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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

OFF DEMAND - You're riding high in April, shot down in May. That's life in Big Law. The blockbuster legal demand in 2021 appears to be fading, and the legal industry now faces several headwinds. As Law.com's Christine Simmons writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, things could get ugly. "As Am Law 200 law firm partnerships settle in for what looks like a rockier financial year, they will be forced to make some hard choices," Simmons writes. "That includes how to meet financial expectations for associates and lateral partners; how to raise billing rates without client pushback; how to compromise on discounts and fee agreements; and how to manage unproductive partners. Each of these can result in clashes within law firm partnerships and ultimately some breakaway partner groups and firm spinoffs." To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

LITIGATION ISLAND - Of all the legal industry trends we cover here at Law.com, this is the one I can get behind the most: moving to Puerto Rico. As Law.com's Amanda Bronstad and Brenda Sapino Jeffreys report, lawyers specializing in mass torts moved to the Caribbean archipelago (yes I Googled that) to take advantage of a new law that provides tax incentives to entrepreneurs who relocate there. And while most folks who find themselves in a tropical paradise would be looking for the swim-up bar, a number of these attorneys are now looking to establish a local mass torts bar instead. In fact, some of them are planning an inaugural plaintiffs' bar conference next week in San Juan, complete with ocean-side cocktails, a concert and a VIP boat party. Mikal Watts, who helped launch the event, is one of several plaintiffs lawyers who moved to Puerto Rico in the past two years. "The primary reason was, COVID was shutting down all of the courthouses," said Watts, of San Antonio-based Watts Guerra, who moved to Puerto Rico in December 2020. "There were no trials. We all became Zoom lawyers and I realized that for 30 years I've been traveling three-and-a-half days a week to be there."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Stanley Black & Decker has agreed to sell automatic door manufacturer and installer Stanley Access Technologies and assets related to the business to home security product provider Allegion plc for approximately $900 million in cash. The transaction, announced April 22, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. New Britain, Connecticut-based Stanley Black is represented by a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team that includes partners Daniel Angel, Michael Collins, Pamela Lawrence Endreny, Andrew Kaplan, Shalla Prichard and Lori Zyskowski. Allegion, which is based in Dublin, is advised by a Kirkland & Ellis team led by corporate partners Michael Considine and Courtney Roane. >> Read more 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.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED - Williams-Sonoma was slapped with an employment class action Thursday in New York Eastern District Court over alleged failure to pay timely wages in accordance with New York state law. The suit, backed by Bursor & Fisher, contends that Williams-Sonoma employees whose work includes unloading inventory, assembling furniture and setting up floor displays qualify as manual workers entitled to receive pay on a weekly basis under New York's Labor Law. The suit brings claims on behalf of workers employed across Williams-Sonoma's retail chains, including West Elm. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 2:22-cv-02436, Rodriguez v. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. manual workers Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com.   

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