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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

IMPROVED - A pass rate of 51% on July's California bar exam may not seem like cause for celebration, but as Cheryl Miller reports, it's the first time in six years that a majority of people who took the July test passed. The results mirror higher pass rates already reported by other states. Florida, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts and North Dakota all saw passing rates climb year-over-year from July 2018. New York's rate jumped two percentage points, to 65%.

DISCONNECT – As Big Law firms finish out a year that saw healthy revenue and demand growth, many of their in-house counterparts have said they've already begun to cut back on their total law department spending in anticipation of an economic recession. David Thomas reports on a "enthusiasm gap" between two interdependent segments of the legal industry. Citi Private Bank Global Law Firm Group announced that revenue grew by an average 5.1% in the first nine months. By contrast, only 40% of chief legal officers told Altman Weil in a separate survey that they had increased their law department budgets this year.

STAY? A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments today on whether it should grant an emergency stay on a district court order requiring DOJ to hand over grand jury materials redacted from the Mueller report to the U.S. House as part of the impeachment inquiry. Two Republican-appointed judges—Neomi Rao and Thomas Griffith—and one Democratic appointee, Judith Rogers, will preside at today's hearing. Rao is Trump-appointed.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

Big Verdicts Rise Sharply In SE Trucking Accidents: Here's an Interactive Graph

This Big-Law Veteran Hit Rock Bottom. Here's How She Got Sober.

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

GREEN – Baker McKenzie now has a global head of climate change, Christopher Niesche reports. The appointment of Sydney-based partner Ilona Millar to the post comes at a time when climate change practices are growing as clients try to navigate issues that climate change raises for their business operations.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"You're really only high-functioning until the day you're not."

—  Lisa Smith, former Big Law attorney and author of "Girl Walks Out of a Bar," on hitting bottom and getting sober.

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