July 2007

If you’re driving 100 miles per hour, but in a hybrid vehicle, can you still get pulled over? Unfortunately for Al Gore III, yes. From Reuters: The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff’s […]

Kelley Drye & Warren partner Justine Clark looks like a younger, brunette version of Madeleine Albright. But the similarities probably end there, since one would expect the former Secretary of State to pay her taxes. From the Temporary Attorney blog: Justine Clark, a partner at Kelly Drye & Warren, just plead guilty for failing to […]

Dickstein Shapiro has raised to the $160K scale, for its offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Those offices are now on the same salary schedule as the firm’s New York office (previously posted here). The email announcing the pay raise, from firm chairman Michael Nannes, appears after the jump. It came out some time […]

In our recent New York Times op-ed piece praising lavish signing bonuses for Supreme Court clerks, we wrote that the bonuses “are expected to reach $250,000 this year — paid on top of starting salaries approaching $200,000.” Some people have inquired into the factual basis for our statement. As it turns out, we did some […]

We all scream for ice cream! And that includes high-ranking officials of the U.S. Department of Justice. Here’s our latest legal celebrity sighting: Last night I watched the fireworks from the South Lawn of the White House. The event had a very DC feel to it: everyone there was quasi-famous, even if you couldn’t figure […]

The Honorable Robert E. Keeton, of the District of Massachusetts, passed away earlier this week. Judge Keeton was a Harvard Law School professor, a World War II hero, and an editor of the classic Prosser & Keeton on Torts. Update: As noted in the comments, Judge Keeton’s brother, Werdner Page Keeton, was the lead Keeton […]

* TB, or not TB? [CNN] * Pardon still a possibility for Libby. [CNN] * Prof. Berman discusses sentencing, commutation, and pardon (scroll down). [Sentencing Law and Policy] * Developments in murder case of pregnant Canton woman against police officer. [CNN] * California Supreme Court ends decades-old Raiders lawsuit. [SI] * “Declawing & the law” […]

Welcome back! Hope you had a nice Fourth of July holiday. This gentleman certainly did, protesting yesterday outside the White House. We appreciate the shout-out to this very fine website:

* Jesse Jackson Jr. wants George W. Bush impeached for the Libby pardon; Wall Street Journal doesn’t think Bush went far enough. [CBS Chicago] [WSJ] * Christopher Hitchens says the London car bomb attacks were targeted at women. [Slate] * Federal judge dismisses suit brought by NYT for classified domestic spying documents. [USA Today] * […]

Yesterday we promised a summer fashion poll for the ladies. Summertime attire is particularly hard for women, because we have to balance the hot temperatures outside with the often frigid indoor environments necessitated by the (entirely correct, we think) male aversion to short-sleeved dress shirts. Here you go, girls: Opinion Polls & Market Research Opinion Polls & Market Research

Memo to all the recent law school grads studying for the bar exam: July Fourth means it’s crunch time. If you need extra motivation, just think how excruciating it would be to fail. Especially by only 1.134 points! That’s what happened to Stephen Dunne, who narrowly failed the Massachusetts bar exam and is now suing […]

One legal employer is pondering a hike in base pay from just over $165,000 to nearly $250,000: the United States courts! A bill, co-sponsored by Senators Feinstein, Graham, Hatch, McConnell, and Reid, would set judicial pay at the following levels: District Court Judges: $247,800 Court of Appeals Judges: $262,700 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court: […]

We were forwarded the following e-mail by a source. It concerns an interaction at a recruiting reception hosted by Greenberg Traurig for Columbia Law School students. One minority female student was so upset by the interaction that she wrote the firm the following day to complain about it and to inform them that she would […]

* Bush commutes Libby’s sentence! [CNN] [NY Times] * Wrestler Benoit’s doctor charged with drug distribution. [MSNBC] * Botched execution leads to lawsuit in Ohio. [CNN] [Toledo Blade] * Prosecution loses request to prosecute Gitmo prisoner before Military Commission. [MSNBC] * Anonymous Philadelphia food critic could be unmasked by way of deposition. [CNN]

Well, that was fast. Smile, Scooter! President George W. Bush has just commuted your sentence! The President wiped away Libby’s prison term, but the $250,000 fine will stand. Here’s the grant of executive clemency and the President’s statement, which reads in part: I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence […]

* Judge Robert Bork (in seersucker and a cane) dishes on Richard Nixon and the trouble with modern martinis in an interview with Judge A. Raymond Randolph. [The Federalist Society] * Evolution: not a cure for the uglies. [Newsweek] * Married couples would now rather “share chores” than procreate. [AP] * Starburst Fruit Chews: “Dangerously […]

The sultry July weather has us pondering the extreme measures people take to beat the heat. We thought we’d do a poll to find out where ATL readers stand on a few burning summer fashion questions. What’s acceptable at your workplace (and in your closet)? These questions are for the gentlmen; we’ll have some questions […]

In today’s New York Times, Adam Liptak writes about a new website that’s a kind of Zagat-type guide to lawyers. (The full article is behind the TimesSelect barricade, but you can read it for free here.) The site, avvo.com, allows people to look up lawyers by specialty and zip code and see ranked lists of […]

All eyes turn toward President George W. Bush today, as a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit (Sentelle, Henderson, and Tatel) denied Scooter Libby’s request to stay out of an orange jumpsuit while he appeals his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. Today’s decision further increases pressure on President Bush to pardon or commute […]

LEWW is ashamed to admit that we have not followed the Charney versus Sullivan & Cromwell lawsuit with the attention it so richly deserves. Fortunately, there are other bloggers who’ve got you (and us) covered regarding coverage and analysis of this complex affair in Lat’s absence. Keeping Up With Jonas has a nice capsule summary […]