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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

OPEN HOUSE - As you may have heard, the legal industry talent war, particularly with regard to young talent, is more cutthroat than ever, as attorneys and legal professionals across industry sectors reassess their careers amid the pandemic and law firms continue upping the ante on salaries and bonuses. As we examine in the latest Law.com Trendspotter column, in-house legal departments don't have seemingly limitless stockpiles of money to throw at potential hires and existing employees, but what they do have is a potential advantage over their law firm competitors when it comes to nearly everything else, including hands-on experience, personally fulfilling and professionally challenging work and, yes, maybe even something resembling work-life balance. I'm interested to hear from you: What should in-house legal departments be doing to fight against the Great Resignation and to compete with law firms for top talent? Let me know at [email protected].

BOIES IS BACK IN TOWN - David Boies is set to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court today for the first time in nearly a decade. As Law.com's Marcia Coyle reports, Boies, a name partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, is part of a team led by partners Stephen Zack and Scott Gant, who have spent countless hours and millions of dollars in the case, Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. The firm represents the family seeking return of a Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis and now owned by Spain. The justices will decide a choice-of-law question in this long-running legal fight: Spanish law or California law. The case was initially brought to Zack, who then received Boies' blessing and assistance in pursuing it on a contingency basis. When asked if he wouldn't like to be arguing next week instead of Boies, Zack told Coyle, "Any lawyer has to answer 'yes' to that. Of course, I would love to try it before the Supreme Court. I still believe David Boies is one the greatest lawyers of our generation. After 20 years and being his dear friend, I've watched him argue and I believe he is the right person to argue this case."

IN POOR TASTE? - Take heed, makers of those little squeezy things that you put in your water to make it taste like juice—the plaintiffs bar is coming for you. Kraft Heinz was hit with a consumer class action Saturday in New York Southern District Court over its MiO brand peach mango liquid concentrate beverage flavoring. The suit, filed by Sheehan & Associates and the Shub Law Firm, alleges that the product's labeling falsely suggests that the mango peach taste derives from natural ingredients. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 7:22-cv-00397, Hoffman v. Kraft Heinz Foods Company. Then, on Sunday, Target was slapped with a similar consumer class action in Illinois Northern District Court over its Market Pantry brand Fruit Punch flavor concentrate beverage. The suit, also filed by Sheehan & Associates, alleges—you guessed it—that the product's labeling falsely suggests that the fruit punch taste comes from natural ingredients. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 3:22-cv-50016, Gouwens v. Target Corporation. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

DON'T BANK ON IT - Once upon a time, banks were considered the gold standard clients for any law firm—and the most valuable. Not to mention that the ability to say you were on the panel for the likes of Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank or JP Morgan came with considerable cache. "[Banks] were the jewels in the crown, we would compete to be on their panels," according to a senior finance partner at a U.K. firm. But now, as Law.com International's Varsha Patel reports, it's a different story. Banking and finance partners from across a wide range of firms privately admit that firms no longer consider banks their top tier clients and that a place on a banking panel is no longer the coveted position it once was. Even firms such as Allen & Overy, which boast a stellar banking reputation, are increasingly looking to other sources of work beyond the big banks, the partner said, adding: "A bank's check [book] just doesn't go as far as it used to and law firms are realizing it. If you have a lot of work pressure coming in, do you really want to turn down lucrative funds work, just to do work for the bank, where rates are pegged?"

WHAT YOU SAID

"That reminds me just to continue to be a badass Black woman that does not get intimidated by anything."