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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

WARNING SHOTS - The spread of the Delta variant has dashed dreams of a post-pandemic fall, instead forcing a number of law firms in recent weeks to delay or alter their office return plans, including mandating vaccinations for those resuming in-person work. As we examine in this week's Law.com Trendspotter column, the internal and external messaging from firms that have postponed their return dates has reflected a recognition that rushing back to the office too hastily is not only potentially unsafe, but also unnecessary. At the same time, the proliferation of vaccine mandates demonstrates that there is an increasing unwillingness on the part of firm leaders to compromise on reaching the goal of getting folks back together sooner rather than later. Before we dive in, I'm interested to hear what you think: given the uncertainty surrounding the Delta variant, is it still worth it for firms to continue pushing for a fall office return? If so, should more firms be mandating vaccinations? Let me know at [email protected].

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST - Expense cuts gave a big boost to many law firms' bottom lines in 2020. And with the pandemic dragging on, there may be even more unexpected savings on the horizon as 2021 winds down. But, as Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, cutting alone is not a sound long-term strategy for growing profitability. "It's always tough to count on cuts to expenditures as a long-term formula for improved profitability, because you can only ever cut so far," Bill Josten, a senior legal industry analyst for Thomson Reuters, said. That's particularly true with regard to pandemic-era savings, many of which will not be replicable in a world that isn't on lockdown. "These cuts in particular are difficult to rely on for long-term profitability, because everyone knows they're somewhat artificial, and will reverse to some extent. It's not like we'll get back to 100% of the expenditures we saw in the past, maybe ever," Josten said. "But everyone knows at some point, they will reverse." Both Josten and Kristen Stark, a California-based principal at Fairfax Associates, said firms would be wise to use the gains made during the last two years to invest in things that will save money in the long term, such as staffing pools, changes to office leases or occupancy, and new technology.

THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM - Perkins Coie filed a trademark lawsuit Monday in Colorado District Court on behalf of cybersecurity provider DarkOwl. The complaint seeks a declaration of noninfringement on the trademarks of ArkOwl, which has sent the plaintiff two cease-and-desist letters. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:21-cv-02163, DarkOwl, LLC v. ArkOwl LLC et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

CYBER INSECURITY -  The explosive growth in cyberattacks and their increasing sophistication in recent years has created a need among large institutions, tech companies and data-driven companies in the Netherlands for legal advice on incident response plans and procedures, as well as ad-hoc legal advice on data breach incidents and ransomware attacks. Some national and international firms—Van Doorne, Brinkhof, Dentons and Baker McKenzie to name a few—have seen the cybersecurity gap in the Dutch market and jumped into it. But, as Law.com International's Linda A. Thompson reports, most large law firms in the Netherlands do not have the capacity to advise clients on these types of matters. "Most of the large law firms in the Netherlands indeed do not have a large privacy team," said Elisabeth Thole, head of Van Doorne's privacy team. Describing Van Doorne as "an exception to this rule," she added: "Since many years we have one of the largest experienced privacy teams in the Netherlands, focusing on high-end specialized data protection work, varying from compliance work to large enforcement and data breach cases."

WHAT YOU SAID

"OAN helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote."