Law Schools

* Deep in the heart of Texas, a judge refused to dismiss Gov. Rick Perry’s felony case over a silly technicality in the underlying paperwork concerning the special prosecutor’s oath of office. [CNN]

* This lawyer got a spanking for including a noncompete in an associate’s contract that said he wouldn’t be able to practice the same type of law for two years. [Legal Profession Blog via ABA Journal]

* UVA Law came in at #7 in the Graduate Programs ranking of the 50 best law schools, but the the school doesn’t “focus on year-to-year fluctuations in rankings.” Keep those collars popped high. [Cavalier Daily]

* “I’m hopeful that we’ll get our Tracy back, the guy everyone loves.” Tracy Morgan’s lawyer says the comedian’s crash with a Wal-Mart truck this summer has left him with a traumatic brain injury. [Bloomberg]

* After its giant, website-crashing sale debacle earlier this month, someone decided to file a class-action suit against Sephora for discriminating against Asian customers whose accounts were blocked. [Reuters]

* Morgan Lewis may be pretty pleased with itself now that it gets to gobble up most of Bingham McCutchen’s partners, but some day soon, it may be forced to “choke a bit” on remains of the dying firm’s carcass. [Philadelphia Business Journal]

* Yesterday, we wondered what would happen to Bingham McCutchen’s brand new back-office operation in Kentucky. Now, the pieces are starting to come together. We may have more on this interesting development later. [Am Law Daily]

* A Connecticut criminal defense firm’s managing partner who teaches at UConn Law was picked up in a prostitution sting last week. At least he’s got the skills to represent himself. [Connecticut Law Tribune]

* The NCBE thinks bar exam takers were “less able” than in prior years, but the organization seems to have forgotten that ExamSoft was “less able” to perform its one freaking job. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

* You must be whacked in the mind if you think law school tuition has anything to do with public service loan forgiveness. Law school tuition is high because people are still willing to pay for it. [Huffington Post]

* “The notion that some of us weren’t invited, selected or chosen to join Morgan Lewis is ridiculous.” Bingham McCutchen partners who aren’t moving to Morgan Lewis don’t want you to think they’re losers. [Am Law Daily]

* MGA is back in court to sue Mattel, and now it wants $1 billion after its $88 million verdict was nixed by the Ninth Circuit. Here’s hoping Quinn Emanuel will come to the rescue in a hot pink Barbiemobile. [National Law Journal]

* “We want an indictment. The cops don’t like it.” Missouri’s governor declared a state of emergency ahead of the grand jury’s decision on whether to indict the police officer who shot Michael Brown. Yikes. [Reuters]

* Not that it’s a wise choice, but you can still apply to law school with a low GPA. Almost nothing is “too low” these days. Most law schools want a pulse, that’s all. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* Everyone can find love, even mass murderers and cult leaders: Charles Manson applied for a marriage license so he could get hitched to a 26-year-old woman who’s visited him since she was 17. [E! Online]

* Loretta Lynch, America’s would-be attorney general, has been flying under the radar for years, and now senators are searching to find something, anything at all really, that could possibly be wrong with her. [Legal Times]

* “[T]his is the best period of time that we have seen in a long time.” According to Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, Biglaw’s revenue, hours, and profits all rose in the first nine months of 2014. Nice work! [Am Law Daily]

* Biglaw mergers and acquisitions are now on pace to meet or beat last year’s record, and company legal departments are pretty pissed off about it, especially since “[l]arge firm views on conflicts [tend to] drive [GCs] crazy.” [Reuters]

* Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor attended the groundbreaking of Arizona State Law’s new campus, and even shoveled some dirt in honor of the school named after her. [Arizona Republic]

* What’s the price on being blackballed? Condé Nast settled its unpaid intern class-action lawsuit yesterday for $5.8 million, which will result in $700 to $1,900 payouts per aggrieved intern. [Fashionista]

* The 25 most influential people in legal education. [TaxProf Blog]

* Shell preemptively suing environmental groups over its Arctic drilling program. Nothing says, “we’re on the up and up” like hyperactive declaratory judgment motions. [Breaking Energy]

* I’m not normally in the “America is overlitigious” camp, but the idea that we’re scaling back corn mazes to accommodate people too dumb to find their way out is ridiculous. [Daily Mail]

* What does the Fox say? I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it involves peeing in this guy’s Super Soaker. [Legal Juice]

* Hunton & Williams has formed a new multidisciplinary practice to assist clients with legal issues surrounding Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones. Good idea. I hear those things fly by themselves. [Hunton & Williams]

* The career services director at LSU Law School got married over the weekend… in the stands during the Saints-49ers game. I’m guessing the reception had to wait until after overtime. [The Times-Picayune]

* Um. If this is how you want to steal that thing, more power to you. [Slate]

* “A distinguished panel of former and current judges including John Cleland, John Jones, Nathaniel Jones, Jed Rakoff, and Marjorie Rendell join Joel Cohen to for a discussion drawing inspiration from his new book, “Blindfolds Off.” Video available after the jump… [National Constitution Center]

* With all this net neutrality talk, one of the biggest fans of the cause is Justice Antonin Scalia. He may not be tech-savvy, but he may yet save the internet. [National Law Journal]

* And the partners rejoiced? Bingham McCutchen approved a Morgan Lewis merger, and now the firm waits for its valiant rescuer to ride in upon its trusty steed. [WSJ Law Blog]

* A new study says the way to close the law school gender gap is to adopt gradeless grading policies similar to those of top law schools. Honors for everyone, yay! [Stanford News]

* LSAT prep company Test Masters Educational Services Inc. — not to be confused with TestMasters — must pay about $927K in legal fees, because as it turns out, some people were confused. [Legal Times]

* A Texas state representative submitted a bill calling for a new law school in the Rio Grande Valley because there aren’t enough lawyers there. Unemployed lawyers, you know what to do. [Action 4 News]

* Law students (and prospective law students)! Figure out your expected class rank with this handy calculator. [Witnesseth]

* Elie wonders if law students are getting dumber. [Redline]

* Great law review article, or greatest law review article? Judge M. Margaret McKeown’s “Culinary Ambiguity: A Canonical Approach To Deciphering Menus.” [Harvard Law Review]

* Remember the lawyer caught billing 29-hour days? The guy pleaded his case to the Ohio Supreme Court and they won’t give him the time of day. [Ohio Supreme Court]

* Veterans Day seems like the right time to remember the Feres Doctrine, which bars armed forces personnel from suing the government for negligence. How ridiculous is the Feres Doctrine? Justice Scalia thinks we need to allow more negligence suits! [Legal Funding Central]

* A sad story of a married partner romancing a married young associate that ends in her death. [Missouri Lawyers Weekly]

* If you support Obamacare, is there any reason for optimism in King v. Burwell? [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* In case you were ever interested in eminent domain in a galaxy far, far away. [The Legal Geeks]

* Casino sends promotions to “compulsive gamblers” on a voluntary opt-out list. The casino calls it a “software issue.” What are the odds on that? [Ars Technica]

* A former Texas judge earned a reprimand for violating the state constitution and seven ethical canons in three years. Gauntlet thrown, judges aspiring to enter our pages. [Houston Chronicle]