Wake Up Call: Lawyers Can Now Practice in Hawaii Without the Bar

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• The Hawaii Supreme Court issued an order establishing a two-year pilot program to allow lawyers who are licensed and in good standing in other states to work in Hawaii without getting their state license. The program will only apply to those working in criminal litigation at government agencies, including the state Attorney General’s Office, the county prosecutor offices or the Office of the Public Defender. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
• The Massachusetts Legislature’s recent bill to raise wages for bar advocates failed to resolve the deeper constitutional crisis plaguing the state’s court system, lawyers say. Although the measure includes a $20 hourly wage increase over two years and allocates $40 million to the Committee for Public Counsel Services to reduce reliance on bar advocates, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said the reforms fall short of addressing systemic issues. (MassLive)
• US law students who graduated in 2024 had the highest employment rate ever recorded by the National Association for Law Placement, defying earlier predictions that the class’ larger size would drive down the job rate. Among 2024 graduates, 93.4% landed jobs within 10 months of graduation—a 0.8 percentage point increase from 2023 and the highest figure since NALP began tracking the statistic in 1974. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Eric Brophy joined Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi as co-chair of its new government and regulatory law group.
• David Marriott joined Latham & Watkins as a partner in its antitrust and competition practice and litigation and trial department in New York. He joins from Cravath, Swaine & Moore.