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California Pulse


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    Roku Hires Snap's 1st-Ever GC To Lead Its Legal Team

    Roku Inc. has found as its new top lawyer a former general counsel at Snap Inc. and longtime partner at Hogan Lovells, according to a Wednesday securities filing.

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    Barnes & Thornburg Unveils New Management Committee

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP has announced its 2025-2026 management committee, with Andrew Detherage remaining the firm's managing partner and an Indianapolis-based partner joining the committee as an at-large member.

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    DLA Piper IP Pro Moves To Womble Bond In Silicon Valley

    Womble Bond Dickinson has hired a DLA Piper partner to bolster its national intellectual property litigation practice and its life sciences presence on the West Coast, the firm said Wednesday.

  • Calif. Judge OKs $1.3M Deal Over Houser LLP Data Breach

    A California federal judge on Oct. 31 signed off on final approval of a $1.3 million settlement and $351,000 in attorney fees in a class action against business litigation firm Houser LLP over a 2023 data breach.

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    Visa, Con Ed Among Leaders In Political Disclosure Rankings

    Despite geopolitical pressures — or perhaps because of them — more companies than ever are agreeing to follow robust transparency policies related to their political spending, according to a new study.

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    Jones Day Hires Ex-Coinbase Associate GC In San Diego

    Jones Day has added to its San Diego cybersecurity practice a former member of Coinbase's commercial litigation team, the firm announced.

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    Commerce Dept. Atty Joins Holland & Knight's Trade Team

    A senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce has joined Holland & Knight LLP's international trade group as a partner, the latest in a string of former government officials to join the firm's ranks in the past several months.

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    Mid-Law's Big Leap: The Rise Of The 'Super Mid-Market' Firm

    As consolidation pressure mounts, some Mid-Law firms have bulked up to BigLaw scale without moving away from their focus on midsized clients, with this so-called "super mid-market" tier of firms likely to keep expanding.

  • Fired E-Biz Execs Sue Jackson Walker Over Judge's Romance

    A pair of former executives at e-commerce company Volusion LLC have hit Jackson Walker LLP with the latest in a series of suits accusing the firm of legal malpractice stemming from the undisclosed romance between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

  • Senate Confirms Jones Day Partner To 9th Circ. Bench

    The Senate voted 52-45 on Wednesday to confirm Eric Tung, a partner at Jones Day, as a judge on the Ninth Circuit.

  • Robbins Geller's 'Eye-Watering' $28M Fee Bid Cut To $10.4M

    A California federal judge has rejected a $28 million attorney fee request from Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd as part of a $150 million investor settlement with Zoom, calling it an "eye-watering figure," and saying the firm can collect about $10.4 million instead.

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    Corporate Atty Returns To Baker Botts From VC Fund In Calif.

    Baker Botts LLP is growing its corporate team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing back a venture capital expert most recently with BRV Capital Management as a partner in its Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, California.

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    BakerHostetler Lands Knobbe Martens IP Trio In California

    BakerHostetler continues expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in three Knobbe Martens intellectual property attorneys as partners in its Los Angeles and Orange County offices.

  • Judge DQs Levi & Korsinsky Over 'False Press Releases'

    A California federal judge disqualified Levi & Korsinsky from serving as lead counsel in a proposed investor class action after finding that the firm issued press releases to attract clients with headlines stating it had filed certain suits when in fact, the firm hadn't actually filed those cases.

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    Lagasse Branch Grows With 15 Attys From Boutique In Calif.

    California firm Lagasse Branch Bell & Kinkead LLP is expanding its ranks by almost a third, adding 15 attorneys from the boutique formerly known as Bradley Gmelich & Wellerstein LLP, including one of its name partners, according to an announcement Tuesday.

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    Pierson Ferdinand Adds 6 More Partners In US, London

    Fast-growing Pierson Ferdinand LLP has announced that the firm added six new partners in five U.S. markets and in its London office during the month of October.

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    Which GCs Sold Stock In October? Apple, Strategy And More

    Three top legal officers at tech companies in California, a Washington, D.C., suburb and Austin, Texas, hauled in big stock scores last month.

  • Littler Adds Veteran In-House Atty From Amazon In California

    Employment and labor law firm Littler Mendelson PC has expanded its offerings in San Francisco with a veteran in-house attorney who most recently spent over eight years at Amazon.

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    Haynes Boone Hires First Chief Talent Officer

    Haynes Boone announced this week that it has hired its first chief talent officer to steer attorney development and recruiting efforts as the firm continues to grow and change its senior leadership structure.

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    Wilson Elser Picks Up 6-Atty Team In LA From Booth

    Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP announced Tuesday that it has hired a six-attorney team from the now-shuttered Booth LLP in Los Angeles, including that firm's former managing partner.

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    Dechert Requiring 4 Days In Office For Some Attys, All Staff

    Dechert LLP joined a growing list of BigLaw firms increasing their office attendance requirements, rolling out a new policy requiring rising second-year associates and all nonattorney business professionals to work in person four days a week beginning next year.   

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    Ruli.ai Raises $6M In Seed Funding, Hires Ex-Pinterest GC

    Amid the current race to invest in artificial intelligence-powered legal technology, legal intelligence platform Ruli.ai announced Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $8 million in a little more than a year.

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    Boies Schiller Adds 2 Attys From Herrick Feinstein, Disney

    Boies Schiller Flexner LLP this week announced two prominent hires — a Herrick Feinstein LLP attorney with a history of working on multibillion-dollar restructurings and a firm alum from The Walt Disney Co. who brings experience in copyright matters and artificial intelligence.

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    Calif. Prop 65 Expert Joins Carlton Fields In Los Angeles

    Carlton Fields announced Monday that an experienced defense litigator who focuses on California's Proposition 65 matters has joined the firm's Los Angeles office from Steptoe LLP.

  • New Loan Forgiveness Rule Targets Trump Critics, States Say

    Two lawsuits filed Monday, one by a coalition of states and the other by a group of cities, unions and advocacy organizations, are challenging a new Trump administration rule imposing "intentionally vague" and allegedly illegal restrictions on student loan forgiveness for public employees intended to stifle dissent.

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Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Series

    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.

  • Why Interdisciplinarity Is Key To Designing The Future Of Law Author Photo

    The legal profession faces challenges that urgently demand new solutions, and lawyers and firms can address this by leaning on other industries that have more experience practicing, teaching and incorporating innovation into their core business and service models, says Jennifer Leonard at the University of Pennsylvania.

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