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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

RECESSION READY? - After two years of record-setting financial results, Big Law is facing headwinds as the economy teeters toward a potential downturn. But law firms may be better prepared to weather a recession this time around. Analysts told Law.com's Andrew Maloney that the economic tumult of the late 2000s put focus on liquidity, and law firms generally responded by fortifying their balance sheets. Now, firms are significantly less leveraged than they were before the Great Recession, said Michael McKenney, a senior client adviser and business development officer at Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group. Their balance sheets are stronger, the quality of the funding is higher, and to the extent they need credit, they have more guaranteed now than before, according to McKenney. Meanwhile, the pandemic also offered an important learning experience for firms. Having survived and thrived during such a monumental shift in 2020 has arguably made firms and their people more resilient for challenges in 2022 and beyond. "You're not going to fix a recession by working from home," said Kay Hoppe, a legal recruiter based in Chicago. "But the notion of survival, agility — it seems to me [firms] were empowered by having that experience."

NEW SCHOOL - As students return to law schools next month, they will be facing a very different landscape, both personally and professionally, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and demonstrated a shifting attitude toward constitutional issues. As a result, Law.com's Christine Charnosky reports, law schools will be forced to juggle supporting students emotionally while teaching new laws. Meanwhile, some schools also may have to reckon with their future enrollment numbers taking a hit because of the high court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. "Some colleagues across the country are organizing Zoom calls about how we can teach reproductive rights post-Dobbs," Sital Kalantry, associate dean for international and graduate programs at Seattle University School of Law, told Charnosky. "We are talking about where we go from here," she said, "How do we teach the subject now?" Law school leaders, Kalantry said, are also asking, "How can we help students cope with this decision—what does the decision say, what does it mean, what are the implications?"

ON THE RADAR - Ben & Jerry's filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit Tuesday against its parent company Unilever to block an agreement that would restore the sale of its ice cream products in the West Bank. The lawsuit, filed by Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing and Cohen & Gresser, seeks an injunction preventing Unilever's U.S. subsidiary Conopco Inc. from selling Ben & Jerry's products in the West Bank through a third-party distributor in contravention of a 2021 decision by Ben & Jerry's Independent Board of Directors. The suit was prompted by a June 29 announcement from Unilever that it has sold its Ben & Jerry's business interests in Israel to the owner of its Israel-based licensee. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:22-cv-05681, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. v. Conopco, Inc. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

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