Benchslaps
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10th Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Litigators, Practice Pointers, Quote of the Day
Benchslap of the Day: You Can't Fight City Hall (or Adverse Precedent)
How should you handle adverse precedent when litigating an appeal? The Tenth Circuit has some thoughts on what you should NOT do.... -
Benchslaps, Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, California, Intellectual Property, Patents, Small Law Firms
Benchslapped: A Not So Fine Day for Feinberg Day
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco booted several former DLA Piper attorneys, now at the litigation boutique of Feinberg Day, from a patent dispute involving Toshiba and Talon Research. It turned out that the attorneys, who represented Talon Research, had logged more than 3,000 hours for Toshiba when they were still at DLA. Not good. Let's look more closely at our benchslap of the day... - Sponsored
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Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Benchslaps, Ex-Lawyer of the Day, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics
Ex-Lawyer of the Day: 'An Unprecedented Lack of Common Respect and Decency'
A now ex-lawyer from Maryland seems to have tried every trick in the book (and several not in the book) to fight getting disbarred. It didn't work. And now she's on the receiving end of an absolutely vicious benchslap. Was our ex-lawyer of the day unethical? Perhaps. Unprofessional? Maybe. But you can't say she didn't try…
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9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Benchslaps, Constitutional Law, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Lesbians, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: A Reverse Benchslap... of Chief Judge Kozinski?
Whoa -- did Chief Judge Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit just get reverse benchslapped? By a district court judge out of San Francisco? -
4th Circuit, Benchslaps, Christopher Christie, Drinking, Job Searches, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, U.S. Attorneys Offices
Non-Sequiturs: 02.22.12
* How can you tout your achievements in a cover letter without sounding like a tool? Here are some pointers from Professor Eugene Volokh. [Volokh Conspiracy] * The “unbundling” of legal services is a big buzzword when talking about the direction of the profession. But, as Jordan Furlong posits, should lawyers and law firms start thinking about “rebundling”? [Law21.ca] * Benchslap of earlier this month: the Fourth Circuit smacks around some saucy AUSAs. [Legal Blog Watch] * “[P]ublic drunkenness is not illegal in NYC.” (Elie will be glad to hear this.) [Gothamist] * How will SCOTUS rule on the Stolen Valor Act? Mike Sacks reads the oral argument tea leaves. [Huffington Post] * Chris Christie to Warren Buffett: if you want to pay more taxes, “just write a check and shut up.” [Dealbreaker] * A Harvard Law School student, Matthew Schoenfeld, stands up for a good cause. [Harvard Law School News] -
9th Circuit, Benchslaps, Department of Justice, Federal Government, Federal Judges, U.S. Attorneys Offices
Benchslap of the Day: Say My Name, Say My Name
Judge Carlos Bea is one of Lat's favorite members of the Ninth Circuit. He's refreshingly conservative, on a famously (or infamously) liberal court. He has a fascinating personal history, and he tools about town in a vintage Rolls-Royce (which, rumor has it, he received as payment for legal work before he took the bench). Well, it looks like one assistant U.S. attorney has some expensive tire marks on his back. Check out the epic benchslap that Judge Bea just dished out -- not just to the poor prosecutor, but to the United States Department of Justice.... -
Airplanes / Aviation, Benchslaps, Health Care / Medicine, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, Texas
Non-Sequiturs: 02.15.12
* Nothing beats a calm, collected, religion-based benchslap of religious hypocrisy. [Tex Parte Blog] * If our parents hadn’t gotten us vaccinated, we’d fire them, too. Jenny McCarthy should jump into a freakin’ volcano. [Volokh Conspiracy] * It must be so hard to write fake news when it all starts coming true. [The Onion] * […] -
Benchslaps, D.C. Circuit, Federal Judges, Quote of the Day, Tax Law
Quote of the Day: It Makes the Arabian Double-Pike Mandamus Look Easy
Of all the routines in judicial gymnastics, few have a higher degree of difficulty than the reverse benchslap, and we’re trying for a combination double with our Opinion today. — Judge Mark V. Holmes of the United States Tax Court, dissenting in Tigers Eye Trading, LLC v. Commissioner. (The background behind this judicial invocation of […] - Sponsored
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Benchslaps, Drugs, State Judges
Benchslap of the Day: Cornhusker Judge Shucks Druggie Defendant
We have come across a recent Midwestern state court opinion that reads more like Hunter Thompson than Learned Hand. It doesn't hurt the metaphor that the defendant, convicted of multiple theft charges, is also a long-term abuser of methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol. We would call this a benchslap, but that might be too nice a word.... -
7th Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Frank Easterbrook, Practice Pointers, R. Ted Cruz, Screw-Ups
Benchslap of the Day: Judge Easterbrook Benchslaps Biglaw
Lately the Seventh Circuit has been laying down its pimp hand. Biglaw just got a big benchslap -- from none other than Chief Judge Easterbrook. Which firm incurred His Honor's wrath, and for what alleged infraction? -
9/11, Benchslaps, Biglaw, California, Cars, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Football, Harvard, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Patton Boggs
Morning Docket: 02.03.12
* New York is considering allowing nonlawyer ownership of equity in law firms. If that somehow means we’ll see less Jacoby & Meyers commercials on television, then I’m definitely all for it. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Football’s labor lockout legal fees: which Biglaw firms scored huge touchdowns thanks to their collective bargaining work? […]
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Benchslaps, Education / Schools, Federal Judges, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Sonia Sotomayor
Outsiders Criticize Law Schools, But Will Change Ever Come?
While many of the law school deans and other administrators at the AALS conference acknowledged problems with the system, most of the actual critiquing came from people with no power to change it. Media members criticized law schools, judges criticized law schools, outgoing deans that shamelessly profiteered off of unwitting law students criticized law schools -- and the people who could actually change their systems dutifully listened. But despite all of the critiques, there weren't a lot of schools that seemed ready to institute sweeping change to the business of educating lawyers.... -
Benchslaps, Cardozo Law School, Hotties, Rod Blagojevich
Blago's Class of 2007 Lawyer: A 'Harebrained' Hottie?
Landing a huge case is what all lawyers dream about. For most lawyers, the planets never align, and that dream never becomes a reality. But for one lawyer, that dream came true just a few years after having graduated from law school. Sometimes, however, dreams turn into nightmares. When you're representing a notorious client like Rod Blagojevich, your successes might soon turn into failures. Who is the (rather attractive) class of 2007 lawyer representing Blago, and why did a judge characterize her recent courtroom stylings as "harebrained"?
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7th Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Law Professors, Reader Polls, Richard Posner, Rudeness, Screw-Ups
Was Judge Posner a Dodo in His Ostrich Opinion?
Of course not! But the headline got your attention, didn’t it? The notion of Judge Richard Posner as being anything other than a genius will certainly make people sit up and take notice. There’s a reason why there’s a Facebook group called Richard Posner for Philosopher King (of which I am a proud member). It […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Benchslaps, California, Department of Justice, Federal Judges, Legal Ethics, Quote of the Day, Screw-Ups, U.S. Attorneys Offices, White-Collar Crime
Benchslap of the Day: What Not To Do If You're A Prosecutor
[T]his Court is compelled to find that the Government team allowed a key FBI agent to testify untruthfully before the grand jury, inserted material falsehoods into affidavits submitted to magistrate judges in support of applications for search warrants and seizure warrants, improperly reviewed e-mail communications between one Defendant and her lawyer, recklessly failed to comply […] -
7th Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Richard Posner, Rudeness, Screw-Ups, Texas
A Reverse Benchslap? Chastised Lawyer Lashes Out at Judge Posner
On Thanksgiving Day, while you were enjoying your turkey, we wrote about a different bird: namely, the ostrich. In a somewhat snarky opinion, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit compared a lawyer appearing before him to an ostrich. What did the lawyer in question have to say for himself? -
Benchslaps, Biglaw, Minority Issues, Pro Se Litigants, Racism
Benchslap of the Day: A Case of Having Too Much Flair
Remember Venus Springs? She's the former Mayer Brown associate who alleged discrimination and filed a Title VII complaint against the firm after being fired in September 2008. Well, she's back, and she's brought a whole new lawsuit to the table. So, who is Springs suing this time, and what are her allegations? We'll give you that information, plus the details of the benchslap associated with her latest case, after the jump.... -
7th Circuit, Admin, Announcements, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Food, Holidays and Seasons, Richard Posner, Screw-Ups
Thanksgiving Greetings from Above the Law!(And a bonus benchslap from Judge Posner.)
Happy Thanksgiving, from your friends at Above the Law. As always, we give thanks to our readers, our tipsters, our advertisers, and even our commenters. We also give thanks to Judge Richard Posner. This brilliant and hilarious jurist has just given us something to chuckle over as we munch on our Thanksgiving turkey. This opinion […] -
9th Circuit, Benchslaps, Clerkships, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Quote of the Day, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks
Benchslap of the Day: Justice Alito on the Ninth Circuit
If Learned Hand’s opinions are like the products of a bespoke tailor, the opinions coming out of the Ninth Circuit are like the products of a factory that is staffed by machines and menial workers who are overseen from afar by a handful of overworked managers. — Justice Samuel Alito, in a recent speech at […] -
5th Circuit, Benchslaps, Contests, D. Marvin Jones, Edith Jones, Law Professors, Lawyer of the Day, Murder, Prostitution, Reader Polls, Sex, Sex Scandals, Wall Street
Lawyer of the Month: September Reader Poll
Our candidates for the coveted Lawyer of the Month title have been a bit tame for the past few months. This time around, we’ve chosen some lawyers and law students who represent our more prurient interests and our unabashed love for scandal. Aficionados of hookers? We’ve got ’em. Vicious tongue lashings? We’ve got those, too. […]