Deaths
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Deaths, Football, Law Schools, LLMs, Morning Docket, Student Loans, Twittering, U.S. News
Morning Docket: 03.23.12
* Joe Amendola has filed a motion to dismiss the child sex abuse charges against his client, Jerry Sandusky. And if he actually thinks that’s going to happen, then he definitely needs to call 1-800-REALITY. [Associated Press]
* @AllenStanford’s motion for a #newtrial has been denied. The Ponzi schemer’s “conviction by journo tweet” argument has failed. Major props to Judge David Hittner for issuing a ruling in less than 140 characters. [Bloomberg]
* Everyone’s obsessed with the U.S. News law school rankings, but here’s a ranking that people should actually be paying attention to: the law schools that lead to the most debt. [The Short List / U.S. News and World Report]
* This defunct firm’s homeless Halloween party just won’t be as fun this year. Steven J. Baum P.C. has to fork over $4M to settle a probe over its alleged foreclosure abuses. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* St. John’s Law is planning to launch two new LL.M. programs, neither of which is in tax. This is newsworthy because people will apply anyway, and then bitch about the “value” of their degree. [National Law Journal]
* John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, RIP. [NAACP LDF]
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Crime, Deaths, Guns / Firearms, Minority Issues, Racism
Are 'Stand Your Ground' and 'Defense of Home' Laws Racist?
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Charlotte, Crime, Deaths
New Interviews Might Help the Charlotte Law 2L Charged with Murder
Kenan Gay's lawyers start to tell a different story about the man Gay allegedly pushed into traffic.
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Deaths, Education / Schools, Privacy, Trials
BREAKING: Verdict in the Dharun Ravi Case
Dharun Ravi has been charged with a number of counts of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation because of the events surrounding Clementi's suicide. On March 16, the jury reached its verdict.... -
Biglaw, Deaths, Federal Judges, Health Care / Medicine, Money, Morning Docket, Privacy, Rankings, SCOTUS, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Supreme Court, Trials
Morning Docket: 03.14.12
* Who will play starring roles in the Obamacare arguments before SCOTUS? A bunch of older white guys. Good thing this isn’t televised, because the ratings would probably suck. [Legal Times]
* The judiciary is on the cusp of a “financial crisis,” and some trials may be put on hold. That, or they’re just going to get rid of people. Which do you think it’ll be? [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* When rankings like these are available, who cares about U.S. News? Here’s a list of the law schools you should go to if you want to actually make bank as a lawyer. [Forbes]
* Covington & Burling is the latest Biglaw firm to sign up for an office in Seoul. Memo to partners: this is not the spring “bonus” your associates care about. [Capital Business Blog / Washington Post]
* The jury in the Dharun Ravi privacy trial is set to begin its deliberations this morning. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that room — or, more on point, a webcam. [Statehouse Bureau]
* Thomas Puccio, a former Biglaw partner known for his notorious clientele, RIP. [New York Times]
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Charlotte, Crime, Deaths, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
Law Student Charged With Murder Claims It Was All About A Girl
The law student accused of murder claims that the alleged victim was harassing his girlfriend... -
Charlotte, Crime, Deaths, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
2L Charged With Murder: A Case of Student v. Townie Rage?
They say campus security starts in the admissions office, but no admissions committee can truly screen out all of the bad apples. The community at Charlotte School of Law (not to be confused with UNC-Charlotte) is in a state of shock. A current student there was charged with murder following a bar fight.... -
Blogging, Deaths, Politics, Television
In Re: Andrew Breitbart
Four weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart would have been in the running for people Elie Mystal would be least concerned about if they happened to die. And it's not like Mystal had any kind of political conversion, and he doesn't have a particular soft spot for saying nice things about dead people just because they died. So why in the hell is he about to say something nice-ish about Andrew Breitbart? - Sponsored
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11th Circuit, 7th Circuit, Cellphones, Deaths, Immigration, Media and Journalism, Morning Docket, Privacy, Richard Posner, Technology, Tobacco / Smoking, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Morning Docket: 03.01.12
* A federal judge tossed out a law requiring tobacco companies to put graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. If paying $7 a pack doesn’t stop you from buying smokes, I don’t think nasty photos will either. [CNN]
* SCOTUS won’t deal with Arizona’s controversial immigration law for a couple months, but the 11th Circuit will hear oral arguments about Alabama’s even stricter law today. But why would you immigrate to Alabama, of all places? Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* The Seventh Circuit ruled that police can search a cellphone for its number without a warrant. Judge Richard Posner compared it to law enforcement’s ability to open a pocket diary and copy the owner’s address. The bigger question is: do drug dealers keep diaries? [Wall Street Journal]
* James Murdoch, the News Corp. heir apparent, has resigned in the wake of the News of the World scandal and related lawsuits. Now everyone can just go back to reading British tabloids for the Page Three Girls. [Los Angeles Times]
* RIP Lynn D. “Buck” Compton, the prosecutor who secured a conviction of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, and the Army paratrooper portrayed in the book and HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” [Washington Post]
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Cars, Deaths, Drinking, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms
Associate Killed in Dramatic Drunken Car Crash
Last night, a dramatic scene unfolded in the parking lot of a movie theater. A suspected drunk driver allegedly took off without his headlights on, hit two police cruisers, terrified several witnesses, and then slammed his car into a tree, killing himself. The driver was a graduate of a top law school and an associate at a law firm.... -
Art, Deaths, Morning Docket, Movies, Real Estate, Sex Scandals, Student Loans, Suicide
Morning Docket: 02.27.12
* It’s hard to get a mortgage if you have a lot of student debt, even if you make a lot of money. Who needs a house anyway? Your advanced degree will keep you warm. [BusinessWeek]
* A civil trial over BP’s Gulf Oil spill was supposed to start today, but it was postponed at the last minute. Is it just me or does it smell like settlement in here? [New York Times]
* As if anyone needed another reason to never take a Carnival Cruise… [CNN]
* The Catholic Church just couldn’t handle sharing its ignominious spotlight with Penn State any longer. Attorneys allege that the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, former Archbishop of Philadelphia, destroyed a list of 35 active priests accused of child sexual abuse. [Washington Post]
* Some movie with no sound, color, explosions, or giant robots won a bunch of Academy Awards last night. I can’t say I care too much. Here’s a rundown of some classic cine con lawyers instead. [ABA Journal]
* Advice for art collectors: CHECK YOU PROVENANCE. [New York Times]
* Michael Rothenberg, executive director of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, RIP. [New York Law Journal]
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Deaths, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Trials
Non-Sequiturs: 02.24.12
* So, your colleague or family member dies, suddenly, after allegedly being worked into the ground. But it’s my blog post about it that “turned the sad situation into a nightmare”? I think instead of lamenting for a fluff piece in a local paper, the media geniuses at Dinsmore should respond to a legitimate press inquiry. [West Virginia Record] * The Dharun Ravi trial is under way. I’ll be calling it the Ravi trial, not the Tyler Clementi trial. Because Tyler Clementi is the kid that tragically killed himself, while Dharun Ravi is the very much alive person who has already had his life ruined even thought he didn’t kill anybody. [Metropolis] * Are law firms finally starting to make money off of their investments in social media? [Legal Blog Watch] * HoLove is getting a Brazilian. [Legal Week] * Mmm… Section 230. [Paid Content.org] * Does pot make you less productive, or does lack of productivity make you smoke pot? Or, man, have you ever thought that, like, maybe the pot was smoking you, or something? [What About Clients?] * If you go to the second hour of this show, at about the 33-minute mark, you’ll hear me start to absolutely lose my mind over the Supreme Court’s decision to grant cert in Fisher. [WBEZ] -
Biglaw, Deaths, Federal Judges, Food, Law Professors, Money, Morning Docket, Privacy, SCOTUS, Stephen Breyer, Suicide, Supreme Court, Television
Morning Docket: 02.21.12
* Vedel Browne has been charged in the machete robbery of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. He faces up to 20 years if convicted, and with that sentence, we’re betting he wishes he got away with more than $1,000. [CNN] * ¡Viva México! These days, Mexico’s got more than just drug cartels, violence, and prison […]
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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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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Deaths, Labor / Employment, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Ohio State - Moritz College of Law, Small Law Firms
Associate's Death Raises Questions About Work/Life Balance at Law Firms
Stress can be just as deleterious to your health when working at a regional firm as it is when you work for a truly huge firm. This week, we've been fielding a bunch of reports about an associate who passed away at home after working what some tipsters report as maniac hours at his regional law firm the week before. It's a sad story, one that some accuse the law firm of trying to cover up, but it's another opportunity for us to remind readers to take care of themselves even when work seems overwhelming.... -
Abortion, Biglaw, Deaths, Free Speech, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Plaintiffs Firms, Privacy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Videos
Morning Docket: 02.13.12
* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks Roe v. Wade was a mistimed ruling, saying things would be different today if the court had been more “restrained.” Well, wire hanger sales would be up, that’s for sure. [CBS News] * Bait and switch of the day: personal injury firms are enticing plaintiffs to sue with promises […]
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Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, California, Deaths, Litigators, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: 'There’s a Practice Guide for That'
Tom Wallerstein's firm, like most firms in California, has a series of Rutter guides on its shelves. And even though he runs a virtually paperless office, he still loves his printed Rutter guides. Wallerstein even has a joke about Rutter. Whenever a colleague questions his ability to solve a particular issue, he jokes, “I’m sure there’s a Rutter Guide for that.” The joke has a serious point, namely, that the basics of most practice areas can always be learned. And if it’s easy enough to learn a practice area, why shouldn’t a lawyer forming a small firm become a true generalist; handling everything from family law, wills and trusts, civil, criminal, and essentially whatever walks in the door? -
Deaths, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Suicide
Apparent Attorney Suicide in Chicago
This is a gruesome story and sad story. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a 78-year-old man jumped out of his office at 111 W. Washington Street. The man, an attorney, apparently jumped out of his office at the Burnham Center, which is across the street from City Hall in Chicago. We'll have more details as they become available.... -
Bail, Crime, Death Penalty, Deaths, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
Arraignment Date Set for Stephen McDaniel in Lauren Giddings Murder Case
Stephen M. McDaniel, the Mercer Law School graduate accused of killing classmate Lauren Giddings, made an appearance in court this morning. As you may recall, Giddings’s decapitated torso was found on June 30 in Macon, Georgia, and thus far, police have been unable to recover the rest of her body. Last month, we mentioned that […] -
Deaths, Federal Judges, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.24.12
* Everybody is having a pants party today over these five careers U.S. News thinks you can do with a law degree. But here’s the thing, for every one J.D. holder who fills one of these positions despite their law degree, I can name ten people who have the same job and DIDN’T have to […]