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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

'RIGHTSIZING' THE WRONG WAY -   Post-pandemic law firm staff "rightsizing" is accelerating. As Law.com's Patrick Smith and Justin Henry report, many firms are cutting experienced support staff and leaning heavily on a combination of technology and younger, cheaper labor to fill the resulting gaps. Exploring ways to make your firm more efficient and productive is a sound business strategy, but there are still plenty of pitfalls for firms that approach staff cuts the wrong way. "First, I think firms should focus on revenue growth instead of cutting overhead," Deborah Farone, legal consultant and founder of legal marketing firm Farone Advisors, told Smith and Henry. "That is a better long-term strategy. But if they are going to lay people off, cutting staff while at the same time raising salaries for associates certainly sends a message." And that message can easily make its way to sites like Glassdoor, which prospective hires (including recent law grads) are taking into account when they make career decisions, Farone noted. In addition, as legal industry mental health consultant Patrick Krill recently told me on Law.com's Legal Speak podcast, firms too often overlook the fact that staff cuts further limit human interaction and relationships in a profession that is often already isolating, which can exacerbate mental health issues for the lawyers left behind.

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE - Outperformers in this year's National Law Journal Women in Law Scorecard say a big part of improving gender diversity is helping female attorneys rise to the upper echelons of their law firms. But, as Law.com's Bruce Love reports, that means making a commitment to equipping female attorneys with what they need to climb the ranks, which is a process that must start early and requires time and attention to eventually bear fruit. As Lisa Kirby, chief intelligence and knowledge sharing officer at Diversity Lab, told Love: there are no quick wins. Focusing on hitting numbers or moving up diversity rankings in the first year is counterproductive. "It's like losing weight on a juice cleanse versus committing to a healthier lifestyle," Kirby said. "It's also akin to going up in profit rankings one year exponentially due to a large contingency fee payout… [It's] not a lasting and sustainable end result."

PENN STATE HIT WITH DISCRIMINATION SUIT - Pennsylvania State University was sued Monday in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court over alleged employment discrimination. The lawsuit was filed by attorney Julie Chovanes on behalf of a former associate professor who alleges they were denied tenure because they are transgender. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 2:21-cv-02986, Brownson v. Pennsylvania State University. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

REAL ESTATE DEAL -  K&L Gates is adding a nine-lawyer real estate team to its Frankfurt and Munich offices with lawyers from Eversheds Sutherland, Law.com International's Eva von Schaper reports. The hires, led by partners Philipp Turnwald and Nicolas Mähner, comes at a time when real estate practices are seeing increased movement as clients reassess their property needs once they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to people close to the hires. K&L Gates has stepped up its European expansive efforts over the past year or so, and this is the latest big European team hire following the addition of a small real estate team in Paris in May. Earlier this year the firm also expanded its European litigation presence with the hire of a Paris team from Stephenson Harwood. These additions come just over a year after the firm added a seven-strong restructuring team from local firm Bernsau Brockdorff & Partner.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"The impression given by current law firm profitability and associate salaries is that Gordon Gekko is alive and well and working in a major law firm."