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Connecticut Pulse
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Trusts & Estates Boom Leaves Small Firms Fighting For Talent
As aging Baby Boomers fuel demand for estate planning work, a growing number of large law firms have recommitted to growing their private wealth practices. For the small boutiques and solo practitioners that have traditionally dominated the market, the new competition has made it difficult to recruit and retain talent, leaving many struggling to survive.
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Amid Tensions With Trump, University GCs Feel The Burden
As universities face frozen funds, federal probes, and demands for change to diversity programs and curriculum, their general counsel face heightened pressure as they navigate school presidents and boards through the storm.
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Conn. Judges Add 'No-Tolerance' AI Warnings To New Dockets
Federal judges in Connecticut have begun entering warnings on new case dockets notifying litigants and their counsel of a "no-tolerance policy" when it comes to briefs that include hallucinated arguments and citations, regardless of whether artificial intelligence was used.
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Conn. Atty Denies Blame For Title Co.'s $920K Refinancing Loss
A Connecticut lawyer sought to fend off arguments in state court by Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. that his alleged mistakes on a $2.5 million refinancing led to a $920,000 loss for the insurer, claiming he and the company owed distinct duties to a policy-holder.
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'Great Wealth Transfer' Drives Trusts & Estates Boom
As aging Baby Boomers prepare to hand down trillions of dollars in assets to their children and grandchildren, some of the country's largest law firms have been bulking up their trusts and estates practices, turning frequently to small boutiques and solo practices to add attorneys to their ranks.
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Conn. Board Seeks To Cement Win Over Tax Atty's Firing
The Connecticut Employees' Review Board has asked an appellate court not to rehear a fired tax attorney's unsuccessful appeal en banc, arguing that she has failed to show any fatal flaws in a three-judge panel's decision against her.
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Crime-Fraud Exemption Applies To Eletson Docs, Judge Says
Reed Smith LLP has until the end of the day on Monday to turn over a dozen client files related to its prior representation of shipping company Eletson Holdings amid a dispute with rival Levona, after a Manhattan federal judge found probable cause that a fraud was committed in an underlying arbitration.
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Atty Gets Last Chance To Sue Ex After $30K Loan Judgment
A Florida employment lawyer suing his ex and her attorneys for bringing an allegedly vexatious lawsuit will have one more chance to file "simple, concise and direct" claims in a fourth amended complaint, a Connecticut federal judge ruled Monday while dismissing Wells Fargo and a mortgage consultant as defendants.
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Trump Call For Biannual Filing Unlikely To Ease GC Workloads
While the president's recently renewed proposal to end quarterly reporting requirements for publicly traded U.S. companies could help reduce workloads for general counsel in theory, investor demand for more regular disclosures makes it unlikely that such a change would make a meaningful difference.
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Estate Filed Dupe Suit Against McCarter & English, Court Told
McCarter & English LLP on Friday urged a Connecticut state judge to toss a lawsuit accusing it of mismanaging a $4.6 million estate, arguing it's essentially a duplicate of a pending lawsuit.
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Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work
Susman Godfrey's representation of Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster in an AI copyright suit and Foley Hoag's work on a Massachusetts energy project lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Sept. 5 to 19.
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Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz
The legal industry marked the last official week of summer with attorneys taking on new roles at law departments and firms across the country. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.
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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week
Agnifilo Intrater LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New York judge threw out the top two charges against Luigi Mangione concerning allegations he killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
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Threat Hunting And Training: Law Firms' New Cyber Strategy
Some law firms are taking new steps to stop cyberattacks before they occur, including the use of threat hunting, increased automation and updated training to prepare staff for today's more sophisticated bad actors.
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Conn. Justice 'Embarrassed' By State's Atty Discipline Rules
A Connecticut Supreme Court justice said Thursday that he was "embarrassed" by the "terribly unclear" ethics rules at the center of an attorney discipline case, appearing sympathetic to the argument that a trial court should have entertained the lawyer's constitutional challenge to the grievance process.
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Whitman Breed Exodus Continues As 7-Atty Team Joins Verrill
Seven attorneys recently parted ways with Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC to launch a new Connecticut outpost for Verrill Dana LLP, continuing a growing exodus the firm has faced over the course of the year.
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Litigation Spending To Keep Growing As Biz Risks Run High
Companies are likely to increase their spending on litigation next year, some by over 10%, as legal disputes become more complex, more contentious and more high-stakes, according to a new report out Thursday.
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2nd Circ. Won't Block Eletson Doc Transfer In Shipping Row
The Second Circuit on Wednesday declined Reed Smith LLP's emergency request to block the turnover of client files created amid its representation of Greece-based shipping company Eletson Holdings prior to an October 2024 reorganization, but agreed to refer the stay motion to a three-judge panel for consideration.
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Eckert Seamans Names New Practice Group And DC Leaders
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC announced Wednesday that it has appointed a new member-in-charge for its Washington, D.C., office and made changes to the leadership of four of the firm's practice groups.
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Courts Told Head-In-The-Sand Approach To AI Can Backfire
State courts might be inclined not to implement generative artificial intelligence tools or to ban staff from using them to avoid hallucinations and privacy breaches, but that strategy could backfire, a panelist told a court technology conference Tuesday.
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Conn. Ethics Watchdog Wants Immigration Atty Disbarred
Connecticut's attorney ethics watchdog wants an immigration lawyer disbarred in the state for eight years as reciprocal discipline after he was disbarred in Massachusetts following ethics accusations that he mishandled cases, overcharged clients and brought them to the attention of immigration authorities.
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Guo Ch. 11 Trustee Reveals $70K Deal With NY Law Firm
The Chapter 11 trustee overseeing Chinese exile Miles Guo's Connecticut bankruptcy estate settled a $115,600 clawback action against a New York immigration firm for $70,000, new court records show.
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Summer Associates Remain On The Fence About AI In Law
Most summer associates used generative artificial intelligence tools at their firms this year, but views on adoption were mixed. Students told Law360 Pulse the tools were useful for research and drafting, but voiced concerns over reliability, job loss and diminished writing skills.
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These Firms Were The Top For Their Summer Associates
Working as a summer associate is a rite of passage for many law students, and these training programs can boost aspiring attorneys' confidence in their career paths. Find out what students valued most and how they rated those experiences in a new survey from Law360 Pulse.
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What Summer Associates Learned From Working At Firms
We asked this year's cohort about the most valuable lessons they learned during their summer associateship. Here's the advice they shared for those ready to jump into law firm life.
Expert Analysis
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Series
My Nonpracticing Law Job: Librarian
Lisa A. Goodman at Texas A&M University shares how she went from a BigLaw associate who liked to hang out in the firm's law library to director of a law library herself in just over a decade, and provides considerations for anyone interested in pursuing a law librarian career.
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Legal Briefs Can Benefit From Cleaned Up Case Citations
Federal courts have recently been changing the way they quote decisions to omit insignificant details and string cites, and lawyers should consider adopting this practice to enhance the readability of their briefs — as long as accuracy stays top of mind, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.
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5 Best Practices For Firms Designing DEI Programs
Nikki Lewis Simon, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Greenberg Traurig, discusses best practices — and some pitfalls to avoid — for law firms looking to build programs aimed at driving inclusion in the workplace.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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Ask A Mentor: How Do I Juggle Billables And Other Activities?
While involvement in internal firm initiatives can be rewarding both personally and professionally, associates' billable time requirements don’t leave much room for other work, meaning they must develop strategies to ensure they’re meeting all of their commitments while remaining balanced, says Melanie Webber at Fisher Phillips.
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Making Legal Cents: How To Adapt As Clients Tighten Budgets
Amid a dip in corporate legal spending and client pushback on bills, Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants highlights specific in-house counsel frustrations and explains how firms can provide customized legal advice with costs that are supported by undeniable value.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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General Counsel And Legal Ops Must Work Together
It is critical for general counsel to ensure that a legal operations leader is viewed not only as a peer, but as a strategic leader for the organization, and there are several actionable ways general counsel can not only become more involved, but help champion legal operations teams and set them up for success, says Mary O'Carroll at Ironclad.
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How Generative AI's Growing Memory Affects Lawyers
A new ChatGPT feature that can remember user information across different conversations has broad implications for attorneys, whose most pressing questions for the AI tool are usually based on specific, and large, datasets, says legal tech adviser Eric Wall.
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A Model For Optimal Legal Tech Investment Strategy
Legal organizations struggling to work out the right technology investment strategy may benefit from using a matrix for legal department efficiency that is based on an understanding of where workloads belong, according to the basic functions and priorities of a corporate legal team, says Sylvain Magdinier at Integreon.
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Series
My Nonpracticing Law Job: Recruiter
Self-proclaimed "Lawyer Doula" Danielle Thompson at Major Lindsey shares how she went from Columbia Law School graduate and BigLaw employment associate to a career in legal recruiting — and discovered a passion for advocacy along the way.
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Series
Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job?
Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.
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Personality Tests And Machine Learning Applications In Law
Mateusz Kulesza at McDonnell Boehnen looks at potential applications of personality testing based on machine learning techniques for law firms, and the implications this shift could have for lawyers, firms and judges, including how it could make the work of judges and other legal decision-makers much more difficult.
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AI Is Reshaping Lawyering: What To Expect In 2024
The future of lawyering is not about the wholesale replacement of attorneys by artificial intelligence, but as AI handles more of the routine legal work, the role of lawyers will evolve to be more strategic, requiring the development of competencies beyond traditional legal skills, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Embrace Active Voice In Legal Writing — In Most Cases
Legal writers should strive to craft sentences in the active voice to promote brevity and avoid ambiguities that can spark litigation, but writing in the passive voice is sometimes appropriate — when it's a moral choice and not a grammatical failure, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.