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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

END OF A CHAPTER? - The mass tort bankruptcy party was fun(?) while it lasted, but courts increasingly do not seem to appreciate the tactic. Judges dismissed the bankruptcies in cases involving Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder and 3M's combat earplugs, finding a lack of the requisite financial distress. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided last month on the release of liability for the Sackler family at the center of Purdue Pharma's $6 billion bankruptcy plan. As Law.com's Alaina Lancaster writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, while advocates for these bankruptcy strategies say they can be more efficient routes to payouts for claimants, some attorneys say judges are likely to shut down these more novel uses of the bankruptcy code. To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

A LONG TIME COMING - For the first time in history, women now make up more than half of associates at law firms, Law.com's Amanda O'Brien reports. According to the National Association for Law Placement's diversity report, the percentage of female associates in 2023 was 50.3%, reflecting a dramatic increase from prior years. When the NALP first started gathering data in 1991, only 38% of associates in private practice were women, although that number was increasing. However, the Great Recession kicked off a steep decline in women associates up until 2015, when the percentage of female associates began steadily increasing again. NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray in the report's introduction said the data "is remarkable for both the fact that it was achieved, and for how long it took."

ON THE RADAR - AdaptHealth and its current and former senior executives have retained attorneys from Willkie Farr & Gallagher to fight a pending securities class action in connection with the medical equipment provider's second public offering. The action, filed Oct. 24 in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court by Kaskela Law, accuses the defendants of failing to disclose that the company's sales and substantial growth were driven by improper up coding and other illicit billing practices. Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin entered appearances for BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Jefferies Financial Group and UBS Securities, who were also named as defendants in connection with their roles as underwriters in AdaptHealth's second public offering. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Mia Roberts Perez, is 2:23-cv-04104, Allegheny County Employees Retirement System, v. Adapthealth Corp. et al. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

LSAC President Kellye Testy to Become Executive Director of AALS By Christine Charnosky

Lawyers Collide Over What Is 'Physical' Damage in Case Over Restaurant Business Interruption in Pandemic By Brian Lee