Abortion

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.18.23

* Fifth Circuit judge scolds attorney for "personal attack" because she accurately described the district court opinion as unprecedented. As Inigo Montoya would put it, "I don't think that word means what Judge Elrod thinks it means. [Slate] * After watching Disney's experience beating up on Florida lawyers, Penguin Random House is starting to sue Florida school districts for banning books. [AP] * Montana has banned TikTok in a reminder that "free speech" is now limited to punishing students for carrying mean signs during FedSoc events. [Wall Street Journal] * Deutsche Bank paying $75 million to settle claims that the bank facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations. Another win for Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Pottinger representing Epstein's victims. [Reuters] * Massachusetts US Attorney accused of abuse of power "to achieve a political goal epitomiz[ing] the type of 'political justice' that Congress intended to prohibit." Too bad she wasn't a judge taking free vacations from parties before the court... she'd be home free by now.[Law360] * WilmerHale earned 5 percent of its total revenue from Meta, the company you remember as Facebook before they completely retooled to chase a creepy VR chat room that they've since killed after costing the company about $13 billion. Which is all to say that Wilmer may want to diversify its revenue streams at this rate. [Bloomberg Law News] * A discussion of Shadow Docket by Steve Vladeck (affiliate link). [ABA Journal]

By Above the Law
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 04.14.23

* Somehow the Clarence Thomas ethical morass got worse. [ProPublica] * Biglaw firms consider recapturing the magic of lockdown profits by severely curtailing travel for in-person meetings. Yeah, that's what the clients want in 2023... firms to Zoom them to save $5K. [American Lawyer] * Liberals claim calls for Dianne Feinstein to resign are "sexist." Which is exactly what the same liberals said about calls for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to resign and how did that work out for you? [Bloomberg Law News] * SCOTUS refuses to halt student debt settlement involving schools that the government characterized as functional diploma mills. Don't worry, they're still on track to strike down the student debt settlement that could help the most people. [Reuters] * Former client is "batshit crazy" says attorney. I don't know about this specific client, but there's a generalizable ring of truth to this. [Law360] * DeSantis signs 6-week abortion law which, as political mistakes go, is right up there with "pissing off Disney." [AP]

By Above the Law
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 04.07.23

* Quite the headline... "The poop emoji: a legal history" [Verge] * Supreme Court refuses call to allow West Virginia to ban transgender athletes. Biden administration jumps in to push for that ban. We've entered the era where the Biden administration is trying to push to the right of this Supreme Court... what a time to be alive. [Reuters] * Speaking of the Supreme Court, Idaho moves ahead with its slap in the face of full, faith, and credit so expect to see them at the Court real soon. [Washington Post] * The easiest way to make sure wrongfully injured people never get justice is to disincentivize lawyers from pursuing those claims. And a bipartisan effort in Congress seeks to do just that over Camp Lejeune. [National Law Journal] * Real Housewife owes real attorneys' fees. A lot of them. [Daily Beast] * When Boies Schiller started shrinking and outlets preached doom and gloom, we suggested that the firm might be transitioning to a smaller but more focused firm instead of trying to be all things to all people. Well... profits per partner are up. [Bloomberg Law News] * Microsoft penalized for selling to sanctioned parties in Russia. But viewed another way, they've kept those evil entities mired in buggy software, so in a sense isn't this a patriotic service? [Law360] * Law firms eyeing Southeast as hotbed for growth. Break out the seersucker! [American Lawyer]

By Above the Law
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.29.23

* Idaho planning to criminalize interstate travel to procure legal services in another state. If only the Constitution said something about states fully and faithfully crediting the laws of other states. [Huffington Post] * Most firms aren't worried about taking a profit hit last year. Which probably should make everyone a little more leery of the firms rushing to layoffs. [American Lawyer] * Madison Square Garden's ludicrous policy banning all attorneys adverse to the venue -- and any entity with a tangential relationship to the venue -- is still illegal as to non-sports events, but the appellate court lifted the injunction, deciding that banned lawyers can only recover monetary damages. So we're most likely going to expand the population of adverse lawyers soon. [Law360] * Tougher rules announced for Supreme Court justices and other federal judges getting free junkets. Or, in more practical terms, "tougher rules announced for other federal judges" because the Supreme Court has shown exactly zero interest in being bound by rules. [Reuters] * The DoNotPay kerfuffle risks undermining other access to justice initiatives. As we've said in the past, these systems don't have to be as good as a lawyer when limited to roles lawyers aren't taking. [Bloomberg Law News] * Over 100 law professors urge New York not to mess with bail reform laws. While propaganda outlets cast the law as though it prevents criminal sentencing to whip up public fear, the law professors remind lawmakers that this isn't how any of this works. [AMNY]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.15.23

* Justice Ketanji has stood out for her questions. Her decisions have fallen in line with the others thus far. [ABA Journal] * A Texas judge could play a role in banning abortion pills nationwide: Quite a lot of intervention from the Lone Star state. [Reuters] * Like voting? You should follow this one: North Carolina's redistricting case is gonna have some spillover. [Reuters] * The "Rust" prosecutor flaked. [NYT] * Conflicts of interest are no joke in these parts. [NY Daily News]

By Above the Law
Health Care / Medicine

Here’s How Femtech And Reproductive Telehealth Companies Can Navigate Post-Roe Legal Challenges

In the post-Roe environment of fear and uncertainty, femtech companies should actively review their data collection practices to ensure they are only collecting the minimum amount of data necessary for the app to function. Recent studies have shown that accurate women’s health predictions can be made by some companies that collect far less data than their competitors.

By BETHANY CORBIN via MEDCITY NEWS
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.02.23

* Regulators tell Elon Musk that he can't start putting chips in people's brains. GAH! Kill a monkey (or 1500) and suddenly the bureaucrats in Washington won't let you do anything anymore. [Reuters] * "Murdaugh Committed Murders As Career Spiraled" should be every attorney's defense to a rough month... "I know I just considered taking my book of business to Jones Day, but I could've done a double murder." [Law360] * Biden administration plans to shift the liability for hacks to software manufacturers. This policy seems stupid but at least the president is trying to address the harms of massive data breaches instead of having public fever dreams about drag story time. America is broken. [Bloomberg Law News] * After securing abortion restrictions, the new right-wing legal mission is advocating for strict voting restrictions. [ProPublica] * Legal technology made the national news! Our coverage was better. [MSNBC] * Let the battle for AI supremacy in Biglaw begin! [Legaltech News]

By Above the Law