California Pulse


  • Calif. Atty Seeks $25K As Fee Sanction For AI Error

    A California attorney representing a mobile app platform in a small-time copyright and contract suit playing out in Oakland federal court has asked for $25,000 as reimbursement for work he said went into responding to an error-ridden motion and subsequent time spent on the matter.

  • Kirkland Litigator Joins Benesch In San Francisco

    Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP announced that an experienced San Francisco-based litigator has joined the firm after over a decade with Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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    Barnes & Thornburg Partner Class Dips To 16 Attys

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP has elevated 16 attorneys to partners who are based in eight of the firm's offices including in Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and California, marking a slight decline from the firm's 2024 partner class of 19.

  • Texas Co.'s Lack Of Counsel Sinks Perplexity AI TM Suit

    A Texas company suing Perplexity AI Inc. for trademark infringement had its case tossed by a California federal judge who said it had ignored warnings that it couldn't proceed without representation.

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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.

  • 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 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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    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 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.

  • Robinhood User Attys Forgo Fee Over 'Unusually High' Costs

    Attorneys representing Robinhood users said they will forgo fees after racking up "unusually high" costs brokering the $2 million settlement of a consolidated class action alleging the investing platform failed to disclose financial interests, affecting how customers' orders were handled.

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    Gordon Rees Adds Clark Hill Litigator In Sacramento

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP is expanding its West Coast team, bringing in a Clark Hill PLC litigator as a partner in its Sacramento office.

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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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    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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    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.

  • Edelson Looks To Drop Claims Against Ex-Girardi Keese Attys

    Edelson PC has signaled plans to drop civil claims it lodged against two former Girardi Keese attorneys over Tom Girardi's theft of millions from clients, but the Illinois federal judge handling the case said Friday that he wants to discuss the firm's filing.

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    Calif. Justices Reject Plan To Wipe Atty Discipline Records

    California's high court has rejected a proposal that would have imposed a one-time automatic expungement of attorney discipline records in what the state bar hoped would be a "means of redressing historical racial disparities in discipline." 

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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.

  • ClerkHero Launches To Help Calif. Drivers Fight Traffic Tickets

    ClerkHero, a California-based legal tech startup that automates traffic ticket defense, officially launched on Oct. 21 by its solo founder and without funding or a broader team.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as one BigLaw firm elected a new managing partner and other shops expanded their rosters. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • Sanctions Threats Mount For Atty Who Ignored Citation Order

    An attorney who ignored a show cause order earlier this summer after his co-counsel included a fake case citation in a filing for their then-client, a former in-house attorney for Workday Inc., told a San Francisco federal judge Thursday that his failure to respond was a "mistake," in response to a renewed show cause order.

  • Calif. Injury Atty Convicted Of Manslaughter Over DUI Crash

    A Southern California personal injury attorney has been convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter for driving while intoxicated and causing a 2019 freeway collision that resulted in the death of a U.S. Postal Service big rig driver, according to Orange County prosecutors.

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    Former TTAB Judge Moves To Greenberg Traurig In Calif.

    A former Trademark Trial and Appeal Board judge has jumped from government work to private practice, building out Greenberg Traurig LLP's bench of Los Angeles intellectual property attorneys.

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    Sullivan & Cromwell Adds Irell & Manella IP Litigator In LA

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Thursday it is bringing in an Irell & Manella LLP intellectual property litigator as a partner in its Los Angeles office. 

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Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    CLE Accreditation Should Be Tied To Learning Outcomes Author Photo

    Given the substantial time and money lawyers put toward mandatory continuing legal education, CLE regulators and providers should be held to accreditation standards that assess learning outcomes, similar to those imposed on law schools and continuing medical education providers, says Rima Sirota at Georgetown Law.

  • Why You Should Leverage AI For Privilege Review Author Photo

    While many lawyers still believe that a manual, document-by-document review is the best approach to privilege logging, certain artificial intelligence tools can bolster the traditional review process and make this aspect of electronic document review more efficient, more accurate and less costly, say Laura Riff and Michelle Six at Kirkland.

  • Persuading The Court With Visual Aids In Written Argument Author Photo

    Robert Dubose at Alexander Dubose describes several categories of visuals attorneys can use to make written arguments easier to understand or more persuasive, and provides tips for lawyers unused to working with anything but text.

  • BigLaw Vs. Mid-Law Summer Programs: The Pros And Cons Author Photo

    There are major differences between BigLaw and Mid-Law summer associate programs, and each approach can learn something from the other in terms of structure and scheduling, the on-the-job learning opportunities provided, and the social experiences offered, says Anna Tison at Brooks Pierce.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Take Time Off? Author Photo

    David Kouba at Arnold & Porter discusses how attorneys can prioritize mental health leave and vacation despite work-related barriers to taking time off.

  • Law Firms Must Prioritize Mental Health In Internal Comms Author Photo

    The traditional structure of law firms, with their compartmentalization into silos, is an inherent challenge to mental wellness, so partners and senior lawyers should take steps to construct and disseminate internal action plans and encourage open dialogue, says Elizabeth Ortega at ECO Strategic Communications.

  • Our Current Approach To Trial Advocacy Training Is Lacking Author Photo

    The key to trial advocacy is persuasion, but current training programs focus almost entirely on technique, making it imperative that lawyers are taught to be effective storytellers and to connect with their audiences, says Chris Arledge at Ellis George.

  • How Women In Law Can Advance Toward Leadership Roles Author Photo

    Female attorneys in leadership roles inspire other women to pursue similar opportunities in a male-dominated field, and for those who aspire to lead, prioritizing collaboration, inclusivity and integrity is key, says Kim Yelkin at Foley & Lardner.

  • The Case That Took Me From Prosecutor To Defense Attorney Author Photo

    Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza, now at Wilkinson Stekloff, recalls the challenges of her first case as a civil defense attorney — a multibillion-dollar multidistrict class action against Allergan — and the lessons she learned about building rapport in the courtroom and with co-counsel.

  • The Importance Of Legal Macroeconomics Education For Attys Author Photo

    Most legal professionals lack understanding of the macroeconomic trends unique to the legal industry, like the rising cost of law school and legal services, which contributes to an unfair and inaccessible justice system, so law school courses and continuing legal education requirements in this area are essential, says Bob Glaves at the Chicago Bar Foundation.

  • What ABA Student Well-Being Standards Mean For Law Firms Author Photo

    While the American Bar Association's recent amendments to its law school accreditation standards around student well-being could have gone further, legal industry employers have much to learn from the ABA's move and the well-being movement that continues to gain traction in law schools, says David Jaffe at the American University Washington College of Law.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Build Rapport In New In-House Role? Author Photo

    Tim Parilla at LinkSquares explains how new in-house lawyers can start developing relationships with colleagues both within and outside their legal departments in order to expand their networks, build their brands and carve their paths to leadership positions.

  • What Attys Should Consider Before Taking On Pro Bono Work
    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Piper Hoffman and Will Lowrey at Animal Outlook lay out suggestions for attorneys to maximize the value of their pro bono efforts, from crafting engagement letters to balancing workloads — and they explain how these principles can foster a more rewarding engagement for both lawyers and nonprofits.

  • Roundup

    Ask A Mentor Author Photo

    As the legal profession undergoes a dramatic period of change, experts answer questions on career and workplace conundrums in this Law360 guest article series.

  • 7 Ways Attys Can Improve Their LinkedIn Summaries Author Photo

    Lawyers can use LinkedIn to strengthen their thought leadership position, generate new business, explore career opportunities, and better position themselves and their firms in search results by writing a well-composed, optimized summary that demonstrates their knowledge and experience, says Guy Alvarez at Good2bSocial.

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