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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

BIG LAW BRAIN DRAIN? -  Running a law practice no longer requires an army of support staff, industrial-strength printers or even physical office space. Because of this, as Law.com's Frank Ready reports, it's arguably never been easier to go solo or branch out from Big Law with a boutique. "I think that's going to be something that we're going to see more and more frequently—that we'll see smaller boutique shops, like mine, that focus on an issue or [practice area] and get started. And law firms will experience significant brain drain in their associate pool and the low- to midlevel partner range," said Tomu Johnson, who recently left Parsons Behle & Latimer to launch a privacy and data-centric firm, The Broad Axe, from the comfort of his Utah-based home. To be sure, the rise of remote work is one factor that is likely to entice some attorneys to strike out on their own. But Jarno Vanto, a partner at Crowell & Moring, argued that it could also be the impetus for some lawyers to make the leap to Big Law. "If your options are to say be in a large regional firm or going solo and bringing your clients with you, sort of the natural [alternative] there is joining a large national firm and work remotely from where you are," he said.

CAP TABLE COLLAB -  In a nation so divided, nothing brings a tear to the eye like law firms working together. As Law.com's Jessie Yount reports, a group of Big Law firms that compete in the tech and startup world have taken the unusual step of teaming up to foster a new industry standard for startup capitalization tables—the tool startups use to keep track of their equity and accompanying voting rights. While law firms and software vendors have historically been entrusted to keep track of that information, a solution that works for all parties involved on a consistent and uniform basis has yet to emerge. Realizing that the problem isn't a zero-sum game, a coalition led by innovation and knowledge management officers at Cooley, Gunderson Dettmer, Fenwick & West, Goodwin Procter, Latham & Watkins, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, along with established software vendors in the legal tech realm, has set out to find a solution. "We're incredibly focused on venture-backed startups and aspiring venture-backed startups. It's all we do. When there is an opportunity to do something that will have a positive impact on the ecosystem we serve, it's a no-brainer," said Joe Green, director of client experience at Gunderson Dettmer.

AD INFINITUM - Facebook was hit with a class action Wednesday in California Northern District Court accusing the social media giant of allowing "scammers" to target users with deceptive and fraudulent ads. The court action, filed by Levi & Korsinsky, contends that Facebook unjustly enriches itself by negligently allowing third parties to leverage users' data against them with "scam ads." "Cracking down on scammers would jeopardize the billions of dollars per year in ad revenue that Facebook collects from scammers," the complaint alleges. "Therefore, even as Facebook's public relations team touts the closing of certain accounts and lawsuits targeting a few scammers, Facebook remains economically motivated to continue soliciting, encouraging, and assisting scammers at the expense of its users." Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 3:21-cv-06186, Calise et al v. Facebook, Inc. 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

TAX BURDEN -  Law firms with tight cash flows face a financial headache from proposed changes to tax rules in the U.K., tax experts told Law.com International's Meganne Tillay. Under the new rules the ability for partnerships to defer when they pay their taxes will be impacted which could affect how many manage their cash flow. Accountants and lawyers add that some firms are also concerned about the speed of the changes, which will impact their financial planning. The government consultation, published in July, lays out changes for partnerships and sole traders from a "current year basis" to a "tax year basis." This means a partnership's profit or loss for a tax year will be the profit or loss arising in the tax year itself, regardless of its accounting date. Tax rates are not expected to increase. Karen McNicholls, a professional services tax partner at Deloitte, said that while the current system incentivizes firms to operate with a tax year ending at or around April 30, the proposed changes will instead incentivize a March 31 year-end. She added: "For the largest U.K. law firms with global profit pools, the administrative impact will be very significant due to the particular complexities of their tax return filings."

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WHAT YOU SAID

"The only real certainty is that there's every possibility things will change."