Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

WHERE THE MONEY'S MOVING - Fears about supply chains, inflation and a full-blown recession this year have crushed deal activity for many firms. But, as Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, some are still hiring for, and increasing their output in transactional work—often with a focus on middle-market deals in energy and technology, real estate and distressed debt, plus nascent industries like cannabis. McDermott Will & Emery, for example, recently added three transactional partners from three different firms, boosting the total of number of transactional partner hires in its New York office to 12 for the year so far, and noting that transaction-side demand "continues to hold strong" even in the face of economic uncertainty. Husch Blackwell has also added 11 lawyers in corporate and transactional practices so far this year, the firm said. "There's still a lot of cash sitting around," firm chair Catherine Hanaway said in an interview. "The smart money is looking for opportunities, and they're out there."

TITLE FIGHT - Women in-house attorneys must strongly advocate for themselves to overcome workplace biases, according to panelists at a recent webinar hosted by the advocacy platform The Fourth Floor. As Law.com's Hugo Guzman reports, women often end up with the responsibilities of running the department but without the title. Beatryx Epps Washington said that's what happened to her in 2015. She was serving as associate general counsel at the supplements manufacturer LifeVantage when the company eliminated its GC position. "All of the duties you would think of as being performed by general counsel, I was there doing those things," Washington said. "But I still didn't have the [general counsel] title." Later, after the company revived the GC position but didn't promote Washington, she said she put her foot down. After confronting an executive, being promoted to SVP for legal affairs and then fighting for a salary increase, Washington finally claimed the GC title in 2017. "One of the things that we as women in particular are told is, 'You don't have executive presence,' or, 'You're not prepared to be an executive,'" Washington said. "We have to get away from that." LifeVantage did not respond to a request for comment.

ON THE RADAR  - Block Inc., the fintech business formerly known as Square, its CEO Jack Dorsey and its CFO Amrita Ahuja were slapped with a securities class action Tuesday in New York Southern District Court in relation to a 2022 data breach. The court action, filed by Glancy Prongay & Murray and other counsel, accuses the defendants of failing to disclose that Block lacked adequate protocols restricting access to customer sensitive information and that a former employee was able to download certain reports of Block's subsidiary, Cash App Investing. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:22-cv-08636, Esposito v. Block, Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com. 

EDITOR'S PICKS