Amal Clooney

Plus Amal Clooney throws shade at Skadden.

* Impending constitutional crisis alert: President Trump is opposed to his White House aides — especially former White House Counsel, “real lawyer” Don McGahn — testifying before Congress because they already cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. [Washington Post]

* Meanwhile, fake lawyer Michael Cohen, who served as legal counsel to Trump for about decade, will soon report to his Federal Correctional Institution – Otisville, which has been referred to as a “castle behind bars.” At least he’ll get to hang out with The Situation. [Daily Beast]

* Bill Cosby is suing Quinn Emanuel over its “unconscionable fees,” claiming that the firm overstaffed his case to the tune of $8.55 million over the course of nine months. Maybe stop checking you emails so much? [American Lawyer]

* George and Amal Clooney will be on campus at Columbia Law tomorrow for the official launch of TrialWatch, an initiative that will monitor trials acros the globe to protect human rights and eventually create a global justice index. [Law.com]

* Another happy ending for Robert Kraft (for the time being): Prosecutors have been blocked from releasing footage that allegedly shows the New England Patriots owner receiving sexual favors in a massage parlor. [Reuters]

* On the next episode of “Empire,” Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, the brothers who helped stage a racist and homophobic attack against Jussie Smollett, will file a defamation lawsuit against the actor’s attorneys. [Big Law Business]

* Cooley Law has a new president and dean following the departure of Don LeDuc. James McGrath will join the school from Texas A&M Law, where he serves as associate dean of academic support and bar services. Good luck! [WMU Cooley Law]

* Game of Thrones bar prep? How does the Rule Against Perpetuities consider reanimated corpses? [Law.com]

* Labor Department flags Biglaw for diversity failings. That’s not the announcement most expected to hear from this administration, but we’ll take it. [American Lawyer]

* Julian Assange got kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy and is now in custody. It seems as though Robert Mueller might have wanted to keep his investigation open a couple more weeks. [Huffington Post]

* Speaking of the Mueller investigation, Greg Craig expects to be indicted. [CBS News]

* GCs want law firms to be their partners — not so much their friends. [Law360]

* Texas mulls death penalty for women who get abortions. [Vox]

* Amal Clooney adds a new title with UK government appointment. [Legal Cheek]

When you call reporters the "enemy of the people" there are repercussions.

The project will increase trial transparency around the world.

* Trump’s talking about pardoning Manafort again. The power of the president to pardon people is clear, but the power of the president to tease a pardon to tamper with a witness is an interesting legal wrinkle. In a way, the pardon power is a Yoda conundrum: “do or do not, there is no publicly Tweeting signals.” [NPR]

* Speaking of Manafort, his attorneys claim their joint defense agreement covered his tipping off Trump on details of the Mueller investigation. Except… he pleaded guilty. That kind of ends the “joint defense” part. [The Hill]

* Jeffrey Epstein’s massive child sex ring allegations ended in a 13-month sentence and the prosecutor who bent over backward to protect him is now in Trump’s cabinet. Oh, and somehow Cy Vance’s obsequious starf**king ass shows up in this story because of course it does. [Miami Herald]

* It’s been a few days, so it’s time to remind everyone that the Big 4 accounting firms are about to wreak havoc on Biglaw. [American Lawyer]

* Stacey Abrams is suing over Georgia’s voting laws, and Professor Hasen is here to explain how brilliant this suit is. [Slate]

* Uber ordered to pay more than $1 million in fines because they failed to notice the surge pricing on data breach liability. [Corporate Counsel]

* Attorney poised to become godparent to royal baby. [Legal Cheek]

* The author of this piece is confused by how Republicans seem to completely misunderstand Section 230. It’s probably not confusing: they just want to kill it and lying about it is the easiest path. [The Verge]

Presidents aren't supposed to behave like this.

Real-life attorney Amal Clooney attends wedding of Suits star.

* Amal Clooney, the acclaimed lawyer who is working a side hustle as a visiting professor at Columbia Law, left her apartment while wearing clothes. This is apparently a very big deal. Oh, did we mention she’s married to George Clooney? Because she is. [Daily Mail]

* Both Microsoft and the Department of Justice have asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a high-profile data privacy case even though oral arguments have already been heard due to the fact that a new law, the CLOUD Act, has made it moot. [Reuters]

* Villanova Law students got the day off yesterday to continue celebrating the Wildcats’ 79-62 win in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The team’s chaplain who delivers a prayer before every game is a lawyer. [Legal Intelligencer]

* “She’s created the impression that I’ve done something wrong and I haven’t even had final adjudication.” Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea of DePaul Law has canceled Professor Donald Hermann’s class in the middle of the semester after he used the N-word during a lecture. We may have more on this later. [Chicago Sun-Times]

* In the lead up to the release of the 2018 Am Law 100, the American Lawyer has been publishing articles about firms’ impressive financial feats. One of the latest articles is about Strasburger & Price’s 9 percent jump in net income — which likely means that Strasburger may have made it (at least into the Am Law 200). [American Lawyer]

Amal Clooney's defending a free and open press.

Being smart didn't stop Amal Clooney from having her own #metoo moment.

You are now officially on your way to becoming an attorney. What you do now matters.

* Prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, along with her husband, welcomed twins, Ella and Alexander. Congrats! [CNN]

* New reports suggest Donald Trump got his panties in a bunch when Jeff Sessions had an attack of ethics. [The Hill]

* The Supreme Court’s decision in the North Carolina racial gerrymandering case isn’t all good news. [Rewire]

* Involuntary manslaughter charges for two in connection with the Oakland Ghost Ship fire that killed 36, including a rising legal mind. [Los Angeles Times]

* Opening statements in the biggest defamation trial in American history. [The Hollywood Reporter]

* 89-year-old law professor still going strong. [Tax Prof Blog]

* How should mid-trial tears be handled? [Law and More]

* Let the heads roll: 46 US Attorneys reportedly asked for their resignation by Jeff Sessions. [The Hill] * Woman lawyer gives important speech, people care only about her body. [Washington Post] * This is why education about your legal rights is essential. [New York Post] * Eight interesting and largely horrifying facts about the Texas prison system. [Versus Texas] * Travis LeBlanc, formerly of the FCC, is heading to Boies Schiller. [Law and More] * This Fourth Circuit case is being described as "one of the most gruesome and inhumane decisions in recent memory." [Slate] * Being a public figure has to change your Twitter habits. [Huffington Post] * What's the future for organized labor? [Lawyers, Guns and Money] * How does appropriate dress vary from city to city? [Corporette]

* Human rights attorney Amal Clooney is handling a dangerous new legal matter. She intends to put ISIS commanders on trial for their war crimes, and she sat down with Cynthia McFadden of NBC News to discuss her campaign. The full interview is set to air later on the Today Show. [NBC News] * Per […]

* When a case about giant inflatable cats and rats comes before Judge Easterbrook, he rises to the occasion. [FindLaw]

* Lesson from the Lochte incident. [Huffington Post]

* Analyzing the cert petitions filed with the Court this summer. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Expanding corporate speech to deny climate change. [Law360 (sub. req.)]

* The role of expert testimony in the talcum powder case. [The Expert Institute]

* Get your tickets for this Friday’s reading of two legally themed TV pilots. [The Tank]

A passion for fashion may lead the lawyer to hang up her robes.

* Could it be? Could she really do such a thing? Rumor has it that Amal Clooney may be quitting her law firm job at Doughty Street Chambers to become a fashion designer for the likes of fashion house Oscar de la Renta. We may have more on this later today. [Inquisitr]

* Maryland’s AG intends to contest a ruling granting “Serial” podcast subject Adnan Syed a new trial, saying that the state would “defend what it believes is a valid conviction.” Syed has been servicing a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee since 2000. [Baltimore Sun]

* Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert may be behind bars for a 15-month term for attempting to conceal secret payments to his underage sexual assault victims in a cover-up scheme, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to fight a lawsuit seeking the full $3.5 million he allegedly said he would pay to buy a victim’s silence. [Chicago Tribune]

* Vermont Law School, which was hit relatively hard by the recession in terms of its ability to fill its seats, has applied for a $15 million loan from the federal government to help restructure its debts. Unlike what its students face in terms of their debt, the law school may be able to get a good interest rate upon approval. [VTDigger / Valley News]

* “[A]ttempting to fit the sale of Bitcoin into a statutory scheme regulating money services businesses is like fitting a square peg in a round hole.” Congratulations (or perhaps condolences?) digital currency aficionados, because a judge just ruled that Bitcoin isn’t money for the purposes of money-laundering statutes. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Amal Clooney lays the smackdown on Donald Trump, all without even uttering his name. Classy. [Vanity Fair]

* If you’re convicted of a felony in connection with the murder of your mother, then you should probably expect to lose your law license. [Law Profession Blog]

* Yes, Ted Cruz is making a fool of himself, running a Sisyphean race for president. But does that mean the founding fathers were right about that natural born citizen crap? (If someone born in Canada to an American mother is even what they meant by the phrase.) [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* BYU’s Title IX problem: Are they making sexual assault more likely by linking honor code investigations to reports of rape? [Slate]

* Hooah! Army Captain Kristen Griest, one of the first women to earn a Rangers tab, will be transferring branches, becoming the first female infantry officer. Combat arms branches were recently opened to women for the first time, and Captain Griest’s move is part of the Army’s effort to integrate those branches. [Army Times]

* Encounter with Ted Bundy! A victim of the notorious serial killer recalls the experience. [Huffington Post]

* Should a settlement deal with a federal agency include a clause to prevent people from speaking negatively about the agency to Congress and the press? [Volokh Conspiracy]

* The robots are coming for our jobs, but maybe, if we are lucky, some of us can survive. [Speechwriter Ghostwriter]

Here are four insights from the celebrated human rights lawyer.