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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

NONEQUITY INEQUITY – Minority partners at more than three dozen Am Law 100 firms disproportionately occupy the nonequity tier, according to an analysis by Law.com affiliate The American Lawyer. Dylan Jackson reports that in 2018 an estimated 54% of minority partners were nonequity. Diversity advocates say the strikingly higher percentage of minorities in the nonequity tier casts doubt on the progress Big Law has made in bringing minority attorneys into firm leadership. Firms say the gap is a byproduct of their recent efforts to build a diverse pipeline and that in time, many of those minority nonequity partners will gain equity status.

JUUL JUSTICE – A diverse set of about 50 lawyers wants to lead the multidistrict litigation over Juul e-cigarette. And some are taking the cases personally. Amanda Bronstad reports that among the contenders is Weitz & Luxenberg's Ellen Relkin who wrote in her application that her youngest daughter, a high school teacher, told her about the "rampant and disturbing vaping trend." The applications come as Juul last week agreed to stop selling its fruit-flavored e-cigarettes. It also comes as new lawsuits hit Juul, including from school districts that allege its products have caused increased costs in suspensions and addiction treatments, and the first claim of wrongful death. U.S. District Judge William Orrick of California's Northern District of California is overseeing the MDL and plans to hear arguments about the leadership applications next month.

LEGALLY SPEAKING – What do women lawyers know now about working with men that they wish they'd known 10 years ago? In Law.com's latest Legal Speak podcast, we asked several of them that question and others about building successful and satisfying careers. Recorded at this year's Women, Influence & Power in Law conference, we've compiled candid, funny and sincere insight from these accomplished women lawyers.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

What Are Dentons and Greenberg Traurig Arguing About, Anyway?

 Remembering Finnegan's Don Dunner

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

BIGGER FOUR – Accounting firm PwC's legal arm has won a $1 million contract to provide legal services to the U.K.'s Department for Transport's Transport and Works Act Unit. Varsha Patel reports that the contract is PwC's most recent public legal services award this year and follows the firm's $6.5 million contract to advise the Insolvency Service. The two contracts are among the largest government legal mandate wins for any Big Four firm and represent the auditing giant's ambition to broaden its legal services into the public sector.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"It's really important to have a best friend at work—somebody whose office you can go into and close the door and say 'this just happened.' Someone who can be discreet and use good judgment."

—  Cathy Hinger, partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, on advice for young women lawyers embarking on their careers.

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