1st Circuit

  • Morning Docket: 04.28.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.28.16

    * ASS Law is back in the news: Earlier this week, professors on the George Mason University Faculty Senate voted 21-13 to reopen the naming process on the already twice-renamed Antonin Scalia Law School. These professors must know that their actions have no impact on the administration’s decisions… right? [BuzzFeed News]

    * Thanks to allegations of sexual harassment brought forward by courthouse personnel, Judge José A. Fusté of the District of Puerto Rico was allegedly forced by the First Circuit to “retire” from his position, effective June 1. If you’re unable to read in Spanish, Google Translate has a version in broken English that may be slightly helpful. [El Nuevo Día]

    * Attention intellectual property attorneys, because your practice area just got a little more exciting. The Defend Trade Secrets Act passed in the House yesterday by a vote of 410-2, and that means the “most significant expansion of federal law in intellectual property since the Lanham Act in 1946” will likely soon become law. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * “Transitioning at a Biglaw firm, are you crazy?” Not only is it possible to transition in Biglaw, but it’s possible to thrive as a transgender woman in Biglaw, and Sara Schnorr of Locke Lord had the full support of her firm. In fact, she was recently appointed to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Congrats! [Big Law Business]

    * “Is nonlawyer ownership of law firms long overdue? Or a bad idea?” The U.K. and Australia are already doing it, and now the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services is seeking comments for an issues paper on the risks and benefits of nonlawyer law firm ownership. Email us or tweet us and let us know what you think. [ABA Journal]

  • Morning Docket: 02.01.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.01.16

    * Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz has pledged to “spend whatever political capital is necessary” to create the most conservative Supreme Court in our country’s history. Uh-oh! Voters better elect him, or else we’ll be “one justice away from … unlimited abortion on demand.” [ThinkProgress]

    * A shakeup at the top? More than 20 Schiff Hardin partners — including the firm’s former managing partner, practice group leaders, and an executive committee member — are leaving to start their own firm thanks to an apparent leadership dispute. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * On the seventh anniversary of his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, President Obama took action to address the gender pay gap. Companies with 100 employees or more must now include salary info on their annual EEO reports. [New York Times]

    * Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s legal team filed the first of what’s sure to be many appeals: They’ve asked the First Circuit to overturn his conviction and death sentence, as well as an order that he pay more than $101M to his victims. [Reuters]

    * For some reason, people are highly opposed to the ABA’s proposal to lift its ban on law students receiving pay for their credit-bearing externship positions. Yes, let’s continue to make indebted students pay for their experiential learning opportunities. [ABA Journal]

  • Sponsored

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.27.15

    * Should town clerks opposed to gay marriage be required to issue licenses to all couples? The Sixth Circuit says…. [How Appealing]

    * John H. Ray III, the African American ex-associate at Ropes & Gray who claimed the elite firm discriminated against him, loses in court again, this time before the First Circuit. [National Law Journal]

    * Vester Lee Flanagan aka Bryce Williams, the Virginia television broadcaster who killed two colleagues on-air before killing himself, was also no stranger to the legal system: he filed multiple lawsuits alleging racial discrimination. [New York Times]

    * Why are in-house lawyers more likely than their non-attorney corporate colleagues to fall for phishing emails? [ABA Journal]

    * Dewey know when the prosecution will rest in this seemingly endless trial? Probably today. [Wall Street Journal]

    * State judges get nasty with each other in Oregon. [Oregonian]

    * Federal judges around the country are advocating for a second look at how defendants get sentenced. [New York Times]

    * The Dilly in Philly: Paul Clement v. Ted Olson. [Am Law Litigation Daily]

    * A T14 law graduate turned “traveling artist” gets charged with criminal sexual assault in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune]

    * Speaking of sexual assault laws, Emily Bazelon explains how the St. Paul’s Rape Case shows why these laws must change. [New York Times]

    * Update: convicted Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes didn’t get just a life sentence, but 12 life sentences — plus 3,318 years on top of that. [CNN]

    * Linda Hirshman, author of the forthcoming book Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (affiliate link), explains how Justices O’Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor brought wisdom to SCOTUS (but where’s the love for Justice Kagan?). [Slate via How Appealing]

  • 1st Circuit, Bar Exams, Crime, Gay, Gay Marriage, Jersey Shore, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Tax Law, Trials

    Morning Docket: 09.25.14

    * Per the First Circuit, plaintiffs who successfully challenge the Defense of Marriage Act in court aren’t entitled to attorneys’ fees. The Department of Justice had no comment. [National Law Journal]

    * Florida Coastal Law finished second-to-last in bar passage for the July 2014 exam, with 58% of grads passing. It was one of Florida Coastal’s worst performances to date. [Florida Times-Union]

    * ASU Law got a $10M donation, its largest ever. “The remarkable thing about it is we didn’t ask him for it,” says the dean, which is a slightly better response than Drexel’s dean had. [The Republic]

    * Much to his defense team’s chagrin, accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial will remain in Boston. The media spectacle is set to begin in January 2015. [New York Times]

    * Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of Jersey Shore fame was indicted on tax fraud charges to the tune of $8.9M. He pleaded not guilty yesterday afternoon. There aren’t tanning beds in jail. 🙁 [Asbury Park Press]

  • 1st Circuit, Biglaw, California, Celebrities, Confirmations, Crime, Football, Gender, Lateral Moves, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Texas, United Kingdom / Great Britain

    Morning Docket: 05.23.14

    * Congrats are in order for David Barron. The Harvard Law professor was confirmed to the First Circuit in a close vote (53-45), despite his apparent allegiance to our new drone overlords. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Another one bites the dust: Weil’s London banking leader Stephen Lucas decamped for Kirkland & Ellis. The firm retorted by saying: “We have got 40 finance lawyers left.” Aww, yay for you. [The Lawyer]

    * We already know that state prosecutors are very poorly paid, but let’s go one step further and see if women are paid less than men. Shockingly enough, women are getting the shaft in Texas. [Texas Tribune]

    * Dean Jack Boger of UNC Law is stepping down, but he’s proud of keeping legal ed affordable. “[B]y relative standards, we’re still doing that,” he said. It’s ~$39K for out-of-state students. [Chapelboro.com]

    * O.J. Simpson’s lawyers submitted a gigantic legal doc in an attempt to get him a new trial for his armed-robbery case. Court word limit: 14,000. Words in the Juice’s motion: 19,993. Rules: LOL. [NBC News]

  • 1st Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Copyright, Elena Kagan, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Privacy, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.19.14

    * Justice Kagan received a Supreme Court fact check when she confused the site of the nation’s oldest standing synagogue with the home of the nation’s first Jewish community. At least she didn’t make a mistake about the actual law that she actually wrote. [WSJ Law Blog] * Justice Scalia may not understand how cell phones work, but even he gets net neutrality — because it’s a lot like pizza. [The Atlantic] * Marc Randazza describes the need for a right to be forgotten online. Getting forgotten online? Hey, we found a new job for Jill Abramson. [CNN] * A woman threatened to shoot up a South Carolina Burger King over a stale roll. Don’t tell her what “pink slime” is. [New York Daily News] * Cops arrest upwards of 40 people while trying to catch a bank robber. When you read the whole history, it’s actually surprising they weren’t limiting their search to people in stripes carrying bags with dollar signs on them. [Slate] * Corporate lawyer fits right into the rising phenomenon of “Bulls**t Jobs.” [Strike! Magazine] * Earlier today we wrote about a possible crowdfunded lawsuit. Here’s a discussion of legal issues involved in crowdfunding generally. [IT-Lex] * Sen. Rand Paul has a stupid idea, so he’ll probably convince a bunch of liberals to go along with it. And that would be bad news for Professor David Barron’s nomination to the First Circuit. [New Republic] * Led Zeppelin is getting sued over allegedly stealing the opening riff from Stairway to Heaven. It turns out there’s some band out there who’s sure that all that glitters is gold and they want some of it. A clip of the alleged original below…. [The Guardian]

Sponsored

  • 1st Circuit, American Bar Association / ABA, Asians, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Judicial Nominations, Jury Duty, Law Professors, Malpractice, Morning Docket, Politics, S.D.N.Y., Technology, Trials

    Morning Docket: 05.06.14

    * U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wants to know more about why Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down an anticorruption commission. [New York Times]

    * The ABA weighs in on the “unfinished business” controversy affecting bankrupt law firms, their lawyers, and their clients. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Better late than never: students and professors at UC Davis Law are pushing for the posthumous admission to the California bar of Hong Yeng Chang, who was denied a law license in 1890 solely because of his Chinese heritage. [Associated Press; South China Morning Post]

    * Speaking of late, a robber sent to prison 13 years late because of a clerical error just got released. [ABA Journal]

    * Drones could claim another victim: the First Circuit nomination of Harvard law professor David Barron. [How Appealing]

    * Who still wants a landline phone? The jury foreman in the latest Apple-Samsung battle, who is sick and tired of cellphones after the month-long trial. [The Recorder (sub. req.)]

    * Not such a Great Adventure: “Cadwalader To Pay $17M In Six Flags Malpractice Fight.” [Law360 (sub. req.)]

  • 1st Circuit, Anthony Kennedy, Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Federal Circuit, Federal Judges, Gay, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Michael Jackson, Morning Docket, Office of Legal Counsel, S.D.N.Y., SCOTUS, Sex, Small Law Firms, Supreme Court, Trials, U.S. Attorneys Offices

    Morning Docket: 09.25.13

    * U. Penn. Law doesn’t need to toot its own horn about kicking off its visiting jurist program with a Supreme Court justice — we’ll do it on the school’s behalf: toot f-ing toot for Justice Kennedy. [National Law Journal]

    * President Obama nominated former OLC attorney and current HLS professor David Barron for a First Circuit vacancy, and a Western New England alum for a district court judgeship. Congrats! [Boston Globe]

    * The Senate confirmed Todd Hughes for a seat on the Federal Circuit without any opposition. This is what progress looks like: Hughes will be the first openly gay federal appellate judge in U.S. history. [BuzzFeed]

    * Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is pretty pissed that federal budget issues are allowing his office to get outgunned by wealthy financial firms. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * “It seems a very coordinated effort of smugness.” As we reported previously, lawyers from the small firm representing Michael Jackson’s family think O’Melveny & Myers is full of d-bags. [Los Angeles Times]

    * Sorry, but you can’t bang your clients. Well, that’s not completely true. You can bang your clients, but you have to bang them before there’s a legal relationship to keep banging them ethically. [Daily Report]

  • 1st Circuit, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Constitutional Law, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Gay, Gay Marriage, Morning Docket, Music, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.27.13

    * Edith Windsor’s lawyer said she thought her client’s case was “simple,” but it proved to take a little longer than she thought to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. [New York Law Journal]

    * Conservative pols are up in arms about the SCOTUS decisions, promising to file constitutional amendments, but like Rand Paul said, “As a country, we can agree to disagree.” [Washington Post]

    * Nate Silver breaks down gay marriage by the numbers. By August, 30% of Americans will live in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized. [FiveThirtyEight / New York Times]

    * Wherein the ancient artifacts of a once storied and prestigious Biglaw firm are touted by a furniture liquidation company as “like new, for less!” Dewey know how embarrassing this is? [Am Law Daily]

    * Sorry, Joel Tenenbaum, but the First Circuit affirmed your $675K debt to the RIAA. That’s what happens when you blame illegal downloads on burglars and foster kids. [Law & Disorder / Ars Technica]

    * It looks like David Boies claimed two victories yesterday. The Court of Federal Claims gave Maurice Greenberg the green light to sue the U.S. over the terms of AIG’s bailout. [DealBook / New York Times]

  • 1st Circuit, Bankruptcy, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Disasters / Emergencies, Facebook, Law Schools, LSAT, Morning Docket, Sex, Sex Scandals, Texas

    Morning Docket: 11.13.12

    * Deep in the heart of Texas, plans are in the works for the state’s secession from the nation via online petition. The most likely White House response? Probably something like this: “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” [Hillicon Valley / The Hill]

    * Paula Broadwell, better known as ex-CIA director David Petraeus’s side piece, has officially lawyered up. This guy had better watch out, because he kind of looks a little bit like her former flame. [Washington Post]

    * And then they came for the Steves, but there was no one left to speak for them. The day of reckoning has finally come for the men who are being blamed for cooking Dewey’s LeBoeuf. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

    * Law firms in Manhattan are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Not for nothing, but all of the staff members at WilmerHale who were tasked with getting rid of all of the rotten food in the firm’s cafeteria should get a double bonus. Just saying. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Good news, underemployed law school graduates baristas! The First Circuit just affirmed your $14.1M tip-sharing judgment. Maybe now they’ll be able to afford the Starbucks diet. [National Law Journal]

    * “This lawsuit is a massive fraud on the federal courts and defendants. It has now descended into farce.” Facebook is yet again seeking dismissal of Paul Ceglia’s ownership claims. [Threat Level / Wired]

    * There may be five deciding factors when it comes to law school admissions, but serious candidates should focus on the two most important ones: LSAT and GPA. [Law School Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

  • 1st Circuit, 2nd Circuit, Bar Exams, Biglaw, Gay, Job Searches, Law Professors, Law Schools, Litigators, Morning Docket, Old People, Partner Issues, Politics, Trials

    Morning Docket: 10.23.12

    * “Whether or not the law is dictating it right now, the people are dictating it.” In light of First and Second Circuit DOMA decisions, in-house counsel are considering benefits for same-sex spouses and domestic partners. [Corporate Counsel]

    * “I’m a woman of integrity. My emotions got the best of me.” A Dish Network executive had to publicly apologize for accosting a Gibson Dunn litigation partner’s elderly father outside of a courtroom after the Cablevision trial. [Am Law Daily]

    * A potential farewell to the typical liberal bias in education: at the end of the day, Teresa Wagner’s political bias case against Iowa Law could alter hiring nationwide in higher education. [Iowa City Press-Citizen]

    * Not prepared for the bar exam, and currently without a law job? Let’s give that school a “B” rating. The results of this survey pretty much conclude that recent law school graduates are out of their minds. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * A soon-to-be high school graduate wants to know if he can “go into a creative career” with a law degree. You silly little boy, the law is where creativity goes to die. Hope that helps! [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

  • 1st Circuit, Arlen Specter, Biglaw, Civil Rights, Deaths, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Politics, Running, SCOTUS, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sports, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 10.15.12

    * What effect will the Supreme Court’s ruling in Miller v. Alabama, regarding life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders, have in the real world? [New York Times]

    * Some good news on attorneys fees for civil rights lawyers. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Speaking of fees, which firms are raking them in as emerging market companies starting emerging onto the M&A scene? [American Lawyer]

    * You’ve got to fight… for your right… to teach legal writing at the University of Iowa. At least if you’re a conservative. That’s the allegation by an aspiring academic, Teresa Wagner, that hits a courtroom this week. [Houston Chronicle]

    * Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn wants to know: is enjoying the occasional orgy such a crime? [Gothamist]

    * Career alternatives: Mary Wittenberg — chief executive of New York Road Runners, which puts on the New York Marathon — is a Notre Dame law grad and former Hunton & Williams lawyer. [New York Times]

    * Former Senator Arlen Specter, an active participant in historic Supreme Court nomination battles, RIP. [Philadelphia Daily News]