June 2013

This dream home actually comes with a nightmarish history....

* Marshall University is no longer a defendant in a case about a student shooting bottle rockets out of his anus. So from now on your sum total knowledge of the Thundering Herd involves the movie We Are Marshall and “shooting bottle rockets out of anuses.” [West Virginia Record] * Documentary filmmaker files suit seeking declaratory judgment that “Happy Birthday to You” is in the public domain. Why hasn’t everyone just accepted Larry Lessig’s new birthday song? [New York Times] * Men tend to think professional dress is one part white/blue shirt and one part brown/black/navy slacks. There’s more to it than that. Well, if you want to look good at all, there’s more to it than that. [Corporette] * Market realities catch up with law school plans. Pour a little out for the proposed Arlington Law School. [ARL Now] * Rough legal question: Should the U.S. refuse to send a child to a country employing Islamic family law? [Volokh Conspiracy] * A federal judge ordered HHS to give a little girl a lung transplant. Popehat wonders who lost out on a transplant in this exchange. I’m wondering why there aren’t more lung donors out there. [Popehat]

That's a rather generous voluntary severance package, isn't it?

Rupert Murdoch is old, but he's not stupid. He's got to have a prenup, right?

AdmissionsDean helps prospective law students better get to know the Associate Dean of Admissions at New York University Law School, Kenneth Kleinrock.

The first of several major upcoming Supreme Court decisions came down yesterday.

If somebody tries to sell you a spot in law school like it's a bolo tie on QVC, you should be very suspicious.

Progressive lawyers try to find silver linings in a judicial landscape that keeps kicking their interests in the gut.

When temperatures soar, so do women's hemlines. When cold fronts drop, women's necklines do too. But be wary of following these trends if you're an attorney...

Who is number one in the tax evasion champions league?

* When SCOTUS cases involve public companies and rulings are misinterpreted, it can lead to some pretty volatile stock performance, as was evidenced by yesterday’s highs and lows for Myriad Genetics of BRCA1 patent fame. [Washington Post]

* The ethics complaint against Judge Edith Jones of the Fifth Circuit has been transferred to the D.C. Circuit after receiving a blessing from the Chief Justice of the United States. Uh oh, that’s serious business if Roberts is involved. [Times-Picayune]

* The number of women working in the NLJ 350 is sad. They make up only one-third of all attorneys working in Biglaw, and we’re stuck celebrating the tiniest positive changes. Sigh. [National Law Journal]

* Proskauer Rose’s former CFO, Elly Rosenthal, settled her $10M disability discrimination suit against the firm in anticlimactic fashion, “without costs to any party as against the others.” [Am Law Daily]

* California is obviously trying to one-up New York with this one. In addition to a 50-hour pro bono requirement, they’re pushing for 15 hours of real-world training before bar admission. [The Recorder]

* Try to stop a man from throwing a pie in your husband’s face and in return you’ll be served with your wifely walking papers a few years later. Aww, Rupert Murdoch is such a kind old man. [Bloomberg]

Is not having a home a job qualification?

* How often are you sitting around wondering about all the legal ins-and-outs of the assassination of James Garfield? Wonder no more. [The Legal Geeks] * A love poem with citations to the U.C.C. You know, if you never plan on getting laid again. [Law Poetry] * Justice Kagan dials 867-5309. [Slate] * Underage models in New York are now covered by child labor laws. In related news, American Apparel stops making any ads whatsoever. [Fashionista] * When a bank nixes your merger, just go ahead and do it another way and bury the bank’s opinion. There’s not much the SEC can do about it anyway. [Dealbreaker] * Pepper Hamilton’s Nina Gussack is making it rain. [The Careerist] * Eric Posner has no beef with the NSA. [Constitutional Daily] * States: The New (Patent) Troll Slayers [Slate]

The sad story of the Berkeley bird beheading comes to a close, as the third and final defendant pleads guilty.

Federal monitors for the NYPD on the table if stop and frisk declared unconstitutional.

Keeping your client invested in the litigation makes for a better relationship.

It's nice to write about the positive stuff lawyers do.

This is perhaps one of our of most ironic caption contests ever, and it's time to see who won.

Two big rulings strike a blow for the rights of interns.

Law schools have to be built and they cost money. At least this one is interesting...