Morning Docket: 09.14.12

* According to a recent Robert Half survey, about one third of law firms will be hiring in the fourth quarter of this year. But not so fast, because three percent of firms anticipate staff reductions. This is why we can’t have nice things. [Columbus Business First] * Dewey know who came out on top in this round of dueling deadline buzzer beater bankruptcy filings? We’ll find out next week on September 20 when both groups of former partners tell the court how pissed they are about the clawback plan. [Am Law Daily] * Gimme tax shelter: Donna Guerin, a former Jenkens & Gilchrist partner, pleaded guilty in the biggest U.S. tax-fraud prosecution in history. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, and will forfeit $1.6M. [Bloomberg] * Where’s the beef? Beef Products Inc. is suing ABC News for defamation after the network called BPI’s beef trimmings “pink slime.” It may be pink, and it may be slimy, but apparently it’s still meat. [Wall Street Journal] * The Ford Foundation will be placing as many as 100 students from Harvard, Stanford, NYU, and Yale Law in public interest jobs next summer, but not at public interest prices. $15K a pop, baby! [National Law Journal] * The U.K. royals are considering legal action against a magazine that published topless photos of Duchess Catherine (aka Kate Middleton). They are “hugely saddened”… but no one else is, amirite, boys? [CNN]