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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

ZOOM CLERKSHIP – Law firms are still wooing their summer associates amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but as Meredith Hobbs reports, the schmoozing and fun is mostly happening virtually these days. Fancy lunches and boozy happy hours have been replaced with online cooking classes, improv sessions, and virtual escape rooms. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton even had its summer associates paint individual sections of a mural that will be installed in a VA hospital in New Jersey. It's not all fun and games, though. This year's summer associates are also handling legal assignments, meeting with partners, and sitting in on firm conferences, primarily through Zoom. But law firm leaders acknowledge that interacting across computer screens can't fully replicate the traditional in-person experience summer associates usually receive.

JUDICIAL DISCRETION – Courts use of risk assessment tools is spurring concerns that judges are over relying on these instruments to make sentencing and pretrial decisions for them. But as Rhys Dipshan reports, that's rarely the case.  In fact, many judges aren't using risk assessment tools at all despite having the option, and in some cases, being encouraged to do so. But there are also judges who are implementing these tools in ways in which they weren't originally intended. The use, in sentencing decisions, of risk assessment tools initially developed for correctional departments, for instance, has caused a fair amount of controversy—and a host of ongoing legal challenges.

BAR EXAM BLUES – It wasn't totally unexpected, but Thursday's cancelation of the New York bar exam scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10 will be felt across the country, Karen Sloan reports. The New York Board of Law Examiners decided to pull the plug, saying the in-person exam was not a "safe or practical option" given the current public health situation. But the New York Court of Appeals did not immediately unveil a replacement online exam or detail an alternative path to permanent licensure for law graduates, as other jurisdictions that have canceled their July and September bar exams have done. Instead, the court said a working group will look at all options, which include giving an online exam in October or extending an emergency diploma privilege that would allow law graduates to bypass the test, before issuing a recommendation in early August.

EDITOR'S PICKS

As Congress Mulls COVID-19 Liability Shield, What Does the Data Show?

'Please Bring It On:' Lawyer for Manhattan DA Calls for Urgency in Trump Tax Return Case

DC NFL Franchise Retains Beth Wilkinson to Review Workplace Misconduct Allegations

Ousted US Attorney Geoff Berman to Teach at Stanford Law

5 Ways That Corporate Legal Departments Are Trying to Save Costs Post-COVID-19

In-House Counsel Should Create Re-Exit Plan to Prepare for COVID-19 Case Spike

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

BUSINESS AS USUAL - Large firms in Australia say they aren't planning any major changes in new lawyer hiring, despite the pressure posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopher Niesche reports. Firms including Ashurst, MinterEllison, and Gilbert + Tobin said they aim to maintain a strong pipeline of young attorney talent and are continuing to run their student clerkships programs. They  also plan to bring on the next crop of graduates in 2021, though some firms may stagger the start dates for  their newest lawyers.

WHAT YOU SAID

"Steve played a fatherly role at the firm, even if he was a father whose words of wisdom were liberally sprinkled with F-bombs, dares and raucous laughter."