DC Pulse


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    FERC Chair From V&E Taps Another Firm Atty As GC

    Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Laura Swett, a former Vinson & Elkins LLP energy attorney, has named another V&E energy lawyer based in the nation's capital as the agency's next general counsel.

  • 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.

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    Steptoe Adds AI Leader To Investigations, White Collar Team

    Steptoe LLP has hired an AI governance, compliance and regulatory expert who spent decades in C-suite leadership roles with IBM and Northrop Grumman and most recently helped found a legal technology company with a Steptoe partner who joined last month.

  • Senate Confirms 7th Circ., Alabama Judicial Picks

    The U.S. Senate voted on Monday to confirm Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, to the Seventh Circuit, and Justice Bill Lewis of the Alabama Supreme Court to the Middle District of Alabama.

  • 8th Circ. Jurist To Take Senior Status, Giving Trump Open Seat

    U.S. Circuit Judge William Duane Benton of the Eighth Circuit notified the judiciary on Friday that he plans to step back from active service, opening up another seat on the court for President Donald Trump to fill, according to the federal judiciary's online list of future judiciary vacancies.

  • Judge To Decide If Trump's Jan. 6 Docs Stay Confidential

    A D.C. federal judge will review a trove of documents containing communications between officials from the first Trump administration and attorneys for his 2020 campaign to decide whether they can be kept from discovery in a lawsuit over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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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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    Latham Hires 19-Year Commerce Dept. Vet In DC As Counsel

    Latham & Watkins LLP has hired a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Commerce, who most recently was the acting director of an office that oversaw a number of export controls, the firm announced Monday.

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    Reed Smith Corporate Atty Rejoins Morris Manning In DC

    Ahead of Morris Manning & Martin LLP's impending merger with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, the firm announced Monday that a corporate attorney has rejoined its ranks in Washington, D.C., after a stint with Reed Smith LLP.

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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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    Holland & Knight's CFIUS Team Leader Jumps To Weil

    The leader of Holland & Knight LLP's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and industrial security team has made the move to Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Monday.

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    Mayer Brown Taps Wiley Rein Duo For Gov't Contracts Team

    Mayer Brown LLP announced Monday that it has hired a pair of Washington, D.C., attorneys from Wiley Rein LLP, one of whom will lead its government contracts practice.

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    Top FTC Atty In Meta And Amazon Cases Joins WilmerHale

    A former chief trial counsel at the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, who was one of the lead attorneys on the agency's landmark monopolization cases against Amazon and Meta, has joined WilmerHale's Washington, D.C. office, the firm announced Monday.

  • DOJ Hires 36 New Immigration Judges After Dozens Of Firings

    The Executive Office for Immigration Review has hired 11 new permanent immigration judges and 25 temporary ones after more than 100 judges were terminated, reassigned or retired early.

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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.

  • Feds Want Goldstein To Disclose 'Blame Everyone' Defense

    The federal government Friday urged a Maryland federal judge to give SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein a December deadline to disclose whether he intends to assert at trial that he failed to file tax returns due to legal advice, saying it expects him to "blame everyone other than himself."

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    Fannie Mae Promotes Deputy GC To Acting Top Atty

    Fannie Mae announced that it has elevated its deputy general counsel to acting general counsel, after the previous attorney to hold the position decided to move on from the post.

  • DC Judge Nominee Pledges To Work To Eliminate Backlog

    A nominee for a local court in Washington, D.C., highlighted during his confirmation hearing Thursday how he would seek to alleviate the overburdened court system in the district. 

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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.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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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    Talking Mental Health: Encouraging New Attys To Find Joy Author Photo

    Rudene Haynes at Hunton discusses her experiences as a hiring partner, common sources of stress that newer attorneys face and steps that law firms can take to protect their attorneys' mental health and encourage personal life fulfillment.

  • Fla. Bar's Cyber Incident Response Plan Sets Precedent Author Photo

    The incident response plan developed by the Florida Bar's cybersecurity and privacy committee might not seem all that consequential, but it's a long overdue framework that could go a long way toward protecting the highly sensitive data law firms handle — and could even set a model for other professional organizations to follow, says Chris Boehm at Zero Networks.

  • Why Attorneys Should Write About Justices' Minority Opinions Author Photo

    Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s searing dissents this past term serve as a reminder for attorneys to analyze U.S. Supreme Court minority opinions in their thought leadership for three key reasons, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • 3 Business Development Lessons From Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Author Photo

    Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” offers a useful framework for attorneys to build relationships and develop new business, inspired by Prince Tamino’s curiosity, courage and consistency, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs To Quantify Their Value Author Photo

    As in-house legal departments are increasingly expected to do more with less, developing a thoughtful framework to measure key performance indicators can help them both maximize and demonstrate their contribution to business success, say co-founders at New Era ADR.

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    Defining The Culture For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    We co-founded The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators to connect leading trial lawyers, litigation experts and academics, and our experience has shown that embracing opportunity, responding fearlessly to market realities, and relentlessly defining the organization’s culture have all been integral to success, say Stéphane Bonifassi, Lincoln Caylor and Elizabeth Ortega.

  • 5 Emerging Themes Shaping Lateral Partner Moves This Year Author Photo

    A few key trends have arisen in partners’ lateral movements in the first half of 2025, reflecting a legal market defined by macroeconomic uncertainty, shifts in firm structures and rising scrutiny of firm affiliations, say legal recruiters at Macrae.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Be A Mentor Or Mentee Author Photo

    Mentorship is a powerful tool for business development when both mentors and mentees approach their relationships with strategic purpose, ensuring professional success while supporting broader business goals, say Angela Liu at Dechert and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • 4 Biz Dev Steps For Attys Who Don't Know What They Want Author Photo

    Junior attorneys are increasingly expected to start building books of business while they are still figuring out their long-term career goals, but a few pointers can help young lawyers develop business even when they’re uncertain about their future direction, says Lana Manganiello at Practice Growth Partner.

  • Protecting Client Funds From Cyberattacks Author Photo

    As cyberattacks on law firms continue to escalate, bar associations, law firms and individual lawyers must all take steps to protect client funds in attorney trust accounts — from imposing cyber hygiene mandates to reimagining malpractice coverage — because once that money is gone, it’s generally gone for good, says Michael Epstein at The Epstein Law Firm.

  • Making Legal Cents: For Billing, Think Value, Not Time Author Photo

    Pricing strategy is one of the most consistently discussed but underleveraged tools in a firm's arsenal, and rather than keeping hourly billing because it's easy, firms should consider their differentiators when structuring more effective fee models, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.

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    Achieving Organic Growth For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    We started Law Rocks to promote music education for underprivileged youth and raise funds for local nonprofits, and our 15-year journey has shown that enthusiasm, persistence and a great network can lead to a surprising amount of organic growth, say Nick Child and Ted Scott at Secretariat.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Engage With The Media Author Photo

    Business development is all about awareness — and by taking existing skills and adapting them to build media relationships and thereby address today's audiences, lawyers can expand their outreach and use thought leadership to build a more complete, compelling personal brand, says Michael Goodwin at Stanton PR.

  • What GCs Value Most: 7 Habits Of Great Relationship Partners Author Photo

    When seeking outside legal advisers, general counsel want commercially savvy lawyers who cultivate relationships of trust with their in-house counterparts, back up the GC's authority and focus on actionable advice instead of abstract legal analysis, say Andrew Dick at The L Suite and Rob Morvillo at Olo.

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