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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

CAN'T GO BACK - As we've noted in this space recently, many law firms have been less-than-straightforward in laying out their post-pandemic office return policies, often outwardly projected a posture of flexibility and understanding while appearing to subliminally signal to lawyers and staff that returning in-person sooner rather than later is not actually optional. Let's call it the "mom guilt" approach: as in, when your mom says that you certainly don't have to come home for Thanksgiving but she will be cooking and your siblings and extended family will all be flying in and, well, you should just do whatever you think is right. But, as Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, the vague messaging by some firms may have a less nefarious explanation than veiled coercion. Instead, maybe just chalk it up to good old fashioned risk aversion. George Wolf Jr., a law firm consultant for Aon, told Maloney that firms have a general disinclination toward backtracking, which may explain why so many policies thus far have neglected to set a hard return date or fixed number of days that folks must show up to the office. "Most firms don't want to get out in front of the issue like that for fear of having to reverse course," he said. "Law firms pay very, very close attention to where their clients come out on these issues, and I don't think that is known or understood right now."

HIRE AWARENESS -  It's becoming increasingly difficult for corporate legal departments to lure talented attorneys away from their lucrative positions in Big Law. As a result, many in-house counsel have begun focusing more on recruiting from other law departments. But that may be for the best, because lawyers who ditch law firm life for what they perceive to be a more leisurely pace in-house are likely in for a rude awakening at a time when remote work and budget constraints have combined to make corporate counsel positions at many companies incredibly stressful and demanding. As we examine in this week's Law.com Trendspotter column, the talent pool for in-house positions may be a bit smaller, but it's also likely stocked with more potential recruits who are better prepared for the realities of an in-house career. I'm interested to hear what you think: has corporate counsel life gotten more difficult during the pandemic? If so, do you think the perception of in-house work among job-seekers has shifted? Let me know at [email protected] and be sure to check out Corporate Counsel Advance, our new premium offering that brings you practical guidance content highlighting the evolving role and global nature of a GC, including leadership, business navigation, career development, and legal department management. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

NEGOTIATING POWER - Wall Box Chargers SL, a provider of electric vehicle charging stations, is going public via SPAC merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II in a deal worth approximately $1.5 billion. As a result of the merger and related PIPE financing, Wall Box will be listed on the NYSE. The transaction, announced June 9, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. Wall Box, which is based in Barcelona, Spain, is represented by a Latham & Watkins team including partners Ignacio Gómez-Sancha, Ryan Maierson, Jose Sánchez-Dafos and Ian Schuman. The SPAC is advised by Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Houthoff Buruma; and Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira S.L.P. Chuck Samuelson led the Hughes Hubbard team, which also included partners Ken Lefkowitz, Andy Braiterman, Alan Kravitz, Gary Simon, Charles Wachsstock and Robert Bell. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

CASH STASH - The U.K.'s largest 50 law firms rapidly increased their cash reserves by nearly 60% at the outset of the pandemic last year, according to an analysis of their 2019-20 limited liability accounts by auditor Smith & Williamson. At the end of April 2020, Law.com International's Hannah Roberts reports, the firms improved their cash position by an average of 57.2% as the U.K. went into lockdown and law firms shifted to remote working. In the previous three years, the biggest cash increase had been just 12.4% in the 2018-19 financial year. Giles Murphy, head of professional services at Smith & Williamson, told Roberts that the 57.2% rise was "a surprisingly positive statistic", but added that "it demonstrates just how uncertain and frightening the world was 12 months ago." "We can forget all too quickly the fear that was going around the whole business community at that time as to what this unprecedented event meant," he said. "Back then, anyone who was in a management position pulled every lever they could find to get money into the business."

WHAT YOU SAID

"In the past year, we've clipped approximately 10,000 news articles related to the court and the justices, roughly half of them tweets, just one indication of the growth in variety and breadth of coverage."