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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

MORE EVERYTHING! - You know those people who say, "I love my job—it's something different every day!"? Do you think any of them have been GCs during the pandemic? Here's hoping at least some law department leaders have a taste for the unpredictable because their roles over the past 18 months have been anything but dull. And, as Law.com's Heather Nevitt writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, their duties have morphed once again thanks to the emergence of the Delta variant. "Part of the reason is that chief legal officers are often looked to as the ethical point person and 'moral compass' of the company (although many of those same CLOs are quick to point out that it takes a C-suite village to create a truly ethical corporate culture)," Nevitt writes. "Well, there isn't a better storm to put that to the test when you combine the decisions around the implementation of vaccine policies, hybrid work, employee safety and health-related data protection." To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

OUT OF THE HOUSE - The ever-shifting, ever-expanding nature of the in-house role may be part of what's driving an uptick in moves from legal departments to law firms, where the work-life balance is no better but the pay often is. As Law.com's Trudy Knockless reports, an increasing number of lawyers in recent weeks have left in-house roles to become partners, counsel or associates at law firms. "In years past, lawyers who were interested in a more regular schedule or sought to avoid billable hours might pursue an in-house role where the primary responsibility was managing outside counsel," said legal recruiter Maura McAnney of McAnney Esposito. "In recent years, however, lawyers in corporations are stepping up and often taking lead roles in deals; and the difference between the hours and responsibilities of law firm work and in-house work has diminished."

OPENING MOVE - Grandmaster chess player Nona Gaprindashvili sued Netflix Thursday in California Central District Court alleging defamation related to Netflix's series "The Queen's Gambit." The action, filed by Rufus-Isaacs Acland & Grantham, accuses Netflix of falsely portraying the plaintiff by claiming in the series that Gaprindashvili "has never faced men" in a chess match when she had competed against at least 59 male chess players at the time the episode is set. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 2:21-cv-07408, Gaprindashvili v. Netflix, 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

NON-DISCLOSURE DISAGREEMENT - A new campaign to limit the use of non-disclosure agreements, launched by Zelda Perkins—a former assistant to disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein—and Canadian law professor Julie Macfarlane, has now received backing from U.K. MP Maria Miller, who labelled NDAs "catastrophically damaging" and "immoral."  The Can't Buy My Silence campaign aims to "stop NDAs from being used to cover up cases of illegal activity and wrong doings against employees," according to a press statement. But, as Law.com International's Varsha Patel reports, lawyers remain divided on the topic, with many stating that NDAs still serve a legitimate purpose to protect victims. Gowling WLG partner Jonathan Chamberlain, for example, said that attempts to limit the use of NDAs in some cases may "have the perverse effect of making things harder for women who have been very badly wronged." "The NDA is one of the few assets they have," he explained. "Many victims of harassment don't want to litigate—they want compensation—and a company is much less likely to do a deal if the allegation becomes a public point anywhere."

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WHAT YOU SAID

"If one good thing can come of this pandemic [it] is that it has shown us that we can manage to continue the court's work in a variety of different ways that can be utilized going forward."