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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

NO COMMENT – Paul Weiss, part of the global defense team for Carlos Ghosn, isn't saying much about the former automotive executive's mysterious escape from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial wrongdoing. Jack Newsham reports that the only U.S.-based law firm in Ghosn's legal team said they had nothing to add to Ghosn's initial statement announcing his arrival in Lebanon. Ghosn's lawyer in Japan, however, told the country's national broadcaster that he was "shocked and confused" about the news, and that he was still holding all three of Ghosn's passports.

IMPEACHMENT FALLOUT – Ahead of today's dual hearings before the D.C. Circuit over the U.S. House's access to Mueller grand jury materials, and the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn, Jacqueline Thomsen looks at the main players in the courtroom. The hearings come just weeks after the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump in December. Shortly after the vote, the panel judges asked House and DOJ attorneys to explain how the impeachment impacts the cases before them, leading to dueling arguments from both sides.

ABORTION BATTLE – Federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are weighing in ahead of a closely watched abortion case this year at the U.S. Supreme Court. Mike Scarcella reports that more than 160 Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate signed an amicus brief asking the court to reconsider its landmark abortion rights rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The brief is one of more than 50 that have been filed in a case the justices will hear in early March regarding a Louisiana law requiring local doctors performing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. Last month, 36 Senate Democrats filed their own brief in support of the Supreme Court's abortion rights rulings.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Options Abound: ALSPs Give Clients More Choices Than Ever in 2020

 Lawyer Removed From 2nd Circuit Arguments Petitions for En Banc Rehearing

 10 Ways Legal Tech Has Changed the Practice of Law

 Mirror Image: In 2020, the Busiest Practice Areas May Be More of the Same

Cognizant Has Paid $15M in Legal Fees for Ex-Chief Legal Officer Facing Bribery Charges

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

2020 JITTERS – After ringing in the new year, it may be time to curb your enthusiasm. Law.com affiliate Legal Week reports that U.K lawyers predict a trying year ahead. Some of the biggest challenges they foresee include retaining and hiring new talent, dealing with economic and political uncertainties and adapting to the disruption caused by the Big Four and legal technology.

WHAT YOU SAID

"After the meeting, I went up to see that man. I said, 'The people you are calling that name are the reason I'm here.'"

—  Ben Wilson, chairman of Beveridge & Diamond, recalling a partnership meeting where an older man used a racial epithet to refer to African Americans. Wilson, who joined Beveridge & Diamond in 1986, became the firm's first black partner.

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