California Pulse

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    Girardi Seeks New Fraud Trial Over Memory Issues

    Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi has called on a California federal court to overturn his conviction for misappropriating $15 million in client settlement funds, arguing he was not competent to stand trial due to memory problems that left him unable to remember witnesses or even his own attorneys.

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    Constangy Appoints Additional Immigration Leadership

    Labor and employment boutique Constangy said Wednesday that a North Carolina partner is stepping up to co-chair the firm's immigration practice group.

  • Disbarred Calif. Atty To Pay $14M Over Crypto Ponzi Scheme

    A disbarred California attorney has been ordered by a Nevada federal judge to pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his role in promoting a $9.5 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.

  • 9th Circ. Rejects Judicial Ethics Complaint Over Case Delays

    The Ninth Circuit has tossed an attorney's ethics complaint against a federal district judge accused of failing to promptly rule on a motion to dismiss as part of an alleged pattern of slow rulings by the court.

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    AI-Focused Exec Roles Are Having A Moment At Law Firms

    Several law firms this year, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP, have filled artificial intelligence-focused chief and director roles to keep up with technological advances and client demands, according to legal recruiters.

  • Ex-Girardi Keese CFO Inks Plea Deal Over Firm Embezzlement

    Girardi Keese's former Chief Financial Officer Christopher K. Kamon reached a plea agreement Tuesday with Los Angeles federal prosecutors, who allege he spearheaded a "side fraud" that bilked millions of dollars from the embattled law firm's accounts behind disbarred attorney Tom Girardi's back.

  • Ex-Uber Exec's Actions Smell Like Cover-Up, 9th Circ. Judge Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of Uber's ex-security chief's effort to overturn his convictions for obstructing an investigation into an Uber data breach, with one judge saying the defendant's abrupt changes to Uber's policies "does smell to me like a cover-up."

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    Western Digital's Ex-Legal Chief Saw Comp Dip In Final Year

    The former chief legal officer at Western Digital Corp. saw a slight fall in his overall compensation package for fiscal year 2024 compared to the previous two, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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    Judge Security Data Reflects Policy Shifts As Much As Threats

    Former employees of the U.S. Marshals Service say that while judicial security has never been more urgent, finding trends is nearly impossible: The way threats against federal judges are tracked has varied so much from year to year, the data is essentially meaningless.

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    Polsinelli Taps Chief Of Staff As First Practice Strategy Leader

    Polsinelli PC announced Monday that it promoted its chief of staff to serve as both its staff lead and as its first chief practice strategy officer, tasking her with managing how its practices work together to benefit clients and promoting innovation through strategies such as the use of artificial intelligence.

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    Manatt RE Leader Found Common Ground Without An Ego

    Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has lost a Silicon Valley real estate partner with the death of Michael Polentz, and former colleagues are praising his ability to seamlessly break down complex ideas and his achievement of great success in the legal world — and doing so without an ego.

  • 9th Circ. Affirms Atty Fee Reduction In Cathode Suit

    A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to cut more than $2 million from plaintiff's firm Cooper & Kirkham's $3.45 million fee award in a multidistrict litigation settlement over alleged cathode ray tube price-fixing litigation.

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    White & Case Adds Marketing, Innovation Execs Amid Growth

    White & Case LLP announced Monday the appointment of both a chief innovation officer and a chief marketing officer as the firm continues to expand through hiring and office openings.

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    More Law Firms Want To Merge, But Deals Aren't Skyrocketing

    Law firm management consultants say they continue to see historic interest among law firms to engage in merger talks, driven further by a spate of big deals announced during the third quarter of the year, but the number of actual combinations inked has remained fairly steady, Law360 Pulse data shows.

  • Legal Tech Co. EvenUp Valued At $1B After $135M Series D

    The legal technology sector has a new unicorn after artificial intelligence provider EvenUp secured a $135 million Series D funding round and reached a $1 billion valuation on Tuesday.

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    Littler Adds Excelitas Exec As Chief Digital Innovation Officer

    Labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson PC has added the former executive vice president and chief information officer at photonics and light technology company Excelitas Technologies as its chief digital innovation officer.

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    Law Firm Billing Rate Hikes Doubled In 2024

    Billing rates for the top 100 law firms in the United States surged by 10% from 2023 to 2024, the largest rate hike in the past three years, according to a new research report on Tuesday.

  • Attys Want $20M Fees For Netting $64M Tuna Price-Fixing Deal

    Attorneys representing a class of purchasers who sued several canned tuna producers have asked a California federal judge for nearly $20 million in fees and costs associated with their recently inked $64 million settlement, saying the award is fair considering the effort the case took to prosecute and the complexity of the deal.

  • Brothers' $10B Real Estate Battle Nets Another $11.6M In Fees

    A California judge granted over $11 million in attorney fees Monday to a man who prevailed in a 20-year legal battle with his brother over a real estate empire when a jury awarded him and his other brothers a $10 billion verdict, granting the bulk of the request.

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    9th Circ. Nixes Judicial Complaint Over Atty 'Disbar' Threat

    The Ninth Circuit has rejected a judicial misconduct complaint against a judge who allegedly suggested that he could "disbar" a lawyer.

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    Legal Employers Say AI Is Affecting Hiring

    A majority of legal industry employers say that artificial intelligence is changing the skill sets they look for in hiring, according to a report released Monday by business consulting firm Robert Half, with the report also finding that employers prefer to train existing employees than hire externally.

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    In-House Teams Using More GenAI And Fewer Law Firms

    Nearly 60% of general counsel and chief legal officers expect a reduced reliance on outside legal service providers due to generative artificial intelligence — more than double since a 2023 survey showed 25% of respondents would cut the number of law firms they work with in the next year to slash costs, according to data released Monday.

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    Steam Gamer Wants Sheppard Mullin Atty Back As Arbitrator

    A Los Angeles man who joined an antitrust action against Valve Corp., the company behind online video-game store Steam, has brought a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to reinstate a Sheppard Mullin lawyer as arbitrator for dozens of California litigants, arguing his disqualification came too late and was otherwise unfounded.

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    Navigating The Path To Equity: Tips For Nonequity Partners

    The rapid growth of nonequity partners at major law firms has expanded career options for attorneys, but it also brings distinct challenges as many lawyers in these roles often face extended paths to equity partnership, unclear succession planning, and limited transparency around compensation.

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    Lateral Hiring Softens In Q3 As Partner Moves Slow

    After a brief period of stability in the second quarter, lateral recruitment at law firms has softened once more in the third quarter of 2024, particularly in the hiring of partner candidates, according to recent data from legal data company Firm Prospects LLC.

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Expert Analysis

  • Burnout Prevention Requires Effort From Attys And Firms Author Photo

    To avoid physical and emotional exhaustion, attorneys must respect their own and their colleagues' personal and professional boundaries, but law firms must also play a role in discouraging burnout culture — especially if they are struggling with attorney retention, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • 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.

  • Series

    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.

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