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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

IF THE SHOE DOESN'T FIT… - So according to Marie Claire magazine, you actually can wear white after Labor Day. Even so, as the holiday approaches, you may want to reconsider referring to your organization as a "white shoe" law firm. As Law.com's Patrick Smith reports, the term can still refer to the elite of the legal community working on the most important matters for the most impactful clients. But, for an increasing number of attorneys, "white shoe" symbolizes a way of working that is going extinct, conjuring images of antiquated and exclusory firms run by partners who all look like Mr. Monopoly. Some firms, like Milbank, for example, have actively tried to distance themselves from the label, which firm chair Scott Edelman told Smith "often connotes an old-fashioned firm that lacks diversity and fails to appreciate inclusiveness." Meanwhile, legal recruiter Alisa Levin told Smith the moniker also tends to send the message to younger potential hires that a firm is "too buttoned up." "When you think of white shoe firms, you think stodgy. You think of them representing old blue chip companies," she said. "A lot of attorneys want to work where they think it is 'cool.'"

CLINICAL TRIAL - Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is headed to a San Jose courtroom for her criminal fraud trial starting today. The trial, which will center on the government's allegations that the former executive defrauded investors, doctors and patients with faulty blood-testing technology, is expected to last about 13 weeks in front of U.S. District Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California. Keep up with Law.com's coverage of the trial here. As Law.com's Dylan Jackson previously reported, the proceedings are likely to reopen an uncomfortable moment for Boies Schiller Flexner and its founder David Boies, who previously represented Holmes and also served as one of the company's directors. Before you dive into coverage of the trial itself, check out Alaina Lancaster's analysis of what other law firms can learn from Boies Schiller's involvement in the Holmes saga.

AGAINST THE GRAIN  - Nestle Purina PetCare was slapped with a consumer class action Monday in Missouri Eastern District Court. The complaint, filed by Levin Sedran & Berman and other law firms, contends that Purina's "grain-free" food products are falsely advertised. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 4:21-cv-01075, Barker et al. v.  Nestle Purina PetCare Co. 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

PROACTIVE PRO BONO -  International law firms ramped up their efforts to assist with the evacuation and settlement of people pouring out of Afghanistan ahead of today's deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Law.com International's Anne Bagamery reports. Efforts have kicked into high gear in recent weeks with the fall of the Afghan government, but some of the work actually started months before. Over the summer, the International Refugee Assistance Program, or IRAP, engaged four law firms—Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett—to draft brief reports on the conditions in certain countries to which Afghan nationals might flee in the event that the Taliban resumed control over Afghanistan. The firms are continuing to work with IRAP on additional reports, according to Simpson Thacher. And through previous initiatives to help refugees from Syria and other conflict zones, U.K. and European pro bono networks have projects underway in countries like Turkey and Greece that can be utilized to help with Afghanistan, lawyers said.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"It's sort of like asking for a pony. It isn't something you should expect to prevail on."