The Law Firm Talent Wars Have Devolved Into Unhealthy Competition: The Morning Minute

Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

COMPETITIVE LEDGE - There's healthy competition and then there's… whatever the heck the legal industry talent wars have turned into. As Law.com's Lizzy McLellan writes in this week's Law.com Barometer newsletter, frenzy and even paranoia are beginning to drive law firms' moves to attract and retain top talent, resulting in risky maneuvers. Many of these increasingly desperate measures, from extra special bonuses to extravagant counteroffers, are likely to age about as well as guacamole. "Leaders who are too reactive in a quickly changing environment might find themselves paying too much for talent without enough return on investment, especially if that talent finds the grass wasn't much greener, and leaves," McLellan writes. Still, all this madness could result in an evolutionary leap for the fittest firms. As McLellan notes, organizations "that grow or rework their business models strategically during this time could come out ahead. Those that find ways to address clients' needs without just adding more bodies stand to strengthen those relationships and improve their own processes in the meantime." To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

POLICY DECISIONS -  For more than a year and a half, the tables have not stopped turning in COVID-19 business interruption litigation. Every time it seemed like insurers were gaining the upper hand, a crop of rulings would come down in favor of policyholders—and vice versa. But the past few months have produced some major victories for insurance companies, including the first federal jury trial on the issue ending in a decisive defense verdict. Still, these cases are far from finished. According to the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School's COVID Coverage Litigation Tracker, there are currently 222 pending appeals in federal circuit courts and another 65 pending in state appellate courts. As we explore in this week's Law.com Litigation Trendspotter column, the momentum appears to favor defendants in these cases, but insurance recovery lawyers have signaled that they have no intention of throwing in the towel. I'm interested to hear your thoughts: Do policyholders in these cases still have a fighting chance or has the insurance industry now emerged as the decisive winner in business interruption litigation? Let me know at [email protected].

OH, SNAP - Snap Inc., the creator of messaging app Snapchat, and its top officers were slapped with a securities class action Thursday in California Central District Court. The suit, filed by Rosen Law Firm, accuses the defendants of misleading investors about the impact Apple's recently updated data privacy features for the iPhone would have on Snap's advertising business. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:21-cv-08892, Black v. Snap Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

• 'A New Generation of Changemakers': New Yale Law Program Aims to Give Grads a Broader Professional Skill Set By Marianna Wharry

• Sixth Circuit Agrees to Take New Look at Dispute Over Masks in Religious Schools By Allison Dunn

• Law Firms' Rate Hikes Clash With Shrinking Legal Department Budgets By Jessica Mach

• The Case for Expanding Appeals Courts. Plus, the Upside to Airing High-Profile Trials By Jacqueline Thomsen

• Florida Bar Board of Governors Says No to Fee-Sharing, Nonlawyer Ownership By Dan Packel

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

CLASS DISMISSED - Litigation lawyers told Law.com International's Hannah Walker that data protection class actions have been dealt a significant blow by the Lloyd v Google judgment, which was handed down by London's Supreme Court on Wednesday. A group action to hold Google accountable for £3 billion in compensation for breaching its duties to four million Apple users was dismissed by the Supreme Court, which said consumer rights activist Richard Lloyd failed to show that any individual affected suffered material damage or mental distress as a result of such unlawful processing of personal data. The decision holds major ramifications for future data protection class actions in the U.K. and could also affect other collective claims, which have been increasing in recent years. "Google have won and it's not possible to get damages for loss of control of data, the floodgates to bring such actions have been averted," said Kenny Henderson, partner at CMS acting for two of the parties as 3rd intervener. "There may be more opportunity for wider claims, but data protection claims for loss of control of data are dead in the water" he added.

WHAT YOU SAID

"I loved putting on that uniform. It humbled me every time I did it."