Hi,

Welcome to With Less - a weekly newsletter dedicated to helping legal creatively do more with less.

As we all roll past the middle of what many are considering consider the first real workweek of 2022, I hope you're feeling energized and as hopeful about a fresh year of opportunity as I am. If you're feeling more skeptical than hopeful, know that I am rallying around you to help you find pockets of joy, meaning, and fun during whatever highs or lows 2022 has in store.

This is the first issue of With Less for 2022, so I thought that I’d freshen up the look and add a new section. The first person to reply to this email telling me what that section is gets a small prize. This week’s issue is stuffed crust pizza full of links.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Marty

Here are the articles, tips, think pieces, and other reads I want to share with you this week.

Online Events & Experiences

• Jan. 13 @Noon EST: WorldCC Benchmark Report Tech Insights Webinar (WorldCC)

• Jan. 13 @9:30 am EST: Legal Tech Friends: Motionize x NEXL (discuss how lawyers can leverage precedents for effective redlining to accelerate their drafting while minimizing mistakes.) (NEXL)
• Jan. 26 @ Noon EST:  Trade Secret Fundamentals for In-House Counsel. (In-House Connect)

Substantive News & Insights

• The clock is ticking on updating standard contractual clauses for international personal data transfers. (via Loyens Loeff)
• "Today's contract tip is about the requirement to destroy or return all confidential information." (via Laura Frederick)
• Proposed regulations issued under new US federal law mandating disclosure of owners of private companies. (via Vorys)
• Why you shouldn't do two-contract international deals. (via Harris Bricken)
• "The decision is notable for its ruling on the appropriate damages for a purchaser’s unjustified termination of the purchase agreement and for providing further judicial interpretation of ordinary course covenants in M&A transactions amid the ongoing pandemic." (via Blakes)
• New French law requires car commercials to tell people to walk or bike instead. (via The Drive)
• Considering operating in Spain? Then here's what to consider when deciding whether to establish a branch office or subsidiary. (via Harris Bricken)
• Web3 - what brand protection pros need to know. (via CircleID)
• The supply chain risk conundrum: rethinking the network and its risks. (via Cybersecurity Lawyer Forum)
• How should one sign a contract with a Chinese supplier? (via China Justice Observer)
• Will NFTs push regulators to regulate the metaverse? (via Barnea Jaffa Lande Law)
• Canada's privacy commissioners take stance against collection of biometric data. (via Miller Thomson)
• New Mexico court offers insurer a $5 million reminder that different words have different meanings. (via Hunton Andrews Kurth)
  

In-house

• Best practices for building strong in-house and outside counsel relationships. (via Coventus Leadership)
• The first thing these 6 in-house lawyers do every morning. (via ACC Docket)
• How legal can enable other teams in the business. (via Juro)
• Top things to add to your company’s information security program. (via Phelps)

Legal Ops & Legal Tech

• Digital litigation: solving a C-suite pain point. (via Legal Evolution)
• Legal tech's predictions for legal technology innovation in 2022. (via Law.com)
• A not so gentle intro to web3. (via Koos Looijesteijn)
  
• Why is the web3 industry going to explode in 2022? (via Bitcoinist)
• "While there’s no quick and easy fix when it comes to innovation, one quick win for teams can result from creating templates. Not only are templates a good place to start because drafting is a comfortable place for attorneys, but creating templates can be a quick way to show everyone what the result of adapting to new changes can be." (via Lucy Bassli)

Lawyers & Lawyering

• Law firm embracing Web3 with new metaverse office property and crypto salary option. (via Canadian Lawyer Magazine)
• First female judge nominated for Pakistan’s supreme court. (via the Independent)  
• Seven tips for negotiating with hackers (or anyone for that matter). (via Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani)

Creative & Thinking

• How do you design a better hospital? Start with the light. (via Wired $)
• What makes good legal content? (via Sarah OUIS)
• The Power of Spaces. (via TED Radio Hour)
• How creative thinking helps you — and your business. (via RealLeaders)
• 3 Ways You're Being Nudged: the scientific search for the most powerful persuasion techniques. "[Y]ou work in any business that depends on interacting with people, think about how the three types of nudge above apply to your work. You might come up with some new, productive ideas." (via The Brainlift)

Work

• Feeling overwhelmed? Start a someday-maybe-later list. (via Wired $)
• Why workplace frenemies are our most stressful colleagues. (via BBC)
• New research provides evidence that narcissistic business leaders can have a detrimental impact on the workplace by triggering a sense of uncertainty among middle management. (via PsyPost)
• 5 new routines to create work from home boundaries. (via Adobe)

Life

• What experts say about the best time to exercise. (via CNN)
• New research tells us that feeling bad about feeling bad can make you feel worse. (via Berkeley News)
• Be bad, better – from anger to laziness, how to put your worst habits to good use. (via The Guardian)
  
• A parenting expert shares the 5 mistakes that can make kids more ‘self-centered and entitled’ in adulthood. (via CNBC) 

Balance

• What Went Right in 2021: the top 26 good news stories of the year. (via Positive.News)
• I’m going to close this deal using business words I’ve heard men yell in airports. (via McSweeny's)
• Covid Standard Time.
• Tree house hotels are all the rage right now. (via Nuvo)

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Until next week good readers.