* Crocs have no teeth when it comes to fighting legal battles. The footwear company has settled five design defect lawsuits filed by parents whose children suffered escalator injuries. [On Point News]

* Yolanda Young’s suit against Covington & Burling is back on. [BLT]

* The ATL editors are not the only legal groupies in New York. [New York Times via Gothamist]

* Blago’s judge is prepared for theatrics in the court. [Associated Press]

* Looks like Rihanna and Chris Brown may be violating the judge’s “two-way” stay-away order. [New York Post]

* The latest abortion legislation. [Slate]

* Senators Orrin Hatch and John Cornyn will vote against Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. [Associated Press]

* Law school students interning in the Brooklyn DA’s office lack salaries and chairs. [New York Times]

* Is the ABA a club that’s not cool anymore? [National Law Journal]

This morning, we mentioned the University of Illinois College of Law admissions scandal. It appears that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich pressured the University of Illinois Chancellor, Richard Herman, and Heidi Hurd, former dean of the University of Illinois College of Law, to admit underqualified students who were politically connected. In exchange for admitting those students, university officials attempted to obtain jobs for graduates of the College of Law.

The Chicago Tribune reports the results of its investigation into the law school:

The documents show for the first time efforts to seek favors — in this case, jobs — for admissions, the most troubling evidence yet of how Illinois’ entrenched system of patronage crept into the state’s most prestigious public university.

They also detail the law school’s system for handling “Special Admits,” students backed by the politically connected, expanding the scope of a scandal prompted by a Chicago Tribune investigation.

The paper has published the incriminating emails (PDF) it has uncovered. Warning, these emails are not safe for naive people who are unaccustomed with the “Chicago style” of getting things done. Here’s an exchange between the Chancellor and the Dean about what jobs would be appropriate in exchange for admitting politically connected students:

I suppose there are worse things than a dean trying to aggressively secure employment for her law graduates can’t pass the bar and can’t think. Of course, you’d hope that the dean would be even more focused on educating students so that they can pass the bar and, you know, think — but why cry over spilled milk?

In fact, some Illinois law graduates we spoke with had a very positive impression of Dean Hurd. Depending, of course, on what you mean by positive.

Some student impressions of the dean, and more emails, after the jump.

* The trustees of the estate of Leona Helmsley, the famous hotelier and heiress who left her Bijon $12 million and much of the rest of her estate to the care of dogs, will not be carrying out her wishes. They reduced the Bijon’s trust fund to $2,000,000 (that is a lot of Purina) and will only donate $1 million to animal-related charities. Was it so wrong for Leona to think that animals are more worthy than people? [The New York Times]

* 16 of 62 Congressmen who left government last year are now working for lobbying firms. Will they have to wear the scarlet L around Washington now? [USA Today]

* A federal judge rejected Blagojevich’s request that he be allowed to travel to Costa Rica to tape the reality T.V. show “I’m a Celebrity…Get me Out of Here!” Blago said he needed the money he’d get from fighting Heidi Montag in the jungle. The judge said the former governor does not seem to understand “the position he finds himself in.” [The New York Times]

* There seems to be surprisingly little protest against the expansion of gay marriage across the country. They’re all at tea parties—at least the recession is good for something. [ABC.com]

* Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling predicts the UK’s worst recession since World War II. The only comparison more depressing than the Depression. [Bloomberg]

* It is no news to loyal readers that law student’s job prospects are grim, but here is another story about it just in case. [Law.com]

* A U.S. District Judge in Virginia, Rebecca Beach Smith, will soon decide whether preserved Titanic artifacts must remain available to the public. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

* Adam Liptak gives us a lively look into the Supreme Court discussion about the highly critical Hillary documentary. [The New York Times]

* Obama’s lawyers were in lock-step with Bush policies Tuesday, arguing in favor of the decision to refuse one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals entry in to the U.S. [Reuters]

* Pakistan’s supreme court chief justice returned to court Tuesday amid dancing supporters. [The Associated Press]

* Attorneys cringe as Blagojevich continues to put himself in the spotlight despite his pending federal corruption indictment. [The Associated Press]

* Dreier LLP may be able to reduce a $29 million claim from Wachovia. They need all the help they can get. [Greenwich Time]

* Barney Frank defends calling Scalia a “homophobe.” [The Boston Globe]

In Monday’s ATL / Lateral Link survey, we asked you to cast your vote for the 2008 ATL Lawyer of the Year.

More than three thousand ballots were cast, but there can be only one Lawyer of the Year.

Starting at the bottom, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich may not have hit the very lowest point in Chicago political history, but he did manage to get the lowest tally in our vote, with only 96 supporters.

Harvard Law Avenger Phil Telfeyan was a close second-to-last in your esteem, with a mere 110 votes.

Judge Halverson rounded out the bottom three at 167 votes.

That makes THREE! THREE! THREE candidates who did worse than Count Layoffula! HA! HA! HA! (He received a total of 233 votes.)

Listen dude, you really want the Spitzer? Apparently not. The prosecutor-turned-commentator came up only average in our slate of nominees, with 288 votes.

Nervous T-10 1L may not have found a job this year, but he touched the hearts of 428 voters, landing him in the Final Four.

Marc Dreier — if that’s his real name — swindled up 485 ballots, more votes than disgraced governors Eliot Spitzer and Rod Blagojevich combined. Way to rock the scandal vote, sir. You’re the Second Runner-Up for the 2008 ATL Lawyer of the Year.

That leaves us with the final two. Will last year’s runner-up, President-elect Barack Obama, finally be Number That One? Or will The Anonymous Laid-Off Big Firm Attorney finally get something to soothe his pain? (Elie won’t share his pot.)

Find out who will be crowned the 2008 ATL Lawyer of the Year, after the jump.

In last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey, we asked you to submit your nominations for ATL’s 2008 Lawyer and Commenter of the Year.

Today, you get to vote for the Lawyer of the Year.

There were almost as many nominees as layoffs this year, so we narrowed it down to the top nine.

In fact, one of the nominees used to be known as Client 9. Another has been referred to as That One. And yet another just likes numbers.

Your nominees for the 2008 ATL Lawyer of the Year, and select comments explaining why, are as follows:

1. Nervous T-10 1L

Personifies the economic doom and fear among law students.

If he doesn’t win something, he might kill himself.

2. Eliot Spitzer

He showed us that lawyers can have it all — power, fame, beautiful women — until it all comes crashing down. Kind of a metaphor for biglaw.

3. The Anonymous Laid-Off Big Firm Attorney

Because one month after being told “here are the things we need to do to make sure you look good for partnership in the next two years and here’s a 10% raise” I was told that my performance was subpar and I had no future at the firm.

4. Rod Blagojevich

He paid me a pretty penny to nominate him.

5. Count Layoffula

One! One Reason!

6. Marc Dreier

Having the stones to defraud corporations with the sale of false securities — in their own buildings.

He’s accomplished so much in so little time. He single-handedly obliterated his own firm, his employees’ futures (by rendering them unemployed at the single worst possible time, economically speaking), and likely a significant chunk of his future liberty. Not to mention he dated Maxim models.

7. Judge Halverson

Because you don’t have an “ATL Judge of the Year”

8. Phil Telfeyan (a/k/a The Harvard Law Avenger)

Generating by far the most controversy; protesting PJ day in high school or whatever, and failing to fully walk around a statue he prominently cites in a lr article.

9. Barack Obama

Duh.

So, who should win? Cast your vote below.

Note: when you cast your vote, you’ll get a sneak peek at some of the comments from this year’s ATL Commenter of the Year nominees.

Update: This survey is now closed. Click here for the results (and click here to read some comments from the Commenter of the Year nominees).

—
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this survey.

Some have wondered: Where was star litigator Dan Webb at Governor Rod Blagojevich’s bond hearing?

High-powered Winston & Strawn litigators Dan Webb and Bradley Lerman were not at Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s side when he appeared at a bond hearing on Tuesday. Blagojevich instead tapped Sheldon Sorosky, a lawyer from two-partner Chicago litigation shop Kaplan & Sorosky. Whither Winston & Strawn?

Here’s a possible answer, from the Wall Street Journal (subscription):

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich owes more than $500,000 in unpaid bills to the law firm Winston & Strawn, his primary counsel since federal investigators began looking into various allegations of corruption five years ago. It is unclear whether the legal bills are for personal or campaign work, or for both. Campaign filings show Winston & Strawn had charged the governor’s campaign fund, Friends of Blagojevich, nearly $2 million in legal fees through the end of 2007.

“Friends of Blagojevich”: probably in short supply right now.

Update: As noted in the comments, if Winston & Strawn isn’t eager to rep Rod, it’s understandable. Recall how the firm blew $20 million defending Illinois’s last corrupt governor, George Ryan. It lost the trial, lost the appeal, and couldn’t even get pro bono credit for the thousands of hours spent on the case.

Blagojevich Has $500,000 in Unpaid Legal Bills [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]
Webb-less in Chicago: Where Was the Star Litigator At Blago’s Bond Hearing? [Am Law Daily]

Yesterday, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich made news with “dangerous” threats about halting all state business with Bank of America until the Republic Windows & Doors fiasco is sorted out.

Today, Blagojevich learned the old rule: “Let he who is not under investigation for ‘staggering’ corruption cast the first stone.” The Chicago Tribune (which is still allowed access to ink and paper) reports:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning….

“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

“They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.”

Apparently, the government has a lot of the evidence against Blagojevich on tape.

An investigation years in the making, after the jump.