Disasters / Emergencies
-
Akin Gump, Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Money, Public Interest, Small Law Firms
More Law Firms Support Typhoon Haiyan Relief Efforts
Which law firms -- large and small, domestic and international -- are supporting Philippine typhoon relief efforts? -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Money, Public Interest
A Biglaw Firm Gives Big Support To Typhoon Haiyan Relief
Which Biglaw behemoth just cut a big check for Philippine typhoon relief? - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Books, Career Alternatives, Disasters / Emergencies, Gay, Gay Marriage, House Judiciary Committee, Law Firm Mergers, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Patents, Sandra Day O'Connor, SCOTUS, Sex, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 10.30.13
* Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has joined Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in being one of the only justices to perform a same-sex marriage. No divas here: the wedding ceremony was held at the high court because “[t]hat’s where she was.” [BuzzFeed]
* “Proceed with caution.” David Kappos, the former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, isn’t too keen on the latest patent reform bill that’s currently before the House Judiciary Committee. If only the man still had a say. [National Law Journal]
* Dentons and McKenna Long & Aldridge have released a joint statement to ensure the public that the proposed merger is still on. Good news, everyone! The firm won’t be named McDentons. [Am Law Daily]
* Ralph Lerner, formerly of Sidley Austin, has been slapped on the wrist suspended from practice in New York for one year’s time after improperly billing car service to clients to the tune of $50,000. [Am Law Daily]
* It’s been a year since Superstorm Sandy, and lawyers are still counseling their clients on how to muddle through the mess. Volunteer some pro bono hours and help out those in need. [New York Law Journal]
* After threatening to cut faculty positions, New England Law Dean John O’Brien is taking a 25 percent pay cut. He’ll only earn $650,000. Wow. I think we’re supposed to be impressed. [Boston Business Journal]
* Career alternatives for attorneys: rescuer of nerd relics. Head to this Brooklyn book store (of course it’s in Brooklyn) if you’re desperately seeking long lost science fiction tales. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* We bet that folks in Australia would like to tell the the High Court to bugger off after overturning this ruling. Sexual injuries that occur during work-related trips don’t qualify for workers’ compensation. [Bloomberg]
-
Animal Law, Canada, Disasters / Emergencies, Quote of the Day
Lawyer Gets Attacked By Polar Bear And Lives To Tell About It
There's no warding off a polar bear attack. Trust this guy, he would know. -
Airplanes / Aviation, Biglaw, Billable Hours, California, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Patents, Pranks, SCOTUS, Sexual Harassment, Supreme Court, Television, Trials
Morning Docket: 07.15.13
* Size matters when it comes to hourly rates. Because when you work in Biglaw, it’ll be all the more odious for your poor clients when you “churn that bill, baby.” [Corporate Counsel]
* Would you want this Cadwalader cad, a former mail room supervisor, at your “erotic disposal”? The object of his affections didn’t want him either, and she’s suing. [New York Daily News]
* In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, the NAACP is pressing for federal charges and a civil suit may be in the works. This trial isn’t over in the court of public opinion. [Bloomberg]
* This experience inspired George Zimmerman, fresh off his acquittal, to go to law school to help the wrongfully accused. If it makes you feel better, when he graduates, he’ll be unemployed. [Reuters]
* Here’s the lesson learned by Prop 8 proponents: If at first you don’t succeed at the Supreme Court, try, try again at the state level and base your arguments on technicalities. [Los Angeles Times]
* You do not want this patent troll — one of the most notorious in the country — to “go thug” on you. Apparently this is just another danger of alleged infringement in the modern world. [New York Times]
* Asiana Airlines is considering suing the NTSB and a California television station over the airing of “inaccurate and offensive” information (read: wildly racist) about the pilots of Flight 214. [CNN]
* Ariel Castro was slapped with an additional 648 counts in the kidnapping case against him, bringing the total to 977. Prosecutors are not yet seeking the death penalty. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
-
Canada, Cars, Disasters / Emergencies, Lawyer of the Day
Lawyer Abandons Ferrari to Get to Hearing on Time
Would you leave your luxury car to be filled with raw sewage to get to court on time? -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Real Estate
Electrical Fire Forces Evacuation of Several Biglaw Offices
Lawyers need to get out of their offices more, but these are not the ideal circumstances. -
Affirmative Action, Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Election Law, Gay Marriage, Insurance, Job Searches, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Morning Docket: 05.29.13
* This year, like every year before it, SCOTUS is saving the best cases (read: most controversial) for last. We’ll likely see opinions on voting rights, affirmative action, and gay marriage in June. [WSJ Law Blog]
* We know of at least one Biglaw firm that will be putting its increase in gross revenue to work. Boies Schiller is planning to open its first office outside of the United States in the “near-term.” [Am Law Daily]
* If you’d like to get paid under a terrorism insurance policy for your damages in the Boston bombings, you’ll have to wait; the bombings haven’t been certified as acts of terror yet. [National Law Journal]
* Mandatory pro bono work is now required for bar admission in New York, but it’s still not enough to close the justice gap. Now Chief Judge Lippman wants to give non-lawyers a chance to provide legal services. [New York Law Journal]
* Arizona Law recently made the announcement that interim dean Marc Miller has been instated as the school’s permanent dean. What’s not to like about a “new” dean and new tuition cuts? [UANews]
* As many of our readers know, the job market is rough, but apparently if you take some compliance classes in law school, you’ll magically become employable. Great success! [Corporate Counsel]
* Brooklyn Law, do you remember what your old dorm looked like? It’s different now that it’s been transformed into an apartment complex that’s no longer stained with the tears of law students. [Curbed]
- Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Abortion, BP, Disasters / Emergencies
Things That Have Been Thrown Out Potpourri
If you don't like something, wait and the courts will probably overturn it. -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Federal Judges, Gender, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Murder, Pregnancy / Paternity, Tax Law, Technology, Trials, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Women's Issues, You Go Girl
Morning Docket: 05.21.13
* Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Oklahoma. [CNN]
* The IRS and the Treasury Department better watch out, because it seems that the “next logical step” for the tea party victims of heightened scrutiny leads right up the courthouse stairs. [ABC News]
* #Whatshouldwecallme after advising on the $1.1 billion Yahoo/Tumblr deal? Kind of a big deal. The Biglaw firms doing the underlying legal work are Simpson Thatcher and Gunderson Dettmer. [Am Law Daily]
* The Mirena MDL judge thinks female attorneys should be on the all-male executive committee. If this is “strategic gender placement,” the strategy is to look bad publicly. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* The Travers Smith trainee who was fired for getting pregnant is due in court this June to find out what type of compensation she’ll receive for being discriminated against by the firm. You go girl! [Daily Mail]
* Wherein the parents of a 0L who’s got doubts about her employment prospects are counseled that she can “work not just in law.” ::facepalm:: [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* There’s trouble in paradise: lawyers in the Jodi Arias case unsuccessfully attempted to get a mistrial and withdraw from representation — for the second time — during its punishment phase. [Fox News]
-
Disasters / Emergencies, Plaintiffs Firms, Quote of the Day
Because Boats With Bullet Holes Don't Float Very Well
Will you chip in to get a new boat for the guy who found the suspected Boston Marathon bomber in his backyard? -
Disasters / Emergencies, Immigration, Quote of the Day
This Senator Thinks It's a Great Time to Be Afraid of Foreigners
Because there's nothing like exploiting a tragedy to try to make your point. -
Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Law Schools, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Twittering, Violence
Is Suspect #2 in the Boston Bombings a Law Student?
A fake Twitter account briefly gave law students a bad name.
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
-
Constitutional Law, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies
Do I Really Need To Explain To Fox News Why Miranda Warnings Are Important?
Today's homework is that you have to remind a non-lawyer friend that Miranda warnings are how we achieve justice, not how we frustrate it. -
Courthouses, Disasters / Emergencies
Federal Courthouse in Boston Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
This is a developing story, and we'll update you as we learn more. -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Divorce Train Wrecks, Edwards Wildman, Guns / Firearms, Job Searches, Law Schools, Litigatrix, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 04.16.13
* Without issuing any reasoning, the justices of the Supreme Court gave a thumbs down to New York’s “de facto ban” on carrying guns in public, prompting members of the National Rifle Association to poop their pants. [New York Times]
* Now that Mary Jo White is the chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Debevoise has picked her successor to act as co-chair of the litigation department. Congratulations go out to Mary Beth Hogan. [DealBook / New York Times]
* In its latest court filings, Ropes & Gray explains why failing to give its “token black associate” a recommendation letter wasn’t an act of retaliation. That’ll surely be an interesting read. [Am Law Daily]
* A former client sues a major law firm, raising fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and other claims. [Bailey & Glasser (press release and complaint)]
* Boston Biglaw firms — like Dechert, Edwards Wildman, and Foley & Lardner — were “really shaken” by yesterday’s blasts, but report that all employees are safe and accounted for. [National Law Journal]
* Six out of 10 of the 4,967 class of 2012 graduates from New York’s law schools were able to find full-time, long-term positions as lawyers nine months after graduation. Yay? [New York Law Journal]
* Secrets, secrets are no fun; secrets, secrets hurt… someone’s wallet. Sorry, Jamie McCourt, but all of the secret MLB documents concerning the Dodgers’ $2 billion sale will remain secret. [Bloomberg]
-
Boutique Law Firms, Disasters / Emergencies, Email Scandals, Litigatrix, Partner Issues, Rudeness, Small Law Firms
Faruqi & Faruqi: A Kinder, Gentler Law Firm?
Do you think small law firms are always "nicer" workplaces than large firms? Not necessarily, if these emails are any indication.... -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: This Good Samaritan Deserves a Raise from Kirkland & Ellis!
Biglaw with an even bigger heart: this records assistant is a real hero! -
2nd Circuit, Abortion, Bar Exams, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Books, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Holland & Knight, Job Searches, Joe Biden, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Parties, Politics, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Student Loans, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 01.22.13
* “Given health care, I don’t care if he speaks in tongues.” Chief Justice John Roberts botched Barack Obama’s presidential oath at his first inauguration, but this time he managed to get it right. [New York Times]
* What was more important to Justice Sonia Sotomayor than swearing in Joe Biden as VP at noon on Sunday? Signing books at Barnes & Noble in New York City. Not-so wise Latina. [Los Angeles Times]
* D.C. Biglaw firms — like Holland & Knight, Covington, K&L Gates, and Jones Day — allowed others to bask in their prestige at their swanky inauguration parties. [Capital Business / Washington Post]
* It’s been 40 years since SCOTUS made its ruling in Roe v. Wade, and this is what we’ve got to show for it: a deep moral divide over women being able to do what they want with their own bodies. [Huffington Post]
* The latest weapon in the fight against terrorism is the legal system. The Second Circuit recently issued a major blow to those seeking to finance militant attacks in secret. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* “Firms don’t just hire a body anymore.” The 2012 BLS jobs data is in, and if you thought employment in the legal sector was going to magically bounce back to pre-recession levels, you were delusional. [Am Law Daily]
* Three months have come and gone since Hurricane Sandy rocked law firm life as we know it in Manhattan, but firms like Fragomen and Gordon & Rees are still stuck in temporary offices. [New York Law Journal]
* This seems like it may be too good to be true, but it looks like New York’s chief judge may be on board to grant law students bar eligibility after the completion of only two years of law school. [National Law Journal]
* Law professors may soon be in for a nasty surprise when it comes to their salaries if their schools follow Vermont Law’s lead and remove them as salaried employees, paying only on a part-time basis. [Valley News]
* Resorting to a life of crime in order to pay off your law school debt is never a good thing — unless you’re doing it while waring a Bucky Badger hat. We’ll probably have more on this later. [Wisconsin State Journal]
-
Biglaw, Celebrities, Disasters / Emergencies, Drugs, Federal Government, Harold Koh, Harris Beach, Holidays and Seasons, Job Searches, Law Firm Mergers, Law Professors, Law Schools, Marijuana, Morning Docket, Music, Musical Chairs, Parties, State Department
Morning Docket: 12.10.12
* “The people who are paying us say this is what we want.” When it comes to cross-border mergers, law firms aren’t becoming behemoths for the hell of it. The end goal is to be able to edge out the rest of the competition. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* It’s been six weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, and “[e]verybody wants to go back downtown,” but some Biglaw firms in New York City — firms like Harris Beach and Cahill Gordon — are still stuck in their temporary offices. [New York Law Journal]
* Following Jeh Johnson’s adieu to the DoD, drone-loving Harold Koh will be packing up his office at the State Department and returning to Yale Law to resume his professorship next month. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector is employing 5,800 more people than it was at this time last year. We’d be in good shape if 40,000 people hadn’t graduated law school in May. [Am Law Daily]
* Another day, another wrist slap: Villanova Law has been placed on probation for by the Association of American Law Schools over its grade-inflation scandal. Does that even mean anything? [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* The Lanier Law Firm, known for its spectacular Christmas parties, hosted some country superstars at this year’s event. Guess we know where Faith Hill and Tim McGraw go for legal assistance. [Houston Chronicle]
* A slim majority of American adults think that federal government employees should just sit back, relax, and smoke a bowl instead of enforcing federal laws against marijuana use. [FiveThirtyEight / New York Times]
* “I’m sorry they are confused in the White House.” Puerto Rico’s statehood referendum received a majority of votes, but lawmakers say the results of the two-part plebiscite are too confusing to add a 51st state. [CNN]