A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

REUTERS/Toru Hanai

There are more people than ever working in the U.S. legal sector, preliminary data released by the U.S. Labor Department showed. Read more from David Thomas.

Legal sector employment totaled a record-breaking 1,208,100 jobs last month, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The count includes a range of legal workers at companies, law firms, government agencies and nonprofits, including paralegals and assistants, but the majority are lawyers.

Overall U.S. employment growth slowed more than expected in December amid job losses in the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, but a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.4% suggested the labor market was not rapidly deteriorating. 

As the U.S. moves to reshape Venezuela’s future, a new uncertainty hangs over long-running litigation involving the country’s most valuable overseas asset: Citgo Petroleum. What impact, if any, might the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro have on the case, which is in its final stretch before the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals? Jenna Greene digs into the litigation, and allegations of a conflict of interest involving Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Read more in On the Case.

The White House is summoning oil executives to discuss potential investment in Venezuela … Iran was largely cut off from the outside world after authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest … Andreessen Horowitz raised more than $15 billion across five new funds … Storm Goretti has blacked out homes and disrupted travel across northern Europe. Plus, find out why a Dutch couple's marriage was annulled due to ChatGPT speech.