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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

TRUSTS MUST BE EARNED - Trusts and estates work in Big Law is back in a big way. Large law firms are recognizing the demand associated with baby boomers passing along their wealth to the next generation, and the COVID-19 pandemic has also been a boon for estate planning efforts. But, as Law.com's Dan Packel reports, the practice can also come with a hefty insurance price tag, as brokers say underwriters are skittish about the high-value claims that mistakes can generate. As a result, for this work to succeed within big firms, lawyers must be active producers, rather than simply stepping in to help other revenue generators. "It's become so complicated that a single mistake can cost an extraordinary amount of money. And you can have angry beneficiaries that are fighting over principle rather than money," said Joshua Rubenstein, who leads the trusts and estates practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman. "The big firms that have gotten out because of insurance costs did do because they were maintaining small boutiques in the firm, not as an engine for the firm but as a courtesy to corporate clients so they could do planning for these corporate clients."

EVERYBODY GO HOME - Maybe this really is the new normal. The vast majority of lawyers and business professionals can utilize the option of working from home at least some of the time, according to the results of a new survey. As Law.com's Bruce Love reports, the revelation comes from multinational professional services firm Aon, which recently polled the human resources departments of U.S.-based Am Law 200 firms. According to the report, 79% of firm HR departments that responded to the survey expect "all or most" of their workforce to be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement. Data from the survey—which was collected between Feb. 7 and 25—found that 80% of firms had completed, or were currently developing, formal assessments of roles and individual workers to see if they were eligible for full remote work in perpetuity—beyond the pandemic. "After a pandemic and a war for talent, we've heard from many clients that their firms are starting to think differently about how and where to recruit new talent and how often existing attorneys and staff will be required to report to an office," the report read.

NOW TRENDING -  In early 2020, ALM Global launched Law.com Radar, a new legal research tool that offers real-time updates on newly-filed federal litigation. Now, the Radar team is looking to take the next step, with not only real-time litigation updates, but real-time detection of wider litigation trends as well. Earlier this week, ALM announced that a new Radar feature, dubbed Trend Detection, is now available for open beta. The new Trend Detection solution uses automated data processing, statistical tests and expert analysis to proactively identify shifts and patterns in federal litigation. The company's proprietary algorithm identifies potential litigation trends with a "Signal Strength" score indicating the intensity of the trend. Law.com Radar editors then review the potential trend for accuracy and, if relevant, surface them to interested Law.com Radar users. Trend Detection is available with a Law.com Radar Premium account, which is included in a larger Law.com subscription. 

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