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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

OOPS! …THEY DID IT AGAIN - LOL Big Law, you almost had us there! For a hot second, it seemed like the market might actually resist following Milbank's associate raises and put an end to salary wars. But alas, earlier this week, a bunch of firms yelled "psych!" and decided to not just match Milbank's pay hikes, but exceed them. And, as Law.com's Gina Passarella Cipriani writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, it's basically a lock that we'll see a number of other large firms (though, potentially, a smaller number than usual) succumb to the growing pressure to match. "To get a sense of how many firms may still look to increase salaries, the latest NLJ 500 data is instructive," she writes. "As of mid-year 2023, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz paid $220,000 for first-years and another nearly 70 firms, mainly across the Am Law 100, had gone up to $215,000—the scale Milbank set the last time it increased salaries in early 2022." To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

GETTING AHEAD OF IT - Proactive clients are making for very active white-collar and government investigation practices at large firms. For instance, Michael Murray, co-chair of the antitrust and competition practice at Paul Hastings, told Law.com's Abigail Adcox that, in light of recent guidelines from the FTC and DOJ, more clients are interested in engaging with the agencies before litigation or enforcement begins. "I'm spending more time helping clients prepare for potential challenges to rulemaking as opposed to addressing enforcement challenges reactively," said Murray. "They want to either participate in the public comment process as a means of preparing for litigation, or they want to think about their litigation options."

ON THE RADAR - William M. Krulak Jr. and Ariana K. DeJan-Lenoir of Miles & Stockbridge have entered appearances for vaccine manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions, its top officers and directors in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit in connection with the drug company's production of COVID-19 vaccines for Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The action, filed Nov. 1 in Maryland District Court by the Kaplan Law Firm and Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe on behalf of Richard J. Levine, contends that certain company insiders sold nearly $42 million of Emergent stock prior to public disclosure of control failures at Emergent's facility. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman, is 8:23-cv-02969, Levine v. Kramer 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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