Morning Docket: 07.24.15

* Most Biglaw firms are downsizing their office space, but Ropes & Gray just inked a deal to increase the size of its New York office by 40,869 square feet. It'll occupy more than 300,000 square feet in Rockefeller Center. Hope the firm has lawyers to fill it! [Commercial Observer] * Yikes! Thanks to a string of lateral hires by Buchanan Ingersoll, the newly formed Philly office of Novak Druce appears to have been left without a single lawyer. The firm decided to "refrain from commenting" on the departures. [Legal Intelligencer] * The same jury that found James Holmes guilty of several counts of murder in the Dark Knight movie theater massacre completed the first phase of sentencing and decided that aggravating factors existed for him to incur the death penalty. [Los Angeles Times] * A former court clerk in Indiana is suing because she claims she was fired for refusing to process same-sex marriage licenses, even though doing so went against her "sincerely held" religious beliefs. We may be seeing a lot more of these in the future. [Indy Star] * Per Texas prosecutor Warren Diepraam, medical examiners have ruled that Sandra Bland's death was a suicide by hanging, and he has "full faith" in the autopsy results. The community remains outraged, and investigation into the case is ongoing. [NBC News]