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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LATERAL QUICKNESS - We told you a few weeks back about how COVID-19 has changed (maybe permanently) how some law firm leaders view the necessity of travel. Pandemic or no pandemic, is an odyssey across airports and hotels really worth the hassle for a meeting you could otherwise attend by flipping open your laptop lid? In many cases probably not, which is why some recruiters and law firm leaders think virtual lateral hiring has staying power. As Dan Packel reports, the inability to meet in person has actually sped up the hiring process substantially, in large part because of the lack of travel, and this may be more than a passing phase. "Where time is imperative, you're going to resort to virtual. Where someone has more time, and you want to be able to weigh body language and other considerations, then you'll resort to the traditional way of doing things," Armstrong Teasdale managing partner David Braswell said. "I don't think we'll be going back to the old way of always having somebody come in." CUTTHROAT CORPORATE COUNSEL - There (hopefully) aren't a lot of crowded pools across the country right now, but the in-house hiring pool is definitely an exception. As Phillip Bantz reports, in-house job seekers are many, but actual jobs are few. And while high-level vacancies are still being filled, employers are being very choosy about who they hire. "There just are not a lot of jobs out there. So the competition to find a job is pretty intense," said Colin Levy, former general counsel for Salary.com. He's been on the job hunt since being laid off in May.

CREDIBLE THREAT - In the throes of a global pandemic, it's no mystery why so many companies are struggling financially. That may explain why, according to a new report, filings of securities class actions plummeted in the first half of the year despite the coronavirus-induced economic downturn. "Everyone is aware COVID is out there, and if a retailer has lower sales, for example, that is relying on foot traffic for sales, and had disappointing earnings, we're not going to bring a lawsuit because that's less anticipated," Jeremy Lieberman, managing partner of New York's Pomerantz, one of the top three plaintiffs firms behind this year's case filings, told Amanda Bronstad. "A lot of the disappointing earnings are COVID-related, and credibly COVID-related, and those likely aren't worth bringing a lawsuit and likely not the result of fraud."

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EDITOR'S PICKS

5 Delaware Firms Were Awarded $1M or More in PPP Loans, With 200 Others Receiving Smaller Sums By Ellen Bardash

California Tees Up Privacy Clash With DEA Over Cannabis License Records By Cheryl Miller

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

TARGETED APPROACH - Allen & Overy has implemented ethnic diversity targets for its London office and become the first major firm to reveal its ethnicity "stay gap," meaning how long Black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers stay at the firm compared to their white counterparts, Rose Walker reports. The targets, announced yesterday, have the firm aiming for a 15% Black, Asian and ethnic minority partnership and 25% of the same metric in its lawyers and support staff group by 2025. Currently, the firm's partnership is 9% Black, Asian and ethnic minority, while associates stand at 22%.

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WHAT YOU SAID

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"It's an effort to try to tell voters he's something he's not."

— Cobb County, Georgia-based defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, criticizing Cobb County Superior Court candidate Jason Marbutt, who is white, for using a stock photo of two Black men rather than a photo of himself in a campaign mailer circulating in minority neighborhoods.

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