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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE -  When it comes to lateral hiring, there's safety in numbers. Big Law is continuing to place a premium on teams in the lateral market, peeling off large groups or doing mergers/acquisitions of boutique firms, Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports. It's not a brand new trend, but competitive pressure on groups and smaller firms has built during the pandemic, and top firms are continuing to press their advantage, resulting in more people taking more cracks at scaling up. Plus, while superstars remain in high demand, an environment that's given lawyers across the spectrum more leverage has led to increased recognition of the value of acquiring role players along with primary talent. Michael McKenney, a senior client adviser and business development officer at Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group, said the mobility data his group tracks has indeed gotten "lumpier" over the last handful of years. "The lateral activity we are seeing now is much more strategically-targeted groups and practices," he said. "And when the nature of the lateral activity is to lift out a group or practice, they're far more likely to integrate successfully in the destination firm, but also far more likely to port over clients and matters as well, and far more likely to effectively neutralize the ability of the firm of origin to perform that work. Because the entire team is gone."

TEXTUAL TENSION - What happens when it turns out that the "plain meaning" of a text isn't all that plain after all? Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett are self-described originalists and textualists, but their reading of texts in three recent decisions drove them to opposite conclusions. Two statutory interpretation rulings and one constitutional decision provide a snapshot of Barrett versus Gorsuch. Barrett led the majority in all three, while Gorsuch led the dissent, aligning with liberal justices in two, and soloing in a third. Law.com's SCOTUS expert Marcia Coyle breaks down all three cases and explains how two textualists can arrive at dueling interpretations.

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Lynne Anne Anderson, William R. Horwitz and Brian M. Hayes of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath have stepped in as defense counsel to BioReference Laboratories in a pending employment class action. The case, filed April 21 in New Jersey District Court by Law Office of Christopher Q. Davis, brings wage-and-hour claims on behalf of individuals employed by the defendant to perform COVID-19 tests on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi, is 2:22-cv-02321, Rosenberg et al v. BioReference Laboratories, Inc. >> Read the filing 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.