California Pulse


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    Pierson Ferdinand Adds Insurance Group With New Atty

    The rapidly growing firm of Pierson Ferdinand LLP announced Thursday that it tapped a new partner who was previously with Carlton Fields to launch an international insurance regulatory team practice along with another Los Angeles-based attorney.

  • Calif. Bar Seeks Credits, Lower Pass Score After Exam Fiasco

    The California Bar has asked the state's supreme court to help it account for rampant technical difficulties on the February 2025 bar exam by approving a lower passing score and allowing the bar to give test-takers credit for some questions they left blank.

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    KHP Hires Goodwin Procter Partner As New General Counsel

    Real estate private equity firm KHP Capital Partners said Wednesday that former Goodwin Procter LLP real estate partner Alex Lewis will become the firm's executive vice president and general counsel.

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    Foley & Lardner Adds 5 IP Attys From Perkins Coie, K&L Gates

    Foley & Lardner LLP is expanding its intellectual property team in California, announcing Wednesday the addition of five IP attorneys — four from Perkins Coie LLP in San Diego and one from K&L Gates LLP in San Francisco.

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    Akerman Adds New Director To Boost Workforce Connections

    Akerman LLP has tapped a veteran of Dentons, DLA Piper and ArentFox Schiff LLP to serve as its inaugural director of connections, a position designed to drive innovation and creativity in the firm's distributed workplace.

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    DoorDash GC Sees Another Drop In Comp To $5.3M

    For the second consecutive year, DoorDash Inc.'s general counsel has seen a substantial drop in her annual compensation package highlighted by an over $5 million decrease in the value of her stock awards, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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    Saul Ewing Names 1st Chief Strategic Operations Officer

    Saul Ewing LLP beefed up its executive team by creating a new role aimed at directing firmwide initiatives and has shifted its chief marketing officer into the position.

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    Roku Paid Its New GC Nearly $12.4M During Her 1st Year

    Roku Inc.'s general counsel, who joined the company in July, received a nearly $12.4 million pay package during her first year, a recent securities filing shows.

  • Feds Must Keep Funding Migrant Kids' Counsel, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has ruled the government must keep funding legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigrant hearings for the time being, saying Congress created rules requiring the government to do so as long as funds remain for it.

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    4 Skills Gen Z Associates Need To Close The Generation Gap

    As they enter the legal workforce in increasing numbers, Generation Z lawyers need to hone certain skills to thrive in multigenerational law firms, experts say, in many cases shifting how they communicate and build relationships in order to adapt to earlier generations' preferences.

  • California Judge Loses Pay After Conviction For Murdering Wife

    The California Commission on Judicial Performance formally suspended a California judge without pay after a state jury found him guilty of second-degree murder last week for shooting his wife to death in their Anaheim Hills home on Aug. 3, 2023, following a heated argument. 

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    Large Law Firm Revenues Climb Despite Dip In Demand

    Even as the demand for legal services fell short of industry expectations, U.S. law firms entered 2025 on solid financial footing, with steady rate hikes fueling an 11.3% jump in first-quarter revenues, according to survey results released Tuesday by Wells Fargo Private Bank.

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    Littler Brings Back Arbitration Pro In Calif.

    Labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson PC is expanding its California arbitration team, announcing Tuesday that it is welcoming back an employment attorney who left briefly to join Whitney Thompson & Jeffcoach LLP.

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    Pillsbury Litigator Jumps To Benesch In San Francisco

    Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP announced that an experienced corporate litigator has joined the firm's fast-growing San Francisco office as a partner from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

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    Cooley Life Sciences Ace Rejoins Latham In Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP has welcomed back an intellectual property attorney who spent the past nine years at Cooley LLP to bolster its healthcare and life sciences practice, including advising clients about licensing and transactional matters.

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    Luxury Furniture Co. RH Seeks New Top Atty As CLO Resigns

    The longtime chief legal and compliance officer at RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, plans to step down for a similar job elsewhere, and the luxury home furnishings company is now searching for his replacement, according to a recent securities filing.

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    Hughes Hubbard Selects Marketing Chief From Ropes & Gray

    Hughes Hubbard & Reed has tapped a former Ropes & Gray LLP marketing director and Legal Marketing Association president to serve as its chief marketing and business development officer, the firm announced Monday.

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    What Attorneys Really Think About Their Profession

    Law360 Pulse asked respondents to our Lawyer Satisfaction Survey for their thoughts on misconceptions about being a lawyer, what the best parts of the job are and what they would tell newer lawyers. Here's what they said.

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    Lawyers Worry About Financial Stability Of Their Careers

    In 2025, even lawyers are feeling anxious about their bottom lines: Only 44% of attorneys described their financial stability as "excellent" in a recent Law360 Pulse survey.

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    How Happy Are Attorneys At Work Now?

    In a time of rising uncertainty and stress, there are signs that spirits are sagging in the legal profession compared with recent years, according to a new Law360 Pulse survey.

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    New Bowman And Brooke DEI Chairs Talk Diversity In 2025

    Trial firm Bowman and Brooke LLP has named two partners based in Philadelphia and Columbia, South Carolina, as the new heads of its diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

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    Law Schools Admit More Men, But More Women Are Applying

    Among law school applicants, women have far outpaced men over the past 10 years, yet the admission rate for men has remained higher, according to the nonprofit AccessLex Institute's Legal Education Data Deck released Tuesday.

  • Class Attys Seek $6.5M Cut In $29.5M Plantronics Settlement

    Lead counsel for Plantronics investors who secured a $29.5 million deal resolving claims the company used "channel stuffing" tactics to bolster revenue are seeking $6.5 million in fees, telling a California federal judge Friday the request is reasonable, given the strong recovery and their track record successfully prosecuting similar securities cases.

  • Former Docusign Leader Hired To Succeed Ironclad CEO

    Contract management software company Ironclad Inc. announced Monday that its co-founder and chief executive, Jason Boehmig, will move into an executive chairman role and former Docusign chief executive Dan Springer will join Ironclad as Boehmig's successor.

  • Robins Kaplan Names Business Litigation, LA Office Leaders

    Robins Kaplan LLP announced that the firm has named a new deputy chair of the national business litigation group and new deputy managing partner of its Los Angeles office.

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Expert Analysis

  • Series

    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.

  • Series

    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.

  • Keys To Managing The Stresses Of Law School Author Photo

    Dealing with the pressures associated with law school can prove difficult for many future lawyers, but there are steps students can take to manage stress — and schools can help too, say Ryan Zajic and Dr. Janani Krishnaswami at UWorld.

  • Can Mandatory CLE Mitigate Implicit Bias's Negative Impacts? Author Photo

    Amid ongoing disagreements on whether states should mandate implicit bias training as part of attorneys' continuing legal education requirements, Stephanie Wilson at Reed Smith looks at how unconscious attitudes or stereotypes adversely affect legal practice, and whether mandatory training programs can help.

  • Ditch The Frills And Start Writing Legal Letters In Plain English Author Photo

    To become more effective advocates, lawyers need to rethink the ridiculous, convoluted language they use in correspondence and write letters in a clear, concise and direct manner, says legal writing instructor Stuart Teicher.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Negotiate My Separation Agreement? Author Photo

    Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey discusses how a law firm associate can navigate being laid off, what to look for in a separation agreement and why to be upfront about it with prospective employers.

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