Above the Law

* Could this be the year that law firms break out of their cycle of tepid growth? [American Lawyer]

* In ordinary times, Roy Moore's laughable lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen would be bigger news. We do not live in ordinary times. [Law360]

* One would have thought "independence" would be "having a lifetime job with no oversight and an impossibly onerous removal process." But, "independence" really means "only answering hypotheticals that don't raise potentially serious questions about a guy's fig leaf of a judicial philosophy." This is why it's so important to be a textualist! [Courthouse News Service]

* It makes for a nice, vapid buzzword, but there actually is an "I" in "Team of Nine." [National Law Journal]

* A federal judge has banned the Texas "bury your zygote" law. Don't worry Texas, your boy Brett's will make sure you don't have to worry about this ever again. [NPR]

* Shocking no one, lawyers think Brexit was a bad idea. [Legalweek]

* Oh, and we're going to "open up libel laws" now. [CBS]

IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN FOLLOWING THE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS: Here's some tweets.

HERE'S ANOTHER FIRM THAT RAISED SALARIES: Better late than Greenberg Traurig.

HERE'S A LIBERAL WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING: St. Louis prosecutor refuses to be part of the problem.

DEWEY HAVE MORE NEWS: Last gasps of Dewey LeBoeuf.

STEP INSIDE THE OCTAGON: Podcast about MMA and the law.