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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

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HIRED, FIRED - Law firms know that onboarding first-year associates is an expensive process that takes years to see a return on investment. Making matters worse is when those new hires flunk the bar. In our third installment of The Big Fail, Law.com reports on how record-low bar pass rates are affecting the hiring—and firing—of law grads, and which firms and other employers are getting hit the worst by the high failure rate.

SILICON STRATEGY - Goodwin Procter has evolved into a major player in Silicon Valley. As Xiumei Dong reports, Goodwin was the only East-Coast-born law firm to land in the top five for startup client market share in 2018. The firm now has 213 lawyers across its San Francisco, Palo Alto and Los Angeles offices. And a new Santa Monica office is set to officially open this summer with about 15 technology and private equity lawyers expected to join on Day One.

DONE DEAL - The $42.2 million in restitution to settle securities fraud charges that trucking company Celadon agreed to fork over in a deferred prosecution deal last week provides a few lessons on what to do when federal investigators come knocking. Sue Reisinger reports that remedial measures taken by the Indiana-based company, including creating a chief accounting officer position to boost its internal audit function, helped it get the deferred prosecution agreement, though expensive, and avoid having an independent compliance monitor going forward.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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These Firms Once Graced the Am Law 100. Where Did They Go?

How Can Law Firms and Their Marketers Thrive Together? It's a Matter of Trust

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

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EUROPEAN PUSH - Wilson Sonsini, which is boosting its European presence, has brought aboard privacy and cybersecurity lawyer Nikolaos Theodorakis in Brussels as a partner from Alston & BIrd, where he was counsel. As Simon Taylor reports, Theodorakis is the second lawyer to join the firm from Alston & Bird in recent months. And last year, Wilson Sonsini added Gorka Navea, who joined the Brussels office as an antitrust partner. The office expansion is part of a wider European growth strategy at the firm, which opened an office in London last summer.

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WHAT YOU SAID

“I think that the creative voices are drowned out by the hierarchy.”

— KRISTEN CORPION, FORMER ASSOCIATE AT GREENBERG TRAURIG, WHO LEFT BIG LAW BEFORE THE AGE OF 30 TO CREATE HER OWN SOLO PRACTICE, CORPLAW.

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