California Pulse


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    A&O Shearman Profit Hits $1.6B Amid High-Value Work

    A&O Shearman said Thursday that a shift toward higher-value cross-border work in transactions and financings helped boost profitability two years after the firm's formation through a merger, although revenue stayed flat at $3.7 billion.

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    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To The US Supreme Court's Term

    Federal appeals courts had wide-ranging successes and struggles during the U.S. Supreme Court's recently completed term: One had its best showing in years following its worst showing in years; one felt déjà vu after recently starting to find favor with the justices; and one saw its reputation for independence occupy a rare role in the Supreme Court spotlight.

  • Paramount Wants Merger Judge Recused Over Guild Work

    Paramount has asked a district judge to recuse himself from overseeing a challenge led by a dozen states to the company's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing Wednesday that the judge's former role as labor counsel for a guild that's also challenging the deal risks the appearance of impartiality.

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    Goodwin Adds MoFo Antitrust Pro In San Francisco

    Goodwin Procter LLP has expanded its antitrust capabilities in California with the addition of an attorney from Morrison Foerster LLP, the firm said Wednesday.

  • Apple Allowed To Question Withdrawing Hagens ICloud Client

    A California federal judge has allowed Apple to impose conditions on the withdrawal of a Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP client as a named plaintiff from an iCloud antitrust case, concluding that the consumer's information could be "relevant to spoliation sanctions" or Hagens Berman's adequacy as class counsel.

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    Morgan & Morgan Names Former Amazon Exec As 1st AI Chief

    Personal injury giant Morgan & Morgan has hired a longtime Amazon executive as its first chief artificial intelligence officer to oversee the firm's AI strategy, with the firm saying it is looking to use the technology to drive revenue growth and improve client experience.

  • Lowenstein Sandler Launches Startup Tool With Clerky

    Lowenstein Sandler LLP announced this week a collaboration with legal software provider Clerky to launch a workspace for startup founders.

  • Quinn Emanuel, Spiro Ousted From CoStar Copyright Fight

    A California federal judge has disqualified Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and its attorney Alex Spiro from representing a commercial real estate platform in a copyright infringement suit brought by CoStar, agreeing that the firm's representation of CoStar in a different case should result in its removal from this one.

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    Goodwin Adds Life Sciences Veteran For San Diego Relaunch

    Goodwin Procter LLP announced on Tuesday that it had hired a veteran life sciences attorney to co-chair its new San Diego office, which is slated to open later this summer.

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    Veteran M&A Atty Joins Hanson Bridgett In Bay Area

    Hanson Bridgett LLP announced that an experienced corporate transactional attorney has joined the firm as counsel based in its San Francisco and San Rafael, California, offices, after spending over a decade running her own operation.

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    Calif. Bar Settles With Administrators Of 'Disastrous' Bar Exam

    The State Bar of California has reached a settlement with the administrators of its "disastrous" February 2025 bar exam, whose array of highly publicized technical glitches prevented hundreds of aspiring lawyers from completing the test.

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    Mayer Brown Adds Ex-Orrick Real Estate Partner In LA

    Mayer Brown LLP said Monday it has hired a real estate transactional lawyer in Los Angeles who formerly worked as a partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

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    Legal Tech Funding Climbs In 2026 Despite Fewer Deals

    Total funding for legal technology companies increased in the first half of 2026 while deal count fell, suggesting that investors are deploying more capital into fewer companies as artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in the industry.

  • Procopio Native American Head Joins Cox Castle In San Diego

    Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP announced Monday that an experienced real estate attorney who founded and led Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP's Native American practice has joined the firm's San Diego office as a partner.

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    How Stanford Law Initiative Is Riding Private Capital 'Wave'

    A new initiative at Stanford Law School is turning a spotlight on the private capital environment, a once-niche area for investors that has grown into a "massive" financial ecosystem.

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    BigLaw Grew More Selective On Second Quarter Lateral Hires

    Lateral hiring at large U.S. law firms slowed in the second quarter of 2026 after a strong start to the year, with associate and counsel moves declining while partner hiring remained relatively steady, according to figures from legal data company Firm Prospects LLC.

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    Buchalter Taps Firmwide Litigation Chair To Lead LA Office

    Buchalter PC has tapped its firmwide chair of litigation, who has spent almost a decade with the firm on complex business disputes, commercial real estate litigation and intellectual property matters, as the new managing partner of its Los Angeles headquarters.

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    Davis Wright Atty Hit With Sanctions After Winning Sanctions

    After defending six-figure sanctions of plaintiffs lawyers for "a reckless course of prolonging litigation," a Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorney is facing his own six-figure sanctions, with a California magistrate judge finding he "unnecessarily burdened" opposing counsel despite warnings dating back years about "improper litigation tactics."

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP and Ludd & Ludd lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a San Diego jury ordered Hyatt to pay $15.5 million over the death of a guest who was left uncontacted for a day after failing to check out.

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    Reed Smith Creates AI-Focused Legal Services Team

    Reed Smith LLP has created a department to bring lawyers, e-discovery and AI professionals and others to support clients and the firm with legal, business and technology-focused guidance, and tapped a partner in Philadelphia to spearhead the effort.

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    MedReview Hires CLO From Aesthetics Co. Peachy

    MedReview Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York County Health Services Review Organization, announced that it has hired the general counsel and chief people officer at preventative aesthetics company Peachy.

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    4 Takeaways From Probe Of Feb. 2025 Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco

    Poor implementation of the February 2025 California Bar Exam resulted in millions of dollars in extra costs and negatively affected "a significant portion" of test-takers, according to a new report by the California State Auditor.

  • Oura Health Swaps In Sidley For Quinn After Ex-CEO's DQ Bid

    A California federal judge granted Oura Health's request to swap in Sidley Austin LLP for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in breach-of-contract litigation by the fitness tracker company's former CEO after the ex-executive sought to disqualify Quinn Emanuel for purportedly having access to his confidential data.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    The legal industry had another busy week as BigLaw firms expanded headcounts and practices. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse’s weekly quiz.

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    Small Firms Are Billing More Hours, Report Says

    Even amid an explosion of legal technology and artificial intelligence designed to make legal work more efficient, small firms are billing more hours per month on average, and the increase isn't impacting their collections rate, according to a report published Thursday.

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Expert Analysis

  • Why Attorneys Should Write About Justices' Minority Opinions Author Photo

    Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s searing dissents this past term serve as a reminder for attorneys to analyze U.S. Supreme Court minority opinions in their thought leadership for three key reasons, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • 3 Business Development Lessons From Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Author Photo

    Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” offers a useful framework for attorneys to build relationships and develop new business, inspired by Prince Tamino’s curiosity, courage and consistency, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs To Quantify Their Value Author Photo

    As in-house legal departments are increasingly expected to do more with less, developing a thoughtful framework to measure key performance indicators can help them both maximize and demonstrate their contribution to business success, say co-founders at New Era ADR.

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    Defining The Culture For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    We co-founded The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators to connect leading trial lawyers, litigation experts and academics, and our experience has shown that embracing opportunity, responding fearlessly to market realities, and relentlessly defining the organization’s culture have all been integral to success, say Stéphane Bonifassi, Lincoln Caylor and Elizabeth Ortega.

  • 5 Emerging Themes Shaping Lateral Partner Moves This Year Author Photo

    A few key trends have arisen in partners’ lateral movements in the first half of 2025, reflecting a legal market defined by macroeconomic uncertainty, shifts in firm structures and rising scrutiny of firm affiliations, say legal recruiters at Macrae.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Be A Mentor Or Mentee Author Photo

    Mentorship is a powerful tool for business development when both mentors and mentees approach their relationships with strategic purpose, ensuring professional success while supporting broader business goals, say Angela Liu at Dechert and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • 4 Biz Dev Steps For Attys Who Don't Know What They Want Author Photo

    Junior attorneys are increasingly expected to start building books of business while they are still figuring out their long-term career goals, but a few pointers can help young lawyers develop business even when they’re uncertain about their future direction, says Lana Manganiello at Practice Growth Partner.

  • Protecting Client Funds From Cyberattacks Author Photo

    As cyberattacks on law firms continue to escalate, bar associations, law firms and individual lawyers must all take steps to protect client funds in attorney trust accounts — from imposing cyber hygiene mandates to reimagining malpractice coverage — because once that money is gone, it’s generally gone for good, says Michael Epstein at The Epstein Law Firm.

  • Making Legal Cents: For Billing, Think Value, Not Time Author Photo

    Pricing strategy is one of the most consistently discussed but underleveraged tools in a firm's arsenal, and rather than keeping hourly billing because it's easy, firms should consider their differentiators when structuring more effective fee models, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.

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    Achieving Organic Growth For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    We started Law Rocks to promote music education for underprivileged youth and raise funds for local nonprofits, and our 15-year journey has shown that enthusiasm, persistence and a great network can lead to a surprising amount of organic growth, say Nick Child and Ted Scott at Secretariat.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Engage With The Media Author Photo

    Business development is all about awareness — and by taking existing skills and adapting them to build media relationships and thereby address today's audiences, lawyers can expand their outreach and use thought leadership to build a more complete, compelling personal brand, says Michael Goodwin at Stanton PR.

  • What GCs Value Most: 7 Habits Of Great Relationship Partners Author Photo

    When seeking outside legal advisers, general counsel want commercially savvy lawyers who cultivate relationships of trust with their in-house counterparts, back up the GC's authority and focus on actionable advice instead of abstract legal analysis, say Andrew Dick at The L Suite and Rob Morvillo at Olo.

  • Roundup

    Nonprofit Launch Tips From Founders In The Legal Industry Author Photo

    In this season of giving, take a look back at this Law360 series featuring legal professionals who have founded industry-related nonprofits. They discussed the biggest challenges to getting started, and how to balance the launch and management of an organization along with the demands of their primary work.

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    Generating Confidence In A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    I started LawWithoutWalls to change the way legal professionals see and think about their world, and it taught me the importance of giving people a reason to believe in your nonprofit mission, as well as how to achieve work-life integration, says Michele DeStefano at the University of Miami.

  • Nonequity Partner Frustrations Reflect Erosion Of Opportunity Author Photo

    Nonequity partners report the lowest satisfaction, highest stress and poorest financial outlook of any group of lawyers, highlighting a growing structural disconnect that leaves attorneys at many firms feeling like the ladder has been pulled up behind those who already ascended, says Jake Carroll at Nelson Mullins.

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