2nd Circuit
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2nd Circuit, 9th Circuit, Anthony Kennedy, Gay, Gay Marriage, John Roberts, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Breaking: Supreme Court Decides To Hear Major Gay Rights Cases
So what major cases did the Supreme Court just add to its calendar for this Term? -
2nd Circuit, ACLU, Biglaw, China, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Prisons, Religion, Sentencing Law, Solo Practitioners, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Student Loans, Weddings
Morning Docket: 12.05.12
* Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the fairest firm of them all? According to the 2012 Acritas Brand Index survey, the current leader of the Global 100 is the most powerful Biglaw brand for the fifth year in a row. [American Lawyer]
* But that might not last for long, considering the dilemma Baker & McKenzie is facing when it comes to joining the Shanghai Bar Association in China. The firm is one of the first to indicate that it’ll take the plunge. [Wall Street Journal]
* Thanks to the Second Circuit, Rajat Gupta will be a free man on bail pending the appeal of his insider trading conviction. We wonder what Benula Bensam would have to say about this new twist. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Jason Smiekel, the lawyer who pleaded guilty in a murder-for-hire plot involving a former client, was sentenced to eight and a half years in federal prison. The things men will do for HHHBs. [Chicago Tribune]
* Student loan payments: coming to a paycheck deduction near you! Congress is considering an overhaul of the country’s student debt collection practices, and Rep. Tom Petri has some interesting ideas. [Bloomberg]
* The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is the latest school to hop aboard the solo practice incubator train, but graduates will have to rent their office space from the school. Nice. /sarcasm [National Law Journal]
* “We didn’t file this complaint lightly.” Sorry, Judge Norman, but as it turns out, you can’t just sentence a teenager to attend church for 10 years as a condition of parole without pissing off the ACLU. [Tulsa World]
* When your alterations cost more than your wedding gown, it’s pretty much a given that you’ll have some problems — ones worth suing over, if you’re a true bridezilla (like moi). [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
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2nd Circuit, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Cellphones, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Gender, Morning Docket, Privacy, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology
Morning Docket: 11.26.12
* Will it be DOMA or Prop 8? The countdown until Friday starts now, because everyone’s waiting to see whether the Supreme Court will grant cert on one of the five same-sex marriage cases that has come before the high court. [UPI]
* Walk like an Egyptian — or, in this case, you can protest like one. Judges and lawyers are on strike and filing legal challenges to President Mohamed Morsi’s “unprecedented attack on judicial independence.” [New York Times]
* Dewey know when this failed firm’s bankruptcy plan will be approved? Team Togut is hoping for a February resolution, but the rascally retirees may throw a wrench in things with their committee’s continued existence. [Am Law Daily]
* Even though the Northern District of California has a historic all-women federal bench — a courthouse of their own, if you will — there’s probably no need to tell them that THERE’S NO CRYING IN LITIGATION. No crying! [The Recorder]
* New technology + old laws = a privacy clusterf**k. This week, a Senate committee will contemplate whether the Electronic Communications Privacy Act needs to be updated to get with the times. [New York Times]
* The New York State Bar Association may oppose it, but Jacoby & Meyers’s challenge to the state’s ban on non-lawyer firm ownership shall live to see another day thanks to the Second Circuit. [New York Law Journal]
* An Alabama Slammer is both a dangerous cocktail and a term for what happens when your Southern law school refuses to cut its class size and you’re left woefully unemployed after graduation. [Birmingham News]
* Casey Anthony finds relevancy again! Girls in my high school used to search for “foolproof suffocation” on Google and later get acquitted of murdering their daughters all the time; it was no big deal. [USA Today]
* Dean Boland, aka Paul Ceglia’s gazillionth lawyer in the Facebook ownership case, will soon find out if can withdraw as counsel. He’s got other things to deal with, like a $300K child porn judgment. [Wall Street Journal]
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2nd Circuit, Clerkships, Politics, Quote of the Day, Rudeness
Quote of the Day: Quite Possibly the Worst Co-Clerk Ever?
A former Second Circuit clerk speaks quite highly of his co-clerk after her reelection as a New York senator. We mean that sarcastically, of course. -
1st Circuit, 2nd Circuit, Bar Exams, Biglaw, Gay, Job Searches, Law Professors, Law Schools, Litigators, Morning Docket, Old People, Partner Issues, Politics, Trials
Morning Docket: 10.23.12
* “Whether or not the law is dictating it right now, the people are dictating it.” In light of First and Second Circuit DOMA decisions, in-house counsel are considering benefits for same-sex spouses and domestic partners. [Corporate Counsel]
* “I’m a woman of integrity. My emotions got the best of me.” A Dish Network executive had to publicly apologize for accosting a Gibson Dunn litigation partner’s elderly father outside of a courtroom after the Cablevision trial. [Am Law Daily]
* A potential farewell to the typical liberal bias in education: at the end of the day, Teresa Wagner’s political bias case against Iowa Law could alter hiring nationwide in higher education. [Iowa City Press-Citizen]
* Not prepared for the bar exam, and currently without a law job? Let’s give that school a “B” rating. The results of this survey pretty much conclude that recent law school graduates are out of their minds. [WSJ Law Blog]
* A soon-to-be high school graduate wants to know if he can “go into a creative career” with a law degree. You silly little boy, the law is where creativity goes to die. Hope that helps! [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
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2nd Circuit, Constitutional Law, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Paul Clement, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Second Circuit Strikes Down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act
The Second Circuit, in an opinion by a conservative stalwart, Judge Dennis Jacobs, has struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Will this be the vehicle for Supreme Court review of DOMA? -
2nd Circuit, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Fashion, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, NALP, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Partner Issues, Real Estate, Shoes, Trademarks
Morning Docket: 10.17.12
* Oh, by the way Dewey & LeBoeuf partners, the little contribution plan you signed that received court approval last week might not protect you from your former landlord’s claims for back rent. Hope you’ve all got an extra $45 million sitting in the bank. [Am Law Daily]
* Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson will finally get to claim her seat as chief justice of the state’s high court after official judicial recognition — on both the state and federal level — that the year 1994 does indeed come before 1995. [Bloomberg]
* No matter how hard law school administrators wish it were so, or how much they beg Jim Leipold of NALP, he’s never going to be able to describe the current entry-level legal job market as “good.” [WSJ Law Blog]
* NYU Law School is changing its third-year program in the hopes of making a “good” market materialize. If you ship students to foreign countries for class, maybe they’ll get jobs there. [DealBook / New York Times]
* “[W]e’re determined to do everything we can to help them find jobs and meaningful careers.” We bet Brooklyn Law’s dean is also determined to avoid more litigation about employment statistics. [New York Law Journal]
* Has the other shoe finally dropped? After the Second Circuit ruled that YSL could sell monochromatic shoes, the fashion house decided to drop its trademark counterclaims against Christian Louboutin. [Businessweek]
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2nd Circuit, Abortion, Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Election 2012, Gay, Job Searches, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Lesbians, Morning Docket, Religion, Southern New England School of Law/Umass, Suicide
Morning Docket: 10.08.12
* Should Biglaw firms bill by the result instead of by the hour? When some of the results-oriented strategies involve reading less and writing faster to improve work efficiency, we’re not sure how well this would work in a law firm setting. [New York Times]
* Roller coaster of employment: after losing 1,400 jobs in August, the legal sector added 1,000 jobs in September. Alas, there are way more than 1,000 new bar admittees gunning for all of those paralegal and secretarial positions. [Am Law Daily]
* “They were throwing furniture at both of us.” Both sides on the Jacoby & Myers non-lawyer firm ownership case took a beating before the Second Circuit during oral arguments, but who won? [New York Law Journal]
* Come November, Floridians will vote on constitutional amendments that deal with abortion and separation of church and state. Meanwhile, half the voters won’t even read the entire ballot, so there’s that. [New York Times]
* A love triangle + an Arkansas Wal-Mart = a judicial suspension for Circuit Judge Sam Pope after an all-out brawl with… Bill Murray? Hey, at least this guy’s estranged wife got three punches in. [National Law Journal]
* Tyler Clementi’s family won’t file suit against Rutgers University and Dharun Ravi — instead, they’ll use the publicity from their son Tyler’s suicide for “positive purposes,” like supporting gay and lesbian youths. [CNN]
* “This guy is a bully, and he uses the court system to do it.” Robert V. Ward Jr., the former dean of UMass Law, had to deal with Gregory Langadinos, a serial law school litigant, and it wasn’t exactly pretty. [Boston Globe]
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2nd Circuit, Drinking, Federal Judges
Billionaire Is SOL Because Of The SOL When It Comes to Thomas Jefferson's Wine
It must be every billionaire wine connoisseur’s dream to own a few bottles from the cellars of the man who drafted the Declaration of Independence -- except if the wine turns out to be fake. -
2nd Circuit, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Intellectual Property, Shoes, Trademarks
Christian Louboutin No Longer Seeing Red After This Second Circuit Trademark Ruling
Fashionistas rejoice: Christian Louboutin has won the trademark rights to his signature red soles! -
2nd Circuit, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Dissolution, Lateral Moves, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Robinson & Cole, S.D.N.Y., Thelen Reid & Priest, Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner
A Welcome Ruling for the New Law Firms of Refugees from Bankrupt Firms
A decision just handed down by a judge of the Southern District of New York has important implications for law firm dissolutions. -
2nd Circuit, Biglaw, Law Professors, Law Schools, Movies
From Child Star to Law Star: Meet Professor Charles Korsmo
Wouldn't it be cool if you recognized a law professor from a hit film? -
2nd Circuit, Akin Gump, American Bar Association / ABA, Arent Fox, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Breasts, Divorce Train Wrecks, Dorsey & Whitney, Duane Morris, Education / Schools, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Morning Docket, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Pornography, Privacy, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Sheppard Mullin, Supreme Court, Texas, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 08.10.12
* “I’ve been a restaurant waitress, a hotel hostess, a car parker, a nurse’s aide, a maid in a motel, a bookkeeper and a researcher.” This SCOTUS wife was well-prepared to give a graduation speech at New England Law. [Huffington Post]
* Sniffling over lost profits is the best way to get a court to take your side. Biglaw firms have asked the Second Circuit to consider reversing a decision in the Coudert Brothers “unfinished business” clawback case. [Legal Intelligencer]
* James Holmes, the alleged Aurora movie theater gunman, is being evicted from his apartment. Guess he didn’t know — or care — that booby-trapping the place with bombs would be against the terms of his lease. [Denver Post]
* The ABA has created a task force to study the future of legal education, and its work is expected to completed in 2014. ::rolleyes:: Oh, good thing they’re not in any kind of a hurry — there’s no need to rush. [ABA Journal]
* Indiana Tech, the little law school that nobody wants could, has hired its first faculty members. Thus far, the school has poached law professors from from West Virginia, Florida A&M, and Northern Illinois. [JD Journal]
* When divorces get weird: is this lawyer’s soon-to-be ex-wife hacking into his law firm email account and planning to publish privileged communications online? Yep, this is in Texas. [Unfair Park / Dallas Observer]
* Breast-feeding porn: yup, that’s a thing, so start Googling. A New Jersey mother is suing an Iowa production company after an instructional video she appeared in was spliced to create pornography. [Boston Globe]
* If someone from your school newspaper asks you for a quote about oral sex, and then you’re quoted in the subsequent article, you’re probably not going to win your invasion of privacy lawsuit. [National Law Journal]
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2nd Circuit, Federal Judges, Sports, Women's Issues
Thanks to the Second Circuit, You Won't Be Seeing Olympic Cheerleading Any Time Soon
Is cheerleading considered a sport? Not according to this court... -
2nd Circuit, 9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Brett Kavanaugh, Clerkships, D.C. Circuit, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Holidays and Seasons, Judicial Nominations, Munger Tolles & Olson, Parties, Pictures, Pierre Leval
Some Federal Judicial Congratulations -- and a Bit of Trivia
Which circuit judge has the most former clerks who are now judges themselves? And how is Judge Kozinski spending the Memorial Day weekend? -
2nd Circuit, Deaths, ERISA, Insurance, Masturbation, Sex
A Self-Abuse of Discretion?(Or: The most interesting ERISA opinion ever.)
A recent Second Circuit opinion raises a salacious legal issue.... -
2nd Circuit, Education / Schools, Kids, Rank Stupidity
This Ten Year Old Told a Bad Joke, But Was It Bad Enough To Earn Him a Six-Day Suspension?
It was completely absurd when a 10-year-old was suspended from school for six days because he unsuccessfully tried to be funny and drew kind of a violent picture in class. Yesterday, the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the boy's parents five years ago, but the dissenting judge's opinion showed at least someone behind the bench still understands what it means to be a kid… -
2nd Circuit, Benchslaps, Citigroup, Federal Judges, Jed Rakoff, Quote of the Day, Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street
Benchslap of the Day: Second Circuit Rebukes Rakoff
What did the Second Circuit have to say about Judge Jed Rakoff's rejection of the SEC's settlement with Citigroup? Let's say they're not huge fans of his legal analysis. -
2nd Circuit, Admin, Cocaine / Crack, Deaths, Federal Judges, Holidays and Seasons, Law Schools, listserv, Morning Docket, Rape, SCOTUS, Sports, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court
Morning Docket 02.20.12
In today’s Morning Docket: updates on the Justice Breyer robbery, security for the Supreme Court justices, and the Stolen Valor Act goes to SCOTUS.
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2nd Circuit, 9/11, Bar Exams, Depositions, Gloria Allred, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Texas, Travel / Vacation
Morning Docket: 01.10.12
* In trying to resolve the Texas redistricting problem, the Supreme Court has come to a realization: everything really is bigger in that state, including its congressional delegation. [Los Angeles Times] * The Center for Constitutional Rights is suing to get video of the would-be 20th hijacker’s interrogations made public. Too bad no one really […]