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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

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WESTWARD - Lateral hiring in LA is hot. Not only has Kirkland nabbed a 20-lawyer group from Proskauer, other firms, including Alston & Bird, Foley & Lardner, Greenberg Traurig, Covington & Burling and Fisher Phillips, have expanded their LA practices in recent weeks, Xiumei Dong reports. Intellectual property, IP and real estate are particularly lively. The half-dozen partners joining Kirkland include former leaders or co-leaders of corporate practices at Proskauer, Meghan Tribe reports.

FOCUS SHIFT - With no additional indictments coming from Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, attention is turning to several inquiries launched in New York involving President Trump. Dan Clark reports on inquiries from New York AG Letitia James and two state agencies focused on Trump, his inner circle and his business dealings over the last year. The state-based investigations have yet to yield major results, except for the shutdown of the Trump's charitable foundation, but they are in their infancy compared to the nearly two-year investigation by Mueller's team. They're also different in substance in that they focus on Trump's activities outside of politics.

SOCIAL SUING - Two institutional investors have hit Facebook with a lawsuit in Delaware seeking corporate documents related to advertising revenues and executive pay. Tom McParland reports that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Boston Retirement System, citing a steep decline in Facebook's market value, allege that between 2014 and 2017 the social media giant “vastly overestimated” user engagement with video ads and made other errors that led major advertisers to significantly cut their spending on the social-media platform.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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Parents Sue Four Seasons, Bartender After Daughter Dies With 0.5 Blood Alcohol

Judge Disqualifies Baker & Hostetler Partner From Defense of First Bellwether Opioid Trial

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

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LEUNG'S LEAP - Longtime Hogan Lovells Hong Kong litigation partner Allan Leung has jumped to Dentons. John Kang reports that Leung, who left Hogan Lovells after three decades at the beginning of this year, will join Dentons as a partner in Hong Kong in May. He served as legacy firm Lovells' Hong Kong office managing partner for a decade starting in 2004.

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WHAT YOU SAID

“Do we sit around and worry that some day there'll be three global law firms and we'll have no one to call? No.”

— ADAM EMMERICH, PARTNER AT WACHTELL, LIPTON, ROSEN & KATZ , ON THE ELITE LAW FIRM'S STRATEGY TO STAY INDEPENDENT.

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