Small Law


  • 'Beer Law' Firm Says Confusion Is Brewing Over Rival's Name

    A North Carolina law firm, one of whose managing partners focuses on advising businesses in the beer, wine and craft beverage industries under the name "Beer Law Center," on Wednesday accused a Colorado law firm of coasting off its reputation by offering services under the confusingly similar "Beer Law HQ."

  • Client Says Colo. Injury Attys Didn't Tell Him About Settlement

    A personal injury plaintiff is suing his former attorneys and their Colorado law firm for malpractice after they allegedly failed to notify him of a settlement offer in time, forcing the case to trial where jurors issued a verdict that was less than the settlement offer.

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    'Values-Led' Health Law Boutique Kicks Off In Atlanta

    A pair of founders of Health Law Strategists LLC announced Wednesday they have launched a national boutique in Atlanta called Aligned Health Law LLC.

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    Phelps Dunbar Grows In Florida With Panhandle Firm Tie-Up

    Phelps Dunbar LLP announced Wednesday that it will combine with Pensacola's Beggs & Lane on May 1, venturing into the Florida Panhandle for the first time.

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    When Can Attys Decide To Drop Clients? ABA Says It Depends

    Lawyers can drop clients at will as long as doing so won't harm the client's legal objectives or needlessly drive up costs, according to new guidance by the American Bar Association — but the guidance also notes that "getting out of a matter can be a lot harder than getting in."

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    Ogletree Opens Kentucky Office With Boutique Attys

    Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC, a big law firm representing employers in labor and employment disputes, is opening a Lexington, Kentucky, office and has hired the two leaders of a Kentucky boutique law firm with experience in representing mining companies.

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    23 Firms Remain GCs' Top Picks Despite Referral Drop

    Even as corporate legal departments become more selective in recommending outside counsel to their peers, 23 law firms have managed to earn top marks for building trust and relationship management, according to a report released Wednesday by BTI Consulting Group.

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    Motley Rice Alum Grows Niche With New Whistleblower Firm

    Armed with decades of securities law experience, Rebecca M. Katz recently stepped down as chair of Motley Rice's whistleblower practice to launch her own firm focused on this niche specialty. She spoke with Law360 Pulse about what it means to be a whistleblower, why the cases are tougher than they might seem, and what's ahead for government enforcement during the second Trump administration.

  • Fla. Litigation Funder Must Face NJ Lawyer's Counterclaim

    A Florida-based litigation funder pursuing an $18 million breach of contract suit against a New Jersey lawyer must face the bulk of a countersuit alleging the business reneged on an agreement to secure funding for nationwide personal injury cases.

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    Gunster Expands Fla. Footprint With 14-Atty Boutique Merger

    Florida business law firm Gunster added 14 attorneys to its growing roster through a merger with boutique Katz Barron, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • Sanctioned Firm Ordered To Pay Fees In California Patent Row

    Days after attorneys from Texas patent firm Ramey LLP were ordered to pay over $60,000 for practicing in California without a license, a San Francisco federal magistrate judge has ordered them to pay attorney fees in a pair of suits deemed to have been litigated in bad faith. 

  • Ex-Manager Asks To Toss Remainder Of Singer's Contract Suit

    The former manager for the Season 18 "American Idol" contestant behind the 2022 hit "Fingers Crossed" is hoping to toss what remains of her New York federal lawsuit against him, accusing the artist of trying to stop him from collecting his firm's entitlements under their agreement.

  • Counterclaim Against Paralegal Must Proceed, Firm Says

    A counterclaim accusing a paralegal of bringing an unpaid overtime wages suit against an El Paso law firm in order to extort it for money should stay in play, the firm told a Texas federal court, saying its counterclaim is sufficiently linked to the former employee's litigation.

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    Approach The Bench: Judge Tymkovich On New Judgeships

    When Tenth Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich testified before Congress recently about the need for more federal judges, it had been about 10 years since he'd made a similar request of Congress, which hasn't expanded the federal bench since 2002.

  • Law Firm's Blog Post Unwinds $43M Ill. Injury Retrial Verdict

    An Illinois appellate court wiped out a couple's $43 million jury verdict and ordered a third trial in their injury case Monday, saying the trial judge should have done a better job probing their attorney's highly improper blog and social media posts.

  • Trump EOs And Skadden Face Pushback At Law Schools

    President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting law firms, and one firm's attempt to avoid a directive, have each received pushback at top law schools, with more than 90 Harvard faculty members objecting to the measures' effect on the rule of law and Georgetown students blasting Skadden's deal with Trump as a second firm associate publicly resigned.

  • Colo. Firm Says Former Atty Uses Google Ads To Steal Clients

    A prominent Colorado personal injury law firm has sued a former employee for trademark infringement, accusing the lawyer of purchasing Google ads so prospective clients searching for the Franklin D. Azar & Associates firm are directed to a phone number and website for his lesser-known law firm instead.

  • 'American Idol' Singer Wants Early Win In Contract Fight

    Songwriter and former "American Idol" contestant Lauren Spencer-Smith, who rose to fame when her 2022 song "Fingers Crossed" went viral on TikTok, is seeking an early win for her New York federal lawsuit's breach of fiduciary and contractual obligations and faithless servant allegations, saying Saturday that the defendants "took the trust that was reposed in them as Spencer-Smith's attorneys and agents, and used that trust for their own benefit to the detriment of Spencer-Smith."

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    Atty Wants Firm In Neutral Hands Amid Dispute With Partner

    A co-founder of Hodges & Foty LLP is asking a Texas state court to appoint a receiver to manage the winding down of the Houston law firm, claiming that the external oversight is necessary to protect the firm's clients and its financial interests from harm at the hands of his fellow firm founder.

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    'Fearlessness' Paved The Path From Atty To Aracor AI CEO

    Katya Fisher, founder and CEO of legal tech platform Aracor AI, has taken several big leaps in her career: from solo practice to BigLaw to in-house counsel to starting her own company.

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    Feds Seek 10 Years For Ex-Girardi CFO's 'Brazen' Crimes

    Los Angeles federal prosecutors said Girardi Keese's former head of accounting should spend 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting Tom Girardi in siphoning clients' settlement funds and what the government called a "brazen" side fraud to steal from the firm's operating accounts.

  • Judge Won't End Atty Dispute Over Beirut Bombing Suit

    A federal judge declined to give a Maryland law firm a pretrial win in a lawsuit brought by two Houston attorneys who accused it of unfairly terminating a joint venture for litigation over the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing.

  • No Admission Needed For Conn. Atty To Use Anti-SLAPP Law

    A Connecticut attorney and his Hartford firm weren't required to admit that they engaged in allegedly disparaging speech against a former employee in order to use the anti-SLAPP statute in their attempt to toss the case, a state appeals court ruled Friday in a matter of first impression. 

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    Meet Jenner & Block, WilmerHale's Attys In Trump Order Suits

    A slew of experienced litigators and appellate advocates from Cooley LLP and Clement & Murphy PLLC signed on Friday to represent Jenner & Block LLP and WilmerHale in the BigLaw firms' respective lawsuits over President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting them.

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    UCLA School of Law's Supreme Court Clinic and Gair Gallo Eberhard LLP head this week's list of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Seventh Circuit ruling that upheld the conviction of a former Chicago alderman for making false statements about loans from a defunct bank.

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Expert Analysis

  • Bracing For A Generative AI Revolution In Law Author Photo

    With many legal professionals starting to explore practical uses of generative artificial intelligence in areas such as research, discovery and legal document development, the fundamental principle of human oversight cannot be underscored enough for it to be successful, say Ty Dedmon at Bradley Arant and Paige Hunt at Lighthouse.

  • Why I Use ChatGPT To Tell Me Things I Already Know Author Photo

    The legal profession is among the most hesitant to adopt ChatGPT because of its proclivity to provide false information as if it were true, but in a wide variety of situations, lawyers can still be aided by information that is only in the right ballpark, says Robert Plotkin at Blueshift IP.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Use Social Media Responsibly? Author Photo

    Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.

  • Yada, Yada, Yada: The Magic Of 3 In Legal Writing Author Photo

    Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.

  • How Firms Can Stop Playing Whack-A-Mole With Data Security Author Photo

    In order to achieve a robust client data protection posture, law firms should focus on adopting a risk-based approach to security, which can be done by assessing gaps, using that data to gain leadership buy-in for the needed changes, and adopting a dynamic and layered approach, says John Smith at Conversant Group.

  • 5 Life Lessons From Making Partner As A Solo Parent Author Photo

    Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Turn Deferral To My Advantage? Author Photo

    Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.

  • Resume Gaps Are No Longer Kryptonite To Your Legal Career Author Photo

    Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.

  • Law Firm Guardrails For Responsible Generative AI Use Author Photo

    ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools pose significant risks to the integrity of legal work, but the key for law firms is not to ban these tools, but to implement them responsibly and with appropriate safeguards, say Natalie Pierce and Stephanie Goutos at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Opinion

    We Must Continue DEI Efforts Despite High Court Headwinds Author Photo

    Though the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down affirmative action in higher education, law firms and their clients must keep up the legal industry’s recent momentum advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession in order to help achieve a just and prosperous society for all, says Angela Winfield at the Law School Admission Council.

  • Law Firms Cannot Ignore Attorneys' Personal Cybersecurity Author Photo

    Law firms that fail to consider their attorneys' online habits away from work are not using their best efforts to protect client information and are simplifying the job of plaintiffs attorneys in the case of a breach, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy and Protection.

  • Why Writing CLE Should Be Mandatory For Lawyers Author Photo

    Though effective writing is foundational to law, no state requires attorneys to take continuing legal education in this skill — something that must change if today's attorneys are to have the communication abilities they need to fulfill their professional and ethical duties to their clients, colleagues and courts, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona.

  • How To Find Your Inner Calm When Client Obligations Pile Up Author Photo

    In the most stressful times for attorneys, when several transactions for different partners and clients peak at the same time and the phone won’t stop buzzing, incremental lifestyle changes can truly make a difference, says Lindsey Hughes at Haynes Boone.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Support Gen Z Attorneys? Author Photo

    Meredith Beuchaw at Lowenstein Sandler discusses how senior attorneys can assist the newest generation of attorneys by championing their pursuit of a healthy work-life balance and providing the hands-on mentorship opportunities they missed out on during the pandemic.

  • Law Firm Cybersecurity Should Not Get Lost In The Cloud Author Photo

    A recent data leak at Proskauer via a cloud data storage platform demonstrates key reasons why law firms must pay attention to data safeguarding, including the increasing frequency of cloud-based data breaches and the consequences of breaking client confidentiality, says Robert Kraczek at One Identity.

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