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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

ISSUE OF FIRST IMPRESSION - Big Law apparently put its best white shoe forward this past summer. According to The American Lawyer's 2022 Summer Associates Satisfaction Survey, most summer associates had overwhelmingly positive experiences at their firms. As Law.com's Dan Roe reports, the majority of law firms in our survey of 5,485 summer associates scored above 4.5 out of 5 after we asked summers to give firms marks on partner access and mentorship, interactions with other associates, interesting legal work, and firms' alignment with their own stated goals and self-image. Despite firms' extravagant summer associate retreats and events, which we'll get to shortly, associates valued their experiences in the office. Two-thirds of firms held mostly in-person programs, while one-third welcomed associates to the office five days a week. Hybrid work continues to be the most popular policy, with 84% of associates calling it their ideal working environment.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - Law firms roll out the red carpet for their summer associates. But for their actual associates? They pretty much roll it right back up again. As Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports, partners are growing increasingly frustrated with what they believe is a growing list of unreasonable demands from young lawyers. Perhaps even more irritated are recruiters, who have begun to realize that "You'll get nothing and like it" no longer plays as well these days. One London recruiter with a focus on the associate market said: "Associates in small national firms in the regions are saying they'll only move to London for £100,000, a sign-on bonus, and they want to work from home. It's not feasible. He added: "If you're 25 and thinking you can ask this and more from firms now, get stuffed. It's poor form." Associates, meanwhile, argue that they are simply drawing much-needed lines on areas such as work-life balance. "We don't see our futures as our careers, we see our futures as human beings—life is too short after being stuck indoors for two years," explained one junior associate based in London. "Partners might not understand because they're used to the linear trap of lawyering—associates aren't wedded to it."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Blake J. Burgan and Kristine A. Gordon of Taft Stettinius & Hollister have stepped in as defense counsel to Jerry Asher, in his official capacity as Howard County Sheriff, in a pending wage-and-hour class action. The suit was filed July 22 in Indiana Southern District Court by Hassler Kondras Miller LLP and The Law Office of Robert J. Hunt on behalf of individuals employed by defendant as hourly-paid Howard County jail employees who contend that they were not paid for overtime hours worked. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, is 1:22-cv-01467, Partlow v. Asher. >> 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.