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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

CATCH THE WAVE - Cozen O'Connor class action litigators Meredith Slawe and Michael McTigue are joining Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York, Law.com's Justin Henry reports. But what's really interesting is why they're joining the firm. The move comes as firm leaders at Skadden look to stay ahead of a "new wave" in aggregate litigation, such as the rise in class action filings and mass arbitration, Beisner said. He said Slawe and McTigue "have emerged as thought leaders on this concept of mass arbitration." "Litigation that involves various forms of aggregate litigation … is going to be the major wave of the future. Meredith and Mike bring to the table some specializations that are new to us and certainly a distinct group of clients," Beisner added, referring to the pair's retail clients. Historically, Beisner said, arbitration has been used to diminish the risk of class actions brought against defendants. But members of the plaintiffs bar have sought to reverse this in recent years by recruiting a number of additional claimants to bring actions as mass arbitrations. "Whereas before, the presence of an arbitration clause may have provided protection against litigation, there are some lawyers who have tried to turn that around," Beisner said.

DOUBLE TROUBLE - Having your attorney trust accounts cleaned out by cybercriminals is unpleasant enough. But, as Law.com's Charles Toutant reports, if it happens to you, you should also be prepared to answer to attorney-disciplinary authorities, who will likely be keen on determining whether you were careless about safeguarding client funds. Attorneys who take reasonable precautions to protect their trust accounts are unlikely to be penalized. But those who are less vigilant run the risk of a disciplinary action in the event of a breach, ethics lawyers told Toutant. When a law firm's trust account is hacked, and the lawyer's security was lacking, "He's on the hook personally," said Frederic Shenkman, an attorney at Cooper Levenson in Atlantic City who represents lawyers in disciplinary cases. "Ultimately, it's the client's money," he added. "The Supreme Court, given the choice of making the lawyer suffer or making the client suffer—it's not a close call."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Attorneys at Jackson Lewis on Friday removed an employment class action against various units of Hilton Worldwide Holdings to California Central District Court. The suit, brought by Restegar Law Group, brings wage and hour claims on behalf of non-exempt workers employed by the defendant in California. Lawyers for the plaintiff have not yet entered an appearance in 5:22-cv-00349, Ericka Kraut, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated current and former employees of Defendants v. Dt Employer LLC, a California limited liability company et al. 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.

TEXTBOOK CASE - Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting Sunday in New York Southern District Court. The complaint, brought by Oppenheim + Zebrak, accuses Dann Divine, Bridgeports International and other defendants of conspiring to counterfeit textbooks on a large scale. Dann Divine is represented by Klein, Zelman, Rothermel Jacobs & Schess. The case is 1:22-cv-01899, Pearson Education, Inc. et al v. Divine et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

NOTHING TO OFFER -  Partners across London expect IPO work and corporate transactions to dry up across the U.K. and Europe during the first half of this year, as uncertainty around the wider economic impact Russia's invasion of Ukraine grows, Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports. Capital markets has already slowed due to rising inflation, geopolitical tensions and the continuing pandemic. But now the general IPO market "is going to be pretty much closed", said one London Magic Circle partner.  An ECM partner at a large international firm agreed that "the invasion of Ukraine adds significantly to a number of headwinds that have already hit the pipeline". "We're expecting activity levels over the first half this year to be much lower than those we have seen in the last two years, with most of the pipeline deferred to the second half or beyond." According to data from Refinitiv, the first two months of 2022 have seen the proceeds of IPO's down 98%, to $93.7 million, compared to the same period last year when the figure stood at $3.9 billion.

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