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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

WORK THING - An increasing number of young lawyers would like to be able to get to work without having to actually go to work. During a panel discussion at ALM's Legalweek(year) event on Tuesday, Kathleen Pearson, chief human resources officer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said her firm has started asking its people, "What is work?" "We talked to generations below Gen X and they have long thought of work as a thing, not a place," Pearson said. According to Pearson, most people her team polled wanted to be in the office for part of the week and out of it for the rest. "But challenges come with that," she acknowledged, including making sure that the people who are coming in on certain days are able to get what they need from the office environment, such as having their peers or mentors there on the same days. "We need to make sure that training opportunities are there when they are," she said. "And to make sure we have a meaningful number of people in the office at any given time."

WACO MAKES WAVES - The nation's busiest patent docket is also now its hottest. On March 2, jurors in the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas returned a $2.175 billion(!) patent infringement megaverdict for VLSI Technology LLC against Intel Corp. in only the second patent trial in U.S. District Judge Alan Albright's courtroom. The verdict was a big win for Irell & Manella and Mann Tindel Thompson, who represented Fortress Investment Group-backed VLSI. On a very special midweek episode of Law.com's Legal Speak podcast, Law.com IP reporter Scott Graham speaks with Winston & Strawn partners Michael Tomasulo and Danielle Williams about what might have led jurors to that number, what the verdict means for patent monetization as a business model, the appeals we might anticipate from Intel and the impact the verdict could have on future trials in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas.

CASH THE DUTCHIE -  Goodwin Procter guided cannabis technology platform Dutchie in closing a $200 million Series C fundraising round led by Tiger Global and including new investors DFJ Growth and Dragoneer Investment Group. Goodwin partners William Growney, David Johanson and Gregg Katz led the team. The firm also advised Bend, Oregon-based Dutchie on its acquisition of cannabis-focused software companies Greenbits and LeafLogix. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.


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EDITOR'S PICKS

'I Don't Think They're Going to Be Able to Scale and Grow': Why Requiring a Full Return to the Office Could Burn Firms