California Pulse


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    Stanford Law School Names Executive Director Of AI Initiative

    Stanford Law School announced Monday the appointment of a former artificial intelligence adviser to the California State Senate as executive director of the Stanford Law School AI Initiative, which seeks to advance interdisciplinary research, teaching and engagement with industry leaders and policymakers.

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    Greenberg Glusker Adds Land Use, Corporate Attys In LA

    Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP announced Monday the firm is expanding its ranks with the addition of two new partners to its Los Angeles office: a land use whiz from Jeffer Mangels & Mitchell LLP and a transactional ace from Prospera Law LLP.

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    DAC Beachcroft Expands US Footprint With New Miami Office

    DAC Beachcroft LLP announced Monday that it is opening an office in Miami and has added new insurance coverage teams there and in Los Angeles.

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    Lathrop GPM Absorbs California Construction Boutique

    Lathrop GPM LLP announced Monday that the firm is adding five attorneys from a Northern California construction boutique, marking what the firm said was a substantial expansion of its construction practice group and continued growth in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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    Barnes & Thornburg Head On Firm's Nonmerger Growth Motto

    In an age of BigLaw megamergers, Barnes & Thornburg LLP has opted to expand strategically through steady, organic growth and lateral hiring rather than law firm combinations.

  • Class Attys Allege Lead Counsel Is Hoarding $75M Sutter Fees

    Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP has urged a California federal magistrate judge to enforce the $75.4 million fee award in Sutter Health's $228.5 million deal resolving a decade-long antitrust fight, arguing lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP "unilaterally" and "arbitrarily" cut SWCK's fees by nearly $800,000 while boosting its own.

  • Social Media Cases Atty In Hot Water Over Courthouse Filming

    A Los Angeles judge on Friday ripped into an attorney for the plaintiff in a bellwether suit alleging Meta and Google's social media platforms harm childrens' mental health, stripping the attorney of his seat on the plaintiffs' steering committee for violating court rules by twice filming inside the courthouse.

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    FBT Gibbons Adds Trusts & Estates Litigator In SoCal

    Recently formed firm FBT Gibbons LLP is expanding its West Coast team, bringing in a trusts and estates litigator who previously ran his own firm as a partner in its Newport Beach, California, office.  

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    Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Wigdor LLP and Elefterakis Elefterakis & Panek lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New York federal judge denied the NFL's bid to force a class of National Football League coaches into arbitration.

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    'Scare Tactics Work' But Hope Persists For Legal Industry DEI

    The suspension of Diversity Lab's Mansfield Certification program is the latest indication that political threats against BigLaw are working, as the Trump administration targets DEI programs, observers say. Still, some supporters of legal industry diversity initiatives predict law firms will continue to pursue inclusive hiring practices — even if they don't talk about it publicly.

  • Investors Push Apple For Report On China 'Entanglements'

    An investor group is asking Apple Inc. to do an audit on the risks and costs associated with the company's involvement with China, which it calls an "existential risk" to the value of Apple's stock.

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    What's Costing Legal Marketing Officers Sleep

    Finding the best ways to implement artificial intelligence and maximizing employees' business development are some of the things keeping legal industry professionals up at night, according to a new report by public relations firm Greentarget.

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    Synopsys GC Earns Over $3M In First 6 Months On The Job

    Synopsys Inc.'s general counsel, who took on the role in July after the acquisition of Ansys Inc. was complete, earned just over $3.2 million in 2025, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proxy filing.

  • Former Calif. Judge Seeks To End Sex Assault Case

    A former California Superior Court judge facing five criminal counts alleging he sexually assaulted a court staffer and later lied to investigators in an attempt to cover up the encounter and another alleged assault is pushing for a full dismissal of charges.

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    HSF Kramer Wants To Show BigLaw Can Also Be AI-Native

    On the heels of its recent transatlantic merger, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP is one of the largest law firms seeking to become "AI-native," a term being used by several newly launched smaller law firms that promise to provide cheaper and faster legal services than traditional law firms.

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    Boies Schiller Partner Faces Possible Sanctions For AI Errors

    A Boies Schiller Flexner LLP partner must explain why he should not face monetary sanctions for filing a brief containing artificial intelligence-generated citation errors amid his representation of women who allege the Church of Scientology harassed them for reporting convicted actor Danny Masterson's sexual assaults.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another busy week for the legal industry as law firms hired new talent and named new leaders across the country. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    Foley & Lardner Brings On 4 IP, Corporate Attys In Calif.

    Foley & Lardner LLP is expanding its California team, announcing Thursday it is adding four partners with technology-related experience — two in San Diego, one in San Francisco and one in Silicon Valley.

  • Ex-LA Atty Faces Possible Suspension Over Billing Scandal

    A California Bar Court said that former Los Angeles chief deputy city attorney James Patrick Clark should be suspended from practicing law for at least two years due to his role in a high-profile customer billing scandal.

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    Ethics Guidance Lags Private Equity's Interest In Legal Field

    More lawyers are expected to seek guidance on the ethical issues surrounding the growing interest in using managed services organizations to allow private equity investment in law firms, but thus far any input on the model from state ethics committees is in short supply.

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    Barnes & Thornburg Adds 35 Ballard Spahr Attys, 3 Offices

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced Thursday that it has added all 35 public finance lawyers from Ballard Spahr LLP to its government services and finance department in multiple locations around the country, including three new markets in Baltimore, Denver and Phoenix.

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    Ballard Spahr Adds Litigator From Benesch In New SF Shop

    Ballard Spahr LLP's brand new San Francisco office is already growing, as another Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP litigator has joined the office as a partner.

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    BakerHostetler Adds Contaminants Pro From DLA Piper

    BakerHostetler announced on Thursday that it has brought a San Francisco-based attorney from DLA Piper onto its product liability and toxic tort and environmental teams, calling him "one of the country's leading emerging contaminants litigators."

  • LA DA Chief Demoted Over View On Juvenile Cases, Suit Says

    A prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office claims that he was demoted from a top position after a spat with District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman over his views on how the office should handle cases involving juveniles.

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    Google's Kent Walker Talks AI, Competition, Digital Regulation

    Kent Walker, general counsel and president of global affairs for Google LLC and its parent company Alphabet Inc., said in a recent speech in Ireland that new technology has given the world "a reset button," similar to the discovery and development of algebra, but that it was incumbent on European Union leaders to streamline regulations and act as a force for growth.

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Expert Analysis

  • The Importance Of Client Engagement In Law Firm Innovation Author Photo

    As clients increasingly want law firms to serve as innovation platforms, firms must understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach — the key is a nimble innovation function focused on listening and knowledge sharing, says Mark Brennan at Hogan Lovells.

  • The Unique Challenges Facing Women-Owned Law Firms Author Photo

    In addition to establishing their brand from scratch, women who start their own law firms must overcome inherent bias against female lawyers and convince prospective clients to put aside big-firm preferences, says Joel Stern at the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.

  • The Pursuit Of Wellness In BigLaw: Lessons From My Journey Author Photo

    Jane Jeong at Cooley shares how grueling BigLaw schedules and her own perfectionism emotionally bankrupted her, and why attorneys struggling with burnout should consider making small changes to everyday habits.

  • Why We Must Recruit And Advance More Black Prosecutors Author Photo

    Black Americans make up a disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated population but are underrepresented among elected prosecutors, so the legal community — from law schools to prosecutor offices — must commit to addressing these disappointing demographics, says Erika Gilliam-Booker at the National Black Prosecutors Association.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Can Associates Deal With Overload? Author Photo

    Young lawyers overwhelmed with a crushing workload must tackle the problem on two fronts — learning how to say no, and understanding how to break down projects into manageable parts, says Jay Harrington at Harrington Communications.

  • A Scientific Path For Improving Diversity At Law Firms Author Photo

    Law firms could combine industrial organizational psychology and machine learning to study prospective hires' analytical thinking, stress response and similar attributes — which could lead to recruiting from a more diverse candidate pool, say Ali Shahidi and Bess Sully at Sheppard Mullin.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can Associates Seek More Assignments? Author Photo

    In the first installment of Law360 Pulse's career advice guest column, Meela Gill at Weil offers insights on how associates can ask for meaningful work opportunities at their firms without sounding like they are begging. 

  • Legal Sector Regulatory Reform Is Key To Closing Justice Gap Author Photo

    In order to improve access to justice for those who cannot afford a lawyer, states should consider regulatory innovations, such as allowing new forms of law firm ownership and permitting nonlawyers to provide certain legal services, says Patricia Lee Refo, president of the American Bar Association.

  • How Attys Can Guard Against Rising Settle-And-Sue Claims Author Photo

    Certain precautions can help lawyers avoid post-settlement malpractice claims and create a solid evidentiary defense, as settle-and-sue lawsuits rise amid pandemic-induced dispute settlements, say Bethany Kristovich and Jeremy Beecher at Munger Tolles.

  • What I Learned As A Virtual Summer Associate Author Photo

    It is necessary in a virtual law firm summer program to think twice about asking questions you may be able to answer on your own, but this independence and other aspects of a remote internship may help to instill habits that would be useful for future full-time associates, says law student Kelley Sheehan, who interned at Patterson & Sheridan this summer.

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