8th Circuit

  • 8th Circuit, Football, Gay, Law Professors, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Television

    Non-Sequiturs: 08.19.14

    * They’re making The Devil’s Advocate into a TV show. That is all. [io9] * Lingerie brand is suing its former lawyer for screwing up its patent filing. What a boob. [NY Post] * Chris Kluwe and the Minnesota Vikings have reached a settlement to avoid potential embarrassment. Now if only they could reach settlement with the Packers for the same reason. [NBC Sports] * The world of raising hogs meets the Eighth Circuit. The fifth “H” stands for what the hell? [The Legal Geeks] * Shares in Taser have gone up 25 percent since Michael Brown’s shooting. Oh, remember Taser? The company that makes a product that stops fleeing suspects without executing them? Looks like the market is expecting a sea change in how police do business. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * Jesus. A teenager who waited in jail for three years pending trial died in solitary confinement at Rikers Island when his heart exploded. A new lawsuit alleges that the prison just ignored the condition. So much for innocent until proven guilty. [Gawker] * A new study undermines the myth that the gender imbalance in tenure is not related to productivity. But hey, who cares, tenure is passé according to Laurence Tribe. [Inside Higher Ed h/t TaxLaw Prof] * When times are tough, lawyers are denying their law degrees in job applications. No matter how hard you pretend, your debt isn’t going away. [Law and More]
  • 8th Circuit, Baseball, Dahlia Lithwick, Daily Show, Football, Gay, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.15.14

    * There’s a company with no revenue and no profit run out of Belize with a $6 billion market cap. And this lawyer might be the reason why. [Fortune] * The discrimination claim brought by former professor Teresa Wagner against the University of Iowa College of Law must be retried. Congrats, Teresa! Celebrate with a round of shots. [Iowa Appeals] * Chris Kluwe intends to sue the Minnesota Vikings. He has a good chance because the Vikings can't beat anybody. [Sports Illustrated] * Judge Judy is suing a lawyer over advertisements. [ABA Journal] * A-Rod is being sued by his lawyer for $380,000 in unpaid bills. Life’s hard for multimillionaires when the income stream is temporarily suspended. [NY Daily News] * Breaking up is hard to do. But it doesn’t have to be difficult to dissolve a law firm ethically if you follow this advice. Dewey know anyone who could have used this advice earlier? [Legal Talk Network] * Indiana Tech law school is in desperation mode. Who would have seen this coming? [Third Tier Reality] * The horrors of law school debt are becoming more obvious even to non-students. [Law School Lemmings] * Jon Stewart chats with Dahlia Lithwick about the Supreme Court. Embed after the jump…. [The Daily Show]
  • 8th Circuit, Biglaw, Celebrities, Law Firm Mergers, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Movies, Murder, Sexual Harassment, Small Law Firms, Trials, Wall Street

    Morning Docket: 04.08.14

    * The Eighth Circuit axed a $900K jury award after a lawyer recounted her tale of sexual harassment by a law professor at Drake University Law during closing arguments. Well, that sucks, but we’d really love to know which professor this was. [ABA Journal]

    * If flat is the new up, then mergers must be the new growth. The new year is upon us, and law firms are on track to either meet or break the merger record set in 2013. Thus far, 22 firms have announced mergers or acquisitions in 2014. [Washington Post]

    * A lawyer in Minnesota who’s been in trouble with the bar quite a few times was recently charged with setting his girlfriend on fire. Yikes, someone’s way too excited about the Fargo mini-series. [Star-Tribune]

    * Oscar Pistorius took the stand in his murder trial yesterday, revealing that when he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, he was really trying to protect her. This case gives us the sads. 🙁 [New York Times]

    * Sorry we’re not sorry about the toupee: Paramount wants this Wolf of Wall Street suit dismissed since it’s undeniable the plaintiff was part of “bizarre travesty that was Stratton Oakmont.” [Hollywood Reporter]

  • 8th Circuit, Crime, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Solo Practitioners, Videos

    Non-Sequiturs: 04.07.14

    * Never text angry. A New York judge just put the kibosh on a man’s suit to secure the return of a $53,000 engagement ring from his jilted would-be wife because he sent an ill-advised angry text. [MyFoxNY] * A German judge allegedly sold thousands of answers to law exams. When authorities closed in, the judge went on the run before being caught with “€30,000 in cash, a loaded pistol and… a 26-year-old Romanian woman.” Who knew bar exam answer keys were the new Blue Sky. [The Local] * Here’s the 50 Most Comfortable Prisons in the World. Hopefully the judge above will land in JVA Fuhlsbuettel Prison. [Arrest Records] * Judge lambasts the Bronx DA’s office after an ADA failed to reveal evidence that would have freed a man held at Rikers Island on bogus rape charges. Unfortunately, this isn’t surprising. [New York Daily News] * Elie says stuff about bullying. [ATL Redline] * “Kosher hot dog case presents a real constitutional pickle.” *Rim shot* [Reuters] * Ever wonder how much it costs to open a solo practice? A new solo practitioner opens his financials. [Associate's Mind] * Don’t call tuition cuts “bold.” [Law School Tuition Bubble] * Here’s a 30 for 30 spoof about the history of gunners. Embedded after the jump… [TaxProf Blog]
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  • 2nd Circuit, 8th Circuit, Lexis-Nexis, Trademarks, Westlaw

    On Remand: Lexis Drives West, Sues Toyota

    Years before Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center built the forty-foot high “Tower of Law” (or, as Stephen Colbert called it, “the building blocks of boring”) out of unused legal reporters, Lexis started the books’ march to obsolescence when it debuted on April 2, 1973. “Lexis,” a term the company’s president coined by combining the Latin word […]
  • 8th Circuit, Cars, Clerkships, Education / Schools, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

    Non-Sequiturs: 08.16.13

    * Chris Brown might buy his lawyer Mark Geragos a Lamborghini. Brown is quite an automotive expert. The upswinging doors make it sooo much easier to throw a girlfriend out of. [TMZ] * Politics is all about figurative whoring, but a county board has dumped its lawyer for soliciting a crack whore. Actually, maybe politics is literal whoring. [Badger Pundit] * Gourmand’s Grater, the kitchen product created by a former lawyer we mentioned a couple weeks ago, has opened its crowdfunding campaign. [Indie GoGo] * Finnegan is ditching its Belgium office and moving to London. How can a firm turn its back on a city classy enough to have a urinating child as a symbol? [The Lawyer] *Access online today’s nude dancing decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. And you’re interested because this is the audience that went crazy for a post about a Playmate from 1994. [How Appealing] * Did you fall for the new U.S. News rankings? Silly readers. Paul Campos breaks down exactly how Rutgers-Newark gamed the system. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * In a New York state case, “[a] calendar call in the courthouse would require the clerk to shout out ‘JesusIsLord ChristIsKing’ or ‘Rejoice ChristIsKing.’” See, now THAT is a name that’s sacrilegious — not having a baby named Messiah. [NY Times] * Yet another reason students should steer clear of law school: most of them have no critical thinking or argumentation skills. [Huffington Post] * We’ve mentioned NYU Law grad and former S.D.N.Y. clerk Eli Northrup and his band Pants Velour before. Now they have a new jingle for Dial 7 car service. Check it out after the jump….
  • 8th Circuit, American Bar Association / ABA, Animal Law, Boalt Hall, Confirmations, Federal Judges, Immigration, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 04.25.13

    * On this episode of Supreme Court Retirement Watch, we learn that for whatever reason, Justice Breyer is “having the time of his life,” and so once again, all eyes are upon Justice Ginsberg. Maybe in 2015, folks. [The Hill]

    * How unusual that a federal judge would see a confirmation in less than three months. If only Chuck Grassley owed favors to all of the nominees. Congratulations to Jane Kelly, now of the Eighth Circuit. [Legal Times]

    * Thanks to an unprecedented ruling from Judge Dolly Gee, mentally disabled immigrants facing deportation will be receive government-paid legal representation. New law school clinics, assemble! [New York Times]

    * “Among the things the ABA is working on, this may be the most important.” Too bad the Task Force on the Future of Education seems to suffer from too many cooks in kitchen. [National Law Journal]

    * Another one bites the dust: Team Strauss/Anziska’s lawsuit against Brooklyn Law School over its allegedly phony employment statistics has been dismissed. Sad trombone. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]

    * Justin Teixeira, one of the Berkeley law students accused in the Las Vegas bird beheading, waived an evidentiary hearing so the media couldn’t squawk about video images they’d see. [Washington Post]

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  • 8th Circuit, 9th Circuit, Abortion, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Celebrities, Constitutional Law, Copyright, Deaths, Fashion, Kiwi Camara, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Richard Epstein

    Morning Docket: 09.12.12

    * Good news, everyone! According to Citi’s Managing Partner Confidence Index survey, firm leaders are feeling pessimistic about their business due to an overall lack of confidence in the economy. [Am Law Daily]

    * Per the Ninth Circuit, an Idaho statute that essentially criminalizes medication-induced abortions imposes an undue burden on a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. Really? You don’t say. [Bloomberg]

    * Kiwi Camara’s circuitous route to SCOTUS: thanks to the Eighth Circuit, Jammie Thomas-Rasset started and ended her journey with $222K damages for copyright infringement. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

    * “Fashion law is a real career choice,” says Gibson Dunn partner Lois Herzeca. This niche practice area is one of the hottest new trends in the wonderful world of fashion, and it’s not likely to go out of style any time in the remote future. [Reuters]

    * Your clawback suit is a wonderland? John Mayer was named as a defendant in a suit filed by trustees seeking to recover money paid out by Ponzi schemer Darren Berg. [Bankruptcy Beat / Wall Street Journal]

  • 8th Circuit, Bail, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Health Care / Medicine, John Roberts, Law Firm Mergers, Morning Docket, Religion, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.29.12

    * You don’t necessarily have to agree with what Chief Justice John Roberts did with respect to his health care opinion, but you’ve got to admit that it was an act of statesmanship that will forever define his legacy on the Court. [New York Times]

    * CNN, one of the world’s most reliable news networks, reports that no many legal scholars were surprised unsurprised by yesterday’s Supreme Court decision to strike down uphold the Individual Broccoli Mandate Affordable Care Act. [CNN]

    * Word to the wise: don’t get cocky over in the Eighth Circuit, because apparently boosting the length of a prison term based on whether or not a defendant is smiling at sentencing is not considered an abuse of discretion. [National Law Journal]

    * Dewey know why the number of law firm mergers and acquisitions in the United States dropped during the second quarter? Truth be told, they’re all scared, because “[n]obody wants to wind up with a lemon.” [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

    * George Zimmerman, the man charged in Trayvon Martin’s death, is returning to court today to try to get himself released on bond… again. Let’s give him some credit, because he sure is tenacious. [ABC News]

    * Listen, it’s not an easy thing to perform an exorcism these days. Sometimes a priest really just needs to kiss and caress the demon out of your body — a sexorcism, if you will. Nothing to sue over, nothing at all. [MSNBC]

  • 8th Circuit, Law Professors, Law Schools

    Conservative Law Profs: Just Say You Need 'Affirmative Action' for Intellectual Diversity and We'll End Hiring Discrimination Against You

    Conservative law professors need help. They don’t want to admit it because conservative orthodoxy holds that the only people who can ask for help in this country are small businessmen and the institution of marriage, but make no mistake, conservatives who want to get a tenure-track job in legal academia need a leg up. That’s […]
  • 8th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Benchslaps, Death Penalty, Habeas Corpus, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Benchslap of the Day: Justice Scalia's Dissent in Roper

    Okay, make that yesterday. A reader email drew our attention to the saucy conclusion of Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in Roper v. Weaver: The greatest harm is that done to AEDPA, since dismissing the writ of certiorari leaves the Eighth Circuit’s grossly erroneous precedent on the books. (That precedent, by the way, cannot be explained […]
  • 8th Circuit, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Morris Arnold

    Wherein We Receive An Email from Celebrity Judge Morris Arnold

    We’re on a roll today in the correspondence department here at ATL. This morning we brought you an email message from Professor Tim Wu, aka “Genius Wu,” young superstar of the legal academy. And this afternoon, we proudly present this cyber-missive, typed by Article III fingers: From: Judge Morris Arnold [email address redacted]Sent: Wednesday, November […]