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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

DIY - Legal departments are ramping up efforts to control costs by bringing more work in-house, shifting work to smaller firms, and leaning more on technology, including AI, a new report from the Association of Corporate Counsel and Everlaw shows. As Law.com's Trudy Knockless reports, of the 373 U.S. in-house legal professionals who responded to the survey, 66% cited bringing more work in-house as the No. 1 strategy for controlling legal costs. Additionally, 82% said the primary benefit of bringing more work in-house is to lower total costs. But the respondents also pointed to other benefits: 54% believe value is increased when internal expertise is leveraged, while 51% believe it improves cost predictability.

POLICY QUESTIONS - As the Ohio Supreme Court mulls whether insurers have a duty to indemnify Sherwin-Williams Co., after the paint maker and others were held liable in a $409 million public nuisance case over lead paint, attorneys on both sides have warned of the potential broader implications of the forthcoming decision, Law.com's Allison Dunn reports.  McCarter & English partner Sherilyn Pastor, counsel to amicus curiae manufacturers in the case, said her clients "are concerned about whether manufacturers will receive the tort liability insurance coverage that they paid substantial premium for and that they expected." Meanwhile, Plunkett Cooney partner Patrick E. Winters, counsel to insurance industry amicus curiae, argued that, if the Ohio justices fail to enforce the policy language, "it would create excessive uncertainty about the effect of widely used policy language that insurers rely on as fixed and limiting."

ON THE RADAR - Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Sullivan & Cromwell have stepped in as defense counsel to eBay in a pending environmental lawsuit. The case, filed Sept. 27 in New York Eastern District Court by the federal government, accuses eBay of violating three environmental acts, including the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Orelia E. Merchant, is 1:23-cv-07173, United States of America v. EBay, Inc. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

Yelp's Failed Attempt to Block Paul Weiss From Google Antitrust Case Shows Obstacles to Big Law DQ Bids By Allison Dunn

A Key to Success: Start the Difficult Conversation You're Avoiding By Rudhir Krishtel