When you talk to as many in-house litigators as I have over the past few months, you start picking up on some patterns.

Take this for instance: A couple of the in-house litigators I recently spoke with have picked up oversight of regulatory compliance issues at their respective companies. Litigator Yoon Ettinger of Southern Company Gas had regulatory affairs added to her work docket as a result of her recent promotion to associate general counsel at the Atlanta-based natural gas company. Meanwhile, M. Neal Cope, vice president of legal affairs at Retail Business Services, had regulatory and compliance come under his purview at the grocery chains owned by Dutch retail grocer Ahold Delhaize as part of a re-jiggering of the legal department to bring compliance back into the litigation fold there.