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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

THAT CAN BE ARRANGED - Law firms have, to their credit, shown a remarkable (and, let's be real, surprising) ability over the past year to be flexible when forced out of their comfort zones, embracing remote work and taking a scalpel to expenses that once seemed untouchable. Now, we can add increased fee flexibility to that list. While alternatives to the billable hour are nothing new, the pandemic has accelerated the industry's move toward more innovative fee structures, Law.com's Dan Packel reports. With budgetary pressure weighing heavily on in-house leaders, firms have displayed a willingness to work with their clients to find common ground on pricing. The intended effect of these alternative fee arrangements is to provide clients with more predictability and to make outside counsel work more efficiently. "The real value of an alternative fee is putting the risk of inefficiency back on the law firm, where I believe it belongs," said Ethan Trull, a partner at Nixon Peabody and veteran of AFAs.

MIDWEST MERGER MAGNET - Flyover country no more. The Midwest has become an attractive target location for Big Law M&A lately, with Dinsmore & Shohl's acquisition of an Indianapolis firm this week and Dentons' recent deal with an Iowa firm, Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports. So what's driving firms' interest in putting down roots or expanding in the Heartland? Probably Skyline Chili—at least a little bit. But other than that, market observers cite relatively lower overhead, close business ties and high legal spend. "For Midwestern firms, consolidating in the region gives them a good platform across multiple states, where there are often business ties, so it helps them serve clients and expand their practices in those markets," said Lisa Smith, a principal at D.C.-based legal consulting firm Fairfax Associates. "And they may be as large as they can be in their own market, so it gives them an opportunity to expand practices by adding other offices, other markets."

LACK OF LUXURY -  Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit yesterday in New York Southern District Court on behalf of Barry Plost and Rena Plost. The suit targets Luxury Vacation Home and other defendants. "In short, likely because the rental market was tight due to COVID-19 and they were having difficulty finding an available luxury rental in their portfolio for Plaintiffs to rent, Defendants performed inadequate diligence on the Property and allowed for multiple layers of middlemen between themselves and the Property owners, for whom they were meant to have a direct relationship but did not," the complaint alleges. "They then knowingly capitalized on Plaintiffs wanting to get away from the stress of COVID-19 by overcharging them for what was clearly not a 'luxury' property." Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:21-cv-00015, Plost et al v. Luxury Vacation Home LLC et al. Stay up on the latest litigation with the new Law.com Radar.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Bill Barr Was Supposed to Protect DOJ. What Happened? By Jacqueline Thomsen