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

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN - Regulators and plaintiffs firms want more than just policy statements. As Law.com's Bruce Love reports, law firms are having to prove the data behind their clients' ESG efforts to avoid claims that it's all for show. When shareholder groups started lambasting listed companies for so-called "greenwashing"—professing to be environmentally friendly while acting adversely—Matt Ellis anticipated lawyers would need quantitative proof to combat the claims of activist investors. "Robust, provable ESG data—like carbon usage metrics—is the ready response to allegations of greenwashing," said Ellis, head of Measurabl, which produces ESG data and metrics for the real estate industry. "Without the data, you can't prove your case. So, lawyers needed to become experts in what ESG actually is—and how you measure it." Law firms have certainly noticed this shift. "We're getting a lot more interest in our green credentials when we're submitting pitches," said Michael Bloxham, environment manager at Freshfields. "This year alone we've had twice as many requests on our sustainability scoring platforms as we did all of last year."

INFLATABLE RATES - If inflation remains at current levels, law firm rate increases won't be able to keep pace. But firm leaders may make other "course corrections" to capture profits through the end of 2022, analysts told Law.com's Andrew Maloney. Still, firms will also likely consider heftier rate hikes next year, some said, after a year in which expenses have rebounded considerably from the COVID-19 pandemic. "If you go back the last decade, inflation has been below standard rate increases for the legal industry, so I think that'll be a bigger factor for when firms are budgeting for 2023," said Joe Mendola, senior director of sales for the Wells Fargo group. "And it would be my expectation that at the end of August next year, standard rate increases will be above what they were this time around. Particularly if you're looking at inflation around 8%.

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Charles H. Morgan and Cynthia A. Little of Alston & Bird have stepped in to defend Airgas USA in a pending lawsuit over alleged employment discrimination under the ADA. The action was filed June 23 in Georgia Northern District Court by Barrett & Farahany on behalf of a former accounts receivable specialist who claims that she was unlawfully terminated after requesting an accommodation to work from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II, is 1:22-cv-02513, Bruce v. Airgas USA, 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.