D.C. Circuit

  • Biglaw, D.C. Circuit, Divorce Train Wrecks, Fashion, Health Care / Medicine, Labor / Employment, Law Firm Mergers, Morning Docket, Nude Dancing

    Morning Docket: 11.17.14

    * When Loretta Lynch still worked at Hogan & Hartson (now known as Hogan Lovells thanks to a merger), her colleagues described her as a warm person without “a political bone in her body.” That said, best of luck to her in D.C. [National Law Journal]

    * The D.C. Circuit upheld the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive opt-out plan for religious employers, but since “[t]he court is wrong,” we can count on a at least a few organizations that’ll refuse to comply. Gee, thanks a lot, Obama. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Some call the latest Biglaw tie-up “law-firm Darwinism,” but hey, “[i]t’s not like [Bingham’s] a wounded gazelle and we are pouncing on them,” says a too coy Morgan Lewis lawyer. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

    * Fashion law may be a $985 billion global industry, but only five law school courses on the topic exist in the U.S. Why? “There’s no defensible reason except that fashion is perceived as a frivolous subject.” [AFP]

    * This woman plans to appeal a $1 billion divorce settlement award because it’s not “fair and equitable.” In her defense, she did get a very small percentage of her ex-husband’s multibillion-dollar wealth. [People]

    * Wage and hour laws have never been so sexy: Thanks to this court ruling, Rick’s Cabaret is going to have to make it rain on thousands of strippers to the tune of more than $10 million. [New York Times]

  • Courthouses, D.C. Circuit, Department of Justice, Election Law, Environment / Environmental Law, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, Privacy, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.03.14

    * Floridian women lawyers got their wish: Bad Judge, plagued by bad ratings, is getting canceled. [Daily Business Review] * A round-up of write-ups about today’s oral arguments in the Israel / Jerusalem passport case. [How Appealing] * Interesting reflections from Professor Glenn Reynolds on the controversial catcalling video. [USA Today via Instapundit] * Things are bats**t insane — literally — at this Utah courthouse. [Gawker] * The D.C. Circuit gives the EPA its way on cross-state air pollution. [Breaking Energy] * Election monitors from the Justice Department: possibly coming to a jurisdiction near you (including Bergen County, New Jersey, where I grew up). [BuzzFeed] * Can cops force suspects to use their fingerprints to unlock their cellphones? Eric Crusius and Lisa Giovinazzo debate, after the jump. [Fox News]
  • Alex Kozinski, Biglaw, D.C. Circuit, Health Care / Medicine, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 08.21.14

    * Judge John D. Bates wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committee leadership “on behalf of the Judiciary” explaining why it’s important to keep FISA an opaque Star Chamber. Chief Judge Kozinsky, um, disagrees with that “on behalf” part, and calls out Judge Bates in this letter for mouthing off where he has absolutely no authority. [Just Security] * The twisted, contradictory, desperate logic behind Halbig. In GIF form!!! [Buzzfeed] * Two InfiLaw schools, Florida Coastal and our Twitter buddies at Charlotte, are offering refunds to students who perpetually fail the bar as well as a refund to students who don’t get clerkships or externships. That’s nice. A whole $10,000 for failing the bar twice and $2000 for not landing a position. Don’t bother comparing that too how much the students shelled out for their degrees because it’s too depressing. [JD Journal] * Do you want to know how to survive Biglaw? [2Civility] * Interesting advice on how to best take advantage of the more informal rules of mediation — let your clients build the narrative. [Katz Justice] * Judge gives a speech and suggests a woman should become a phone sex operator. That’ll work out well for him. [Journal Gazette] * Maybe we should be getting law degrees as undergrads? That way we might have minors that employers will care about. [Chronicle of Higher Education] * Geez, lots of judges in trouble today — here’s an elected judge accused of lying about where she lived to get elected. She denies it, but her filings list three different addresses. Oops. [Times-Picayune]
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  • 2nd Circuit, 4th Circuit, Copyright, D.C. Circuit, Food, Gay, Gay Marriage, Health Care / Medicine, Immigration, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Rankings, Rape, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.28.14

    * Have you heard that Staci invited Justice Ginsburg to her wedding? [TIME] * The Fourth Circuit welcomes Virginia to the fold of marriage equality. [National Law Journal] * What might be the biggest insider trading case ever hinges on Greenberg Traurig. [New York Post] * Most exciting of all is that we may never need to hear the depressing “copyright-free” Happy Birthday song ever again. [boingboing] * With all the fire-breathing over the humanitarian crisis at the Mexican border, Texas Judge Clay Jenkins stands out for being reasonable. “I don’t feel like we have to solve the border crisis for a terrified child to be shown some compassion.” Why don’t we hear about more people like Judge Jenkins? This article suggests there’s a deeper problem with the media. [Dallas Observer] * I’ve been beating the drum that the Obamacare cases aren’t bound for SCOTUS because the D.C. Circuit will reverse Halbig en banc. The contrary view is that the Supreme Court may not let the lack of a real circuit split stand in its way. [Constitutional Accountability Center] * Outrage over the government’s school lunch health standards have Republicans fighting back at the state level. Remember, we need fatass kids because… freedom! [National Journal] * The Second Circuit approved antibiotics in animal feed for animals that aren’t even sick. Enjoy your superbugs! [Kitchenette / Jezebel] * Judge allegedly fell asleep during a child rape case. It’s not like it’s an important case or anything. [Gawker] * Gaming the rankings — not just for law schools any more. [The Kansas City Star] * Karen Mantler can’t afford her lawyer. And she’s singing about it. After the jump…. [WNYC Spinning On Air]
  • Advertising, American Bar Association / ABA, D.C. Circuit, Health Care / Medicine, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Pets, Racism, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.25.14

    * Proximate cause and the Incredible Hulk. Whatever, everyone knows Kirby was the real brains behind Palsgraf. [The Legal Geeks] * Someone is having fun with their RFAs: Admit… that we are going to whip the dog piss out of you. We were specifically chided: “please don’t say ‘only in Arkansas,’” so we won’t. You should feel free to say exactly that though. [Hawg Law Blog] * Not really surprising, but patent trolling is the worst it has ever been. I’ll sit here and wait for the New York Times to blame millennials. [io9] * The most important Supreme Court decision you’ve never heard of! Well, except I have heard of it. In fact, there was a year-long college debate topic about it. But it’s still important. [Washington Post] * What’s the appropriate sentence for having a dog off a leash? Confining the guy to a seven-county area? [LA Weekly] * Things to do in Denver when you’re a lawyer: allegedly scam a few million off a client. [Denver Post] * Meet the lawyer who came up with the quirky reading that got the D.C. Circuit to temporarily derail Obamacare. [Wall Street Journal] * Meanwhile, this title says it all about Halbig: “Well, Conjecture, Tendentious Misreadings, and Cherry Picking Are Kinds of Evidence.” Pour a little out for Lionel Hutz. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * Everyday we (the ABA) hustlin’. [Law and More]
  • 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]
  • 4th Circuit, D.C. Circuit, Gay, Guns / Firearms, Health Care / Medicine, Non-Sequiturs, Police

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.23.14

    * Looming legal battle over the confidentiality agreement at the center of lawsuit over which team John Travolta plays for. [Gawker] * The fallout from yesterday’s Obamacare Appellageddon continues. The D.C. Circuit and the Fourth Circuit are going to have some awkward parties until this gets resolved. [Federal Regulations Advisor] * Somebody got confused and thought that Stand Your Ground laws applied to protect black people. [News 4 Jax] * In Louisiana, a justice of the peace is given public money to hire all their staff and buy all their equipment and pay themselves whatever salary they want out of the remainder. One guy had a very clever idea about how to allocate that money and it set off a legal fight. Oh, and apparently the best job in Louisiana is to be a constable. So now you know. [Times-Picayune] * Do you know the 12 Rules of Client Service? Are you at least ready to fight over them? [What About Clients?] * Newark police can’t even come up with constitutional excuses for 75 percent of what they do. [Slate] * Lululemon figured that patent trolls were onto something and patented its clothing designs and aggressively pursues anyone who dares design a tank top with a built-in bra. Who would ever have thought of such an original idea? [Jezebel] * The University of California is increasing non-resident enrollment for budget reasons. Law schools presumably follow suit. [TaxProf Blog]

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