Recent Headlines from Above the Law

  • Morning Docket: 06.21.19
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.21.19

    * “In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity.” Children being detained at the border are in desperate need of legal assistance and humanitarian aid. [NBC News]

    * Disgraced former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore, a “polarizing [] Republican,” has decided to launch yet another Senate bid after losing during his first go round. This time, even President Trump warned him against trying again. [New York Times]

    * Puff, puff, pass this vote: New York may not have been able to legalize marijuana, but lawmakers are trying to do the next best thing by decriminalizing it. Fines for “violations” will be no higher than $200 and last convictions can be expunged upon request. [New York Law Journal]

    * In case you missed it, Slack had its IPO yesterday, opening at $38.50 a share. Goodwin Procter certainly didn’t miss it, because the firm is looking to earn $2.5 million for its work on the company’s stock market debut. [Big Law Business]

    * Shaakirrah Sanders, a black female professor at Idaho Law, has filed suit against the school the university, and a former dean, alleging race and gender discrimination and retaliation. She is the only professor of color and woman of color who has earned tenure at the school. [Idaho Statesman]

  • Morning Docket: 03.20.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.20.17

    * Today marks the first day of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Will there any big surprises unveiled about him during the hearings? At this point, the only surprise is that anyone still expects there will be a surprise about the “[d]apper, folksy” judge. The bigger surprise will be whether […]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.17.15

    * This October, rappers Jay Z and Timbaland will have to testify in a lawsuit concerning copyright infringement and improper music sampling. We’ll see how “Big Pimpin'” they really are when we find out which lawyers and law firms are repping them. [Page Six / New York Post]

    * This judge apparently doesn’t appreciate fighting words in pleadings. “Do you want to fight me? Is that what you want?” A West Virginia magistrate judge challenged a litigant — one who previously called the magistrate a “fat sweaty slob” in motion papers — to come to his house and “see what happens.” [Charleston Gazette-Mail]

    * An ex-Texas judge was sentenced for his side job of smuggling guns into Mexico and selling them. He faced up to 70 years when he pleaded guilty to two felony counts in May, and was handed his 18-month sentence on Friday. Yeehaw! [Austin American-Statesman]

    * The Idaho College of Law will begin to host first-year law school classes at its Boise campus starting in 2017. The Boise campus now serves 1Ls, 2LS, and 3Ls, but not to worry, this flyover law school’s main campus isn’t going anywhere. [Idaho Statesman]

    * Julian Bond, civil rights icon, SPLC board member, former NAACP chair, RIP. [NYT]

  • Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, California, Celebrities, Chadbourne & Parke, General Counsel, Holland & Knight, International Law, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Murder, Partner Issues, State Judges, Trials, Women's Issues

    Morning Docket: 08.27.13

    * If Biglaw firms wants to get back into a financial sweet spot like in their days of yore, they had better get in on these billion-dollar international arbitrations while the getting is good. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Women lawyers, please take note: your future depends on it. Apparently the key to making partner in Biglaw is to the get the backing of general counsel at big money corporate clients as a gender. [Corporate Counsel]

    * ¡Ay dios mío! ¡Escándalo! Holland & Knight yoinked 10 attorneys, including three partners, right out from under Chadbourne & Parke’s nose to open up its new Mexico City office. [South Florida Business Journal]

    * “If we actually got another million dollars going forward to spend on something, is the highest and best use to produce attorneys?” Even in a flyover state like Idaho, the answer to that question is a resounding yes when it comes to law school expansion. [Spokesman-Review]

    * “A jurisprudence of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ does not properly safeguard [a defendant’s rights].” California Justice Goodwin Liu is raging against policies on race-based peremptory jury challenges. [The Recorder]

    * “I’ve been doing Paula Deen in a strongly metaphorical sense.” The magnate of marmalade’s case may be settled, but that doesn’t mean sanctions have been taken off the table. [Courthouse News Service]

    * The hefty price of killing? Following his acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman is now asking Florida to pay for his legal expenses, to the tune of $200,000 – $300,000. [Orlando Sentinel]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Minority Issues, Racism

    Can A Law School Force You To Be Racially Sensitive?

    Is it right for a law school to send its students to tolerance camp? Mandatory tolerance camp? Mandatory tolerance camp, where unexcused absences will result in an intolerant notation placed in students’ permanent records? When I came across the story of a state law school holding a “mandatory” diversity seminar that students were required to […]