California Pulse


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    What Attorneys Really Think About Their Profession

    Law360 Pulse asked attorneys for their thoughts on what being an attorney is actually like — what they love about their job, what they see as the biggest misconceptions about a career in law and what advice they have for new lawyers. Here's what they said.

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    Associates Unhappy Over Leave, Firm Leadership

    Associates are dissatisfied over the lack of transparency at their law firms, what they perceive to be limited opportunities for advancement and how their leaders communicate, Law360 Pulse found in its sixth annual Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.

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    Are Attorneys Happy At Work? Depends Who You Ask

    Most lawyers are satisfied with their careers, but their happiness at work varies depending on their rank, a new Law360 Pulse survey found.

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    Axinn Giving $25K Bonuses As Glenn Agre Matches Milbank

    Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes LLP will match the Milbank LLP base pay scale for associates, while Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP — which was already paying above-market salaries — will hand out special summer bonuses of up to $25,000, the boutiques told Law360 Pulse Tuesday.

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    LA Superior Court Gains Prominence With 'Nuclear' Verdicts

    Los Angeles County Superior Court was among the country's top sites for awarding big civil damages in recent years, according to a Lex Machina report.

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    'Rubber-Stamp' Doc Sealing In Federal Civil Cases 'Run Amok'

    Most sealing motions in federal civil litigation are granted, often without proper review, blocking important information from public view, a team of law professors and researchers found in a new study.

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    Broadway Financial Hires Ex-Invesco General Counsel As CLO

    Broadway Financial Corp., the parent company of City First Bank, has found its new legal leader in a financial services veteran who most recently served as general counsel at Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.

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    Investors Nearly Unanimously Reject Anti-Diversity Proposals

    An anti-diversity proxy campaign has submitted shareholder proposals at almost 90 companies in 2025 and 2026, and so far investors have rejected them almost unanimously two years in a row, according to a new report.

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    Fighting Cyber Threats: What Law Firms Need To Do Now

    Law firms, especially small and midsize ones, are increasingly becoming victims of cyberattacks. Here are some practical tips for firms to thwart cyberattacks and reduce damage when breaches occur.

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    Small Firms Hit Hardest As Data Breaches Surged In 2025

    Cyberattacks targeting law firms remained widespread in 2025, with smaller firms accounting for the majority of reported breaches, according to a Law360 Pulse analysis. The pace shows little sign of easing this year, as experts warn that cybercriminals are becoming more organized, sophisticated and financially motivated.

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    CLM Co. Agiloft Hires Ex-Mitsubishi, John Deere Exec As GC

    Contract lifecycle management provider Agiloft Inc. on Monday announced the hiring of a former senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Mitsubishi HC Capital America Inc. as its general counsel, following the recent vacancy of the company's chief legal officer role.

  • Ford Says 'Lemon Law' Firm Faked Bills Using Overseas Staff

    Ford Motor Co. accused California personal injury firm Quill & Arrow LLP of defrauding it out of more than $25 million in high-priced legal bills for work actually handled by virtual assistants overseas and non-lawyers in scores of product liability cases against the automaker.

  • Law Students Undeterred Under Trump's Immigration Climate

    In a climate where immigration lawyers are coming under the Trump administration’s scrutiny to tamp down on asylum fraud, law students are being ignited to enter the workforce early and rectify the injustices they see.

  • Calif. Moves On Proposal To Allow Legal Aid By Nonlawyers

    The California Supreme Court has directed the state bar to solicit public comments on a proposed community justice worker program that would allow nonlawyers to provide limited legal assistance under the supervision of qualified legal aid organizations, according to a Thursday announcement.

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Robinson & Cole's work on a special purpose acquisition vehicle transaction and Berger Montague's handling of a suit over college athlete compensation lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from June 5 to 18. 

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    Law firms continued to dole out raises and bonuses during another busy week for the legal industry. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    Lawyer Dads Seek Better Balance Of Work, Family Time

    Eli Albrecht remembers the day early in his career when a senior partner at the BigLaw firm where he was working told him, "You can either be a great M&A lawyer or a great father, but you can't be both."

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    As Mintz Marks 20 Years In San Diego, Office's Leader Reflects

    As Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo celebrates its 20th anniversary in San Diego, the office's managing member, Scott M. Stanton, discusses leadership, business development and good reads with Law360.

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    Intuit Promotes Deputy GC To Replace Retiring Top Atty

    Intuit Inc., the maker of the popular TurboTax tax filing software, will kick off its next fiscal year this summer with a new legal leader to replace its retiring general counsel.

  • Google, Apple Call CEO Depo Bids 'Harassment' At 9th Circ.

    Apple and Google urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reject consumers' request to depose their respective CEOs, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, and other executives in antitrust litigation accusing Google of shutting out rival search engines, arguing that the appeal is unwarranted and the repeated deposition demands are unjustified "harassment."

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    Yetter Coleman Matches Milbank Pay, Hikes Clerkship Bonus

    Two more litigation boutiques are the latest firms to adopt the Milbank LLP base pay scale for associates, with Yetter Coleman LLP in Houston sweetening the pot by raising its judicial clerkship bonus to $145,000.

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    Law Firms Turn To Lateral Market, AI To Win Funds Race

    Law firms are getting creative as they seek to secure a toehold in the fiercely competitive funds space, relying on new technologies and aggressively branching into new areas of finance to woo clients.

  • Ex-Girardi Atty Hid Firm's Diversion Of Funds, State Bar Says

    A State Bar of California prosecutor argued Tuesday at a disciplinary trial that ex-Girardi Keese attorney Robert Finnerty hid the firm's misappropriation of millions of dollars from a family's $53 million settlement, while Finnerty's counsel countered he's being blamed for the actions of his former boss, convicted and disbarred attorney Tom Girardi.

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    Dunn Isaacson Rhee Matches Milbank Pay For Associates

    Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP is the latest firm to match the pay scale for associates set earlier this month by Milbank LLP, with salaries at the boutique set to increase by $10,000 to $20,000 next month.

  • Consumers Call Google Search Damages 'Palpably Obvious'

    Consumers want a California federal judge to preserve their antitrust claims accusing Google of shutting out rival search engines that offer better privacy safeguards and no ads, arguing they don't yet need to articulate damages each has borne because it's "impossible" for them not to have been harmed.

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Expert Analysis

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Use Social Media Responsibly? Author Photo

    Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.

  • Yada, Yada, Yada: The Magic Of 3 In Legal Writing Author Photo

    Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.

  • How Firms Can Stop Playing Whack-A-Mole With Data Security Author Photo

    In order to achieve a robust client data protection posture, law firms should focus on adopting a risk-based approach to security, which can be done by assessing gaps, using that data to gain leadership buy-in for the needed changes, and adopting a dynamic and layered approach, says John Smith at Conversant Group.

  • 5 Life Lessons From Making Partner As A Solo Parent Author Photo

    Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Turn Deferral To My Advantage? Author Photo

    Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.

  • Resume Gaps Are No Longer Kryptonite To Your Legal Career Author Photo

    Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.

  • Law Firm Guardrails For Responsible Generative AI Use Author Photo

    ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools pose significant risks to the integrity of legal work, but the key for law firms is not to ban these tools, but to implement them responsibly and with appropriate safeguards, say Natalie Pierce and Stephanie Goutos at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Opinion

    We Must Continue DEI Efforts Despite High Court Headwinds Author Photo

    Though the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down affirmative action in higher education, law firms and their clients must keep up the legal industry’s recent momentum advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession in order to help achieve a just and prosperous society for all, says Angela Winfield at the Law School Admission Council.

  • Law Firms Cannot Ignore Attorneys' Personal Cybersecurity Author Photo

    Law firms that fail to consider their attorneys' online habits away from work are not using their best efforts to protect client information and are simplifying the job of plaintiffs attorneys in the case of a breach, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy and Protection.

  • Why Writing CLE Should Be Mandatory For Lawyers Author Photo

    Though effective writing is foundational to law, no state requires attorneys to take continuing legal education in this skill — something that must change if today's attorneys are to have the communication abilities they need to fulfill their professional and ethical duties to their clients, colleagues and courts, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona.

  • How To Find Your Inner Calm When Client Obligations Pile Up Author Photo

    In the most stressful times for attorneys, when several transactions for different partners and clients peak at the same time and the phone won’t stop buzzing, incremental lifestyle changes can truly make a difference, says Lindsey Hughes at Haynes Boone.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Support Gen Z Attorneys? Author Photo

    Meredith Beuchaw at Lowenstein Sandler discusses how senior attorneys can assist the newest generation of attorneys by championing their pursuit of a healthy work-life balance and providing the hands-on mentorship opportunities they missed out on during the pandemic.

  • Law Firm Cybersecurity Should Not Get Lost In The Cloud Author Photo

    A recent data leak at Proskauer via a cloud data storage platform demonstrates key reasons why law firms must pay attention to data safeguarding, including the increasing frequency of cloud-based data breaches and the consequences of breaking client confidentiality, says Robert Kraczek at One Identity.

  • Advice For Summer Associates Uneasy About Offer Prospects Author Photo

    There are a few communication tips that law students in summer associate programs should consider to put themselves in the best possible position to receive an offer, and firms can also take steps to support those to whom they are unable to make an offer, says Amy Mattock at Georgetown University Law Center.

  • 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.

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