California Pulse


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    Kilpatrick Expands Partnership Class With 14 Attys

    Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP elected 14 attorneys as partners across Georgia, Illinois, Texas, New York, North Carolina, California and China, representing an increase from the 10 attorneys in the firm's partner class promoted last year for 2025.

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    Morgan Lewis Adds Gibson Dunn Tech Transactions Ace In LA

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP is expanding its corporate team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in a Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP technology transactions expert as a partner in its Los Angeles office.

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    McDermott Exploring Selling Stake To Private Equity

    McDermott Will & Schulte on Wednesday acknowledged it is fielding interest from private equity investors, a development that underscores how some of the legal industry's largest players are considering moving to a nontraditional business model.

  • Edelson Enters 'Clean' Dismissal In Girardi Atty Case

    Edelson PC has submitted a "clean and unadulterated" dismissal of its conversion case against two former attorneys from the now-defunct law firm Girardi Keese after an Illinois federal judge took issue with a previous version of the stipulation.

  • Legal Prediction Platform Theo AI Names GC Advisory Board

    Top in-house attorneys for Bristol Myers Squibb, Docusign and GoDaddy are among the members of the newly announced general counsel advisory board for Theo Ai, a company using an artificial intelligence platform to predict outcomes in civil suits.

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    General Counsel AI Raises $60M Series B At $555M Valuation

    General Counsel AI Inc., a legal artificial intelligence platform for in-house counsel, announced on Wednesday a $60 million Series B funding round that values the company at $555 million.

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    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attorneys From 76 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2025 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing significant achievements in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

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    Squire Patton Launches Veterans Business Resource Group

    Squire Patton Boggs LLP announced Monday a new business resource group aimed at connecting employees with military service backgrounds, with a kickoff event planned for Veterans Day.

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    Law Firm Revenue, Demand Are Up, But So Are Expenses

    U.S. law firms saw an average of double-digit growth in both revenue and inventory during the first nine months of 2025, signifying they're on pace to end the year on a positive note, according to the results of a survey released Monday by Citi Global Wealth at Work.

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    Disney's Top Lawyer Gets Contract Extension, New Title

    The Walt Disney Company has extended its top lawyer's contract into 2028 and changed his title to senior executive vice president, chief legal and global affairs officer, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • Trump Pardons Giuliani, Others Accused Of Election Crimes

    President Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned scores of lawyers accused of attempting to interfere in the 2020 election, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sidney Powell, according to a social media post created by the president's pardon attorney, Ed Martin.

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    Former Prosecutors Come Full Circle To Lead Munger Tolles

    For former federal prosecutors and close friends Martin Estrada and Daniel Levin, being tapped to lead Munger Tolles & Olson LLP as co-managing partners marks a full-circle moment.

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    Biopharmaceutical Co. Exelixis' GC Steps Down

    The longtime general counsel of biopharmaceutical company Exelixis Inc. abruptly stepped down Friday and was replaced by the company's senior vice president for intellectual property & licensing, according to filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • Ex-Calif. Judge Seeks To Toss Sex Assault, Coverup Charges

    A former California state judge on Friday moved to toss federal criminal charges alleging that he sexually assaulted a court employee and lied to investigators, saying the employee was not under his direct supervision so he could not have been acting under the "color of law" when the alleged assault occurred.

  • Jeffer Mangels Hit With Pregnancy Bias Suit By Ex-Associate

    A former Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP associate has accused the firm of discriminating against women, especially pregnant women, claiming that she was harassed throughout her pregnancy and eventually fired after she advocated for herself and pointed out the disparate treatment.

  • Shutdown, Funding Crisis Leave Federal Defenders Unpaid

    The record-long government shutdown has hindered an already dire funding situation for the federal defense community, but now the judiciary is working on requests to Congress to alleviate that.

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    Mayer Brown Adds Goodwin Real Estate, Hospitality Trio In SF

    Mayer Brown LLP is boosting its West Coast team, bringing in a trio of Goodwin Procter LLP real estate and hospitality experts as partners in the firm's San Francisco office.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Latham & Watkins LLP and Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eighth Circuit vacated a National Labor Relations Board ruling that Home Depot illegally forced out a worker who showed support for Black Lives Matter.

  • UK Contract Software Co. Summize Opens San Diego Office

    Summize, a provider of contract lifecycle management software, announced Wednesday the launch of a new office in San Diego, part of an expansion on the West Coast by the United Kingdom company.

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    BigLaw Tightens Attendance Rules, But Oversight Differs

    BigLaw's push to restore in-person work is picking up speed as more firms require attorneys to spend four days a week in the office. While additional firms are expected to follow, experts say the pace and enforcement will vary widely depending on firm culture, leadership priorities and individual performance.

  • UC Irvine Law Launches Center For Technology And Justice

    The University of California, Irvine School of Law announced Wednesday the opening of a new Center for Technology and Justice, which will focus on studying and addressing issues such as digital abuse, privacy and tech regulation.

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    Office Snapshot: Wilson Sonsini Rises From Studs In Calif.

    More than three decades after the construction of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC's Silicon Valley headquarters in a Stanford Research Park building, the firm recently completed a total renovation that its leader says modernizes the space and inspires employees to come into the office.

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    Attys Brace For Turbulence As Flight Cancellations Begin

    The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday cut hundreds of flights following an emergency order to slash air travel at 40 airports as the longest-running government shutdown in history drags on. Here, Law360 Pulse talks to attorneys who travel for work about how the air travel reduction is impacting them.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    The legal industry kicked off November with another busy week as BigLaw firms launched new office attendance policies and expanded practices. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    Dorsey & Whitney Adds Real Estate Duo From Womble Bond

    Dorsey & Whitney LLP has expanded its Southern California team, bringing in two Womble Bond Dickinson real estate attorneys in its Orange County office in Costa Mesa.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

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    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.

  • DoNotPay Cases Underscore Hurdles For AI-Fueled Legal Help Author Photo

    Recent legal challenges against DoNotPay’s "robot lawyer” application highlight pressing questions about the degree to which artificial intelligence can be used for legal tasks while remaining on the right side of both consumer protection laws and prohibitions against the unauthorized practice of law, says Kristen Niven at Frankfurt Kurnit.

  • For The Future Of Legal Practice, Let's Learn From The Past Author Photo

    At some level, every practicing lawyer is experiencing the ever-increasing speed of change — and while some practice management processes have gotten more efficient, other things about the legal profession were better before supposed improvements were made, says Jay Silberblatt, president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

  • Why All Law Firms Should Foster Psychological Capital Author Photo

    Law firms will be able to reap great long-term benefits if they adopt strategies to nurture four critical components of their employees' psychological wellness and performance — hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, says Dennis Stolle at the American Psychological Association.

  • A GC's Guide To Litigation, Inspired By Sun Tzu's 'Art Of War' Author Photo

    With caseloads and spending increasing, in-house counsel might find themselves called to opine on the risks and benefits of litigation more often, and they should look at five Sun Tzu maxims from the ancient Chinese classic "The Art of War" to inform their approach to any suit, says Jeff Golimowski at Womble Bond.

  • Mentorship Is Key To Diversity In The Legal Industry Author Photo

    Not only can effective mentorship have a profound impact on women and people of color entering the legal field, but it also benefits mentors and the legal profession as a whole, creating a true win-win situation for all involved, says Natasha Cortes at Grossman Roth.

  • ChatGPT Is A Cool Trick, But AI Won't Replace Lawyers Author Photo

    Generative AI applications like ChatGPT are unlikely to ever replace attorneys for a variety of practical reasons — but given their practice-enhancing capabilities, lawyers who fail to leverage these tools may be rendered obsolete, says Eran Kahana at Maslon.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Valuable In IP And Continued Learning Author Photo

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent elimination of a rule that partially counted pro bono work toward continuing legal education highlights the importance of volunteer work in intellectual property practice and its ties to CLE, and puts a valuable tool for hands-on attorney education in the hands of the states, say Lisa Holubar and Ariel Katz at Irwin.

  • Increasing Public Access To Legal Services: A Practical Plan Author Photo

    Recommendations recently issued by a special committee of the Florida Bar represent a realistic, pragmatic approach to increasing the accessibility and affordability of legal services, at a time when the disconnect between the legal profession and the public at large has widened considerably, says Gary Lesser, president of the Florida Bar.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Relay Shortcomings To Associates? Author Photo

    Michael Cohen at Duane Morris discusses the best ways to articulate how an associate is not meeting expectations, and why documentation of performance management is crucial for their growth and protecting the firm from discrimination suits.

  • 10 Principles For Effective Partner Reward Systems Author Photo

    Several forces are reshaping partners’ expectations about profit-sharing, and as compensation structures evolve in response, firms should keep certain fundamentals in mind to build a successful partner reward system, say Michael Roch at MHPR Advisors and Ray D'Cruz at Performance Leader.

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