California Pulse

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    McGlinchey Head Talks Firm's 50th Anniversary

    McGlinchey Stafford PLLC's managing member recently spoke to Law360 Pulse about the New Orleans-based firm's 50th anniversary, its plans for growth and how it tries to build and maintain a supportive culture.

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    Hinshaw AI Policy Embraces New Tech, With 'Guardrails'

    As generative AI platforms rapidly advance, law firms are hastening to develop policies that address ethical and legal concerns arising from the new technology — including the latest firm to jump into the fray, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. Here, Law360 Pulse talks with general counsel Steven Puiszis about Hinshaw's new policy and how it took shape.

  • Study Sees Promise For Gen AI Tools In Closing Justice Gap

    Widespread access to generative artificial intelligence tools could help increase access to justice for low-income Americans, according to a new study that found these tools largely boosted productivity for legal aid lawyers.

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    ABA Gives Advice To Avoid Atty Conflict Hitting Whole Firm

    An American Bar Association ethics opinion released Wednesday offers new guidance on when a lawyer's conflict of interest after meeting with a prospective client should be considered to impact the whole firm and how lawyers can try to avoid sparking that whole-firm conflict.

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    Stanford Law School Picks Professor As Its Next Dean

    Stanford Law School has looked within for its new dean, tapping a professor and associate vice provost for research for the role.

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    Calif. Firm Takes On AI, Dating Apps And 'Dopamine Culture'

    A Valentine’s Day class action against dating platform MatchGroup was just the latest in a series of ambitious fights the Malibu-based boutique Clarkson Law Firm PC has picked with Big Tech and beyond, hoping to more broadly protect consumers from addictive and harmful business practices.

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    US Chamber's Litigation Funding Concerns Spur 2 State Laws

    Amid concerns from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about third-party litigation funding, including from potentially hostile foreign entities, state legislatures in Indiana and West Virginia have recently passed bills imposing restrictions on the practice.

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    Ex-Lewis Brisbois Atty Sues Firm, Pointing To Racist Emails

    A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP lawyer filed race and disability discrimination claims against the firm on Tuesday, alleging that he was forced to resign after dealing with medical issues that prompted the firm to take away his cases and wrongfully withhold his pay.

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    Future Of Judge-Shopping Reform Hazy After Rule Proposal

    The policymaking body for U.S. courts provoked a stir last week when it proposed a rule designed to curb "judge shopping," with observers saying that the policy does address one type of the practice but that it remains to be seen if individual federal district courts will be willing to adopt even that limited reform.

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    Musick Peeler Announces New Firm Leadership

    California-based Musick Peeler & Garrett LLP has tapped two longtime partners – one an insurance and environmental litigator, the other a trusts and estate attorney – as its new managing partners.

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    Gilead GC Saw Pay Climb To $5.2M In 2023

    The general counsel of biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. saw her total compensation rise to more than $5.2 million in 2023 from over $4.8 million in 2022, a recent proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

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    WilmerHale Elevates 5 Leaders Known For High-Stakes Work

    WilmerHale unveiled five major firmwide and office leadership appointments on Monday, elevating practice and department leaders on both coasts as the firm continues making its mark on headline-grabbing disputes.

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    Ex-Lynch Carpenter Atty Hits Firm With Whistleblower Case

    A former associate for Lynch Carpenter LLP has brought a whistleblower suit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming labor code violations, discrimination, breach of contract and retaliation after allegedly witnessing "multiple instances of unethical conduct that he believed constituted fraud and/or legal malpractice."

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    Kilpatrick Taps IP Leader As Next Firm Chair

    Kilpatrick is turning to the leader of its intellectual property department in Atlanta to succeed the firm's longtime chair when he steps down from the role later this year.

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    K&L Gates Adds Hanson Bridgett, Reed Smith Corporate Attys

    K&L Gates LLP is expanding its California corporate team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Reed Smith LLP life sciences transactional ace as a partner in its Orange County office and a Hanson Bridgett LLP emerging companies specialist as a partner in its Silicon Valley office.

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    Legal Ops Pay Gap Has Widened For Women Since 2023

    Despite heavy representation in the legal operations field, women in this area continue to be underpaid compared to men, earning as much as 25% less total compensation than their peers, a new survey has found.

  • Larry H. Parker, Who Vowed To 'Fight For You' In Ads, Dies

    Los Angeles personal injury and automobile accident lawyer Larry H. Parker, whose television advertisements and billboards vowing to "fight for you" have been a fixture in Southern California for decades, has died at age 75.

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    Rise In Civil Case Filings Mostly Driven By MDLs In 4 Districts

    The number of civil lawsuits filed in federal court grew significantly in 2023, but much of that growth was deceptive, as it was driven by a small number of mass torts in just a handful of individual districts.

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    BakerHostetler's LA Office Moves To Century City 'Destination'

    BakerHostetler has relocated its Los Angeles office, announcing Monday it was moving it to Century City from its previous location in Brentwood.

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    Cozen O'Connor Adds 6 Troutman Construction Attys In LA

    Cozen O'Connor announced Monday that it had ventured into the California construction law market with the addition of a team of six attorneys from Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP in Los Angeles.

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    Fish & Richardson Taps Patent Atty To Lead In Silicon Valley

    Intellectual property firm Fish & Richardson PC announced the new managing principal of its Silicon Valley office on Thursday, elevating a longtime patent attorney to lead the team of more than 30 intellectual property attorneys and technology specialists.

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    Ex-Holland & Knight Atty To Lead Hilgers Graben Gov't Team

    A former securities defense leader at Holland & Knight LLP has moved to Hilgers Graben PLLC's Dallas office to lead the firm's government investigations and regulatory enforcement group.

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    Uber CLO Saw Lower Stock Awards Drive Down Pay In '23

    Uber's Tony West, who has been chief legal officer there since 2017, earned about $10.4 million in total compensation in 2023, down from the $10.6 million he received the previous year, a recent securities filing showed.

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    How Small Law Firms Are Preparing To Embrace AI

    The promise of generative artificial intelligence remains outside the gates of many small law firms, but that hasn't stopped some from using this time to evaluate and test products before securing access to this new technology.

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    BCLP Axes 50 Jobs In US, UK Amid Headcount Declines

    Following years of declining lawyer headcount, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP has confirmed that it is conducting a restructuring that will impact approximately 50 jobs in the U.S. and U.K., marking the second round of layoffs the firm has conducted in the past year.

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Expert Analysis

  • How Law Firms Can Cautiously Wield AI To Streamline Tasks Author Photo

    Many attorneys are going to use artificial intelligence tools whether law firms like it or not, so firms should educate them on AI's benefits, limits and practical uses, such as drafting legal documents, to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving legal market, say Thomas Schultz and Eden Bernstein at Kellogg Hansen.

  • 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.

  • Series

    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.

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