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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

AN OFFER YOU SHOULD REFUSE? -  Stop me if you've heard this one before: As the Big Law talent wars rage on, law firms keep doing something out of desperation even though pretty much everyone agrees it's a bad idea. Nope, not starting salary bumps. Special bonuses? Not what I'm thinking of but good guess! No, imagine something even less advisable than preemptively throwing money at lawyers in hopes that they won't think about leaving. That's right: throwing money at lawyers after they've already tried to leave. Counteroffers are on the rise in a cutthroat talent market, but, as we explore in this week's Law.com Trendspotter column, it's debatable whether they accomplish much other than making things awkward for everyone. I'm interested to hear what you think: Are counteroffers a necessary evil in a wild talent market or simply counterproductive in every situation? Let me know at [email protected].

TECH TEAMWORK - Forward-looking law firms and legal departments tackle the problem of improving efficiency by using a three-pronged approach: people, process and technology. The people part can seem tricky, especially for organizations without much of an IT bench. However, as Law.com's Zach Warren writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, it turns out tech knowledge isn't necessarily the differentiating factor: The most successful organizations are finding that cross-functional teams are the way to handle tech decisions, with multiple (and even non-technical) viewpoints represented in the room. To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

WRONGING RIGHTS -.A group of law professors and the advocacy group Civil Rights Corps filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday in New York Southern District Court against New York Corporation Counsel Georgia M. Pestana, Queens County DA Melinda Katz and officials in the state's attorney discipline process. The plaintiffs, represented by Patterson, Belknap Webb & Tyler, claim that they have been retaliated against for filing complaints related to alleged prosecutorial misconduct and that public officials are abusing confidentiality rules to shield related investigations from public view. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:21-cv-09128, Civil Rights Corps. et al v. Pestana et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

WHY, WILSON, WHY? - Yesterday in this space we told you about the $55,000 pay hike Wilson Sonsini rolled out for its Brussels lawyers. Now that the news has had a chance to sink in with the rest of the market, let's take a look at the early reviews: "Absolutely crazy," "unbelievable," "makes no business sense," "off the charts." OK then! As Law.com International's Linda A. Thompson reports, managing partners and senior lawyers at Brussels law firms are less than impressed with their rival's move. Some are simply baffled by it. "I don't understand the reasoning behind the salary hike. I don't think anyone was asking for it," said one Brussels managing partner of a U.S. firm, adding that he had no intention of matching the salaries announced by Wilson Sonsini. "If people are really working day and night, you can always solve that by giving a very impressive bonus," he said. He expected some other firms to increase their own salaries in a "knee-jerk reaction," perhaps even to the same tune as Wilson Sonsini. But, he said, "Brussels is not the U.S. It has never been and never will be."

WHAT YOU SAID

"The market for law students and certainly for younger lateral associates is as hot and frothy as I've seen it in my 32 years at the firm, almost unprecedented in some ways."