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California Pulse
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Sher Tremonte LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Second Circuit upheld a ruling requiring Getty Images to pay out nearly $88 million to investors who said they were blocked from purchasing shares in the company once it became public.
Expert Analysis
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AI-Powered Biz Development Can Democratize Rainmaking
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.
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How Law Students Can Effectively Use AI In Their Job Search
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.
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An After-Placement Plan Maximizes Legal Content's Potential
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.
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Ask A Mentor: How Should I Coordinate Pro Bono Projects?
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.
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6 Strategies For Navigating Legal Leadership Transitions
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.
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The Augmented Lawyer: Crafting Responsible AI Policies
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.
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6 Ways To Build Pro Bono Culture If You Lack Dedicated Staff
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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Series
Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Extend Your Content's Life.jpg)
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.
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Why Law Firm Leaders Should Care About Student Debt Crisis
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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Series
Talking Mental Health: Encouraging New Attys To Find Joy
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.
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Fla. Bar's Cyber Incident Response Plan Sets Precedent
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.
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Why Attorneys Should Write About Justices' Minority Opinions
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.
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3 Business Development Lessons From Mozart's 'Magic Flute'
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.
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5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs To Quantify Their Value
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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Series
Defining The Culture For A Legal Nonprofit
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.