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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

MACHINE LEARNING - Split between foreseeing job cuts and opportunities to introduce new skills and additional efficiencies into the office, firm leaders and consultants remain uncertain about the impact of AI on the legal workforce. However, one thing is certain: trying to wish it away is not a sound strategy. Instead, law firms and attorneys need to adapt and learn how to integrate this new technology in their business models, consultants told Law.com's Amanda O'Brien. "We have to acknowledge that if this technology is going to work the way that we think it will, positions will be eliminated," said Linda Novosel, chief innovation and value officer at Blank Rome, but added that associates would still be able to work on higher-level work.

THAT WASN'T THE DEAL - The expanded merger-review process the FTC proposed this week would require companies to file detailed information at the outset on how deals affect labor markets. And, as Law.com's Chris O'Malley and Maydeen Merino report, this new requirement is fueling concern among businesses that regulators now will seize on plans for steep job cuts as a justification for blocking transactions that previously sailed through. It's the latest signal that antitrust regulators under the Biden administration are giving labor issues more weight than did prior administrations. It's also the latest signal that the FTC is intent on totally harshing dealmakers' mellow. "The questions on labor markets in most cases seem misfocused and not something that should be, and that has not historically been, part of the standard merger review," said Deidre Johnson, head of the premerger notification practice at Ropes & Gray, who added that the proposed regs have the potential "to chill deals."

ON THE RADAR - PNC Bank was hit with a consumer class action Thursday in California Northern District Court. The suit accuses PNC Bank of charging overdraft fees on debit card transactions that were authorized on a positive balance, but settled on a negative balance; according to the complaint, these "APSN" fees are unlawful under the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The suit was filed by KalielGold, Shamis & Gentile and Edelsberg Law. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 4:23-cv-03238, Gutierrez v. PNC Bank. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.   

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