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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

FAIR PLAY- Order seems to be restored following the recruiting mess that ensued after federal judges five years ago abandoned a system for hiring clerks. Karen Sloan reports that appellate court judges, including Second Circuit chief Robert Katzmann, are giving a thumbs up to the new, two-week-old system that is intended to head off the hiring of law students before they have completed their second year. The system, currently used in the Second, Ninth, D.C. and Seventh Circuits, is voluntary, and judges are independent types, but so far they're playing nice by not jumping the gun.

ER, NO - The Fifth Circuit has undone a contempt order against plaintiffs firms Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll; Outten & Golden; and Green Savits imposed by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant. The judge had reasoned that by filing a wage-and-hour suit in New Jersey, the firms violated his nationwide injunction issued against the Labor Department that blocked the enforcement of an Obama-era overtime law. As Mike Scarcella reports, the appeals court found Mazzant, who said the firms were in privity with the Labor Department, did not have authority to hold the firms and their client in contempt.

BIG DEALS - Wachtell comes it at the top of the M&A legal adviser list by value of announced deals, according to data for the first half of 2019 compiled by Refinitiv. Patrick Smith reports that the firm had an estimated $446 billion in M&A work, while Kirkland came in at No. 2, with announced deals worth $378 billion in the first half of the year. Rounding out the top five were Davis Polk at No. 3, Skadden at No. 4 and Simpson Thacher at No. 5.

EDITOR'S PICKS

After SCOTUS Loss, Trump Administration Pulls Citizenship Question From Census

Failed New Orleans Bank's Ex-General Counsel Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Conspiracy

No Joke: Susman Godfrey's Unlimited Paid Parental Leave Bears Dividends

5 Questions the U.S. Must Answer Before Enacting Federal Privacy Law

My Weekday Workout: Hogan Lovells' Nicole Schiavo

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

THE HUNT - Baker McKenzie has launched the search for the next leader of its London office, as current managing partner Alex Chadwick's term nears its end. Rose Walker reports that the international firm's London arm has appointed a steering committee to identify possible candidates for the job. Chadwick, whose three-year term is due to end in December, is not restricted to one term.

WHAT YOU SAID

“After you spend the morning clean and jerking a barbell with more than your own body weight on it, work tasks somehow feel less insurmountable.”