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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

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OPEN SEASON - Ninth Circuit Judge Carlos Bea has told President Trump that he plans to take senior status, creating the potential for another seat for the president to fill. Ross Todd reports that Bea, 85, said he'll assume senior status upon the confirmation of a replacement. The court now has six Trump appointees among its 27 current active judges. The nomination of Daniel Bress, a Kirkland & Ellis appellate partner, is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee while one other seat remains vacant without a current nominee.

FREE FOR ALL - The U.S. Supreme Court is taking its first look at a case today in which more than 100 law students, along with nearly 100 solo and small-firm practitioners and legal educators, are urging the justices to eliminate copyright protection for state annotated codes of law and other legal materials. Marcia Coyle reports that the justices, at their private conference today, are set to review the case of Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org. At issue is whether the “government edicts” doctrine should invalidate Georgia's copyright in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, which contains judicial decision summaries and state AG opinions. The code without annotations is free to the public.

REVIVED - A Pennsylvania appellate court decision reinstating a case brought by a woman who claims she was molested by a priest in the 1970s and early 1980s could open the door to hundreds of decades-old claims, Max Mitchell reports. A unanimous appeals panel reversed an earlier decision and found that the woman's claims were not barred by the statute of limitations. Part of the reversal relied on new information revealed in a grand jury investigation into incidents of abuse within the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

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Several Law Firms Sued for Legal Malpractice in Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits

'This Is Not Greenberg Traurig': Firm Leader Touts New Innovation Venture

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

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BIGGER STILL - International law firm Dentons plans to combine with Zimbabwe law firm MawereSibanda, a 21-lawyer boutique, Ryan Lovelace reports. The move comes a month after the firm said that it had grown to 10,000 lawyers around the world. Dentons billed the move as part of its growing presence on the African continent, following previous inroads into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa.

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WHAT YOU SAID

“I like the chaos of it and the nonstop nature of startups.”

—  ALISSA JUBELIRER, FORMER IN-HOUSE EXECUTIVE AT GROUPON, WHO IS NOW GC AT REVOLUTION ENTERPRISES, A  FLEDGLING CANNABIS COMPANY.

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