A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

President Trump has repeatedly tested the boundaries of executive power since his return to office and is exploring uncharted legal territory with threats to carry out mass firings during the federal government shutdown, legal experts and lawmakers said.

The president this year has aggressively pursued cuts to the federal government and has repeatedly raised the prospect of using the shutdown as justification for permanent layoffs. But his administration has not acted on it.

That, experts said, may be because neither federal courts nor the federal employee board that oversees workers has determined whether federal agencies may permanently cut staff during a shutdown.

"We are in largely uncharted territory," said Nick Bednar, a University of Minnesota professor who is an expert in administrative law.

Read more from Bo Erickson and Courtney Rozen.

In New York: Gibson Dunn brought on real estate partner Frank Mangiatordi from Skadden … Ice Miller hired immigration partner Anastasia Tonello from UB Greensfelder.

In D.C.: Erica Ross, former Assistant to the Solicitor General, joined Willkie as chair of its appeals and strategic motions practice … Former DOJ antitrust official John Elias landed at HSF Kramer … Brian Nelson, former Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, joined Cooley as the leader of its litigation department’s national security practice … Sidley hired John Foote from Kelley Drye, where he led the customs practice … Holland & Knight added Matt Leopold as co-chair of its environment team from Hunton Andrews Kurth.

In Los Angeles: MG+M The Law Firm picked up seven partners from Berkes Crane Santana & Spangler … Willkie brought back Kathy Wunderli as West Coast co-chair of its private wealth group from Wealth.com … Morgan & Morgan hired trial partner Daniel DeSantis from Wilshire Law Firm.

In Houston: Frost Brown Todd added commercial finance partner Sarah Naseman from Porter Hedges … White & Case tapped M&A and energy partner Ian Goldberg from Akin.

In San Francisco: Morrison Foerster hired Avy Mallik, former general counsel of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation … Cooley added life sciences partner Stephen Abreu from Sidley.

Across other cities: Steptoe brought back IP partner Katherine Tellez in Chicago from Burford Capital … Morgan Lewis picked up litigation partner Christian Tuddenham from Jenner & Block in London … Cooley hired life sciences partners Sarah Hogan and Jenna Ventorino from WilmerHale in Boston … Bradley added corporate partner Nathan Hertzog in Chattanooga from Abacus Investments … Jones Day hired M&A partner Bret Stancil in Silicon Valley from Latham, Pittsburgh-based investigations partner Brian Saulnier from K&L Gates and disputes partner José Covarrubias Azuela in Mexico City from Pérez Correa, González y Asociados … Baker McKenzie brought on Palo Alto-based dispute resolution partner Dale Bish from Wilson Sonsini … Cozen O'Connor hired health care litigator Andrew Kessler in Philadelphia from Wood Smith Henning & Berman … Greenberg Traurig opened an office in Abu Dhabi, led by Christian Adams and Chris Lester from Latham … The firm also added Kieran Dwyer in Minneapolis from Amazon Web Services … Dentons opened an office in Las Vegas, with former Armstrong Teasdale partner Kevin Stolworthy as its leader.

Pope Leo told U.S. bishops visiting him at the Vatican that they should firmly address how immigrants are being treated by President Trump's hardline policies, attendees said … How all non-European Union citizens, including British visitors, travel to and from the bloc will start to change on Sunday when its long-delayed new biometric entry-check system starts operations … Gold