January 2012
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9th Circuit, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Quote of the Day: Are you sure this wasn't a Ninth Circuit decision?
Striking down the judicial precedent that established the legal supremacy of right over wrong more than two centuries ago, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned Right v. Wrong. The landmark reversal — a bitterly contested 5-4 decision that has been widely praised by murderers, rapists, bigots, usurers, and pro-wrong advocates nationwide — nullifies all […] -
Privacy, Shoes, Technology, Texas
Zappos Suffers a Data Breach, and the Other Shoe Drops with a Lawsuit
On Monday, my roommate came home griping that his Zappos.com account, which he had not used in a year, had been hacked. Instead of feeling sympathetic, I started wondering how I might write about it. Data breaches are a dime a dozen these days. It seems almost every company loses control of their customers’ sensitive […] - Sponsored
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Ave Maria School of Law, Crime, Drinking, Guns / Firearms, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
Will Robert Ringley Be Returning to Ave Maria School of Law?
Throughout our coverage of Robert Ringley, the Ave Maria School of Law student accused of attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, many have offered up their comments about the alleged occurrence, and thoughts about law school in general. This comment was perhaps the most fitting of them all: Law school is a […]
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Biglaw, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: If You Touch It, It's Yours!
Here’s the sad rule: If it comes across your desk, then you’re responsible for it. Period. That’s the rule at law firms. It was my rule when I worked at a firm, and it’s the rule that I now impose on outside lawyers. Thus, when I was a partner, I did not tolerate this excuse […] -
Blog Wars, Blogging, Copyright, Google / Search Engines, Intellectual Property, Old People, Politics, Wikipedia
Should We Let the Internet Make Laws?
SOPA is getting pwned. Yesterday, all the uber players with their epic gear hopped on Vent and raided the SOPA base, and now the newbie Congress people who sponsored the law are running scared. As we mentioned in Morning Docket, the sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act have “renounced” their law. The New York […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Edwards Wildman, Law Schools, Marijuana, Morning Docket, New Jersey
Morning Docket: 01.19.12
* Occupy Wall Street supporters, please take note: this is how you stage a protest. Yesterday’s internet blackout definitely made lawmakers think twice. SOPA bill backers dropped like flies. [New York Times] * The American Bar Association may be taking baby steps toward improving the way law schools report graduate employment and salary statistics, but […]
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Clerkships, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Law Schools, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks
Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Updated Official List for October Term 2011, and a Request for Tips
Last July, we shared with you the Supreme Court's official list of law clerks for the October Term 2011. We noted at the time that "this list does not include law school and prior clerkship information, which the [Public Information Office] will release later this year." We now have that updated list of OT 2011 Supreme Court law clerks, featuring law school and prior clerkship data, courtesy of the Public Information Office. Let's look at the list, and count up which law schools and feeder judges sent the most folks over to One First Street.... -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.18.12
* I’ll be more interested in this law firm merger if it turns out that McKenna Long partners have the right of prima nocta when Herbert Smith partners marry. [Am Law Daily] * Anti-Affirmative Action activist, Ward Connerly, is under investigation for allegedly misappropriating funds. Connerly, who is black, is accused of taking the funds […] - Sponsored
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Law Schools, Rank Stupidity
At NYU Law, Using The Same Exam Three Times In A Row Is Apparently Not A Problem
The faculty at NYU Law are our poster children for law professors who lazily reuse old exams, instead of ripping themselves away from their largely unread law review articles long enough to write a new issue spotter. Apparently, the school really likes being on that poster. Despite the fact that we’ve been highlighting this issue […] -
In-House Counsel
House Rules: Responding to Guesty
I very much appreciate reader feedback on my columns, whether received via email or in the comments. Here’s one of the better critiques from the comments section last week, from “Guesty”: “David — you need to decide what you’re trying to accomplish with this column rather than just describing negotiating a form contract with a […] -
11th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Death Penalty, Gregory Garre, Pro Bono, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Screw-Ups, Supreme Court
Supreme Court Rules on Sullivan & Cromwell's Mailroom of Death
We've previously written about the mailroom of death at Sullivan & Cromwell. To make a long story short (read our prior posts for the full background), a mailroom mix-up at 125 Broad Street caused an Alabama death-row inmate to miss a deadline for filing an appeal. The Eleventh Circuit rejected the condemned man's attempt to reopen his case. Presumably feeling bad for what had happened, S&C appealed to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Maples v. Thomas. What did the high court have to say? -
California, Email Scandals, Law Schools, Ridiculousness
There Is a Law School Lunch Thief Running Wild in Our Midst
With some of the truly horrible stuff going on in law these days — law students allegedly trying to kill each other, managing partners having affairs with their subordinates’ wives — it’s almost reassuring to know that people can still afford to get crazily worked up about good old-fashioned nothing. Some behaviors are the equivalent […] -
General Counsel, Google / Search Engines, In-House Counsel, Quote of the Day, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Twittering
Quote of the Day: Search Engine Envy
Bad day for the Internet…. Having been there, I can imagine the dissension @Google to search being warped this way. — Alexander Macgillivray, general counsel of Twitter, commenting via Twitter about Google’s recent plan to alter search results based on users’ Google+ networks. Macgillivray used to be in-house counsel at Google. Corporate Counsel analyzed his […]
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Ave Maria School of Law, Crime, Drinking, Guns / Firearms, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
Who is Robert Ringley? An Ave Maria Law Classmate Tells All
Earlier this week, we brought you news about Robert Christopher Ringley, the second-year student at Ave Maria School of Law who stands accused of shooting at and threatening to kill two of his classmates — Christopher Graves and Samantha Morris — during an alleged drunken bender. In case you missed our coverage, Ringley has been […] -
Biglaw, Gender, Partner Issues, Women's Issues
So You Want to Make Partner? Expect a Long Wait -- and a Sausage Fest Once You Get There
The American Lawyer just published a wonderful study about making partner at the top Biglaw firms. The publication analyzed all of the new partner hires at 97 of the Am Law 100 firms. Here are the top-line results: Only one third of new partners were women, and the average wait for partnership was 10.5 years. Oh, and there's a chart that shows which firms were really hostile toward making new female partners.... -
Job Searches, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Student Loans, Vanderbilt
Law School Transparency: Who's Naughty and Who's Nice?
Late last year, plaintiffs’ lawyer David Anziska pledged to make 2012 “the year of law school litigation.” Anziska, who’s currently spearheading efforts to sue law schools over allegedly misleading employment statistics, told my colleague Staci Zaretsky that he and his team members “want to sue as many law schools as we can to bring them […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Lateral Moves
Out of the Frying Pan
You're in it for the money. Biglaw creates money to toss into the maw of a bank. But no one can stand this abuse forever. Change -- any change -- might be good, right? How about another firm? Check out what the People's Therapist, Will Meyerhofer, has to say about jumping into the frying pan you don't know.... -
4th Circuit, Biglaw, Election 2012, Election Law, Google / Search Engines, Law Schools, Lindsay Lohan, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Politics, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 01.18.12
* The Fourth Circuit denied Rick Perry’s Virginia election law appeal in about four seconds flat. Not like it matters. He’s probably going to be out of the race come Saturday. [Washington Wire / Wall Street Journal] * Women are having trouble making equity partner in Biglaw firms, and not because of the glass ceiling […]
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Cyberlaw, Google / Search Engines, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Wikipedia
SOPA Protests Will Make Tomorrow Super Boring
Tomorrow is going to be the most boring day in the recent history of the Internet. For 24 hours — on January 18 — several high-profile websites will go dark, to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. No one will be able to research potentially fake facts about their favorite celebrities, discover the newest nerdy […] -
Cars, Deaths, Election Law, Law Schools, Minority Issues, Non-Sequiturs, Public Interest
Non-Sequiturs: 01.17.12
* So, just so we’re all clear, Republicans running for President are no longer on board with the Voting Rights Act. Happy Martin Luther King Day. [Election Law Blog] * It’s not like there are no more voting issues where we might want to have federal oversight of state laws that affect the electoral power […]