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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

BIG FINISH – After a slow start to the year, law firms progressively improved their financial performance, and are expected to grow revenue between 5.5% and 6.5% for all of 2019, Dan Packel reports. The latest report from Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting indicates nearly the same rate of growth for 2020, despite some other industry leaders who predict a downturn next year. Still, on the whole, demand lagged behind 2018, growing at 0.9% over the first nine months of the year.

IN PERSON - Michael Horowitz, the DOJ's inspector general, is set to testify today at the Senate Judiciary Committee about his long-awaited report, released Monday, assessing the run-up to the FBI's Russia investigation. Horowitz, a former Cadwalader partner, documented surveillance errors but concluded there was a legal foundation for the investigation. Attorney General William Barr has disavowed findings in the report, and his commentary has drawn its own criticism from former DOJ officials.

EASTWARD – As part of the trend of the Big Four offering legal services abroad, KPMG has expanded its legal services into China by launching an affiliated law firm in Shanghai. John Kang reports that the firm, called Shanghai SF Lawyers, has 13 legal professionals and comes less than a year after KPMG established an affiliated law firm, also called SF Lawyers, in Hong Kong. KPMG's Big Four rivals all have a presence in Hong Kong as well as Shanghai and Beijing.

ERRATUM – An item yesterday about the startup Legal Innovators incorrectly said it hired law clerks while they're in law school. Its clerks begin two-year stints after graduating from law school.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

Drunk Partners, Pat Cipollone and Vanna White

After Posting 'OK To Be White' Fliers, Law Student Kicked Out of School

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

BABY TIME – Linklaters is set to allow any U.K. employee whose partner is having a baby, adopting a child or becoming a parent through surrogacy to take 12 weeks of fully paid leave, as it joins other law firms in broadening its parental policies. Krishnan Nair reports that the new policy will entitle all staff to the period of leave regardless of gender or gender identity.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"Under exceedingly difficult circumstances and under intense public scrutiny, Gates has worked earnestly to provide the government with everything it has asked of him."

—  Molly Gaston, assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C., in a sentencing memo arguing that former Trump adviser Rick Gates deserves leniency for his cooperation in the Mueller investigation.

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