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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

MERGER MAN – A three-day hearing begins in Washington today on whether the DOJ's settlement with CVS and Aetna, approving the companies' $69 billion tie-up, adequately protects consumers. Groups, including the American Medical Association, have argued against the deal as structured. The hearing is seen as unprecedented in antitrust circles and features Judge Richard Leon, who said the DOJ and companies last year treated his review of the merger deal as a “rubber stamp operation.”

SCOTCHED – A hearing scheduled for today in The Weinstein Co.'s Delaware bankruptcy case has been nixed, amid pushback to a proposed $44 million deal to resolve the civil lawsuit from women who have accused the disgraced movie producer of sexual misconduct. At least two attorneys for Weinstein's accusers have rejected the terms of the proposed $44 million sexual misconduct settlement, saying their clients were not a party to the deal. Lawyers in the bankruptcy case were expected to argue to convert the Chapter 11 case to a Chapter 7 case in an effort to bring more than 14 months of bankruptcy litigation to a close.

SANDUSKY'S WAKE – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered oral arguments to determine if a former GC of Penn State, Cynthia Baldwin, should be censured for how she represented university officials during the Jerry Sandusky scandal. As Dan Clark reports, the Pennsylvania attorney ethics office claims Baldwin did not notify two of her clients—athletic coach Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz—of a conflict of interest with the university. It also alleges she provided confidential client information during her own grand jury testimony. Baldwin represented a total of three former university officials convicted of failing to inform authorities about allegations of child sex abuse by ex-football coach Sandusky.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

Frustrated With Big Law Diversity, Many Companies Are Looking Elsewhere

Clarence Thomas Praises High Level of Supreme Court Advocacy

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

MULLING MONSANTO – Following three consecutive verdicts totaling $2.2 billion in the U.S. linking the weed killer Roundup to cancer, two Australian firms—Sydney-based LHD Lawyers and Melbourne-based Maurice Blackburn—are now considering filing lawsuits against its manufacturer Monsanto, acquired by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer A.G. a year ago for $63 billion. As John Kang reports, the Australian state of Victoria meanwhile is launching an investigation into the use of glyphosate, the most commonly used herbicide globally and the main ingredient of Roundup.

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WHAT YOU SAID

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“The bar exam low pass rate may start to make firms have a little bit more trepidation about hiring people from out of California.”

—  KATE REDER SHEIKH, AN ASSOCIATE RECRUITER AT MAJOR, LINDSEY & AFRICA, ON THE IMPACT OF CALIFORNIA'S LOW BAR PASS RATE ON HIRING.

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