Federal Judges
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Federal Judges, Linda Greenhouse, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Should Supreme Court Opinions Be Anonymous?
That’s the question posed by Linda Greenhouse, former Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times, in an extremely interesting post on the Opinionator blog. In attempting to address “why other countries [don’t] suffer from the same toxic confirmation battles that we do,” she first notes that other nations don’t give their judges life tenure: […] -
Asians, Denny Chin, Federal Judges, U.S. Attorneys Offices
Congratulations to Judge Denny Chin!(As well as Judge Vanaskie, and five new U.S. Attorneys.)
We have a special place in our hearts for Judge Denny Chin (S.D.N.Y.). Last year, we dressed up as Judge Chin for Halloween (see right). Alas, even though Judge Chin has presided over some major matters — such as the Bernie Madoff case, in which he gave the Ponzi schemer 150 years, and the Google […] - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage
The Prop 8 Judge May Be Gay: Does It Matter?
We first heard about this months ago — back in September, from another speaker at the Lavender Law conference. We didn’t mention it at the time, though, since we’re not that comfortable outing people. But now that the cat has been let out of the bag — or closet, as the case may be — […]
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Federal Judges, G. Thomas Porteous, Judge of the Day, Legal Ethics
Impeachment Looms for Judge Thomas Porteous
Judge G. Thomas Porteous (E.D. La.), the only Judge of the Day Hall of Fame honoree who is still actually a judge, may soon join Edward Nottingham, Samuel Kent and Elizabeth Halverson as a former judge. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune: The House Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved four articles of impeachment against U.S. District […] -
Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Technology, Trials, Videos
Cameras in the Prop 8 Courtroom: Why Not?
A disclaimer: we’re not sure how we feel about Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal constitutional challenge brought by superlawyers Ted Olson and David Boies to Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. We are somewhat sympathetic to Jonathan Adler’s position: gay marriage makes perfect sense as a policy matter, but the constitutional case is […] -
2nd Circuit, Clerkships, Federal Judges, Gerard Lynch
Reflections on Judging from Judge Gerard Lynch(And a defense of elitism in law clerk hiring.)
On Monday, November 16, we attended an interesting talk by Judge Gerard Lynch, formerly of the Southern District of New York and now on the Second Circuit. He spoke before the Regis Bar Association, a group of lawyers and law students who are graduates of our shared alma matter — Regis High School, an all-boys […] -
Federal Circuit, Federal Judges, Intellectual Property, Musical Chairs
Chief Judge Paul Michel To Retire Next Year
We received this info last night, from several readers in attendance. One of them wrote: For the patent nerds out there, including me, Chief Judge Paul R. Michel of the Federal Circuit is retiring effective May 31, 2010. Just personally announced it at the FCBA annual dinner. Sent his resignation letter to Obama this morning. […] -
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Bad Ideas, Federal Judges, Lunacy
Motion of the Day: "We shall meet again you know where."
Tajudeen Oladiran is an Arizona attorney who is currently of counsel at Aguilera International Counsel. A Biglaw refugee, he spent a year at Greenberg Traurig, as well as a year working for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Given those credentials, we were surprised that he would file one of the craziest motions we’ve come across […] -
Education / Schools, Federal Judges, Politics, Sandra Day O'Connor, SCOTUS, State Judges, Supreme Court
Should Judicial Elections Be Abolished?(Or: ATL chats with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.)
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is not really retired yet. “I am more busy in retirement than before,” she told Above the Law in a recent interview. One of her myriad projects is Our Courts, a non-profit organization that develops Web-based games to teach seventh- and eighth-graders about government. We spoke with Justice […] -
9th Circuit, Federal Judges, Politics, Sex Scandals
The Ninth Circuit Curse Never Sleeps
Over the years, numerous proposals have been made to split the Ninth Circuit, the nation’s largest federal appeals court. There are certainly reasonable arguments to be made in favor of a split. But regardless of the merits of a split, the careers of politicians who have backed these proposals seem to meet unfortunate ends. We’ve […] -
Federal Judges, Money
Judicial Pay: Is There a Crisis Coming?
Last week, we wrote about federal judge Stephen Larson’s decision to step down from the bench because of unrequited salary longings. He said his salary of $169,300 was not enough to support his family. We’re skeptical of a six-figure salary not being enough to support a family, but Larson does have seven kids and lives […] -
Clerkships, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Job Searches
Clerkship Application Season: D-Day
It’s the afternoon of Thursday, September 17. Do you know where your clerkship is? Today is the first day, pursuant to the Law Clerk Hiring Plan for 2009 — which some judges follow, and some don’t — when interviews may be held and offers made. The plan even specifies a time of day for interviews […]
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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Federal Judges, Judge of the Day, Money
Judge Stephen G. Larson Resigns Because Judges are Underpaid (But Are They Really?)
Federal judges have been complaining about their salaries for years now, but all they’ve managed to get recently is a small cost of living increase. Federal judge Stephen Larson of the Central District of California is taking a stand on the issue — by quitting. From the National Law Journal: U.S. District Judge Stephen G. […] -
Barack Obama, Clerkships, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Peering Into The Crystal Ball for Obama's Judicial Picks(Plus a live chat with the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin)
The current New Yorker has an interesting piece by Jeffrey Toobin on President Obama’s judicial picks. Toobin took part in a live chat about the piece at NewYorker.com right now earlier today if you’re interested. (Try not to crash their website.). UPDATE: The chat’s quite interesting. Toobin reveals why he likes Justice Souter best and […] -
Andrew Sullivan, Benchslaps, Blogging, Celebrities, Drugs, Federal Judges, Marijuana, Reader Polls
Open Thread: The Andrew Sullivan Pot Bust
Apologies for not getting to this story earlier. Sometimes things fall through the cracks around here. (We were offline for much of Thursday and Friday, attending Lavender Law.) Last week, a federal magistrate judge questioned the propriety of the U.S. Attorney’s Office moving to dismiss a marijuana possession charge against Andrew Sullivan. Yes, that Andrew […] -
Clerkships, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Job Searches
Clerkship Application Season: Clear The Phones
A couple of days ago, we heralded the start of clerkship application season. Given the weakness in the legal economy, there should be a lot of people trying to snag a clerkship offer this year. Today is the day that judges can start calling around and setting up interviews. A tipster reports: Per the hiring […] -
Clerkships, Federal Judges, Feeder Judges, Job Searches, Law Schools, UVA Law
Clerkship Application Season: Open Thread
Once everyone gets back from Labor Day weekend, the craziness known as the clerkship application process will begin. This coming Tuesday is the first date when applications may be received, according to the 2009 Law Clerk Hiring Plan (followed by many but not all federal judges). It’s become pretty standard to advise law students and […] -
Crime, Federal Judges, Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner, Violence
Hal Turner: Did He Threaten Federal Judges?
We’ve written before about Hal Turner, the infamous internet radio host who has been charged with threatening three federal judges. This week brings new information about him, from Wired: A notorious New Jersey hate blogger charged in June with threatening to kill judges and lawmakers was secretly an FBI “agent provocateur” paid to disseminate right-wing […] -
Exercise, Federal Judges, Rudeness, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Good thing the Supreme Court has its own gym!
When Justice Sonia Sotomayor needs to work off all the rice, beans and pork she’s consumed, she hits the gym. Alas, it appears that Her Honor’s Equinox gym membership was canceled, after she apparently refused to show identification when trying to enter the premises. We’re with Justice Sotomayor on this: she’s a frickin’ federal judge, […]