March 2015

Before they hit it big, startups are pretty useless clients. Here's how you can avoid wasting your time.

* The Supreme Court decided that government-issued GPS trackers violate 4th Amendment. My GPS device is my phone — can we get on protecting that? [Gizmodo]

* More on the subtle differences between the Indiana RFRA and the post-Hobby Lobby landscape. Specifically, the Indiana Act’s provision on private suits, which are the subject of a circuit split at the federal level. [Washington Post]

* Professor Jonathan Lipson reviews what ATL’s Converge conference had to say about the future of law. [The Temple 10-Q]

* The Supreme Court doesn’t want to hear from ever lawyer under the sun on the marriage equality cases. The parties just announced their picks to make the argument. [Lyldennews]

* Another day, another law student busted for sex with a minor. Maybe crim law needs to move up that age of consent lecture to day 1. [The Columbus Dispatch]

* Up and coming Supreme Court challenges to Obamacare for everyone still raging against the dying of the light. [Washington Post / The Volokh Conspiracy]

* Congratulations to Steven J. Harper, who is finally headed home from the hospital after a lengthy stay under apparently Kafka-esque conditions. [The Lawyer Bubble]

Audio highlights of the 2015 ATL Converge conference.

So what adjustments did the firm make to its base salary scale?

Legal interns: show you're interested in something and be specific about your direction to make the most of your summer jobs.

Who needs to resort to layoffs when your profits per partner are this high?

Legal aid costs a lot of money. Unless you actually crunch the numbers, in which case legal aid is a great investment.

Legal technology columnist Jeff Bennion takes the controversy over Hillary Clinton's emails and uses it to examine important issues in e-discovery.

Why bother wasting away in law school when you can just tell people you're a lawyer?

Has suicide ever touched your life as a law student or lawyer? How did you handle it?

Columnist Gaston Kroub asks: why is an attention to detail so important for a lawyer to demonstrate?

* Reunited and it feels so good… to have more tuition money in our pockets: following more than 40 years apart, Rutgers-Camden Law and Rutgers-Newark Law may merge to create the Rutgers School of Law, one of the largest law schools in the country. [NJ.com]

* In case you missed it, the courtroom erupted into chaos in the final moments of the Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins trial because a juror “made a mistake” and decided to change his vote mid-verdict. Come on, give the guy a break — he’s almost 90. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Lawmakers are awfully interested in the way that the SEC is doing its job, and they’re drafting new laws in the hope of helping the agency out. We’ll let you know how helpful this was in a few years if those bills are ever passed. [DealBook / New York Times]

* After an incredibly unsuccessful defense of its ban on same-sex marriage, Wisconsin is going to have to shell out more than $1 million in legal fees to the ACLU — the largest single payout yet by a state in the history of cases of this kind. [National Law Journal]

* If you’re looking to transfer to another law school after your first year in the trenches, here are three things that you absolutely, positively must do to ensure your chances of being accepted elsewhere. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

You've got to see this over-the-top, wacky law firm ad that looks more like an Ocean's 11 sequel. Was it intentional or tongue-in-cheek? Who cares! It's awesome.

* Prospective presidential candidate and perennial president of the Elie Mystal Fan Club Mike Huckabee is proposing term limits for Supreme Court justices. Funny how this became a conservative cause célèbre as soon as the polls suggest they’re looking at 16 years of Democratic presidents. [L.A. Times]

* Texas firm Cox Smith is merging with Detroit’s Dykema to create Dykema Cox Smith. This should rocket the new firm up the Am Law Top 200, but obviously we’re more excited about the new name. Heh heh. [My San Antonio]

* Law360 named their top attorneys under 40. I assume all the ATL editors are on the list. I’d check myself, but Law360 is behind a paywall. [Law360 (sub. req.)]

* Dewey still have partner refugees from a certain law firm’s collapse? [Bloomberg BNA / Big Law Business]

* Duane Morris loses its corporate chair. Bad news piling up. [New York Law Journal]

* Not everyone is Saul Goodman and when it comes to setting up a marijuana business; a lot of lawyers are keeping their distance. [That’s My Argument]

* Here’s the cute way to announce new licensing terms. [Shutterstock]

Do your due diligence before making a private marijuana investment, and do the same before you invest in any publicly traded marijuana company.

A judge and a community leader shared their thoughts on public service at AEF's benefit dinner last week.

Did people forget that the Court authorized this discrimination a year ago?

You may be a toddler in attorney years, but you can still give practical advice about career planning.

No matter how high your earnings, if you get arrested for domestic violence, you'll find yourself sitting on a bench in the front of the courtroom right next to the lowly perps with rap sheets as developed as your stock portfolio.

Which law school is best represented in Apple's legal department? You might be surprised.