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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

 

CODERS - An alliance that includes Big Law and big business has released its first set of billing codes, as part of a broader project to build industrywide standards for identifying and tracking legal matters. As Dan Packel reports, the Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry (SALI) Alliance includes law firms such as Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Knight, Perkins Coie and Pepper Hamilton, and companies such as Shell and GSK. Version One of the new standards includes codes broken down by various areas of law and by different legal services. While many law firms already rely on codes to classify different types of legal work, the SALI categories, announced Tuesday at the 2019 Legalweek conference, aim to enable users to slice and dice data from multiple organizations.

NO VACANCY - The governor of Florida has prohibited state agencies from conducting business with Airbnb. Zach Schlein reports that Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced the restriction, citing the home-sharing platform's decision to not list rentals in the West Bank area of Israel as the reason. Airbnb general counsel Robert Chesnut in a Jan. 19 letter to state officials said Airbnb “strongly believes in the Israeli state,” but that it has a policy preventing reservations in conflict-ridden areas with “ongoing tensions.”

SITUATION WANTED - It sucks to get old, especially when you need a job and can't land one. With the Seventh Circuit recent ruling that the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects employees and not job applicants, a circuit clash may be afoot. Erin Mulvaney reports that, amid a graying population, worker advocates and businesses are closely watching two age-bias cases in the pipeline in different circuits.

EDITOR'S PICKS

 

Where Are They Now? Lawyers Featured in Netflix's Ted Bundy Documentary

An Update on 5 Colleges' Legal Battles Against Sexual Misconduct Lawsuits

In Latest Expansion, Bentham IMF Adds Ex-Kirkland, Sidley Partners

Merging Facebook's Messaging Services Could Get Complicated in Europe

Palantir Must Turn Over Director Emails in Fight With Early Investor, Del. Supreme Court Rules

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

 

BEFORE AND AFTER - Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has filed the final LLP accounts for London legacy firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (as required by law there), revealing falling financials at the U.K. firm prior to its trans-Atlantic merger with Bryan Cave last year. Hannah Roberts and Krishnan Nair report that the accounts, which cover the 12 months through April 30, show operating profit at Berwin Leighton fell by 21 percent to $74.8 million during the year, while fee income fell 3 percent to $346.4 million. Bryan Cave also has announced its first combined financial results since the merger, reporting a revenue figure of $905 million for the 2018 calendar year, which it says represents growth of 1 percent.

WHAT YOU SAID

“[C]lass counsel fails to explain why it took 32 law firms to do the work in this case.”

— LUCY KOH, FEDERAL JUDGE IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WHO REJECTED A PROPOSED $85 MILLION YAHOO! DATA BREACH SETTLEMENT AND WHO SAID PLAINTIFFS LAWYERS' REQUEST FOR UP TO $36 MILLION IN FEES WAS “UNREASONABLY HIGH.”

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