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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

MENTAL HELP - Judges are demanding more resources to address their overall health after the pandemic piled on more stressors and case backlogs, Law.com's Alaina Lancaster writes in the most recent Law.com Barometer newsletter. Sitting on a judicial bench is not an easy gig during the best of times. During the pandemic, some judges found themselves even more stretched. Now, some jurisdictions are answering the call for help. In California, state judges will be able to retire early without missing out on a pension under a recently passed law. Could more reforms focused on ensuring a healthy pool of jurists be underway after the stress of a global health crisis, generations of work toward destigmatizing mental health and the influx of a new generation of legal professionals? To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

WHAT MATTERS MOST - Remote work opportunities are persuading some lawyers and staff to make lateral moves. But lawyers' perceptions of culture—factors such as work/life balance, collaboration, increased compensation and quality of work—still register high on the list of what matters when deciding whether to switch jobs in the legal industry. And that goes particularly for women and people of color, according to a survey this week. As Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, ore than two-thirds—68%—of women and lawyers of color said a better work-life balance is "very" or "extremely" important for them in deciding whether to switch jobs. For men, that number was 44%, and for white lawyers, it was 51%, according to the survey data compiled by the American Bar Association this week. Nine other factors were also polled, with analysts saying they constituted a proxy for workplace culture. Those factors included a more welcoming/collaborative workplace, increased compensation, ability to work remotely, better opportunity to progress, better mentoring, stronger diversity, better quality of work and reduced workload."Strikingly, every one of these factors is substantially more important for women than men; and every one of these factors is also substantially more important for lawyers of color than white lawyers," the researchers wrote in the report.

ON THE RADAR  - IBM was hit with a breach-of-contract lawsuit Friday in New Hampshire District Court. The court action, brought by Hinckley, Allen & Snyder on behalf of national IT supplier Connection, accuses IBM of botching a project to implement a new enterprise resource planning system for Connection. According to the suit, IBM misrepresented its ability to deliver the system and ultimately left Connection with a system incapable of meeting many the plaintiff's requirements. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:22-cv-00397, d/b/a Connection v. Business Machines Corporation. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com. 

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