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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

GET THIS SHOW OFF THE ROAD - What if I told you that traveling thousands of miles to conduct an hour-long meeting was actually not very efficient? That's just one of the mind-blowing revelations that has rocked the corporate world since the pandemic took hold a year ago, and there's no going back. Take, for example, the cross-country road shows that executives and their counsel used to embark on as a way to market a company's upcoming IPO. Like everything else, road shows were forced to go virtual during the past year, which condensed the process from two weeks to about four days, Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports. "That eliminates a week's worth of market volatility and market risk for the company in the deal," Nathan Ajiashvili, a Latham & Watkins corporate partner who guided the first virtual IPO road show as lead partner for Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. "In my view, and I'm sure others believe this, the virtual process of how we execute our business is here to stay."

PERPETUAL WAR - Thanks to significant profit and revenue boosts in 2020, as well as one of the strongest associate markets in more than a decade, the Big Law bonus battle that used to flare up once a year is shaping up to be a ceaseless slugfest in 2021. Several legal industry observers told Law.com's Andrew Maloney and Ben Seal that special bonus announcements by Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Davis Polk & Wardwell could cause a chain reaction in which top firms try to match or one-up each other on special payments for associates. And for some firms, bonuses—instead of salary raises—are the preferred reward because they allow flexibility to change total associate compensation in future years, observers said. "Rather than only raising the base, they develop a carrot and a stick without a commitment for what the floor will be in the future, which helps them ride the market. I wouldn't be surprised if other firms followed," said law firm management consultant Kent Zimmermann.

DEAL-ICIOUS - Enough about SPAC deals, here's a snack deal: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton guided General Mills in the transfer of its 51 percent controlling interest in Yoplait S.A.S. to Sodiaal, a French dairy cooperative. Under the terms of the transaction, General Mills will acquire full ownership of the Canadian Yoplait business and a reduced royalty rate for use of the Yoplait and Liberte brands in the U.S. and Canada. The transaction, announced March 23, is expected to close by the end of the year. The Cleary Gottlieb team was jointly led by New York partner Jim Langston and Paris partner Rodolphe Elineau. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.

EDITOR'S PICKS

'Slaveholder' Comment Roiled CUNY Law for Months Prior to Dean's Mea Culpa By Karen Sloan

Talking Trendspotter: Readers Say Nonequity Partner Tiers Are 'Useful but Widely Misused' By Zack Needles

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

CONFIDENCE BUILDING - Law firms in Asia are in the midst of a hiring frenzy, Law.com International's Vincent Chow reports. In just the first two months of 2021, firms in the region added more partners to their ranks than they did all of last year. An analysis by Law.com International and ALM Intelligence found that in January and February alone, they hired a total of 126 partners across the region's biggest legal markets: Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo. In all of 2020, they added only 111 partners in these seven major Asian cities. The resurgence in senior-level lateral hires in the region suggests that firms are feeling optimistic about their business prospects in Asia. "As soon as COVID-19 hit, law firms were deeply concerned about cash flow and whether work was going to dry up. … They weren't going to hire laterals in that market," said Carl Hopkins, a legal recruiter at Major, Lindsey & Africa in Hong Kong. "By October and November, the firms saw how busy they were, so they could release the capital they had withheld."

WHAT YOU SAID

"Only a movement creates change. Moments do nothing. That means we must acknowledge that these incidents have been happening during the pandemic. It's on us to use these moments to create a movement."