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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

HAVE ZOOM, WON'T TRAVEL - Virtual meetings can be maddening: frozen screens, elusive "unmute" buttons, attorneys with no pants on (if you're in Florida). However, on the plus side, there's also a distinct lack of lost baggage, bad airport food and strangers using your shoulder as a neck pillow. In that regard, Patrick Smith reports, a number of law firm leaders with previously hectic travel schedules have come to appreciate the wonders of Zoom. And for some, even when travel restrictions are lifted and jetting the globe becomes safe(r) again, there may be no going back. What do you all think? Are you eager to get back to in-person meetings or are you ready to stay in a virtual reality? Let me know at [email protected].

BAR NONE - As some states continue to push ahead with plans to hold in-person July bar exams and others hope to pull them off in September, a national chorus of "Um, how about no?" is getting louder. And, as Karen Sloan reports, the recent surge of U.S. COVID-19 cases, ongoing protests over racial injustice, and the challenges of social distancing are prompting a growing number of state supreme courts to consider adopting an emergency diploma privilege that would allow some law grads to be admitted to the bar without taking the exam. Utah, Washington and, as of this past Monday, Oregon are already on board. Meanwhile, Minnesota is mulling the idea.

CLIENT WHISPERERS - A couple months ago, shortly after widespread stay-at-home orders took hold in the U.S., client relations professionals told me they were spending a lot of time advising lawyers at their firms to over-communicate with clients, including having sometimes awkward conversations about pricing, collections and an uncertain economic outlook. The idea was to coach up lawyers so that they could better relate to their clients remotely. Since then, however, those C-suite professionals' direct interactions with clients have increased quite a bit, Ben Seal reports, taking them from behind the scenes to a seat at the table—and giving them plenty of opportunities to demonstrate value to their firms.

A CORRECTION + SOME NUNES NEWS - Yesterday, I wrote in this space that Twitter accounts named "Devin Nunes' Cow" and "Devin Nunes' Mom" had recently escaped a defamation suit by the Republican congressman. However, only Twitter has been dismissed as a defendant in that litigation thus far. The case is ongoing against both mom and cow (whose true identities are still unknown), as well as against political strategist Liz Mair. But, as was totally my plan all along, this error has provided the perfect segue to an update on Nunes' separate and unrelated defamation suit against CNN: As Tom McParland reports, a Manhattan federal magistrate judge yesterday agreed to stay discovery in the lawsuit until a ruling could be made on CNN's motion to dismiss, which raises a key threshold issue involving California law.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Katten Makes Some Furloughed Business Administration Employees Permanent Cuts By Patrick Smith Texas No Longer Needs Your Consent for an Experimental Jury Trial, Thanks to Emergency Order By Angela Morris

How Women in Big Law Are Stepping Into the Court Fight Over the Equal Rights Amendment By Jacqueline Thomsen

Lawyers Accused of Molotov Cocktail Bombing Can Return Home, 2nd Circuit Rules By Jane Wester

The Events of 2020 Have Changed Our Collective Mental Health—and Risk—Profile By Patrick Krill

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

BUSY DAY - This year in the U.S., July 4th is shaping up to be a big day of watching fireworks on YouTube and waving at your neighbor while you grill two lonely hot dogs. But around the world, today is an actual big day, for multiple reasons. For starters, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (NAFTA's replacement) takes effect. Today is also the day that the EU is set to reopen its borders to all but travelers from the U.S., Brazil and Russia. In addition, it's Handover Day in Hong Kong, marking the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Every year, this day has included a major pro-democracy march, but authorities have banned the march for the first time this year. Pro-democracy activists are expected to defy the ban and march anyway, however, which could get ugly.

WHAT YOU SAID

"We need a systemic cultural shift in the way law firms work. The people who are in power in these firms are the very people that benefit the most from the current system. Somehow, we have to convince them that recruiting, retaining, promoting and including Black attorneys is a good thing, and not only that, it is worth whatever they believe will be the associated costs."