Morning Docket 03.09.09
* Former DLA Piper partner Geoff Willard pipes up about Virtual Law Partners and the benefits of working from home. We hope virtual partnership comes with an avatar. [Washington Post]
* When President Obama indicated U.S. attorney incumbents could stick around for a bit, they breathed a sigh of relief (and an especially big one in this hiring environment for lawyers). If Maryland is any indication, the USAO Nationwide Layoff Watch will be on hold for quite awhile. [Baltimore Sun]
* The investigation of John Yoo and the rest of the legal Bush crew raises difficult questions: “What is a government lawyer’s responsibility if legal advice he gives turns out to be, in the view of many authorities, grievously flawed? Can he be blamed for damaging, and arguably illegal, acts carried out with his imprimatur? Should he suffer any punishment?” [New York Times]
* Ira Lee Sorkin will no longer be doing double duty with the Madoffs. [Newsday]
* Law students everywhere, eat your hearts out. A Duke 3L won praise from Judge Brett Kavanaugh during her debut in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Kavanaugh called her performance “superb.” [BLT]
* Will the iPhone one day usurp the Blackberry at law firms? Will someone at Chapman & Cutler please use their Magic 8-ball iPhone application and let us know? [American Lawyer]




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Letting a 3L present a case!?!?! Bit irresponsible on the Prof's behalf
Sack the secretaries, paralegals, and junior associates!
Rescind the 3L offers.
Pay the summers a nominal amount this year...
Save Biglaw!
that duke 3L was cherry picked and coached. a good pageant contestant could have pulled it off. just give them the script and make them learn their lines.
Re: Duke 3L - I'm not as impressed as Kashmir is. My first courtroom experience was before the 8th Circuit as a 3L. Because it was pro bono, I was able to spend much more time preparing for that hearing - with mock panels and hours of coaching - than I could ever justify to a client in real practice.
Some of you big law associates get way too fluttery over the idea of actually appearing in court.
4 - I think what was impressive was the praise the 3L received after presenting the case. Just because you presented, doesn't mean you did a good job of it, or better a "superb" job.
And of course it is rehearsed and coached. What good lawyer sends a young attorney before US Court of Appeals unprepared?
Good Job Dukies.
4 - I think what was impressive was the praise the 3L received after presenting the case. Just because you presented, doesn't mean you did a good job of it, or better a "superb" job.
And of course it is rehearsed and coached. What good lawyer sends a young attorney before US Court of Appeals unprepared?
Good Job Dukies.
Wasn't that MD USAO the same one Bush tried to nominate to the Fourth Circuit but Democrats filibustered, forcing him to withdraw? What makes him such a good USAO all of a sudden?
6-OMFG. Do you think that MAYBE the judge knew it was a 3L and offered the praise as a pat on the back, like your second-grade teacher putting a gold star on your paper even though it was mediocre? It's all about self-esteem and feeling 'enabled' these days, and not about intrinsic quality anymore.
John Yoo = patriot
6 - I gave "superb" jobs to guys in my high school all the time, it was no big deal.
I was at the Duke 3L's argument on Friday. She only was she superb, she was the best oral advocate of the eight or nine who argued that day.