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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

YOU'VE CHANGED - Many law firm leaders are anxious to bring their attorneys and staff back to the office⁠—but how many of them really understand just who will be returning?  As Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, the combination of recent hires and departures, plus a new recognition of home-life stressors and the overall toll taken by the pandemic, means firm leaders will be welcoming back a much different mix of employees than the one that left the office in March 2020, both literally and psychologically. "I'm a real believer that coming back into the office is going to be almost as traumatic as leaving it 18 months ago. Because in the intervening months, people have gone through a hell of a lot of trauma and anxiety," Jim Jones, a senior fellow at the Georgetown Law Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, told Maloney. "You've got a different group of people coming back. And the firms that are going to be the most successful will understand that and manage their people well." One way to do that is to make hoofing it into the office a worthwhile endeavor. "We've talked a lot about making sure teams come in and collaborate with each other, so people know when they come in, the people they want to see, their groups, are also going to be in the office," said Joe Krasovec, managing partner at Schiff Hardin. "The concept is trying to bring people back with a purpose, so you don't have somebody who makes the commute, then realizes, 'I could've done the exact same thing from home.'"

LAWYERS' LAWYERS - As the old saying goes, "He who represents himself has a fool for a client." Turns out, that adage tends to apply even to clients who are, in fact, lawyers themselves. So where do attorneys go when they need attorneys? Now-former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussman faced this question recently when he was indicted by DOJ special counsel John Durham for allegedly lying to the FBI during a September 2016 meeting about Russian hacking of the Hilary Clinton presidential campaign's servers. Ultimately, as Law.com's Bruce Love reports, Sussman went where a lot of lawyers go when they're in need of their own representation: Sean Berkowitz and Michael Bosworth. The two Latham & Watkins partners have a reputation as top-flight trial attorneys in a wide range of litigation areas—white-collar crime, civil and criminal defense, complex commercial litigation, securities litigation and corporate governance. They are also, as people in the know say, "seriously hooked up"—meaning they have good connections in the halls of power.

A PIECE OF THE PIE - Bregal Partners announced this week that it has made an equity investment in gluten-free Italian pizza manufacturer Oggi Foods Inc. in a deal guided by Stikeman Elliott and Spiegel Sohmer Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. New York-based Bregal was advised by Stikeman Elliott. Oggi Foods, which is based in Montreal, was represented by a Spiegel Sohmer team. 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

SIDLEY'S SINGAPORE STRATEGY - The pandemic has filled a substantial pipeline of disputes for law firms in Asia related to unfulfilled contracts and commercial disagreements, and also to potential litigation from the deluge of liquidity. As Law.com International's Jessica Seah reports, Sidley Austin appears poised to capitalize on this surge, appointing new office co-managing partners Charlie Wilson and Tai-Heng Cheng, the latter of whom will look to dial up the firm's practice in disputes and investigations. It's a timely appointment. The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) saw 1,080 new case filings in 2020—its very first caseload of over 1,000 matters. The total value of disputes last year was $8.49 billion, marking a 5% increase from 2019. Cheng predicts further growth. "For me, that is as a function simply of the continued growth of global trading investment in the region," said Cheng. "As a natural consequence of that, there will be disagreement that needs to be sorted out when investments don't turn out as planned or the parties realize that they have different expectations going into the deal."

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WHAT YOU SAID

"I have had junior associates give me feedback on how slow I am. It is the great equalizer."