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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

RECESSION LESSONS - As anyone who's ever made three easy payments of $29.99 for a kitchen knife set they saw on a late night infomercial can attest, sometimes you gotta learn the hard way (those things could not cut through a soda can). Despite the unsettling uncertainty of the current economic downturn, it seems a number of law firms are determined not to repeat the personnel mistakes they made during the last recession, such as hastily cutting headcount, freezing hiring and cancelling summer associate programs. Meanwhile, several other firms are looking to recreate past successes by taking the same aggressive and opportunistic approach to hiring today that they did a decade ago. In the latest edition of Law.com Trendspotter, we look at how law firms are applying Great Recession lessons to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BLOOD FROM A STONE - Jerry Nadler is certainly fired up over President Donald Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's prison sentence—but the House Judiciary Committee chair's efforts to do something about it may end up flaming out. Nadler has accused Trump of tossing his longtime friend a lifeline as a "thank you" gift for obstructing the investigation into the president's own alleged wrongdoing (sort of a quid bro quo, if you will) and has vowed to investigate the grant of clemency, as well as to consider legislation that would restrict similar moves in the future. But, as Jacqueline Thomsen reports, former congressional attorneys say Nadler and his committee face a pretty epic uphill battle, thanks in part to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on the limits of congressional subpoenas.

THE RISK OF RISK ASSESSMENT - Risk assessment tools are used in jurisdictions across the country to aid in determining the likelihood of recidivism among criminal defendants. But should they be? As Rhys Dipshan and Victoria Hudgins report, there is intense debate around that question, with proponents arguing that the tools can help expose (and therefore address) bias in the criminal justice system while detractors argue that the technology actually exacerbates the problems that have always existed. To the latter group, risk assessment instruments are plagued by the same fundamental flaw inherent in so many other data analysis tools: garbage in, garbage out. Both judges and risk assessment tools are "relying [on] and using court-provided and criminal information, [and] both sources of those information are biased," said Colin Doyle, staff attorney at the Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Policy Program, who works on pretrial reform and bail issues. "Whether you're a judge or an algorithm, that bias is baked into your thinking about predicting future crimes."

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EDITOR'S PICKS

Fatal Shooting at New Jersey Federal Judge's Home By David Gialanella

Federal Judge Denies Defenders' Bid for Temporary Order to Pause New York City's In-Person Court Proceedings By Jane Wester

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

KONEXO'S NEXT MOVE - Eversheds Sutherland's alternative legal services provider Konexo is certainly not being secretive about its growth strategy. Konexo head Graham Richardson told Meganne Tillay it hopes to launch its first base in Europe post-Brexit, with the Netherlands and Germany possible locations for the offering. "We are considering the potential to expand Konexo's global offering," Richardson said. "With a strong presence in the UK and Asia, and following our recent launch in the US, exploring options in mainland Europe, particularly post-Brexit, makes sense." But Richardson was careful to note that the company is still "in very early stages of discussions, with a number of other factors still to consider."

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WHAT YOU SAID

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"It is time to face reality. The pandemic has no set timetable. The bar exam is not worth saving. The time, resources and money required to administer a remote online exam, one that is likely discriminatory and unfair, should be funneled into other alternatives."

|—  Susan Smith Bakhshian, professor and director of bar programs at LMU Loyola Law School,  reacting to the California Supreme Court's decision to set an online-only bar exam for October and to permanently lower the score needed to pass the test.

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