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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

SUN, SCREEN - Alas, another summer in front of the computer at home instead of…in front of the computer in an office. Following months of uncertainty over their summer associate programs, several large law firms have decided to make their 2021 programs virtual for a second year in a row, though some are leaving the door open for potential in-person events. As Law.com's Dylan Jackson and Justin Henry report, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray will have completely virtual 10-week summer associate programs. Meanwhile, summer programs at Latham & Watkins; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati will be virtual and full-length as well, though the firms have said that there may be in-person events toward the end of the program.

MAKE IT, TAKE IT - Just as large firms are increasingly factoring the profitability of lawyers' practices into their pay calculations, midsize and smaller firms are moving in the same direction, Law.com's Justin Henry recently reported in ALM's Mid-Market Report. Ron Safer, founding partner of 80-lawyer Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila told Henry that profitability on a granular level was somewhat of a foreign concept for firms a little less than a decade ago. "But I think law firms have become more sophisticated, compensation systems have become more sophisticated," said Safer, a former managing partner for Schiff Hardin. "And when people are measuring contributions to the law firm, and also analyzing the pricing of matters, analyzing the pricing of clients, you need to consider profitability or you're going to find yourself devoting an enormous amount of resources to a project or a client where those revenues might not justify that expenditure of costs or that devotion of costs."  For a free trial subscription to the Mid-Market Report, click here.

INSECURITIES - Thompson Hine filed a securities lawsuit Friday in Illinois Northern District Court against Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire with ties to controversial media and political figure Steve Bannon, GTV Media Group and Saraca Media Group. The complaint was filed on behalf of a plaintiff who accuses Guo of bilking her out of $160,000 in a fraudulent securities purchase. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:21-cv-01408, Shi v. GTV Media Group, Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.

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