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Texas Pulse
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Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz
In its coverage this week, Law360 Pulse explored the problem of legal deserts in the U.S., detailed the news of a new AI-native law firm, and focused in on a change-up in Weil Gotshal LLP's corporate department leadership. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.
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Firms Seek To Help 'Most Vulnerable' In Rural America
Major law firms across the country regularly deploy pro bono resources to help people in areas with few lawyers, and they rely on nonprofit and corporate partners with close community ties to direct those resources to where they are needed most.
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Strict Rules Limit Paraprofessional Ranks In Legal Deserts
Legal paraprofessionals can offer much-needed legal aid to those who can't find attorneys, but difficulties scaling up nascent state licensing programs and getting paraprofessionals to rural areas is limiting their impact.
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Patchwork Efforts Grow Lawyer Pipeline To Reach Legal Deserts
A patchwork of local pipeline programs aims to educate and bring the next generation of attorneys to rural communities and legal deserts across the country.
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Senate Confirms Kirkland Partner To Texas Federal Bench
The Senate voted 49-45 on Thursday to confirm Kasdin Miller Mitchell, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas.
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Husch Blackwell Launches Complex Torts Litigation Unit
Husch Blackwell LLP has launched a platform committed to providing tools to defendant companies facing complex torts litigation, dedicating more than 165 attorneys in over 30 states to the effort, the firm has announced.
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OpenAI Adds ChatGPT Configuration Tuned To Legal Work
Artificial intelligence company OpenAI, following the release of the latest model of its ChatGPT software earlier this month, announced on Thursday a legal-specific configuration to perform legal research, analysis and writing.
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Sorrels Law Expands Beyond PI With New Biz Law Practice
Texas firm Sorrels Law has expanded beyond its flagship personal injury litigation offerings with a new business law practice group aimed at handling complex commercial disputes for corporations, businesses and individuals.
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Willkie Hires Ex-Akerman Data Center Pros For Dallas Office
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has hired four former Akerman LLP real estate attorneys as partners for its data centers and digital infrastructure team in Dallas, the firm announced Wednesday.
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Family Sues Paxton Over Texas Abortion Ban, Woman's Death
The family of a San Antonio woman who died from complications of a high-risk pregnancy in late 2024 is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others, saying the state's abortion ban led directly to her death.
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AI Could Help State Courts Run More Efficiently, Panelists Say
Artificial intelligence can help state courts operate more efficiently and ease workload strains by automating repetitive tasks, according to participants in a Wednesday panel discussion organized by the National Center for State Courts.
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Gibson Dunn Adds Data Center Duo In Dallas
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP announced Wednesday that it has added depth to its data center practice with the addition of two Dallas-based attorneys who came aboard from Texas regional law firm Stutzman Bromberg Esserman & Plifka PC.
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Former SEC Atty Rejoins Kelly Hart In Fort Worth
Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP has announced that an experienced trial attorney rejoined the firm's Fort Worth, Texas, office last week as a partner after a stint at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Getting To Court Can Pose Barrier To Justice In Rural America
In rural areas of the U.S., many people live great distances from courthouses and other legal services, creating major barriers to accessing justice and taking a toll on residents, lawyers and legal personnel.
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Senate Panel Weighs 6 Trump Judicial Picks From Red States
Six nominees for U.S. district judge appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for their nomination hearing.
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Orrick Hires CFO From Paul Hastings, Tech Leader From KKR
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced Tuesday that the firm has two new C-suite executives, both of whom will be based in New York.
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Legal Ops Pay Stagnates As Big Company GCs See Increases
A company's size has always influenced pay for in-house lawyers, but a new study shows a significant difference for general counsel and chief legal officers, with their median base salaries running 90% higher than their counterparts at smaller organizations. Meanwhile, compensation for directors of legal operations was flat.
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Legal Deserts: Millions Across America Struggle To Access Lawyers
Tens of millions of Americans live in towns and counties across the nation with limited or no access to legal services. By one estimate, at least a third of the nation's counties qualify as a "legal desert," having only one or no attorney per 1,000 residents. Roughly 24 million Americans reside in these counties.
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Foley Adds Corporate Ace From Gibson Dunn In Houston
Foley & Lardner LLP has expanded its private capital offerings and national energy and infrastructure team with a Houston-based partner who came aboard from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
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5th Circ. Backs Toss Of Texas Law Firm's Pandemic Loan Bid
The Fifth Circuit upheld the U.S. Small Business Administration's denial of a Texas law firm's bid for forgiveness of a Paycheck Protection Program loan of about $249,000 due to the firm's failure to disclose a pending criminal complaint against its owner.
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What Happens When The Only Lawyer In Town Retires?
Many rural attorneys, often the only lawyer in town, work until they die or simply close their practices when they retire. But small to mid-sized firms looking to expand into rural markets could help to make succession planning a real possibility for these solo practitioners.
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First-Gen Students Pressured By Earlier BigLaw Recruiting
Students who are the first in their families to attend law school have been thrown a new challenge at the beginning of their legal journeys, as BigLaw accelerates their recruitment timelines.
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The 2026 Summer Associate Experience: AI Led The Way
Summer associate programs give law students an up-close look at changes unfolding in the legal industry, and a new Law360 Pulse survey found artificial intelligence use and pay have reached new heights.
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What Summer Associates Learned From Working At Firms
From learning how to come back from mistakes to cross-team collaboration, this year's summer associates came away with lessons that will help them succeed in their future careers. Here's what they want law students to know as they begin their own journeys.
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One County, One Lawyer: Legal Deserts Take A Human Toll
Divorce is often hard, but it is harder still when there’s just one lawyer in town. The story of one divorcing couple in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula illustrates the financial costs and emotional pain of living in a legal desert, and it helps explain why lawyer shortages are spreading throughout rural America. This story introduces Law360 Pulse’s special series on legal deserts.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Play The Long Game
Lawyers who consistently maintain early-career and personal relationships, track contacts, and make thoughtful outreach over time will be better positioned to generate future client work, referrals and leadership opportunities, says Deborah Farone at Farone Advisors.
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5 Due Diligence Steps For A Successful Succession Plan
Instead of relying on abstract policies, firm leadership should develop concrete succession plans before rainmakers announce retirement that track which tasks intended successors are assuming, how the outgoing member is transferring their knowledge and whether clients are yet relying on the replacement, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
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Series
The GC's 1st 90 Days: How To Build A Strong GC Network
Taking time to build a network of general counsel thought partners is useful in the early days of the role because the value of relationships compounds over time, and approaching the process with a spirit of curiosity and generosity can be especially helpful, says Heather Stevenson, general counsel at Red Cell.
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5 Ways Law Firms Can Build Lasting AI Visibility
As generative artificial intelligence tools become embedded across the entire digital ecosystem, law firm leaders can build an enduring footprint with five factors that ensure their firms remain visible no matter how underlying models evolve, says Melanie Trudeau at Reputation Ink.
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Nonequity Partner Boom Forces Lawyers To Pick A Lane
With firms increasingly offering the nonequity partnership tier, the position can become either a parking spot to help build a book of business or a permanent landing zone, and for those who want to become equity partners, business development matters more than ever, says Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Series
RFP Reset: Focus On Execution, Not Just Expertise
Law firms that treat responses to requests for proposal as concrete evidence of staffing, budgeting, communication and project management discipline will be better positioned to win business from legal departments than firms that tout generic credentials alone, says LaResa Young at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
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3 Ways Firm Leaders Can Nurture AI Fluency
Lawyers can’t develop artificial intelligence fluency from continuing legal education courses, webinars or email updates, so firm leaders must foster conditions that are conducive to attorney learning if they want AI investments to deliver their promised return, says Adrienne Prentice at Keep Company.
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The GC's 1st 90 Days: How To Build Trust With The CEO
During the early days in the general counsel role, establishing a CEO relationship that holds under pressure is dependent on earning access, communicating in business terms and advising candidly — all before a crisis arises, says Chaka Patterson, former general counsel at Adtalem Global Education.
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Series
Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Harness Client Trust
Clients stay with counsel not simply because their lawyers follow the rules, but because they feel safe, respected and heard, making trust essential to business development, especially in high-stakes matters where reputational risk runs high, says Derrelle Janey at Olshan Frome.
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Series
Legal Tech Talks: Summize GC On Operating Strategically
Lexi Lutz, general counsel of Summize, discusses how legal tech can make lawyers more proactive and less tied up in repetitive process work, so that they can spend more time acting as real business partners.
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How Associates Can Use AI To Gain A Biz Development Edge
Junior lawyers can harness artificial intelligence to identify where they are gaining traction with clients and build a data-driven business development foundation long before conversations about partnership track begin, says Tigist Kassahun at Vinson & Elkins.
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Law Firm AI Rollouts Depend On Buy-In, Not Bigger Budgets
Recent research demonstrates that the organizational qualities that make for a good associate experience, like strong leadership, are also strengths that prove critical to successful artificial intelligence implementation, say Cait Evans at Chambers and Partners, and Vivek Mohan and Meredith Williams-Range at Gibson Dunn.
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Trump's EO Puts AI Agent Governance On GC Agenda
Section 4 of President Donald Trump's executive order promoting the advancement of artificial intelligence innovation and security establishes a federal baseline around AI agents, so general counsel cannot wait for enforcement to define the standard, says Camilo Artiga-Purcell at Kiteworks.
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Series
RFP Reset: Standardize Pricing Requests
To keep up with rising legal costs amid an industry overhaul fueled by artificial intelligence, legal departments can make outside counsel requests for proposal more defensible and cost-effective by making pricing requests uniform, requiring comparable fee templates and evaluating staffing assumptions, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Making Legal Cents: Create Marketing Clients Find Useful
The law firm marketing efforts with the best return on investment are things that actively provide value to potential clients: practical business guidance, uncluttered proposals that anticipate their questions and opportunities to participate in curated industry conversations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.