Books
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Books, Deaths, Law Schools, Suicide
On The Anniversary Of His Death: Why Lawyers Love David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace captured the vices and virtues of a certain type of reader, a certain type of writer, a certain type of mind. -
Books, Football, Legal Ethics, Movies, Non-Sequiturs, Women's Issues
Non-Sequiturs: 09.11.14
* Our columnist Steve Dykstra opines that Roger Goodell is not going to get fired over the Ray Rice investigation/non-investigation. But what we really want to know from Dykstra is his opinion on how badly the West is going to beat the East in this year’s Grey Cup. [Steven Dykstra] * Apparently, we’ve been banned by Reddit. I think as editors we’ve posted on Reddit maybe 3 times in the last year, so it certainly isn’t our fault. Reddit notes “above the law will no longer be receiving traffic or page views from here,” which I guess is supposed to be a threat. Hey, don’t fault us just because our content is so good. *cue unimaginative trolling* [Reddit] * A discussion of gutless women. [The Careerist / The American Lawyer] * MGM might lose the rights to a pair of Clint Eastwood classics. Specifically, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, and Last Tango in Paris. [Hollywood, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter] * The winner of the Hofstra Law School Mystery Short Story Contest is “A Prisoner of Time” by Lucian E. Dervan. That sounds like a 1980s Doctor Who episode. [Mulholland Books] * Beau Brindley pleads not guilty to telling a witness to lie. So, that case is moving right along. [My Fox Chicago] * Vermont Law School cites children’s story books. [Law School Lemmings] * D.C. lawyer Jacob McDermott is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for LiveStrong. Check out his donation site. [LiveStrong] - Sponsored
Attention Buyer: Not All Legal AI Models Are Created Equal
Legal Gen AI – Uncover the best solution for your firm. -
Bonuses, Books, Clerkships, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Kellogg Huber, SCOTUS, Shameless Plugs, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks
Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Into 2016 We Go -- Plus SCOTUS Clerk Bonus News
Who are the latest Supreme Court clerks, and how high are signing bonuses going for outgoing SCOTUS clerks?
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Books, Football, Gay, Gay Marriage, Harvard, Morning Docket, Richard Posner, Sports
Morning Docket: 09.08.14
* It’s fun to keep suing the Redskins over their racist nickname. It’s also fun to watch the Washington Football Club get the snot beat out of them. [ABA Journal] * Legal aid… for inventor seeking venture capital. Everybody needs lawyers, folks. Nobody wants to pay for them. [San Jose Mercury News] * Goldman picks […]
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3rd Circuit, 7th Circuit, Biglaw, Books, Deaths, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Partner Issues
Morning Docket: 09.05.14
* A unanimous Seventh Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Posner, just struck down Wisconsin and Indiana’s bans on same-sex marriage. The result isn’t surprising in light of the blistering benchslaps delivered by Judge Posner at oral argument, but the timing is faster than usual (for a federal appellate opinion in a high-profile case, not for the prolific Posner). [BuzzFeed]
* Bad news for Cahill Gordon: the Third Circuit just revived a fraud case against the high-powered firm and one of its clients, a unit of BASF. [WSJ Law Blog]
* And badder news for BP: a federal judge just concluded that the oil giant was grossly negligent in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [New York Times]
* Freshfields gets fresh talent, adding former Wachtell partner Mitchell Presser and former Skadden partner James Douglas to its ranks. [American Lawyer]
* The dean of Seton Hall Law, Patrick Hobbs, will step down from the deanship at the end of the current academic year. Congratulations to Dean Hobbs on a long and successful tenure. [South Orange Juice]
* And congratulations to John Grisham and Jason Bailey, winners of, respectively, the 2014 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2014 ABA Journal/Ross Short Fiction Contest. [ABA Journal]
* Brittany McGrath, Brooklyn Law class of 2014, RIP. [TaxProf Blog]
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Books, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.25.14
* The Minnesota Republican party banned their own candidate for Supreme Court from the State Fair. I just feel bad that she’ll never know who won the prize pig competition. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune] * Lawyers are narcissists and that’s not good for their careers. [Law and More] * A writer figures out that American University’s Law School is a trap. [Washington City Paper] * Disturbing video of a judge ordering the illegal assault and arrest of a disabled, indigent litigant. The fact that this is the second “judge assaults a litigant” incident I’ve written about in a week is terrifying. [Sacramento Family Court News] * Steph Cha’s new tale of old school noir, Beware Beware (affiliate link), is now available. Its setting is “a picture of desolation, of crushed dreams dressed in grimy fourth-hand garments.” And yet, somehow she’s not talking about the last days of Dewey. [LA Times] * If you’re doing some kind of charity, do us a favor and shut up about it. [What About Clients] * A Connecticut lawyer was barred from ever representing women again for the rest of his career. Now he may be disbarred for breaking that simple condition. [Connecticut Law Tribune] -
Books, Education / Schools, Law Professors, Law Schools
Professors, The Cause Of, And Solution To, The Great Textbook Scam
Faculty are unlikely allies in the textbook wars. -
Barack Obama, Blogging, Books, Media and Journalism, Politics
Meet The Harvard Law Grad Who Wants Us To Sue Obama: A Conversation With Ben Shapiro
Should the Obama Administration be sued under RICO? A prominent young pundit makes the case. - Sponsored
How To Maximize Productivity With Westlaw Precision With CoCounsel
Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel helps legal professionals get a faster start to their research. Over time, that added productivity can lead to higher-quality research and… -
Books, Eugene Volokh, Law Schools, Shameless Plugs, Shopping, Shopping For Others, Technology
The Essential Law School Shopping Guide
When it comes to shopping for your law school needs, ATL has you covered. -
Books, Caption Contests, Constitutional Law, Contests, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Pictures, Reader Polls
Caption Contest Winner: A Sneaky Law Student’s Hidey-Hole
That's one way to study Constitutional Law... -
Books, Caption Contests, Contests, Law Schools, Pictures, Reader Polls
Caption Contest Finalists: A Sneaky Law Student’s Hidey-Hole
That's one way to study Constitutional Law... -
Books, Litigators, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
The 4 Rules Of Warfare (And Litigation)
Litigation is war. Here are some tips to help you along the way. -
Books, Caption Contests, Contests, Law Schools, Pictures
Caption Contest: A Sneaky Law Student's Hidey-Hole
Law students are the worst. What was this guy trying to hide?
Sponsored
How To Maximize Productivity With Westlaw Precision With CoCounsel
New Report - Are Small Firms Achieving Their Legal Tech Goals?
Attention Buyer: Not All Legal AI Models Are Created Equal
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Mitigating M&A Cyber Risk: Pre- & Post-Acquisition Due Diligence
The Ethical use of Generative AI
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Books, Constitutional Law, D.C. Circuit, Drinking, Health Care / Medicine, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Sexual Harassment, Television
Non-Sequiturs: 07.24.14
* Have you all called the Breaking Bad law firm number yet? Because it works, so go for it! [Legal Cheek] * How to make airlines more profitable: make everyone sit on bicycle seats! [Lowering the Bar] * Ilya Somin explains why the D.C. Circuit’s interpretation in Halbig isn’t absurd. And it’s not absurd. It just reflects the hilariously cynical conservative opposition to giving their own citizens tax breaks. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Ohio State fired its band director amid sexual harassment allegations. To fire a guy, Ohio State must have dotted every “i” in this investigation. [USA Today] * Speaking of sexual harassment, the Navy’s Blue Angels are the subject of a sexual harassment suit. And somehow it involves a blue and gold penis seen from space. [Slate] * The Chevron battle over Ecuador continues. Turns out the star witness Chevron paid upwards of $1 million to testify took 50 days of prep to finally get his ever-shifting story straight. [Huffington Post] * There’s a new book out called Kate’s Escape from the Billable Hour (affiliate link). We haven’t read it, but apparently this tale of “a burnt-out, second-year attorney working in the dysfunctional world of Big Law” mentions ATL. So they definitely did their research. [Amazon] * Watch a drunk guy give cops a lesson in Con Law. Video after the jump…. [Barstool Sports] -
9/11, Books, Federal Judges, Jed Rakoff, S.D.N.Y., War on Terror
The Mother Court: Tales Of Cases That Mattered In America's Greatest Trial Court
The Southern District of New York: a great trial court, or the greatest trial court? -
Basketball, Benchslaps, Books, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 07.07.14
* Mitchell Epner breaks down the Donald Sterling trial, which kicked off today. Or “tipped off” today. [CNBC] * Judge Kopf reviews Keith Lee’s The Marble and the Sculptor. Keith can take heart that His Honor didn’t tell him to STFU. [Hercules and the Umpire] * MoloLamken offers its comprehensive review of the Supreme Court’s recently concluded adventures from the perspective of businesses. Spoiler alert: businesses did really, really well. [MoloLamken] * Former seminary dean lied about his religious background and then tried to sue the guy who called him out on it. Benchslapping ensued in a fee decision: “Plaintiff’s sparse trickle of written argument gave way at the hearing to an overflow of objectively unreasonable claims…. Plaintiff either cast unsupported aspersions or asserted boldfaced contradictions, adopting whatever narrative best served him at the time.” In fairness, those sound like they might be assets in organized religion. [Religion Posts] * If you want to know what’s up in the energy sector, Breaking Energy now has a “Law Firms Perspective” feed. [Breaking Energy] * Discretion is the better part of valor: gamblers turned down around $1.5 million payout to sue casino for illegal detention… and then lost. [ATL Redline] * I’ve said before that I find the concept of legal tattoos fascinating. This one is incredibly meta…. -
Books, Law Professors, Law Schools, Movies
A Popular Institution Makes A Major Move
What's motivating this move? -
Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Books, Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, Headhunters / Recruiters, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court, Travel / Vacation
Underneath Their Robes: A Detailed Dive Into The Justices' Financial Disclosures
How well are the Supreme Court justices doing financially? Pretty darn well.... -
Books, Caption Contests, Celebrities, Contests, Hillary Clinton, Pictures, Politics, Sonia Sotomayor
Caption Contest Winner: Hillary Clinton's Hardest Choice?
Hillary Clinton is so "dead broke" she has to sign books at Costco. -
Books, Canada, Death Penalty, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Non-Sequiturs, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 06.18.14
* Donald Trump slapped with sanctions. [South Florida Lawyers] * The very, very, very long arm of Canadian jurisdiction. [Slate] * Alafair Burke, author of All Day and a Night (affiliate link), lists her favorite “lawyers are people too” books. In other words, fiction. [Omnivoracious] * The latest assault on Hillary Clinton — dusting off an old story about a particularly nasty case where she served as a court-appointed attorney — is the latest in a string of political attacks on the foundation of the criminal defense system. [Washington Post] * Tomorrow, the Family Violence Appellate Project is throwing a battle of the bands! “Banding Together To End Domestic Violence” features bands from law firms and businesses competing at San Francisco’s 1015 Folsom club. Voting is “Chicago-style,” with each vote $1. Buy tickets and submit “votes” at their website. [Family Violence Appellate Project] * Professor Glenn Cohen of Harvard Law appeared on Rachel Maddow last night to discuss whether or not doctors should participate in executions. I guess no one would be around to complain about the six-month-old issue of People in the waiting area. Video below. [Rachel Maddow Show]