California Pulse


  • Norm Ai Teams Up With Stanford University's CodeX

    Legal and compliance platform Norm Ai announced Wednesday that it's joined Stanford University's legal technology hub CodeX as a corporate affiliate member, allowing the startup to exchange research with the lab.

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    Law Firms Saw Strong First Half Of 2025, Wells Fargo Says

    The legal industry saw strong performance during the first six months of 2025, according to a report released Tuesday from the Wells Fargo Legal Specialty Group, with strong growth in revenue largely driven by rising billing rates.

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    Beyond Pay: How To Retain Your Rainmakers

    U.S. law firms are working overtime to keep their top-billing attorneys, as growing profits and higher compensation increase lateral movement.

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    With More Rainmakers On The Go, Firms Pay Them Millions

    Amid a growing gap between the most profitable BigLaw shops and everyone else, top law firms can afford to pay a lot more to lure rainmakers and their practices.

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    Sheppard Mullin Adds Trial Pros From Venable, Kasowitz

    Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP announced Tuesday that it has bolstered its business trial practice group with a partner in Houston who arrived from Kasowitz LLP and a partner in Los Angeles who came aboard from Venable LLP.

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    Buchalter Adds Ex-Carlton Fields Attys To LA Office

    Buchalter has hired two former Carlton Fields attorneys as shareholders for its corporate team in Los Angeles, and one of the announced hires is returning to the firm after almost 30 years.

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    Perkins Coie Grows Litigation Group With Ex-Calif. Deputy SG

    Perkins Coie LLP has continued expanding its litigation team with former state and federal prosecutors, announcing Monday it is bringing in the former deputy solicitor general of California as a partner in its San Diego office.

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    AI Startup Anthropic Picks Legal Legend As GC

    Anthropic, a multibillion-dollar AI startup and public benefit corporation focused on safety, has hired a much-honored California attorney who was special counsel to former President Barack Obama, a corporate chief legal officer and a law clerk to late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

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    PierFerd Co-Founder Talks Hitting 250-Atty Milestone

    A little over a year and a half after launching the firm with commitments from 130 attorneys leaving FisherBroyles, Pierson Ferdinand LLP has reached 250 attorneys, with the founders saying the firm plans to keep growing.

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    Davis Polk Picks Up White & Case Finance Atty In Calif.

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP announced Monday that it has added a former White & Case LLP debt finance partner to its Northern California office.

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    Ballooning BigLaw Rates Create Opportunities For Mid-Law

    Some midsize, regional and boutique firms are using their lower rates to attract both clients and lateral attorneys against the backdrop of spiraling BigLaw rates, though there are definite limits to the strategy.

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    Elite Deal Partners Command Rates That Soar Above Peers

    Lawyers who orchestrate massive transactions make up the lion's share of attorneys charging top-tier rates that have broken far away from average billing rates for law firm partners in recent years, experts say.  

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Wiley Rein LLP's work on a $3.65 billion telecommunications merger and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC's pursuit of privacy claims against a health and wellness app lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from Aug. 8 to 22. 

  • Judge Can't Become Public Defender After Not Practicing Law

    A California state appellate panel has ruled that a sitting superior court judge is ineligible to serve as public defender because he had not been a practicing attorney in the state's courts for the year before he sought the appointment.

  • Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Jackson Lewis PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Fifth Circuit upheld injunctions barring the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies.

  • Jay-Z Aims To Keep Buzbee Suit Alive After Losing Other Case

    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee's request to shut down a federal lawsuit in Alabama based on a state trial court's dismissal of a different action in California related to sexual abuse allegations connected to Sean "Diddy" Combs is a "desperate attempt to evade accountability," rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter has argued.

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    Ex-Calif. Judge Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Court Staffer

    A former California Superior Court judge has been charged with sexually assaulting a court employee and seeking to cover up that purported incident and another alleged assault, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

  • Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    This was another action-packed week for the legal industry as U.S. firms expanded their practice offerings with new talent across the country. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

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    DLA Piper Adds Wilson Sonsini Emerging Growth Ace In SF

    DLA Piper is boosting its West Coast corporate team, bringing in a Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC emerging growth specialist as a partner in its San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices.

  • 9th Circ. Dissenters Rip Judge's 'Weaponization Of Sanctions'

    A half-dozen Ninth Circuit judges Thursday denounced six-figure sanctions against attorneys for prominent politicians challenging Arizona election procedures, accusing a lower court of "twisting and contorting" allegations in order to punish lawyers "based on the nature of the complaint and the clients that they represented."

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    OnlyFans Flags Bogus Citations In RICO Fraud Suit

    Attorneys for a proposed class of OnlyFans subscribers alleging racketeering by the company notified a California federal judge Thursday that they would be seeking permission to fix earlier filings found to have errors created by artificial intelligence, days after the web platform's parent company notified the court of the citation errors.

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    California Bar Board Of Trustees Gets 1st Nonattorney Chair

    The California Supreme Court announced Thursday that for the first time ever, a nonattorney will lead the State Bar of California's Board of Trustees starting Sept. 19.

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    Odell Beckham Wants Attys Sanctioned In Diddy Assault Suit

    NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. is looking to sanction attorneys representing a woman accusing him in California federal court of participating in a Bay Area gang rape alongside rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs, claiming the allegations are frivolous and the attorneys willfully ignored available evidence in making them.

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    Greenberg Traurig Adds Goodwin Real Estate Ace In SF

    Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in a Goodwin Procter LLP real estate transactions expert as a shareholder in its San Francisco office.

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    Most Lawyers Feel Prepared To Meet Clients' AI Expectations

    The majority of surveyed attorneys feel ready to meet client demands regarding artificial intelligence, according to survey results released Thursday by legal professionals network Best Lawyers.

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