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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

DOESN'T FEEL GOOD TO GET PAID LESS - It's St. Patrick's Day and, fittingly, a large swath of the legal profession is Kelly green with envy. You see, it's shaping up to be a lucrative year for Big Law associates, as their salaries continue to climb. As you might imagine, the associates are just fine with this development. Literally everyone else? Not so much. And that includes counsel at these firms, many of whom are growing disgruntled as they put in the same long hours as associates (and have more experience) only to make less money, Law.com's Brenda Sapino Jeffreys reports. As a result, many counsel have been reaching out to recruiters. Michelle Fivel, a partner with Major, Lindsey & Africa in New York and Los Angeles, told Jeffreys counsel have begun contacting her recruiting firm with compensation questions. While the new, higher associate salary scale has become public, counsel compensation is much murkier and more anecdotal. "We get a lot of phone calls from counsel going, 'I don't know how I fare. I don't know if I'm being fairly compensated.' It's not an unusual situation," Fivel said, "because they don't know."

HIRE AND LOWER - OK, sky-high associate compensation might be cheesing everybody off, but at least it will all be worth it as the industry continues to ride the wave of unprecedented legal demand for years to come, am I right? Well… as Law.com's Justin Henry and Bruce Love report, there is actually a possibility that demand won't keep pace with 2021′s record highs for very long. And if that happens sooner rather than later, Big Law firms, which have invested heavily in poaching laterals to meet the demand for legal work in the past two years, could find themselves at overcapacity and overpaying for associate talent. California-based recruiter Larry Watanabe said professional service industries such as law firms and headhunters typically drag behind the overall economy by roughly six months. He said even in the midst of geopolitical conflict and unstable markets, firms have historically ramped up recruitment, but "when reality sets in and things slow down you have a different situation." "We know these times are going to end. It's not a matter of if but when," Watanabe said. "I don't see any way around layoffs. I don't see demand for legal services in the past couple years going forward. [Firms] will have to trim the ranks and do whatever is necessary to maintain profitability."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Cinven has agreed to acquire Bayer's Environmental Science Professional business for approximately $2.6 billion (2.4 billion euros). The transaction, announced March 10, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. London-based Cinven is advised by a Clifford Chance team led by partners Jörg Rhiel, Anselm Raddatz, Jonny Myers and Kevin Lehpamer. Bayer, which is based in Leverkusen, Germany, is represented by Hengeler Mueller partners Matthias Hentzen and Martin Ulbrich. >> Read the press release 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.

STORAGE WARS - Newell Brands, the American distributor of consumer and commercial storage products, was hit with an employment lawsuit Wednesday in Connecticut District Court. The court action was brought by Lucas & Varga on behalf of Gary Appel, who contends that he was wrongfully terminated after being falsely identified as the responsible party for the company's illegal financial practices. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 3:22-cv-00389, Appel v. Newell Brands Inc. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

LAST TO GO -  Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld said it is closing its Moscow office, making it the last major international firm to leave Russia following an unprecedented two weeks for the legal industry, Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports. A spokesperson for the firm said: "The firm is in the process of closing its Moscow office, and a team of our lawyers will be relocating to other Akin Gump offices." Akin Gump has had a presence in Russia for over 24 years, with the firm's Moscow office being home to 14 lawyers, including three partners, according to its website. Following Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's announcement that it would be shutting its operations in Moscow and relocating all of its lawyers "to ensure their safety in the face of increasing anti-American sentiment within Russia," Akin Gump was the only remaining firm to clarify what is happening to its Moscow base.

WHAT YOU SAID

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