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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

HYBRID HOW-TO - With hybrid work becoming the norm, legal industry leaders appear to be vacillating between two approaches: 1) figuring out how to embrace it and 2) wishing with all their might that it would just go away. But, at least when it comes to in-house counsel not at Morgan Stanley, there seems to be a growing sentiment that the best course of action is to try to figure out how a culture can be nurtured amid this new way of working. Several legal department leaders told Law.com's Trudy Knockless that GCs will have to find more creative ways to build camaraderie among employees, as well as help new employees develop and feel included. Lea Ann King, VP of legal and GC of Indiana-based Toyota Material Handling, said that after her company adopted a hybrid structure of three days in the office and two days remote, she began setting aside one of those office days for members of her team to get personal time with her in her office. Theresa Shea, GC of Pennsylvania-based snack-maker Utz Brands, said having in-person intro meetings and "breaking bread interactions" early can help newer employees bond with others on their teams. "It goes a long way," she said. "I also deliberately schedule extra time in my one-on-ones for the purpose of chatting about our personal lives. It is so much easier to trust someone at work when you know the whole person and trust them with your whole person."

STANDARDS AND PRACTICES - Nothing heats up a practice area like regulatory uncertainty. As the government moves closer to regulations requiring climate disclosures, large law firms are staffing up on ESG lawyers and are already seeing more business from corporate clients rattled by the potential changes, Law.com's Dan Roe reports. The SEC in March proposed rules requiring climate-related disclosures in registration statements and periodic reports, although the climate disclosure rule had been on the SEC's agenda for two years. Asset managers, the fossil fuel industry and others are mounting opposition to the disclosure as they prepare for the changes, which is driving more demand for law firm ESG and corporate practices. Even as some disclosures may change in the face of such opposition, Greenberg Traurig U.S. corporate governance practice leader Frank Placenti said disclosure proposals are likely to pass along a 3-2 party-line vote of SEC commissioners. The vote is expected to come down by the end of the year, as the effective date is December 2022. "Clients are very concerned about the proliferation of alternative ESG standards because numerous entities already issue their own standards without much collaboration," Placenti told Roe. "It's really difficult for clients to sort this out on their own, so they're increasingly looking to law firms not simply to bring legal talent to the table, but also to have a Rolodex of the right consultants to bring to the table on behalf of clients as well."

ON THE RADAR - Vogue magazine publisher Advance Publications and administrators of the company's retirement account plan were hit with an ERISA class action Wednesday in New York Southern District Court. The suit, brought by Miller Shah LLP, accuses the defendants of breaching fiduciary duties to plan participants by offering a suite of BlackRock target date funds that, according to the suit, perform worse than many similar mutual fund alternatives. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:22-cv-06826, Anderson v. Advance Publications, Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

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