Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

CLIENT (SUBSCRIPTION) SERVICE - Last week in this space, we pondered how much longer law firms could go on raising rates before clients start to get really cheesed off. But imagine a legal services delivery model that eschews billable hours altogether—it's easy if you try. As Law.com's Victoria Hudgins reports, law firms are increasingly taking a cue from services like Spotify and Netflix and offering their clients subscription fees. While this model may not be common in the industry at the moment, its presence and growing adoption is being driven by clients, said Robert Taylor, CEO and GC of U.K.-headquartered law firm 360 Law Group. "I find even some of the large companies we deal with are actually looking at the bottom-line cost; they don't accept the £300 or £400 billable hour and hours estimate," Taylor said. "They're now asking to know what the cost will be before doing the work." To be sure, subscriptions don't lend themselves easily to every practice area, but Tomu Johnson, founder of privacy and data management law firm The Broad Axe, noted that, wherever there's predictability and repetition, there's an opportunity. "The nice thing is that when you have a process that is somewhat static, you can then take that process and use tools to automate it and shrink the cost of replicating that process over and over for your client[s]," he said.

DECISION OF CONSEQUENCE - Over the past week, litigators, court watchers and lawmakers have warned that the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling allowing Texas' six-week abortion ban to take effect could have far-reaching and potentially dangerous consequences moving forward—and not just in abortion cases. In this week's Law.com Litigation Trendspotter column, we look at how SCOTUS' refusal to block the law, known as S.B. 8, has added fuel to the ongoing debates over term limits for justices, the high court's controversial "shadow docket" and court stacking. We also examine how both Republican and Democratic legislatures in other states could potentially model their own laws after S.B. 8 to suit their own partisan ends on topics not limited to abortion. I'm interested to hear from you: Do you agree with those who say the court's ruling on S.B. 8 has created a loophole for other states to exploit with similarly structured laws governing not just abortion, but other highly partisan issues? Why or why not? Let me know at [email protected].

RENT CONTROL - Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone sued the City of Ann Arbor on Friday in Michigan Eastern District Court on behalf of Washtenaw Area Apartment Association and roughly two dozen rental property owners and managers. The suit challenges city ordinances that bar landlords from running criminal background checks on prospective tenants and from showing or leasing properties until 150 days before lease expiration. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 5:21-cv-12110, Washtenaw Area Apartment Association et al v. Ann Arbor, City of. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION - It's obviously been no socially-distanced picnic to try to figure out how to safely bring back lawyers and staff to offices in the U.K. and U.S. But, as Law.com International's Anne Bagamery and James Carstensen report, European firms have a different, and perhaps more delicate, set of decisions to make. While official guidance to employers varies from country to country, law firms in Europe—in common with most private-sector employers—can easily find themselves caught between their legal obligation to protect employee health and safety, and the legal prohibition against infringing employees' right to privacy by asking whether they have been vaccinated.

WHAT YOU SAID

"I think what's going to happen is the tenants themselves, the law firms, accounting firms, tech companies and banks, if they haven't done so already, they'll take the full step in requiring their employees to be vaccinated. That will benefit those large businesses, but also benefit the landlords whose buildings are occupied by these large businesses."