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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

GIVE 'EM SPACE - As tumbleweeds blow by their reception desks, most law firm leaders are contemplating shrinking their office space—or wondering if they even need it at all anymore. But in the southeast, at least two firms are bucking that trend. As Meredith Hobbs reports, Barnes & Thornburg and Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry just expanded their offices in Raleigh and Atlanta, respectively. The two firms' expansion plans were in the works before COVID-19 threw the industry a curveball, and both firms shifted course to design for the likelihood of remote work as a permanent feature, which included shrinking the amount of individual space per timekeeper. Still, Barnes & Thornburg's Raleigh managing partner Allen Baum and Chamberlain's longtime Atlanta leader David Aughtry both remain convinced that office work is a necessary ingredient for success. "I worry about the professional environment and the intensity of interaction," Aughtry said of remote work. "You can't make strong lawyers out of people working from home in gym shorts."

WAITING GAME - In an August Law.com Trendspotter column, we discussed how plaintiffs lawyers were scrambling to find new leverage in settlement negotiations with insurers who were keenly aware that, thanks to the pandemic, there were no jury trials on the horizon. Almost three months later and with a new wave of positive COVID-19 cases shutting down jury trials once again, that litigation trend has shown no signs of slowing and, as Michael A. Mora reports, it's not only insurers in personal injury cases who are stalling settlements. "I'm seeing cases are not settling like they used to before because the threat of a trial no longer exists," said Jeff C. Schneider, a partner at LKLSG in Miami, whose practice focuses on several areas, including bankruptcy, complex commercial and securities litigation. "Defendants don't eagerly write checks. It doesn't happen that way."

ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING - And you thought that time you had to redo your brief because you forgot to hit "Save" in Microsoft Word was rough: Hanson Bridgett LLP filed a lawsuit yesterday in California Northern District Court against the EPA and the U.S. Department of the Navy. The complaint, filed on behalf of construction engineering company Tetra Tech, challenges an EPA order to halt and redo a decade-long project measuring radiation levels at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, California. The case is 3:20-cv-08100, Tetra Tech EC Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Stay up on the latest litigation with the new Law.com Radar.

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