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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

SOLO MISSIONS - Decades of client building and dues paying used to be a prerequisite for successfully making the leap from Big Law to a solo practice. But a growing number of millennial lawyers are skipping that step and just going for it, spurred by a desire to navigate their careers according to their personal values, Law.com's Meredith Hobbs reports. "I really want to use my legal skills to do more than help uber-rich companies with their bottom line and reducing their legal risk," said Alina Lee, who has started her own firm, Your Ad Attorney, at age 30 after working in Big Law and then in-house at a corporate legal department. "That's where the money is, but there is so much more to life." And for those young lawyers looking to hang their own shingles, the barriers to entry are lower than ever—in fact, there's no longer any actual shingle-hanging required. "You had to buy servers, a phone system—and you had to have a fancy office downtown with a Peachtree Street address. That is what it meant to have a firm," said Stephanie Everett, who left a big Atlanta firm in 2007 to co-found her own firm and now coaches small firm lawyers at Lawyerist. "Now the young lawyers I work with all work from home with just a computer and a few cloud-based subscriptions."

AUTOMATIC OR THE PEOPLE - The reality of remote work as a staple of the legal industry has spurred firms to take a close look at eliminating administrative staff positions that could theoretically be replicated with technology, but how much is too much when it comes to these types of cuts? While many firms have reported that their attorneys have adapted surprisingly well to their newfound autonomy, there is likely a limit to how much nonbillable work lawyers will accept, and for how long. In addition, as firms increasingly turn to software to help supplant portions of their administrative payrolls, it raises questions about much of the human element and personal touch provided by traditional law firm staff can be stripped out before more is lost than saved. As we examine in this week's Law.com Trendspotter column, we may not know where the line is until it's crossed. I'm interested to hear from you: where is the line when it comes to law firms leveraging technology at the expense of human jobs? Which tasks require a "human touch" and which don't? And as the pandemic fades, will lawyers continue to accept the burden of nonbillable administrative work? Let me know your thoughts at [email protected].

DISPENSING WITH THE NICETIES - Honeywell International was sued Monday in California Central District Court. The lawsuit, filed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan on behalf of Moldex-Metric Inc, brings false advertising claims in connection with promoting an "anti-microbial protected" earplug dispenser as beneficial for human health during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Honeywell's sales and marketing statements for the HL400-AM Antimicrobial-Protected Dispenser include numerous public health claims notwithstanding that the product is neither approved and registered by the EPA, nor covered by any exemption to registration," the lawsuit alleges. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 2:21-cv-02911, Moldex-Metric, Inc. v. Honeywell, Inc. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.

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