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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LOST CAUSE? - Law firm leaders have recently shown a willingness to stand up for causes they and their clients believe in. They've signed letters denouncing anti-Semitic attacks and opposing voter suppression legislation. They've spoken out about racial justice and the #MeToo movement, and many have acknowledged the role they must take in improving legal industry diversity and inclusion. So why haven't we seen a similar outspokenness from law firm heads when it comes to Texas' new restrictive abortion law, which essentially bans abortion after six weeks and allows private individuals to sue anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion that is barred under the statute? As Law.com's Brenda Sapino Jeffreys reports, the silence is actually not all that surprising to law firm marketers and consultants, who say lawyers, staff and clients are divided on the issue. "It's just one of those issues that they aren't going to touch," said one firm marketer who did not want to be identified. "It's a sticky wicket, isn't it?" said Deborah McMurray, founder and chief executive officer of Content Pilot in Dallas, predicting that most firms would steer clear of making statements about the law itself but would likely represent defendants sued under the law pro bono.

SEEDS OF DISPUTE - The whole "internet" thing had a nice run, but maybe it's time to end this experiment and go back to reading, y'know, books. As Law.com's Charles Toutant reports, lawsuits are emerging around the country over deaths and serious injuries caused by the medicinal use of poppy seeds, which a number of users first learned about from YouTube videos and websites that claimed tea made from the unwashed seeds could cure everything from anxiety to arthritis to diarrhea. Instead, according to the lawsuits, the resulting brew contains morphine and codeine. Now, suppliers of the seeds are facing suits over alleged harms linked to their products. There are currently at least two suits over poppy seed tea-related deaths pending in New Jersey federal court. "Misinformation about medical issues is rife right now in our country," said Jory Lange Jr., the Houston attorney representing the plaintiffs in the New Jersey cases. "I'm very concerned because people are still selling these. This really is a risk out there and I think most of the people consuming these unwashed poppy seeds have no idea how dangerous they are."

UNEQUAL TREATMENT? - Aetna was hit with a civil rights class action Monday in New York Southern District Court alleging that the health insurer engages in sex discrimination by denying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or nonbinary individuals equal access to fertility treatment. The suit was filed by Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel and the National Women's Law Center. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:21-cv-07619, Goidel v. Aetna 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

STICKING POINT - Debevoise & Plimpton has become the second major U.S. law firm to mandate COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement to enter its London offices, Law.com International's Hannah Roberts reports. In a memo sent to the London workforce, London co-managing partners Richard Ward and Lord Goldsmith QC said the firm will "require everyone who wishes to come into the office, including visitors, to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated." The policy will take effect from October 11, the memo added, which also asked the firm's people to communicate their working plans if they wanted to work from the office ahead of the global firm's compulsory return date that is expected to be "no earlier than at some point in November." The move comes a month after the firm began looking into the issue of mandatory vaccination in London. In a memo from August, the London co-heads also asked its London people not to use public transport to travel into the office, but that policy has now been reversed, according to a spokesperson. Debevoise follows fellow U.S. firm Morrison & Foerster in opting for the new rules, with MoFo having been the first law firm to mandate vaccination in London ahead of a widespread return to office working across the city.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"I like to try out new things; I fail a good amount of the time, but occasionally I succeed dramatically."