Expert Analysis

• 6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

  

  To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.

• 5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

  

  Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• 6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law

  

  For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

• What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

  

  Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.

• The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

  

  A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.

• Will BLM's 2nd Attempt At Natural Gas Waste Rule Succeed?

  

  The Bureau of Land Management's new natural gas waste reduction proposal revamps a 2016 rule struck down for trying to regulate air emissions — and while the proposal's focus is reducing operator costs and raising taxpayer revenue, it may still face court challenges, say Andrew Glenn and Katie Andersen at Husch Blackwell.

• What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year

  

  Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.

• Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits

  

  To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.

• Series

  The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play

  

  Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.

• 4 Proactive Strategies For 'Rocket Docket' Discovery In SDNY

  

  With more than half of Southern District of New York judges now allowing four or fewer months for fact discovery, civil litigators in this aspiring "rocket docket" jurisdiction should prioritize case management methods that make the most of this compressed timeline, say Jaclyn Grodin and Nicholas Cutaia at Goulston & Storrs.

• Opinion

  Increasing Law Firm Polarization Will Degrade Rule Of Law

  

  As evidenced in recent instances of law firms separating from attorneys who represented certain industries or espoused certain views, firms and the legal practice itself have grown troublingly polarized and intolerant of dissent, says Rebecca Roiphe at New York Law School.

• How To Deal With Difficult Clients, Practically And Ethically

  

  Meredith Stoma at Lewis Brisbois discusses common obstacles for counsel working with difficult clients and provides guidance on ethically managing or terminating these challenging relationships — as, for example, counsel for Ye have recently done.

• Opinion

  Federal Courts Should Adopt Supreme Court's Amicus Stance

  

  The federal courts of appeals should adopt the U.S. Supreme Court's new approach to amicus curiae briefs, which allows the friend-of-the-court submissions to be filed without consent from the court or the parties, says Lawrence Ebner at Atlantic Legal Foundation.

• 3 Pricing Trends In Law Firm Use Of Litigation Funding

  

  As BigLaw firms increasingly include litigation funding as a financing option for clients, internal pricing groups are taking the lead on standardizing and centralizing firm processes, and aggregating risk budgets, says Brendan Dyer at Woodsford Group.

• Safeguarding Attorneys' Greatest Asset: Our Mental Health

  

  Attorneys who understand that mental fitness is their most valuable characteristic should prioritize mental health care accordingly, including with certain activities they may not realize qualify as self-care, says Wendy Robbins at Holland & Knight.