NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR An affirmative action lawsuit brought by nonprofit group Students for Fair Admissions Inc. against Harvard University is set to begin trial today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. At issue? Whether Harvard’s admissions process violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian-American applicants. Raychel Lean reports. Next, the first nine months of 2018 produced a record number of law firm mergers nationwide, but Washington, D.C. firms "have not been very active as either the acquirer or as the acquired in recent years," as Ryan Lovelace reports. Could D.C. numbers increase by the end of the year? Check out these and other stories in our news lineup. – Lisa Helem, Editor-in-Chief, The National Law Journal

JUDGES | NEWS Will Washington's Merger Mood Shift in 2018? By Ryan Lovelace In this week's Washington Wrap: Scanning the horizon for law firm mergers, and other D.C. legal industry news and moves. Read More GOVERNMENT | NEWS Meet Donald Trump's Latest Batch of Judges By Ellis Kim Three appeals court picks—David Porter, Ryan Nelson and Richard Sullivan—were among the 15 names the U.S.... Read More ANTITRUST | NEWS DOJ Antitrust Attorney Claims Time Warner Lawyer Issued Threats in Merger Meeting By Zach Schlein The threat claim leveled by the DOJ attorneys was contradicted, however, in a declaration from William Barr, a Time... Read More LAW FIRM COMPETITION | NEWS Baker Donelson Swaps Leaders After Extended Growth Spurt By Ryan Lovelace Birmingham-based Timothy Lupinacci will take over from Ben Adams as chairman and CEO of the firm, which ballooned to... Read More INSURANCE LAW | NEWS Insurance Litigation Balloons in Insurer-Friendly Federal Courts, Report Finds By Greg Land A new report found major increases in homeowner, automobile and most other types of insurance disputes filed in federal... Read More

CIVIL RIGHTS | NEWS High-Powered Legal Factions Gear Up for Harvard Admissions Trial By Raychel Lean The legal showdown between nonprofit group Students for Fair Admissions Inc. and the president and fellows of Harvard... Read More

JUDGES | NEWS Will Washington's Merger Mood Shift in 2018? By Ryan Lovelace In this week's Washington Wrap: Scanning the horizon for law firm mergers, and other D.C. legal industry news and moves. Read More

DC Judge Tees Up Proof Questions in Mueller's Russian Troll Farm Case “I’ll give you, Mr. Dubelier, that this is an unprecedented case,” U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington... Read More

Justices Turn Away Corporate Complaints in California Lead-Paint 'Nuisance' Case Michael Carvin of Jones Day, counsel for Sherwin-Williams, said the cases highlighted runaway tort liability claims... Read More

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR Picks for three federal appeals courts -- the Second, Third and Ninth Circuits -- were among the 15 names the U.S. Senate confirmed to the federal bench Thursday, after senators agreed to vote on the group of judicial nominees before heading home to campaign ahead of the midterms. Ellis Kim has the story. And in declarations filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, DOJ lawyers contend that Time Warner’s chief legal officer made threatening gestures and remarks during a November 2017 meeting over the media company’s proposed merger with AT&T. But a Time Warner board member contradicts that claim in his own declaration. Zach Schlein reports. Check out these and other stories in our roundup from the week. – Lisa Helem, Editor-in-Chief, The National Law Journal | Legal Times

ATTORNEY WORK LIFE BALANCE | PODCAST One Big Law Attorney's Journey with Depression, One Firm's Response to the Profession's Problem

Death of Stanford Law Student, Wachtell Associate Ruled an Accident Leon Cain, a 3L at Stanford Law School who had recently signed on to begin his career at Wachtell, died last month from... Read More

Ex-Big Law Partner Ravelo Sentenced to 5 Years for Vendor Fraud Scheme Prosecutors said former Hunton & Williams and Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Keila Ravelo defrauded her law firms... Read More

Women-Owned Law Firms Surge Amid Gender Disparity in the Profession By founding their own firms, women are crafting new game rules that provide for fair compensation, equal promotions,... Read More

Suits Against Harvard and NYU Law Reviews Claim Racial, Gender Preferences A Texas-based group called Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences argues the diversity policies... Read More

China's New Cybersecurity Rules Could Expose US Trade Secrets, Experts Say Most companies that operate in China were already wary of losing their grip on intellectual property assets. Now, in... Read More

Meet Justice Kavanaugh's Four Female SCOTUS Law Clerks "I’ll be the first justice in the history of the Supreme Court to have a group of all women law clerks. That is who... Read More