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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

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LITIGANTS - The litigation funding industry is growing, and so are the number of lawsuits involving funding companies. MP McQueen reports on the variety of legal actions with litigants that include Burford Capital, Atlas Legal Funding, RD Legal Funding LLC and Thrivest Specialty Funding. The newness of the industry and its rapid expansion in part are triggering the suits, say observers, and have ensnared both commercial litigation and consumer tort funding firms.

SPANNING THE GLOBE - A survey of 7,000 lawyers in 135 countries by the International Bar Asssocation found that one in two women suffered bullying in the workplace, while one in three women experienced sexual harassment at work. At the same time, one in three male lawyers reported being bullied at work, and one in 14 male lawyers reported sexual harassment. The good news, as The Careerist Vivia Chen writes, is that sexual harassment in the most egregious forms—such as propositions and assaults—appears to have dropped in the last two years.

BARR'S PICK - U.S. Attorney General William Barr has promoted top aide Claire Murray to a key role managing the DOJ's bulging portfolio of civil cases, including litigation defending Trump administration policies. C. Ryan Barber reports that her promotion to principal deputy associate attorney general comes just months after she joined Barr's team from the White House counsel's office, where she'd helped shepherd then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Murray clerked for Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit and Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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Attorney Brent Wisner on His $2B Roundup Verdict: 'Literally, Jaws Were Dropping.'

Global Law Firm Faces Cash 'Crunch,' Struggles to Pay Partners

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

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MELBOURNE MOVES - Jones Day has added a eight-lawyer tax litigation team in Melbourne from Clayton Utz, as part of its expansion in Australia. John Kang reports that leading the group is led Niv Tadmore, who leaves Clayton Utz after more than 16 years. Jones Day launched a Melbourne location last year, following the opening of offices in Brisbane in 2016 and Perth in 2014. It has more than 90 lawyers across four offices in Australia, including 29 partners.

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WHAT YOU SAID

“I learned that if I took one drink or drug, it triggered a craving that was unstoppable.”

— DAVID ARONSTAM, A SOLO PRACTITIONER IN NEW YORK, WHO GOT SOBER WITH THE HELP OF REHAB AND GROUP MEETINGS WITH OTHER ADDICTS.

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