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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

HELPLESS - The tight labor market that has driven up pay and benefits for restaurants and big-box stores is now squeezing the public sector, contributing to issues like delayed trash pick-up, a lack of bus drivers and, as Law.com's Max Mitchell reports, extremely shorthanded court systems. As public agencies struggle to attract workers, burnout is becoming a concern in some offices, and some fear problems may begin to arise that could interfere with court operations, such as slowdowns for entering docket data, lack of security at courthouses, or delays in prisoner transports. What's more, the problem isn't likely to improve unless and until public agencies' notoriously tight budgets are increased to the point where they can reasonably compete in the job market against other local businesses. The issue was laid bare recently in Beaver County when Clerk of Courts Judy Enslen recruited a woman with a master's degree in criminal justice to work in the office, only to watch her leave a short while later to take a job at Walmart for a few dollars an hour more. "I couldn't blame her," Enslen told Mitchell. "When you're talking $100 [more] a week, that's a big difference. It all comes down to the starting salaries."

THE CUSTOMER ISN'T ALWAYS RIGHT - It seems like a great idea—in theory.  Attorneys want to be sold legal tech by people who understand their specific business needs, so why not hire legal tech salespeople who are…wait for it…also attorneys?! Unfortunately, as Law.com's Frank Ready reports, while there are legal practitioners who are interested in abandoning the trappings of firm or corporate life for a shot at selling legal tech, it's not always a smooth transition. "I've seen this play out probably not as successfully as people would like," Dean Gonsowski, chief revenue officer at ActiveNav and a former litigator, told Ready. Nevertheless, he's received "a lot" of outreach over the years from attorneys who wanted to leave the practice of law to try their hand at selling tech in a "hot" e-discovery market. And while it's not a surefire bet, those tech companies who hire the right lawyers with the right skillsets and temperament could realize an opportunity to improve their client outreach. As Gonsowski noted, attorneys do like talking to other attorneys—often based on the presumption of shared experience and a common understanding of the realities facing legal professionals. And that initial bond can be a "great starting place" for a business relationship.  "Even if the attorney hasn't walked a mile in the other's moccasins, there's definitely a belief that they have," Gonsowski said.

DUDE, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN - Meagher & Geer filed a complaint for declaratory judgment Monday in Illinois Northern District Court on behalf of Harleysville Lake States Insurance Company and Harleysville Preferred Insurance Company. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the plaintiff insurers have no duty to defend Dude Products Inc. in an underlying class action over the marketing of its Dude Wipes toilet paper alternative. The case is 1:21-cv-05249, Harleysville Preferred Insurance Company et al. v. Dude Products, Inc. et al. 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

FUELING SPECULATION - The U.K. government, scrambling to find a solution to an unprecedented fuel crisis brought on by a massive shortage of delivery drivers, has taken extreme measures in an attempt to address the situation: It deployed the military to ease delivery woes, and, notably, suspended competition law to allow the oil majors to work together on solutions. Law.com International's Lauryn Pierro spoke to some of the nation's top lawyers to glean whether the latter decision will have long-term, potentially negative implications for competition law. As it turns out, no one seems too concerned at the moment. Samantha Mobley, a senior competition and trade partner at Baker McKenzie, for instance, said she believes it is unlikely there will be long-term consequences. "Before the pandemic it was rare for the government to suspend competition law—even in an economic crisis". But, she added, the move is "only temporary" and will "come with conditions which means that there won't be any long-term effects on the law."

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WHAT YOU SAID

"I miss my judicial immunity."