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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LOOKING AHEAD - The largest group of class actions filed over the COVID-19 outbreak is likely to come from employees, Amanda Bronstad reports. Allegations are expected to range from unsafe working conditions to denied wages to discrimination amid layoffs. "You've got some very wealthy, well-established collective action lawyers there who won't be shy about taking this on," says Karl Lindegren, a partner at Fisher & Phillips.

ONLINE – Virtual law firms say they're seeing an increase in the number of lawyer applicants amid the pandemic, as brick-and-mortar firms are cutting pay and implementing furloughs. Frank Ready reports that while virtual firms, with their low overhead, may present an especially attractive option for job-seeking lawyers right now, skittish clients need extra convincing in troubled times to stray from the familiarity of traditional firms.

MILESTONE – The SEC has awarded more than $27 million to a whistleblower, and, as C. Ryan Barber reports, the award was by far the largest of the nine the SEC has issued so far this year. In the decade since the Dodd-Frank financial reforms created the whistleblower program, the SEC has now doled out more than $400 million in awards. The agency does not identify whistleblowers or specific enforcement actions that lead to an award, but the order approving the bounty said that the tipster "repeatedly and strenuously" raised concerns about the misconduct internally.

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EDITOR'S PICKS

3M's Ivan Fong From the COVID-19 Bunker: Trump's Tweet, Masks and Bundt Cake

 System Overload: Lagging Internet May Be Inconvenient Mainstay for Attorneys

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

DROPPED – Despite its repeated denial that it targets Chinese deals, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has all but killed off Chinese investment, at least when it comes to large deals, Anne Zhang writes in a commentary. Statistics vary from organization to organization, but the shared overall message is that Chinese direct investment into the U.S., once a key driver of global M&A activity, has dropped to its lowest point since the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

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WHAT YOU SAID

"I'm not a very good cook, but I'm trying to bake—bundt cakes."

— Ivan Fong, general counsel at 3M, on how he and his family are coping while sheltering in place in Minneapolis.

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