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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

PART-TIME PARTNERSHIP PATH - It's 2021. You've seen the hamper next to your managing partner's bathroom door on Zoom. Perhaps it's time for everyone in the legal industry to acknowledge that lawyers are people too. They all have lives and some would like to live them—but does that have to mean giving up on their partnership aspirations? As Law.com's Jessie Yount reports, an increasing number of law firms are saying no, it doesn't. Reduced-hour partner track programs are gaining traction in Big Law and industry watchers say this could just be the beginning. "I think this is the wave of the future," said Sarah Van Steenburg, a managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa who has seen a significant uptick in requests for part-time options from high-performers in the last six to nine months. "With the pandemic and Zoom, the walls of separation came down. There's more openness. People are more comfortable showing the messiness and the tiredness and asking for something different."

SWING AND A MISS - Four U.S. Supreme Court justices—Stephen Breyer, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito—in separate appearances recently expressed concern about the court's future legitimacy in the eyes of the public, accusing the media, in part, of contributing to public skepticism of their nonpartisan decision-making. But, as Law.com's Marcia Coyle reports, some political scientists and court scholars believe the real threat to the high court's legitimacy hinges largely on two key factors: the sophisticated tools now used by presidents and political parties to pick or promote "reliable"  or "loyal" nominees, and, as a result, the disappearance of the traditional swing justice who sits at the center of a closely-divided court and whose vote is needed to create a majority. But hey, you don't have to take their word for it. Justice Elena Kagan said as much back in 2018, during a discussion at Princeton University. Kagan noted that having a less predictable justice near the center has historically "enabled the court to look so it was not all by one side or another and it was indeed impartial and neutral and fair." She added, "This is a really divided time, and part of the court's strength and part of the court's legitimacy depends on people not seeing the court in the way that people see the rest of the governing structures of this country."

DE-SPAC FAZE - Faze Clan Inc., a digital lifestyle and media platform targeted at the Gen-Z and millennial generations, is going public via SPAC merger with B. Riley Principal 150 Merger Corp. As a result of the merger and related PIPE financing, Faze Clan will be listed on the Nasdaq with a post-transaction equity value of approximately $1 billion. The transaction, announced Oct. 25, is expected to close in early 2022. Faze Clan, which is based in Los Angeles, is represented by a Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom team including partners Christopher Barlow and Allison Schneirov. B. Riley is advised by White & Case. McDermott Will & Emery is legal counsel to B. Riley Securities, Inc. in their role as sole placement agent on the PIPE. 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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By Amanda Bronstad

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

UPWARD MOBILITY - The sale of a company—and the upheaval that often accompanies it—can be a difficult adjustment for those who work there. That, however, is decidedly not the case for PwC's Canadian legal arm. As Law.com International's Gail J. Cohen reports, the uncoupling of the tax and immigration mobility business from Big Four accounting giant will open doors for the Canadian immigration law firm allied with it, as the firm will no longer be bound by strict conflicts rules that now govern which clients it can take on. PwC agreed last week to sell its mobility consulting division to American private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $2.2 billion. The deal, which covers 5,700 people in 41 locations around the globe, includes 500 Canadians and 200 lawyers and staff at PwC Law, which has offices in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. "With our current affiliation with PwC we certainly are bound by independence restrictions," said Melodie Molina, a partner with PwC Law in Toronto. "Without being part of PwC, it does open up the doors into a market that is free from those audit restrictions." Molina said PwC Law will continue to exist, providing tax and corporate law services, but the immigration practice, which includes both U.S. and Canadian lawyers, will be carved out into a new business.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"The balance will never be perfect, but the traits I learned as a mother have only made me a stronger, more understanding lawyer."