Florida Pulse


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    Brown & Brown Names New CLO After Ex-Legal Chief's Death

    Insurance brokerage firm Brown & Brown Inc. has appointed as its chief legal officer an attorney who was its chief risk, regulatory and compliance counsel before taking over the top legal post on an interim basis following the death of her predecessor earlier this year.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    Partnership promotions, BigLaw hires and firm merger votes helped make this another action-packed week for the legal industry. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    BigLaw Hiring Heats Up In Q1 As Firms Chase Partner Talent

    Large U.S. law firms started 2026 with a surge in lateral moves that boosted partner hiring to the highest level in six years, but softened on associate additions, according to new data from legal intelligence provider Firm Prospects.

  • Florida's Supreme Court Will Soon Have A New Chief Justice

    Florida's Supreme Court announced Thursday that a justice who was appointed to the bench in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis will become the Sunshine State's 58th chief justice on July 1.

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    Hill Ward Henderson Names Longtime Akerman Exec As CFO

    Florida firm Hill Ward Henderson announced that an experienced legal executive who spent over two decades with Akerman LLP has been named its new chief financial officer.

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    Day Pitney 'Lifer' Prepares To Lead Firm Into New Era

    After joining Day Pitney LLP straight out of law school in 1987, Michael P. Byrne has been elected as the firm’s managing partner. Here, Byrne discusses his business goals for his first year on the job, the firm’s growth trajectory, and the importance of maintaining its culture.

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    PGA's Former Legal Chief Tees Up New Gig At McDermott

    McDermott Will & Schulte has grown its abilities at the intersection of sports, media, governance and high-stakes deals with the addition of the former longtime legal leader of the Professional Golfers' Association of America.

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    How Winston & Strawn's Growth Is Part Of Miami 'Evolution'

    Just four years after first launching in the South Florida market, Winston & Strawn LLP is taking part in Miami's "evolution" with a recent move to a larger space that the office's leader said enables the firm to serve clients across the world.

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    Consumer Cases Drive Class Action Spike, Report Says

    Federal class action filings spiked in 2025 after nearly a decade of relative stability, fueled by a surge in consumer protection lawsuits tied to data breaches, digital commerce and online accessibility claims, according to a new report from Lex Machina.

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    Sotomayor Apologizes For 'Hurtful' Comments About Kavanaugh

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologized Wednesday for comments she made at a University of Kansas appearance earlier this month criticizing Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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    Fla. Law Grads See Slight Drop In Feb. Bar Exam Pass Rate

    First-time test-takers who graduated from accredited Florida law schools passed the February bar exam at a rate of 61.3%, down slightly from last year's rate of 63.5%.

  • Gunster Elevates Real Estate Atty To Wealth Practice Head

    Gunster announced that an experienced real estate attorney has been made managing director of the Florida firm's family office and generational wealth practice group.

  • Counsel In Ex-Chartwell Atty Firing Suit Told To Ease Off

    A Florida federal judge said Wednesday she wanted more information about a sanctions motion allegedly filed with hallucinated AI citations and urged attorneys to "bring the temperature down" in an ex-Chartwell Law Offices LLP attorney's suit claiming she was fired for posting social media statements criticizing military action in Gaza.

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    Higher Partner Rate Hikes Are The New Normal For GCs

    The largest law firms continued to get the bulk of the work in 2025 despite having the most expensive rates, while mid-tier firms are grabbing a bigger piece of the action, according to a new report by LexisNexis CounselLink.

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    Hogan, Cadwalader Partners Vote To Forge Ahead With Merger

    Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader said Wednesday that their partners have voted in favor of their merger ahead of the scheduled launch of the combined law firm on July 1.

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    Investors Want Sanctions For Fake Citations In LGBCoin Suit

    Investors in the "Let's Go Brandon" meme token urged a Florida federal judge Monday to issue "case-terminating sanctions" against the man behind the coin, saying he and his counsel have lied in discovery, disobeyed court orders and submitted fake legal citations in at least eight filings.

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    Constangy Appoints 5 New Members To Executive Committee

    Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP has appointed five new members to its executive committee as its former members wrapped up their terms.

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    Law Firm Back Office Finance Needs AI, Too

    As law firm finance and operations teams focus on boosting efficiency by migrating to the cloud and using more artificial intelligence in processes, areas of friction still exist today.

  • Immigrant Attys Say Everglades Site Violated Access Order

    A Florida federal judge pressed government lawyers for some answers Monday after legal service providers and a class of noncitizens said officials violated a court order to ensure access to legal counsel at the South Florida Detention Facility.

  • 11th Circ. Rejects Fired Fla. Law Prof's Reinstatement Bid

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday denied a bid from a former professor fired from Florida A&M University College of Law to be reinstated via a preliminary injunction, ruling the trial court correctly found that she will not suffer irreparable damage without the injunction.

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    FBT Gibbons Launches 2nd Fla. Office With Dentons Attys

    FBT Gibbons announced Monday that it launched a new office in Naples, Florida, with the hiring of a former Dentons Cohen & Grigsby shareholder and his estate planning, trusts and probate administration team.

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    King & Spalding Brings On CFO From Hogan Lovells

    King & Spalding LLP announced Monday that it has hired Hogan Lovells' global chief financial officer to be its CFO.

  • Law Firm, Insurer Say Cos. Must Pay For Crane Crash Losses

    Florida law firm Johnson Pope and its insurer have sued a group of companies involved in the construction of a 46-story luxury condominium tower in St. Petersburg, telling a state court they are entitled to recover losses they incurred after a crane fell and damaged the firm's office space.

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    In Study, AI Helped Law Students Without Hurting Reasoning

    Using artificial intelligence to analyze legal issues can help law students and junior attorneys, even when the technology is no longer available later on, according to a new study.

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    Shumaker Grows In Fla. With Englander & Fischer RE Pro

    A former Englander & Fischer LLP attorney with more than four decades of experience has joined Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP as an of counsel in its office in St. Petersburg, Florida, the firm announced Friday.

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Expert Analysis

  • 6 Strategies For Navigating Legal Leadership Transitions Author Photo

    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.

  • The Augmented Lawyer: Crafting Responsible AI Policies Author Photo

    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.

  • 6 Ways To Build Pro Bono Culture If You Lack Dedicated Staff Author Photo

    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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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Extend Your Content's Life Author Photo

    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.

  • Why Law Firm Leaders Should Care About Student Debt Crisis Author Photo

    ​​​​​​​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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    Talking Mental Health: Encouraging New Attys To Find Joy Author Photo

    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.

  • Fla. Bar's Cyber Incident Response Plan Sets Precedent Author Photo

    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.

  • Why Attorneys Should Write About Justices' Minority Opinions Author Photo

    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.

  • 3 Business Development Lessons From Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Author Photo

    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.

  • 5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs To Quantify Their Value Author Photo

    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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    Defining The Culture For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    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.

  • 5 Emerging Themes Shaping Lateral Partner Moves This Year Author Photo

    A few key trends have arisen in partners’ lateral movements in the first half of 2025, reflecting a legal market defined by macroeconomic uncertainty, shifts in firm structures and rising scrutiny of firm affiliations, say legal recruiters at Macrae.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Be A Mentor Or Mentee Author Photo

    Mentorship is a powerful tool for business development when both mentors and mentees approach their relationships with strategic purpose, ensuring professional success while supporting broader business goals, say Angela Liu at Dechert and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • 4 Biz Dev Steps For Attys Who Don't Know What They Want Author Photo

    Junior attorneys are increasingly expected to start building books of business while they are still figuring out their long-term career goals, but a few pointers can help young lawyers develop business even when they’re uncertain about their future direction, says Lana Manganiello at Practice Growth Partner.

  • Protecting Client Funds From Cyberattacks Author Photo

    As cyberattacks on law firms continue to escalate, bar associations, law firms and individual lawyers must all take steps to protect client funds in attorney trust accounts — from imposing cyber hygiene mandates to reimagining malpractice coverage — because once that money is gone, it’s generally gone for good, says Michael Epstein at The Epstein Law Firm.

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