'Clear Disparity' Remains Between Attorney and Staff Hybrid Work Policies: The Morning Minute
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October 27, 2022 at 06:00 AM
6 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
THE REMOTE AND THE ALIENATED - Considering the epic amount of arm-twisting it's taken to get law firm leaders to grant a modicum of flexibility to their lawyers, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that the "second-class citizens" of these firms are faring even worse. According to a new report, there remains a "clear disparity" in remote work requirements for lawyers as opposed to business professionals at law firms. The 2022 Law Firm Leadership Survey, conducted by the Withum consulting firm in late summer and early fall this year, found that approximately three-fourths of responding firm leaders said their firm's lawyers were using some kind of flexible work model. However, only 35% described moving to a permanent hybrid work model for staff. A plurality of respondents (40%) said their staff were "back full-time" in the office, and about 14% said their law firm professionals were "back part-time." Marci Taylor, a principal at Withum and one of the contributing authors of the report, told Law.com's Andrew Maloney that the gap between work arrangement policies is "bad for morale, bad for culture, bad for employee engagement." But hey, aside from that, it's no big deal.
COSTING AN ARM - With recession concerns lingering, law firms are looking for costs to cut. And, as Law.com's Isha Marathe reports, more subsidiaries could soon be getting the ax. Earlier this month, The American Lawyer reported on New Jersey-based Porzio, Bromberg & Newman selling its compliance tech health care subsidiary to a private equity fund for an undisclosed amount. Porzio's leadership said the decision was not due to budgetary constraints or recession fears, but rather an attempt to offer its subsidiary a better shot at faring in the competitive global compliance market. Still, industry observers said cost-cutting measures could be a motivator for some law firms to sell their subsidiaries— and private equity funds are likely buyers. "If a law firm has a subsidiary that is a service, I don't see it going away, whether it's creating contracts or reviewing documents for e-discovery because that's something the firm was already doing and just made a subsidiary out of it for business purposes," said Brett Burney, principal at Burney Consultants and eLaw evangelist at Nextpoint, "The ones that would go are those created as skunkworks products [like COVID litigation tracking apps or state privacy tracking apps] where they said, 'let's throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks.'"
WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Kenn Brotman and Jin To of K&L Gates have entered appearances for College Chefs LLC in a pending class action over alleged wage-and-hour violations. The complaint, filed Aug. 17 in Illinois Central District Court by Brown LLC, claims that the defendant failed to incorporate non-base compensation into workers' pay rates for purposes of calculating overtime wages. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Colin Stirling Bruce, is 2:22-cv-02168, Mayes v. College Chefs LLC. >> 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.
ON THE RADAR - Nathan Koach and Jason Reed, founders of the clothing brand "Suburban Riot," filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit Wednesday in California Central District Court in connection with the sale of their company Sub_Urban LLC to defendant Trevco Inc., where they subsequently became employees. According to the complaint, Trevco terminated the plaintiffs and then wrongfully withheld severance payments by falsely accusing the plaintiffs of concealing information about Sub_Urban LLC's advertising accounts on Facebook. The suit was filed by Buchalter. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 2:22-cv-07796, Koach et al. v. Trevco Inc. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.
EDITOR'S PICKS
Details Revealed in Settlement Between State Bar and LegalMatch.com By Cheryl Miller |
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J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
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Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
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