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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LONE SLOT - The U.S. Senate has confirmed 20 judges to the federal bench in Texas during the Trump administration, and it's now one step closer to filling the last vacancy in the Lone Star State. As Angela Morris reports, the confirmation of Drew Tipton, a litigation partner at Baker & Hostetler who's up for a U.S. District Court slot in Corpus Christi, is expected to lack controversy, based on the low attendance of committee members at the Senate Judiciary hearing earlier this week.

REGARDLESS – As the chorus grows louder for an investigation into the DOJ's overhaul of its sentencing recommendation for Trump-ally Roger Stone, the chief D.C. district judge is defending the trial judge in the case. Jacqueline Thomsen reports that Judge Beryl Howell issued a public statement about the ordeal Thursday evening, saying "Public criticism or pressure is not a factor" in carrying out justice in the case. D.C. federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson is presiding over Stone's criminal case. 

VOCAL – How loud will student voices get? Paul Weiss has been on the receiving end of protests from law students at top schools who take issue with its representation of ExxonMobil in climate change litigation. Law students from Harvard, Yale and now NYU in the last month have disrupted the law firm's student recruiting receptions at various locations. Add to that the pushback from students at top law schools in the past couple of years over mandatory arbitration agreements at major law firms. Some firms have changed those policies. But would a law firm ever drop a lucrative client due to pressure from top-tier law students?  

EDITOR'S PICKS

'Nothing Wrong or Improper': Roger Stone Prosecutors Defended by Advocate for Career DOJ Lawyers

California High Court Orders Apple to Pay Workers for Time Spent Searching Their Bags

Federal Circuit Tosses Patent Lawsuit Against Google Over Lack of Jurisdiction

An NFL Alum at Fried Frank Basks in His Brother's Super Bowl Win

Perkins Coie Opens in Austin With Vinson & Elkins, Wilson Sonsini Partners

My Weekday Workout: Freeborn & Peters' Robert Stines

Alphabet, HP, Cisco and Tesla in Top 10 of 'Cleanest' Global Companies

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

PRO BONO – Hundreds of lawyers in Australia are donating their time and expertise in the wake of the bush fires, which burned an estimated 72,000 square miles, killing at least 34 people and an estimated one billion animals. Christopher Niesche reports that among those volunteers are lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright, Herbert Smith Freehills and Ashurst.

WHAT YOU SAID

"This burden should not have been on me."