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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

THE BUSINESS CASE AGAINST BURNOUT - The combination of boundary-less remote work and white-hot demand across a number of practice areas has many associates on the brink of billable-driven burnout. But there is a silver lining: some firms have taken notice not just of how productive their attorneys have been working from home, but how efficient they've been as well. And those firms have also begun to realize that happier, healthier attorneys might just be more valuable than a couple hundred extra billable hours each year. As we examine in this week's Law.com Trendspotter column, the result could be a shift in the conversation around billables—one focused less on the quantity of hours being logged and more on the quality of the work being done. In other words, firms are beginning to realize that burning out their best and brightest is bad for business. I'm interested to hear what you think: Are high billable hour requirements ultimately leading to diminishing returns when it comes to client service? Let me know at [email protected].

NOT BUYING IT - As we noted in this space a few weeks back, some in-house lawyers are up in arms about what they view as "aggressive" and "demeaning" sales pitches from legal tech providers, with at least one suggesting clients could band together to "blacklist" the worst offenders. In the interest of fairness, however, sales folks should have an opportunity to respond. Their rebuttal? "That's the sales biz, baby!" OK, maybe not in so many words. But what they did say is that the legal industry's reaction to being sold to is unique. "What's happening is simply a little bit of a culture clash between the very normal and expected and traditional ways that software is sold in every other industry," Raj Goyle, CEO of legal spend analytics platform Bodhala, told Law.com's Frank Ready. Zach Abramowitz, founder of Killer Whale Strategies, said he recently saw that dynamic play out with a GC he knows: "She said that after the [sales] call she felt like she had been deposed. From my perspective, they had asked her the questions that you normally would ask if you were the sales rep at a software company. But I think that lawyers want to be sold to as lawyers."

TIK'D OFF - Warner Media, HBO, SNL co-head writer Michael Che and other defendants were hit with a copyright lawsuit Tuesday in New York Southern District Court. The case, filed by the Parness Law Firm on behalf of TikToker Kelly Manno, alleges that the "homegrrl" skit in Che's HBO series "That Damn Michael Che" infringes on Manno's copyrighted TikTok skits "HomeGirl Hotline." Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:21-cv-07666, Manno v. Campbell et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

(MIL)BANKING ON HONG KONG - At a time when some global firms appear to have put hiring in Hong Kong on hold, Milbank is growing in the region, Law.com International's Jessica Seah reports. The firm's expansion in the city is part of an Asia strategy revamp that began seven years ago—a strategy that appears to be paying off. In recent years, more and more international firms have downsized and retreated from Hong Kong, largely due to the notoriously hyper-competitive market—particularly for China-related deals. But thanks to its unusual strategy, Milbank's Hong Kong office, which focuses on the wider Asia region, is thriving. "The idea was to broaden out the practices within the Hong Kong office, ensure that we had a size that was relevant for the Asia and Hong Kong market," said James Grandolfo, Milbank's Hong Kong managing partner. "We were really looking to find practice areas that were going to be profitable in Asia but were also going to fit what Milbank's best at. The idea was that we have thriving partners who cover M&A and the financing aspects of M&A deals on the leveraged finance side so that it becomes a really nice add-on to give us full capability in those businesses."

WHAT YOU SAID

"Remember, it's called the 'practice' of law for a reason."