February 2012

Benchslaps

Benchslapped: A Not So Fine Day for Feinberg Day

Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco booted several former DLA Piper attorneys, now at the litigation boutique of Feinberg Day, from a patent dispute involving Toshiba and Talon Research. It turned out that the attorneys, who represented Talon Research, had logged more than 3,000 hours for Toshiba when they were still at DLA. Not good. Let's look more closely at our benchslap of the day...

Crime

Law School Lunch Drama Continues — From Coast To Coast

Over the last month, we have continued receiving tips from law schools across the country about Hansen's soda heartbreak and the adventures of a refrigerator warrior. Today, we have a round-up of the most recent law school lunch wars, courtesy of UC Davis Law, Cornell Law School, Iowa Law, and of the University of Cincinnati College of Law…

Celebrities

Letter from London: Celebs Flock to Biglaw

Last week Britain was treated to the surreal sight of a junior lawyer collecting a lifetime achievement award for his services to pop music. Dave Rowntree, drummer in the band Blur — honoured with a lifetime achievement award at Wednesday’s BRIT awards — now spends his days working as a trainee lawyer at London corporate firm Kingsley Napley, and plays music part-time. And he's not the only British celebrity who now works at a law firm....

Clarence Thomas

Morning Docket: 02.28.12

* Justice Clarence Thomas for president? Hey, it could happen. Lat and Kash’s 2010 proposal is getting a second look. [Daily Beast] * Speaking of presidents, the Arizona and Michigan primary elections are today. I know folks on the coast often don’t pay too much attention to those middle-of-the-country states, but it will be interesting to see what the Illegal Immigration State and Crippled American Auto State have to say about our ragtag bunch of Republican presidential candidates. [New York Times] * Emails published yesterday by Wikileaks appear to show that Pakistani military intelligence knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding in the months before Seal Team Six raided his garrison and killed him. I hope Wikileaks has juicier material in the pipeline? [Telegraph] * Congratulations to Tony West, who will become acting associate attorney general, the No. 3 post in the Justice Department. [Chicago Tribune] * Interesting report on tensions between the White House and the NSA, which has tried to get permission to monitor private web activity, perhaps at the expense of privacy. But Google knows everything you do on your computer, so why shouldn’t the government? [Washington Post]

Dreier

Non-Sequiturs: 02.27.12

* Wow. David Brock, head of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters, “paid a former domestic partner $850,000 after being threatened with damaging information involving the organization’s donors and the IRS,” according to allegations in a lawsuit. [Instapundit] * Is the Supreme Court going to gut affirmative action in the Fisher case? Not necessarily, according […]

Bankruptcy

Howrey’s Old Client Files Are Neither Gone Nor Forgotten

The Howrey estate is embroiled in the painstaking process of destroying old files or returning them to former clients. There is still a long, long way to go. In today's Washington Post, we get to see a vivid illustration of the problems involved in putting to rest a massive law firm that bridged the paper and electronic eras. It is also a good cautionary tale for other firms: these documents will not just go away, even if your firm bites the dust…

Biglaw

Where’s LeBoeuf? An Update on Doings at Dewey

What's going down at Dewey? Some claim the firm is experiencing financial difficulties, and there have been some partner departures and reports of associate layoffs. But Dewey claims that it's really just business as usual over there. Let's tackle the question: Where's Le Boeuf?