Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEMES - If you've ever emailed an attorney with the subject line "plz fix," congratulations—you're a meme! As Law.com's Dan Roe reports, legal-themed meme accounts are proliferating on social media, ready to roast you and your law firm at a moment's notice. If you announced a special associate bonus this spring, the email likely surfaced on an Instagram meme account minutes later. If your competitors did and you didn't, your attorneys might have complained to the admins. But accounts like NonequityPartner and Litigation_God are more than mere trolls—they're offering important insights into what young attorneys want, what they don't and what it takes to retain them in a cutthroat talent market. At the root of the jokes are hard truths law firm leaders would do well to acknowledge. "The same jokes over and over that get played out work so well for a reason. The 'plz fix' is a general theme," said the Am Law 100 law firm associate and who created BigLawBoiz, an Instagram meme account with 102,000 followers. "While everyone agrees we're paid well, everyone feels underappreciated and overworked."

PUBLIC SCRUTINY - LegalZoom and Intapp filed their intentions to go public with the SEC late last Friday and, according to market observers, it's a big deal. "There are two companies that believe that the public market is ready to finance legal technology. Which is very significant," Zach Abramowitz of Killer Whale Strategies told Law.com's Frank Ready. But will other legal tech companies be inspired to go public as well? Several already have IPOs in their sights. Jason Boehmig, CEO of Ironclad, told Law.com in March that the company would "100%" be filing an IPO at some point in the future. Evisort's CEO Jerry Ting also stated that the AI-powered contract management provider was planning to go public within the next five years. Meanwhile, companies such as MyCase and KLDiscovery have already consummated their IPOs in 2014 and 2019, respectively. But, as Ready reports, observers say that if other companies decide to go that route, they're going to need to differentiate themselves in a legal market that's increasingly becoming crowded with not just law firms and legal departments, but ALSPs, the Big Four, venture capitalists and private equity groups. "As all of these people go for the pie, the pie has to get bigger. The pie has to get better," Abramowitz said.

FIVE-FINGER DISCOUNT? - Davis Wright Tremaine filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Washington Western District Court on behalf of Amazon.com over a contract for personal protective equipment for essential workers. The complaint accuses Paradigm Clinical Research Institute and other defendants of fraud and seeks the return of an over $10 million deposit for millions of pairs of gloves that were allegedly defective. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:21-cv-00753, Amazon.com Services LLC v. Paradigm Clinical Research Institute Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

GENERAL PRACTICE - Several U.K. law firms have installed new firm general counsel recently and, as Law.com International's Varsha Patel reports, that's no accident. The law firm GC role is more important now than ever before as the legal industry navigates the pressures brought on by COVID-19 and increased regulatory activity. In this rapidly changing landscape, risk management is an imperative that law firms can't afford to ignore. "It is more than simply ensuring compliance," Slaughter and May GC Julia Adams said of the position. "The role of the City lawyer is evolving fast. GCs need not only to keep abreast of changes that are coming but to understand the impact of these on the organization so that risks can be mitigated."

WHAT YOU SAID

"Belonging is a word we use a lot, and it is a hard thing to hold on to––particularly when you enter spaces that don't expect you, that don't want you, that are willing to reject you at the drop of a hat. As lawyers, you will be called upon to enforce the notion of belonging. It is your responsibility to not let the laws divide us from society."