Law360 Coronavirus: The Week In Review
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| TOP NEWS Cadwalader, Baker Botts Walk Back Coronavirus Pay Cuts Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and Baker Botts LLP confirmed Wednesday that they are taking steps to walk back the attorney and staff pay reductions they instituted in early spring, signaling financial stability amid the coronavirus crisis. Ogletree Attys Snag Hours-Based Bonuses Of $10K And Up Labor and employment law firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC is offering special bonuses starting at $10,000 to reward non-partner attorneys for working more hours during the pandemic, the firm confirmed Wednesday. Coronavirus: How Law Firms Are Handling The Downturn UPDATED July 30, 2020, 12:23 PM EDT | The spreading coronavirus pandemic has upended the legal industry, forcing firms to cut salaries, lay off attorneys and make changes to summer associate programs. Here is a roundup of how law firms are responding. Post-Pandemic, Associate Training May Never Be The Same Associate training has long been an in-person task, with partners and other managers sharing their expertise in boardrooms, courtrooms, offices and over lunch. But law firms have overhauled their methods as the world has moved virtual, and many firm leaders say they have no plans to fully go back to the old way of doing things once the pandemic subsides. Bar Examiners ‘Failed’ COVID-19 Test, Prof Says The National Conference of Bar Examiners, state courts and other stakeholders have badly bungled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an article in the fall issue of Howard Law Journal argues, but the crisis could offer an opportunity for the legal community to reconsider the status quo. Simpson Thacher Sues Landlord For $8M Rent Abatement Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has filed an $8 million suit against its New York City landlord, saying that the firm was entitled to rent abatement due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that the landlord had ignored the terms of the lease. NYC’s 1st Pandemic Jury Trial: Masks, Murmurs, Wary Jurors The Bronx cold case murder trial on Tuesday featured a masked judge, jurors, attorneys, and spectators, all wrestling with an array of challenges caused by the panoply of precautions rolled out to help jumpstart jury trials stalled since March after the state court system largely shut down in-person proceedings. CLOSINGS AND COURT ADJUSTMENTS Coronavirus: The Latest Court Closures And Restrictions UPDATED July 31, 2020, 1:56 PM EDT | As courts across the country take measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, some are restricting access and altering their procedures. Here is a roundup of changes. Federal Judge Axes Suit Over NY Courts Reopening PlanA federal judge in Manhattan tossed a lawsuit seeking to block New York’s state court administrators from going forward with a recent return to in-person criminal proceedings in New York City, saying it wasn’t the place of the federal judiciary to interfere in a state-level issue. Chicago Federal Court Limits New Jury Trials To 1 A DayThe federal court in Chicago has set out a pandemic-era plan intended to limit the volume of jurors in the building, which includes allowing only one jury trial to begin per day, restricting the size of civil trial juries and barring attorneys from approaching the witness stand or pacing the courtroom. WHAT IT MEANS FOR ATTORNEYS JPML Questions If One Size Fits All For Virus Cases A member of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation questioned Thursday whether key business interruption policy language could be construed the same way under the laws of all 50 states as the panel mulled requests to centralize hundreds of federal cases over coverage for businesses’ COVID-19 losses. Employers Wary Of Virus Liability Waivers, New Survey Finds Although employers have expressed a keen interest in using waivers to try to limit their liability in the event a worker, customer or visitor contracts COVID-19 on-site, very few are pulling the trigger, according to a new survey from Blank Rome LLP. 3 Changes Coming To The Coworking Sector Amid COVID-19The coworking sector has been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic amid health concerns over office layouts, and experts say more trouble is likely in store for coworking operators and the owners of those properties. Here, Law360 looks at three ways the pandemic is fundamentally upending the coworking model.‘ Guilty Feelings’ For Atty After In-Person IP Jury Trial Dud A Colorado federal jury serving in a “pilot” in-person trial on Wednesday awarded a communications company only a tiny fraction of the roughly $2 million it was seeking from one of its former dealers it had accused of unauthorized sales, leaving the company’s attorney feeling that bringing in the jury wasn’t worth the health risk. Nike’s COVID-19 Mask Mandate Draws Deaf Customers’ Ire Nike Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action in California state court, alleging its policy that employees wear opaque Nike-branded masks as a safety measure to combat the coronavirus pandemic discriminates against deaf and hard of hearing people who rely on lipreading. Coronavirus Regulations: A State-By-State Week In Review Surges in COVID-19 cases intensified this past week, prompting the continuation of Philadelphia’s indoor dining ban, a public health advisory in Florida ahead of the state’s highest daily death toll and a $52 million aid influx for California’s hard-hit Central Valley. Coronavirus Litigation: The Week In Review The Trump administration can’t launch its controversial immigrant wealth test while the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP hit its New York office landlord with an $8 million suit demanding a rent abatement due to COVID-19, and a Los Angeles health food store agreed to pay $20,000 to resolve claims it peddled radish paste as a product that protects against coronavirus. Coping With A Pandemic: Burns & Levinson’s Josef Volman As society continues to adapt to COVID-19, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today’s perspective comes from Boston-based Josef Volman, co-chair of the business law group at Burns & Levinson. EXPERT ANALYSIS Law Firms Must Note Pandemic’s Outsize Impact On Women In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, gender roles in many families have reverted to scenes from the 1960s, and law firms have a huge opportunity — indeed a business imperative — to avoid the mistakes of the past, say Roberta Liebenberg at Fine Kaplan and Stephanie Scharf at Scharf Banks. How Pandemic Is Affecting The Pace Of Judicial Opinions The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way judges work, but how has it impacted the volume of work product they generate? Ben Strawn and Omeed Azmoudeh at Davis Graham investigate using data from the PACER federal courts registry. Virtual Courts Amplify Lawyers’ Corporate Spokesperson Role Greater access to virtual court proceedings during the pandemic means an increased likelihood that legal arguments will jump from the courtroom to the court of public opinion, so counsel must tailor statements with the client’s reputation in mind, says Mike Dolan at Finsbury. 2 Rulings Instruct On Eviction Moratorium Constitutionality Recent conflicting rulings by Massachusetts and New York federal courts that considered whether COVID-19 eviction moratoriums violated landlords’ rights provide insight into how such statutes will withstand constitutional challenges, say Thomas O’Neill and Melissa Manesse at Day Pitney. |
