Mental Health Improves for Women and Minority Lawyers: The Morning Minute
Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up. WHAT WE'RE WATCHING OFFICE SPACE VS. HEADSPACE - Law firms are taking…
June 23, 2022 at 06:00 AM
6 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
OFFICE SPACE VS. HEADSPACE - Law firms are taking advantage of a lessees' market and either re-upping and redesigning their spaces or, in many cases, relocating altogether. So the pandemic didn't kill the office after all, but firms are quick with assurances that they've changed how they view the workplace—it should invite collaboration and communication, they say, recognizing that the days of working five days a week in your own office with the door shut are gone. These physical changes appear to be a step in the right direction for an industry whose workers have made it abundantly clear that they want flexibility. But, as we explore in the latest Law.com Trendspotter column, philosophical changes appear to still be lagging behind, as the conversation around office returns continues to focus less on how to truly make the most of hybrid arrangements and more on who currently has the leverage to dictate the terms of attendance policies. Many firm leaders still appear to view the rise of remote work as an unfortunate and unexpected turn of events rather than an inevitable—if accelerated—evolution. I'm interested to hear from you. Have law firms begun to accept that hybrid work is here to stay or are they simply waiting to regain the leverage necessary to re-establish the old status quo of in-person attendance? Let me know at [email protected].
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENTUM - The mental health of minority and women lawyers appears to have improved over the last year, according to the results of Law.com and ALM Intelligence's 2022 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Survey, which also showed positive wellness trends for all lawyers. As Law.com's Dan Roe reports, this year's survey, sent to over 3,400 lawyers at law firms around the globe in March and April, indicated that some of the most significant disparities in mental health between white male attorneys and all others, particularly women and attorneys of color, had shrunk since the 2021 survey. Other disparities persisted, as white and male attorneys felt more comfortable pushing back on client demands and taking time off without fear of hurting their careers. The greatest disparities existed in lawyers' relationships with their firms, a realm where white lawyers and male lawyers appeared to feel advantaged compared with their peers. However, both groups seemed to dislike the shift to remote work more than women and minority attorneys, who reported better quality of life and less likelihood of burnout. Male lawyers were both most likely to feel negatively about remote work and most likely to say it didn't impact them as directly as it did women, who saw their output and hourly commitment increase at a greater rate than men.
WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Paul L. Bittner and Angela Courtwright of Ice Miller have stepped in to defend an owner and operator of Jet's Pizza franchises in a pending wage-and-hour class action. The suit, filed April 27 in Ohio Southern District Court by Sanford Law Firm and Barkan Meizlish Derose Cox, pursues claims for alleged overtime violations on behalf of hourly paid delivery drivers. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, is 2:22-cv-02048, Morrow v. Ohio Pizza 17, LLC. >> Read the filing on Law.com Radar and check out the most recent edition of Law.com's Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.
ON THE RADAR - Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Pomerantz LLP filed securities class action Wednesday in Maryland District Court against quantum computing company IonQ, its CEO and its CFO. The suit arises from IonQ's 2021 merger with DMY Technology Group, a special purpose acquisition company. The defendants are accused of failing to disclose to investors that IonQ has not developed a 32-qubit quantum computer, and that its 11-qubit computer makes a significant number of errors. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 8:22-cv-01536, Fisher v. Chapman et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.
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EDITOR'S PICKS
How I Made It to Law Firm Leadership: 'Have a Steadfast Commitment to Promoting an Objective and Inclusive Dialogue,' Says Laura Masurovsky of Finnegan By Tasha Norman |
Most Federal Judges Say Justices Should Have Ethics Code Too, Survey Says By Brad Kutner |
How I Made It to Law Firm Leadership: 'Have a Steadfast Commitment to Promoting an Objective and Inclusive Dialogue,' Says Laura Masurovsky of Finnegan By Allison Dunn |
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Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
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Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
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David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
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Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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