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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LESS IS MORE - Law firm staffs may be shrinking, but staffing costs are still heading in the opposite direction, Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports. An overwhelming majority of respondents to a new survey by Citi Private Bank's Law Firm Group said they expect the number of secretaries to continue decreasing. About 83% projected a decrease in legal secretaries in 2022 relative to 2020. However, roughly two-thirds of those surveyed projected growth in pricing specialists (68%), business development/marketing professionals (65%) and technology staff (63%). They also expected growth in project managers and billing and collections teams. And none of those roles come cheap. "This means that even for firms planning to reduce their overall professional staff leverage, they are likely to see an increase in the overall cost of professional staff," the (also recently released) 2022 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory found.

CONFLICT CREWS - Another administrative function that has seen significant "upskilling" recently is in the realm of client conflict checks. The old system of making partners ultimately responsible for spotting conflicts was not exactly foolproof. And as law firms have gotten bigger and more complex over the years, that top-down approach has become even less advisable. With that in mind, more firms are bringing in professional analysts to perform conflict checks, new research from legal tech company Intapp suggests. Like many staff roles in the legal industry, those responsible for conflicts analysis are evolving into a specialized team of professionals, often with four-year degrees or J.D.s, rather than clerical personnel serving at the discretion of practice partners, according to survey authors. "We're stepping away from an administrative view of that role and talking more substantively about bringing legally trained folks in, whether that's folks who are certified paralegals or whether that's lawyers," Makaylia Roberts Binkley, director of risk consulting for Intapp and former director of risk management for Ballard Spahr, told Law.com's Justin Henry.

TURNING THE SCREWS - Stanley Black & Decker, a manufacturer of household hardware and security systems, was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit Friday in North Carolina Western District Court. The lawsuit, which was filed by Alston & Bird on behalf of Hangzhou Great Star Industrial Co. Ltd., claims that Stanley Black & Decker knowingly infringed upon the patented design for Great Star's ratcheting screwdrivers. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 3:21-cv-00675, Hangzhou Great Star Industrial Co. Ltd. v. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

By Michael A. Mora

By Jordan Furlong

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

WORKING TITLES - The European Commission recently unveiled what lawyers are describing as the world's first attempt to regulate the booming gig economy that has become a mainstay of many cities, Law.com International's Linda A. Thompson reports. More than 500 platform companies are active in the European Union and they represent a €20-billion industry, according to the Commission. The proposal seeks to offer the bloc's 28 million gig economy workers better labor protections, while also giving companies like Uber more legal certainty by settling a question that has divided courts across the 27-country bloc: are gig economy workers really self-employed?

WHAT YOU SAID

"I have to make it clear that the actions you engaged in cannot happen again."