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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

PRICED OUT - The Big Law bubble never really seems to burst—but it does occasionally leak air at the seams. A few years back, as the industry was regaining its strength after the gut-punch of the Great Recession, there was a stretch in which partners were bailing out of Big Law left and right, launching their own boutiques or joining smaller shops. When asked what motivated those moves, the answer, overwhelmingly, was "rate pressure"—some variation of "my clients can no longer afford to support a global firm's overhead costs." Now, as rate hikes continue to climb with no ceiling in sight, it looks like we might be entering into another shedding phase. As Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, rate pressures are contributing to an increase in lateral movement—and opportunities—for firms up and down the Am Law 200. In one of the latest examples of this phenomenon, a 10-person trademark team is moving from Perkins Coie to Holland & Hart's Colorado offices, with the lead partner citing rates as a factor in their decision. "We certainly started to see clients wanting a better value proposition as rates continued to go up," said Craig Beaker, a partner in the group and now a co-leader of Holland & Hart's outdoor recreation industry practice. "As Am Law 50 firms continue to increase rates, that becomes harder and harder to do. So, I think Holland & Hart provided an excellent platform for us to deliver excellent legal services, but at a better value proposition."

BIO CLASS - In 2021, Meta's $650 million class action settlement taught plaintiffs attorneys that it pays to bring biometric law violation suits. Now, as Law.com's Victoria Hudgins reports, the Texas Attorney General's Office could pave the way for securing a multimillion-dollar reward for biometric violations even in states without a biometric law on the books. And once again, Meta is serving as the teaching tool. On Feb. 14, the Texas AG's Office filed a lawsuit against Meta claiming Facebook users' uploaded photos and videos collected Texans' biometric data without their informed consent, disclosed their biometric identifiers to others and were not destroyed within a "reasonable time" in violation of the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act. The AG also alleged Meta engaged in false, misleading and deceptive acts and practices that violated the state's Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act. That second part is key, as attorneys noted Texas' deceptive trade practices law is found in most states and could be utilized in similar litigation even in jurisdictions that don't have their own biometric privacy statutes. "All states have a uniform deceptive trades act law, which flows down from the [Federal Trade Commission] laws [for] consumer protection. So to that extent, I think there is a potential for this to be an issue in a lot of states because they all have these types of laws," said Moses & Singer partner Linda Malek. "They're all looking at Texas to see what happens there."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Bindu Ann Palapura and Brandon R. Harper of Potter Anderson & Corroon have stepped in to represent Apple in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, over Apple's iPhone 11-13 Pro Max, the iPhone 12-13 Mini and 2021 iPad tablet with ultra wide lens camera features, was filed Dec. 8 in Delaware District Court by Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel on behalf of Quebec-based ImmerVision Inc., a panoramic imaging technology company. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, is 1:21-cv-01733, ImmerVision, Inc. v. Apple, Inc. Read the complaint on Law.com Radar and check out the most recent edition of Law.com's Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.

BURN IT OR RETURN IT - Perkins Coie filed a breach-of-contract and trade secret lawsuit Wednesday in California Southern District Court on behalf of Northstar Sourcing and Robert Perkins. The complaint accuses former Northstar employee David Corsi and his law firm Miller & Steele of breaching an underlying settlement agreement requiring them to return or destroy all Northstar proprietary information in Corsi's possession. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 3:22-cv-00247, Northstar Sourcing, LLC et al v. Corsi et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT - Slaughter and May has started trialing four legal tech products following a firmwide survey asking its lawyers what issues they're facing, Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports. The U.K. firm has decided to roll out four pilot schemes instead of one, which it does each year as part of its Collaborate scheme to work with legal tech providers. The firm previously has selected companies for the scheme's annual cohort via applications but this year asked the tech companies if they had a solution to particular issues informed by they survey. The survey was conducted internally last year, and asked employees openly about what challenges they faced that could potentially be tackled with a tech solution. Based on those responses, the firm formulated a set of problem statements to put to market to find solutions. Jane Stewart, head of knowledge and innovation at Slaughter and May, told Walker: "We regularly pilot legal tech tools—but Collaborate offers us the opportunity to get really close to pioneering legal tech companies that offer solutions to challenges our lawyers are facing day to day."

WHAT YOU SAID

"I had several times thought about trying to return to the law and just thinking I wouldn't get a fair shake at it."