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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

'GRAVE' CONCERNS - It's the most wonderful time of the year! You know, the time when law firms start raising associate pay and everybody freaks out? As Law.com's Andrew Maloney and Chris O'Malley report, Milbank's opening salvo on associate pay—raising each salary by $10,000—has many clients and analysts expressing confusion or unease about whether pay raises across the market could result in even higher rate increases, in a year where average billing rates already rose by record levels, and businesses have already seen "across-the-board" expense increases. "In the long run," said Andrew Woods, general counsel at PubMatic, "continued increases in hourly rates are growing far faster than our outside counsel budgets and are just not sustainable for clients to bear… In a sense, these firms are digging their own graves."

RETURN TO SENDER? - After more than 170 law firms urged law school deans in an open letter to condemn and prevent incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus earlier this month, the schools' reaction has ranged from silence to confusion. As Law.com's Dan Roe and Christine Charnosky report, a handful of law school deans said their schools were already committed to protecting students from hate speech and acts of harassment and violence. Some deans, however, were unclear on the goal of the letter, which closed by asking the law schools to open up a "respectful dialogue" with law firms on the issue. No school officially reported to Law.com that it was contacted by any law firm to discuss the letter further. However, sources at law firms confirmed discussions are ongoing between some T14 schools and law firms.

ON THE RADAR - Attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis have entered appearances for private jet charter company Wheels Up Experience Inc., its CEO, CFO and members of its board of directors in a pending shareholder derivative action. The complaint, filed Sept. 12 in New York Eastern District Court by the Brown Law Firm and Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman on behalf of Philip Irminger, accuses the defendants of failing to implement adequate internal controls resulting in the filing of adverse information regarding the company's business prospects and operations. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nina R. Morrison, is 1:23-cv-06777, Irminger v. Dichter et al. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar. 

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