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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

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BARR NONE - U.S Attorney General Bill Barr is expected not to show up at the House Judiciary Committee hearing where he was scheduled to testify today about the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he was grilled by Democrats following news that Mueller criticized Barr's characterization of the report as clearing President Trump of obstruction.

SWITCH - The DOJ now says the entirety of the Affordable Care Act must go. As Nate Robson reports, the government lawyers filed court papers Wednesday evening in the Fifth Circuit in Texas, arguing that the elimination of the key individual mandate provision renders the entire Obama-era law unconstitutional. While noting that Main Justice earlier had told the district court that the individual mandate was severable from the whole law, the brief said the government changed its mind “upon further consideration.”

CHINA CHANGES - Growing regulatory uncertainty in China is snuffing out investment in the U.S., and as Anna Zhang writes, the decline is profound. Total Chinese investment in the U.S. in 2018 fell to $5 billion compared with $45.6 billion in 2016, according to data compiled by Baker McKenzie and Rhodium Group. The shift came in 2017 as the Trump administration intensified regulatory scrutiny of Chinese investments and expanded the role of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in screening foreign deals.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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Walmart Creates New Position and Hires General Counsel for Health and Wellness

How I Made Partner: Perkins Coie's Abha Khanna

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

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ARM'S LENGTH - PwC's legal arm has launched a legal tech incubator program in London, joining the ranks of law firms seeking to work closely with those kinds of startups. Rowan Bennett reports that PwC's legal services component, which is launching the Scale LawTech program, is now the largest of the Big Four firms' legal arms, with 3,500 legal professionals worldwide. It also recently announced growth plans for its London financial services team.

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WHAT YOU SAID</h2?

“Women are less happy with their appearance today than they were 25 years ago.”

— DEBORAH RHODE, PROFESSOR AT STANFORD LAW SCHOOL AND AUTHOR OF “BEAUTY BIAS,” COMMENTING ON HOW ATTRACTIVENESS CAN DISADVANTAGE WOMEN PROFESSIONALLY.

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