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Texas Pulse
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In 107K Pro Bono Hours: Hogan Lovells Tackles Racial Justice
Hogan Lovells pledged to dedicate 65,000 pro bono hours to advancing racial justice in June 2020, and, according to a report out this week, the firm's personnel have exceeded that goal by dedicating approximately 107,000 hours through 2023 to causes across the globe aimed at advancing racial justice.
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DOJ Atty And Magistrate Judge Secure Texas Court Seats
The Senate voted 88-7 on Friday to confirm Ernest Gonzalez, a senior attorney adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, and then 90-8 to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower both to the Western District of Texas.
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Schumer Urges Texas District To Adopt Judge-Shopping Rule
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday urged the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas to quickly implement the Judicial Conference of the United States' updated policy that looks to prevent litigants from judge shopping, arguing that the district's current practices are "dangerous."
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$114M Discord Stock Case Tossed Ahead Of Jury Trial
A Texas federal judge has dismissed a 21-count indictment against seven men accused of operating a multimillion-dollar "pump-and-dump" stock scheme over social media platform Discord two weeks before they were set to be tried before a jury, writing that the government's case was unable to survive two recent appellate court decisions that reined in corruption prosecutions.
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Reed Smith Ties Associate Raises To Billable Hours
Reed Smith LLP is reportedly raising associate salaries in a range similar to those first announced by Milbank LLP last November, with an associate's place on the scale depending on their billable hours.
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Former Legal Tech Exec Says She's Owed Over $1M In Shares
A former business executive has sued the Texas law firm and legal technology company where she worked, alongside the firms' founders, claiming she was sexually harassed on the job and then illegally fired earlier this year after she tried to collect on more than $1 million in shares from the tech company.
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Construction Atty Moves Practice To Snell & Wilmer In Dallas
Snell & Wilmer LLP's geographic footprint and full-service capabilities helped convince a seasoned commercial litigator to move his real estate and construction law practice from Cokinos Young PC to the firm's Dallas office.
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Compensation For Murphy Oil GC Climbs To $3.4M
Houston-based energy company Murphy Oil paid its general counsel $3.4 million in total compensation last year, amid what it called "another year of strong production and excellent execution" for the company in a securities filing Thursday.
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Lawmakers Eye Permanent Status For 10 Federal Judgeships
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers has put forward bills in the Senate and House that would make 10 temporary district judgeships permanent in 10 states including Texas, Florida and California.
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Quintairos Prieto Taps Atlanta Atty To Lead New Tax Group
Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA said it had created a tax division that will be led by an Atlanta-based partner who has guided clients on civil and criminal tax law, reinforcing its national expertise in litigation, regulatory and corporate law matters.
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Nossaman Adds 2 Eminent Domain Partners In Texas
Nossaman LLP announced Thursday that Seijin C. Brooks and Melissa Ferringer have joined the firm's Austin, Texas, office as partners in that shop's eminent domain and valuation group.
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Greenberg Traurig Adds Jackson Walker FDA Pro In Houston
Greenberg Traurig LLP's most recent Houston addition is a shareholder who came aboard from Jackson Walker LLP, where he established and led its U.S. Food and Drug Administration practice.
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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.
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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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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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How BigLaw Vets Are Expanding Trial Boutique Dowd Bennett
Law360 Pulse recently caught up with James Bennett, co-founder of boutique litigation firm Dowd Bennett LLP, to discuss the firm's expansion this year in Chicago and Dallas.
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Schumer Scolds McConnell For Judge-Shopping Policy Rebuff
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday lauded the Judicial Conference's updated policy on random case assignments to prevent litigants from judge-shopping, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing back against the policy since it'd make it tough for hard-right partisans "to hijack our courts for their purposes."
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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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Faegre Drinker Adds Ex-DLA Piper Commodities Pro In Dallas
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has strengthened its finance and restructuring practice in Dallas with partner Deanna Reitman, an experienced commodities lawyer who previously worked at DLA Piper.
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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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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.
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Kirkland Wants To Escape Suit Over Ex-Judge's Relationship
Kirkland & Ellis LLP wants to bring down the hammer on a racketeering lawsuit claiming the firm "conspired" to profit from a Texas bankruptcy judge's secret romance scandal, saying the "flimsy" suit should be dismissed, and both the plaintiff and his attorneys at Bandas Law Firm PC should be sanctioned for filing it.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Law Firm Tips For Evaluating AI And Machine Learning Tools
Many legal technology vendors now sell artificial intelligence and machine learning tools at a premium price tag, but law firms must take the time to properly evaluate them as not all offerings generate process efficiencies or even use the technologies advertised, says Steven Magnuson at Ballard Spahr.
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A Call For Personal Accountability On Diversity And Inclusion
While chief legal officers are increasingly involved in creating corporate diversity, inclusion and anti-bigotry policies, all lawyers have a responsibility to be discrimination busters and bias interrupters regardless of the title they hold, says Veta T. Richardson at the Association of Corporate Counsel.
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Learning How To Code Can Unleash New Potential In Lawyers
Every lawyer can begin incorporating aspects of software development in their day-to-day practice with little to no changes in their existing tools or workflow, and legal organizations that take steps to encourage this exploration of programming can transform into tech incubators, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Supporting Associates Amid Pandemic's Mental Health Toll
As junior associates increasingly report burnout, work-life conflict and loneliness during the pandemic, law firms should take tangible actions to reduce the stigma around seeking help, and to model desired well-being behaviors from the top down, say Stacey Whiteley at the New York State Bar Association and Robin Belleau at Kirkland.
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The Importance Of Client Engagement In Law Firm Innovation
As clients increasingly want law firms to serve as innovation platforms, firms must understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach — the key is a nimble innovation function focused on listening and knowledge sharing, says Mark Brennan at Hogan Lovells.
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The Unique Challenges Facing Women-Owned Law Firms
In addition to establishing their brand from scratch, women who start their own law firms must overcome inherent bias against female lawyers and convince prospective clients to put aside big-firm preferences, says Joel Stern at the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.
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The Pursuit Of Wellness In BigLaw: Lessons From My Journey
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Jane Jeong at Cooley shares how grueling BigLaw schedules and her own perfectionism emotionally bankrupted her, and why attorneys struggling with burnout should consider making small changes to everyday habits.
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Why We Must Recruit And Advance More Black Prosecutors
Black Americans make up a disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated population but are underrepresented among elected prosecutors, so the legal community — from law schools to prosecutor offices — must commit to addressing these disappointing demographics, says Erika Gilliam-Booker at the National Black Prosecutors Association.
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Series
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Young lawyers overwhelmed with a crushing workload must tackle the problem on two fronts — learning how to say no, and understanding how to break down projects into manageable parts, says Jay Harrington at Harrington Communications.
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A Scientific Path For Improving Diversity At Law Firms
Law firms could combine industrial organizational psychology and machine learning to study prospective hires' analytical thinking, stress response and similar attributes — which could lead to recruiting from a more diverse candidate pool, say Ali Shahidi and Bess Sully at Sheppard Mullin.
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Series
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In the first installment of Law360 Pulse's career advice guest column, Meela Gill at Weil offers insights on how associates can ask for meaningful work opportunities at their firms without sounding like they are begging.
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Legal Sector Regulatory Reform Is Key To Closing Justice Gap
In order to improve access to justice for those who cannot afford a lawyer, states should consider regulatory innovations, such as allowing new forms of law firm ownership and permitting nonlawyers to provide certain legal services, says Patricia Lee Refo, president of the American Bar Association.
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What Social Media Process Service May Look Like In Texas
The Texas Supreme Court's recently proposed rule change allowing substituted service through social media and email could take effect in December, and practitioners will need to know how to establish that the defendant received notice through a technological method, says Marcus Eason at McGinnis Lochridge.
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Strategies For Associates Seeking Jobs Amid Hiring Slump
Law firms will be hiring conservatively well into 2021 and beyond, but associates eyeing a new firm or market can successfully make a move if they are pragmatic about their requirements, say Rebecca Glatzer and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.