynden Renwick.

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    Amid Restructuring, It's A Busy Year For WeightWatchers GC

    It's a good thing she's an endurance runner. In a little over a year as chief legal and administrative officer of WW International Inc., better known as WeightWatchers, a very busy Jacquie Cooke has helped navigate the company through a bankruptcy reorganization as well as guide it through the changing protocol to sell weight loss drugs.

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    Knobbe Martens Names Trademark, Brand Protection Heads

    Intellectual property firm Knobbe Martens has named two longtime trademark and IP attorneys based in Orange County, California, to head the firm's trademark and brand protection group.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Should I Coordinate Pro Bono Projects? Author Photo

    Julie LaEace at Perkins Coie offers tips for attorneys acting as pro bono coordinators, including how to choose appropriate projects, how to encourage participation and why it is important to keep in touch with legal aid partner organizations.

  • 6 Strategies For Navigating Legal Leadership Transitions Author Photo

    Amid uncertainty in the legal job market, attorneys who are considering a transition to a leadership role must fundamentally reimagine their approach to value creation and develop a new set of skills, say Stacy Bratcher at Cottage Health and Michael Watkins at Genesis Advisers.

  • The Augmented Lawyer: Crafting Responsible AI Policies Author Photo

    As the legal industry increasingly looks to impose responsive guardrails for artificial intelligence use, firms and organizations’ internal use policies, outside counsel guidelines and vendor contracts can address confidentiality and data retention concerns in several ways, say attorneys at KXT Law.

  • 6 Ways To Build Pro Bono Culture If You Lack Dedicated Staff Author Photo

    Firms can develop a strong pro bono culture without hiring dedicated professionals through strategies like demonstrating active involvement by leadership, tailoring volunteer tasks to individual professional development needs and building trusted partnerships within the legal aid community, says Stacy Zinken at Paladin.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Extend Your Content's Life Author Photo

    Attorneys often limit the impact of their thought leadership by letting their content languish after initial publication, but through four easy strategies for retooling existing content, they can maximize its reach and further their business development goals, says Jillian McKenna at Verrill Dana.

  • Why Law Firm Leaders Should Care About Student Debt Crisis Author Photo

    ​​​​​​​As the student debt crisis evolves under changing federal policies, firms that proactively address the burden will have significant advantages in recruiting and retaining the best young lawyers, says Brian Kabateck at Kabateck.

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