DC Pulse


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    Ex-Treasury Official Joins Baker McKenzie's Tax Practice

    Baker McKenzie has hired a former deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department to work on international tax matters as a partner in the firm's office in Washington, D.C.

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    Ex-BigLaw Associates On Why They Quit Over Firm EO Deals

    At least 10 BigLaw associates have publicly resigned from their law firms as a result of those firms’ deals with the Trump administration to end executive orders against them. Four of those attorneys shared their reasons for doing so with Law360 Pulse and their hopes for the future.

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    4 Skills Gen Z Associates Need To Close The Generation Gap

    As they enter the legal workforce in increasing numbers, Generation Z lawyers need to hone certain skills to thrive in multigenerational law firms, experts say, in many cases shifting how they communicate and build relationships in order to adapt to earlier generations' preferences.

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    Justices Say Reservists Get Extra Pay No Matter Wartime Role

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that federally employed military reservists called to active duty during wartime or a national emergency are entitled to a top-up differential pay, regardless of their specific role.

  • Justices Wary Of Issuing 'Advisory' Ruling In Class Cert. Row

    The U.S. Supreme Court's latest attempt to address a pressing question about class certification standards may be doomed by a procedural hiccup, with a majority of justices expressing concern Tuesday that they didn't have the authority to wade into a dispute over approval of a class that contains uninjured members.

  • Justices Scoff At Feds' Defenses In Mistaken FBI Raid Case

    Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared flummoxed by the government's "ridiculous" arguments it should be immune to a Georgia resident's lawsuit over a mistaken FBI raid on her house, but seemed unlikely to issue a blanket ruling on when an officer's discretion trumps their liability for injuries caused by their actions.

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    Large Law Firm Revenues Climb Despite Dip In Demand

    Even as the demand for legal services fell short of industry expectations, U.S. law firms entered 2025 on solid financial footing, with steady rate hikes fueling an 11.3% jump in first-quarter revenues, according to survey results released Tuesday by Wells Fargo Private Bank.

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    Former National Security Council Adviser Joins Venable

    A White House National Security Council adviser, who also previously served as acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, has joined Venable LLP, the latest NSC official to depart the White House for the private sector in recent months.

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    Hughes Hubbard Selects Marketing Chief From Ropes & Gray

    Hughes Hubbard & Reed has tapped a former Ropes & Gray LLP marketing director and Legal Marketing Association president to serve as its chief marketing and business development officer, the firm announced Monday.

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    Lawyers Worry About Financial Stability Of Their Careers

    In 2025, even lawyers are feeling anxious about their bottom lines: Only 44% of attorneys described their financial stability as "excellent" in a recent Law360 Pulse survey.

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    What Attorneys Really Think About Their Profession

    Law360 Pulse asked respondents to our Lawyer Satisfaction Survey for their thoughts on misconceptions about being a lawyer, what the best parts of the job are and what they would tell newer lawyers. Here's what they said.

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    How Happy Are Attorneys At Work Now?

    In a time of rising uncertainty and stress, there are signs that spirits are sagging in the legal profession compared with recent years, according to a new Law360 Pulse survey.

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    Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Joins Pillsbury As Consultant

    Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will work as a strategic consultant at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where she'll be a senior policy adviser supporting a range of defense, national security and government practice groups, the firm recently announced.

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    High Court Backs HHS In Hospital Pay Formula Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with federal health officials in a challenge over a formula used to calculate billions of dollars in annual payments to hospitals treating indigent patients, saying that those entitled to Supplemental Security Income should be collecting cash payments before they're counted in the formula.

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    Law Schools Admit More Men, But More Women Are Applying

    Among law school applicants, women have far outpaced men over the past 10 years, yet the admission rate for men has remained higher, according to the nonprofit AccessLex Institute's Legal Education Data Deck released Tuesday.

  • Ed Martin Turns In 100-Plus Pages Of Responses To Sens.

    Ed Martin, nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has turned in his response to hundreds of questions from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and he largely sidestepped inquiries about currently serving in the role in an interim capacity.

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    'Withdraw Your Accusation': Attys, Justices Clash In ADA Case

    U.S. Supreme Court arguments over the standard of proof students must meet to pursue Americans with Disabilities Act claims of discrimination in public schooling turned combative Monday when one veteran litigator accused another of lying to the justices, eliciting sharp rebukes from several members of the bench.

  • Justices Open To New Combat Compensation Filing Window

    A group of U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed open to letting late-filing veterans get retroactive combat-related special compensation, with some justices saying that the statute might be explicit enough to not fall under the Barring Act's statute of limitations.

  • Baker Donelson Picks Up Longtime HHS OIG Atty In Maryland

    Amanda Copsey, a longtime U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General attorney, has joined Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC as a shareholder in its Baltimore office, bringing nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare laws and regulations.

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    Accuser Seeks $630K Sanction For Wright Defamation Suit

    A Freshfields LLP counsel who claimed she had been pressured into engaging sexually with her George Mason University law professor Joshua Wright — and who subsequently was hit with a $108 million defamation suit in Virginia state court — is seeking more than $630,000 in sanctions for his allegedly "costly yearslong baseless litigation" against her.

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    Former Acting US Atty Talks Leading Cole Schotz's DC Launch

    Law360 Pulse caught up with Phil Selden, formerly the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, to discuss taking the reins of Cole Schotz PC's new office in Washington, D.C.

  • Jazz Musician Turned Atty Joins Pillsbury In DC From Kirkland

    Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP's new private capital and investment funds practice partner David Holland, never imagined himself as a lawyer. In fact, he started working at law firms as a way to finance travel for music school grad program auditions, he told Law360 Pulse in an interview Monday.

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    'Give Me A Break': Judge Questions DOJ On Jenner Order

    The Department of Justice on Monday argued for the dismissal of Jenner & Block LLP's lawsuit against the federal government over an executive order targeting the law firm for its selection of clients, with the judge on the case commenting "Give me a break" at one point during the DOJ's turn to speak.

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    DLA Piper Hires New CFO From Knight Frank

    DLA Piper said Monday that it has appointed Knight Frank's group chief financial officer to take on a similar role as it looks to achieve its goals for growing the business.

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    WilmerHale Rehires DOJ Civil Division Leader In DC

    WilmerHale has rehired the former leader of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, who will take over as head of the government and regulatory litigation practice after more than 20 years revolving between roles at both the agency and firm.

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Expert Analysis

  • AI Is Reshaping Lawyering: What To Expect In 2024 Author Photo

    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.

  • Embrace Active Voice In Legal Writing — In Most Cases Author Photo

    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.

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    Ask A Mentor: How Can I Help Associates Turn Down Work? Author Photo

    Marina Portnova at Lowenstein Sandler discusses what partners can do to aid their associates in setting work-life boundaries, especially around after-hours assignment availability.

  • How AI Legal Research Tools Are Shifting Law Firm Processes Author Photo

    Although artificial intelligence-powered legal research is ushering in a new era of legal practice that augments human expertise with data-driven insights, it is not without challenges involving privacy, ethics and more, so legal professionals should take steps to ensure AI becomes a reliable partner rather than a source of disruption, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Data Source Proliferation Is A Growing E-Discovery Challenge Author Photo

    With the increased usage of collaboration apps and generative artificial intelligence solutions, it's not only important for e-discovery teams to be able to account for hundreds of existing data types today, but they should also be able to add support for new data types quickly — even on the fly if needed, says Oliver Silva at Casepoint.

  • 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.

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