California Pulse


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    Amid Restructuring, It's A Busy Year For WeightWatchers GC

    It's a good thing she's an endurance runner. In a little over a year as chief legal and administrative officer of WW International Inc., better known as WeightWatchers, a very busy Jacquie Cooke has helped navigate the company through a bankruptcy reorganization as well as guide it through the changing protocol to sell weight loss drugs.

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    Knobbe Martens Names Trademark, Brand Protection Heads

    Intellectual property firm Knobbe Martens has named two longtime trademark and IP attorneys based in Orange County, California, to head the firm's trademark and brand protection group.

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    Racial, Class Gaps Persist In Strong Year For Law Grad Hiring

    Employment for the class of 2024 reached near-record levels, but graduates from underrepresented backgrounds were less likely to secure attorney positions or judicial clerkships, according to newly released data from the National Association for Law Placement.

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    Latham Adds BCLP Environmental Atty In SF Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP is expanding its environmental team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in a Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP expert on chemicals, especially "forever chemicals," as a partner in its San Francisco Bay Area offices.

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    Hinshaw Unveils Rebrand To Show 'Forward Momentum'

    Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on Wednesday announced a new website and rebranding during what it calls a period of strong financial performance and growth.

  • Calif. Judge Censured For Delayed Rulings, Lying About Them

    A California state judge has been publicly censured for taking more than six months to issue some decisions and lying about those delays on his salary affidavits, according to the state's judicial ethics body.

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    Michelman & Robinson Opens First Overseas Office In London

    Los Angeles-based Michelman & Robinson LLP announced it has made its first expansion outside the U.S. with the launch of a London office.

  • Uber MDL Judge Sets Litigation Funding Disclosure Deadline

    A California federal judge ruled Tuesday in multidistrict litigation accusing Uber Technologies Inc. of failing to prevent drivers from sexually assaulting passengers that plaintiffs' counsel must disclose any ties to third-party litigation funding companies by next week, but stopped short of ordering all plaintiffs' counsel to affirmatively deny any connection.

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    Companies Report Increasingly Gearing Up For AI Risks

    More than a third of major public companies in a study cite AI as a risk factor in their annual financial filings, and 73% report they are aligning with external cybersecurity standards. Both numbers are significantly higher than last year.

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    Wilson Sonsini Adds Cooley Capital Markets Pro In Calif.

    Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC continues adding Cooley LLP attorneys to its corporate team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a capital markets expert as a partner in its San Francisco office.

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    LA Entertainment Firm Adds Ex-Lionsgate VP To Nonlegal Arm

    Los Angeles boutique Newell Law Group has hired an entertainment industry veteran in a new role bolstering its nonlegal television and film packaging and sales arm, the firm announced Monday.

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    Fisher Phillips Expands Across Country With 4 New Partners

    Fisher Phillips has continued its recent growth throughout the last month with the addition of four partners at offices across the country, the firm said Tuesday.

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    Prestige Leaders: The Firms In The Billionaires' Club

    As BigLaw firms continue to post record-breaking revenues, we're highlighting the firms that reported more than $1 billion in gross revenue in the most recent calendar year.

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    What It Takes to Stay Elite As Legal Market Shifts

    The law firm market has undergone unprecedented change in recent years, allowing for more upward mobility for some firms yet presenting risks for the longtime stalwarts of prestige. Here's how law firms navigate those shifting dynamics.

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    The 2025 Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders

    Check out our Prestige Leaders ranking, analysis and interactive graphics to see which firms stand out for their financial performance, attractiveness to attorneys and law students, ability to secure accolades and positive legal news media representation.

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    These Firms Are The 2025 Prestige Leaders

    Clients gravitate towards firms with sterling reputations, and so does exceptional legal talent. Here are this year's Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders — the 100 firms the industry recognizes for their prominence, power and distinction.

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    Ropes & Gray Names 21 New Partners, Keeps 1-Tier Structure

    Ropes & Gray LLP has announced that it will stick to its unique one-tier partnership structure and is promoting 21 attorneys from four offices to partner as of Nov. 1.

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    Latham Adds Gibson Dunn IP Transactions Ace In SF Bay Area

    Latham & Watkins LLP is expanding its corporate team, bringing in a Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP intellectual property transaction expert as a partner in its San Francisco Bay Area offices.

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    How GCs Can Keep The 'Essence' Of Their DEI Efforts

    While shifts this year in federal diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines may have changed the way corporate legal teams track and share demographic information — including for their external counsel — a panel of in-house attorneys who spoke Monday said their work on the issue continues.

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    Katten Names Real Estate Finance Atty As New Leader In LA

    Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has promoted a longtime real estate finance attorney to be the new head of its Los Angeles office.

  • Spiro Can't Be Witness And Musk Atty, Twitter Investors Say

    Elon Musk's informed written consent does not mean that Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP partner Alex Spiro can serve as both his lead counsel and witness in the trial over a class of investors' allegations that Musk tried to tank Twitter's stock, those investors told a California federal judge on Friday.

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    Paul Weiss, NFL And FIFA Defender, Launches Sports Practice

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, whose attorneys have represented the National Football League and FIFA, and have helped lead multibillion-dollar transactions on the acquisition of sports teams and businesses, has launched a formalized sports practice, the firm announced Monday.

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    Goodwin Elects PE Pro As Incoming Managing Partner

    Goodwin Procter LLP has elected private equity partner Joshua Klatzkin as the firm's next managing partner to take over next year from Mark Bettencourt, who has held the role since 2019, the firm announced Monday.

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    Squire Patton Brings Back Corporate Ace In San Francisco

    A transactional attorney who started her legal career at Squire Patton Boggs LLP more than 20 years ago has rejoined the firm as a San Francisco-based partner.

  • LA County Commits An Added $828M For Sex Abuse Victims

    Los Angeles County Friday said it has tentatively agreed to shell out an additional $828 million to settle hundreds of cases alleging childhood sexual abuse that occurred in county facilities, an amount that follows a $4 billion settlement announced earlier this year.

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Expert Analysis

  • How I Owned My Power As An Asian American Woman In Law Author Photo

    Gibson Dunn's Debra Yang shares the bumps in her journey to becoming the first female Asian American U.S. attorney, a state judge and a senior partner in BigLaw, and how other women can face their self-doubts and blaze their own trails to success amid systemic obstacles.

  • Successful In-House Alt Legal Services Start With 4 Questions Author Photo

    Law firms that are considering creating an in-house alternative legal service provider should focus not on recapturing revenue otherwise lost to outside vendors, but instead consider how a captive ALSP will better fulfill the needs of their clients and partners, say Beatrice Seravello and Brad Blickstein at Baretz & Brunelle.

  • 3 Reasons To Embrace Jargon In Legal Marketing Content Author Photo

    Ignore what you've been told about jargon — adding insider industry terms to your firm's marketing and business development content can persuade potential clients that you have the specialized knowledge they can trust, says Wayne Pollock at Law Firm Editorial Service.

  • Future Lawyers Expect DEI Commitments Beyond Recruiting Author Photo

    To attract future lawyers from diverse backgrounds, firms must think beyond recruiting efforts, because law students are looking for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that invest in employee professional development and engage with students year-round, says Lauren Jackson at Howard University School of Law.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can Law Students Build Real-World Skills? Author Photo

    Allison Coffin at Akin Gump discusses how summer associates going back to school can continue to develop real-world lawyering skills by leveraging the numerous law school resources that support professional development both inside and outside the classroom.

  • How Firm Leaders Can Build And Sustain Culture Author Photo

    In uncertain and challenging times, law firm leaders can build and sustain culture by focusing attention on mission, values and leadership development, and applying a growth mindset across their firms, says Scott Westfahl at Harvard Law.

  • The Case That Showed Me The Value Of E-Discovery Plans Author Photo

    Robert Keeling at Sidley reflects on leading discovery in the litigation that followed the historic $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger and how the case highlighted the importance of having a strategic e-discovery plan in place.

  • 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.

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