American Bar Association / ABA

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Death Penalty, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Summer Associates

    Morning Docket: 08.04.14

    * All work and no play makes summer associates sad, but they had a really great time this year, what with the lucky law students attending Broadway shows, sporting events, and Russian cabarets. Sounds like fun! [Am Law Daily]

    * Alas, not everyone was getting wined and dined this summer. Some lawyers can’t even find a place to work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services sector lost ~200 jobs during the month of July. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * It may be the “worst time in the history of legal education to go to law school,” but because of new programs being launched, at least some of our recent graduates will be less screwed. [New York Times]

    * “The ABA is used as a whipping boy for standing in the way of innovation,” but soon it’ll vote on revisions to its accreditation standards. Welcome to the party, ABA, thanks for being late. [National Law Journal]

    * It took 15 doses of lethal injection drugs to execute Joseph Wood when it should’ve taken one. Don’t worry, it wasn’t cruel and unusual punishment — the Arizona Department of Corrections says so. [CNN]

  • 5th Circuit, Abortion, American Bar Association / ABA, Anthony Kennedy, Biglaw, Constitutional Law, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 07.30.14

    * When it comes to bans on same-sex marriage, for Justice Anthony Kennedy, animus is a “doctrinal silver bullet” — the fact that there was no animus involved in the enactment of many of them may be problematic at the high court. [New York Times]

    * Relying on some obscure Supreme Court precedent, the Fifth Circuit saved Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic after striking down as unconstitutional a state law that would have required doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. [National Law Journal]

    * Given the situation over at Bingham McCutchen, people are starting to wonder about whether all the guaranteed contracts to members of merger partner McKee Nelson’s partnership helped to shape the firm’s current financial plight. [Am Law Daily]

    * Hot on the heels of Cooley Law canceling its first-year class at Ann Arbor and announcing tentative plans to close the campus, the ABA approved the school’s affiliation with Western Michigan. Yay? [MLive.com]

    * Here’s one way to become a lawyer without racking up massive amounts of debt: you could try to “read” the law like Abraham Lincoln, and work as a law firm apprentice. That sounds delightful. [New York Times]

  • Advertising, American Bar Association / ABA, D.C. Circuit, Health Care / Medicine, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Pets, Racism, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.25.14

    * Proximate cause and the Incredible Hulk. Whatever, everyone knows Kirby was the real brains behind Palsgraf. [The Legal Geeks] * Someone is having fun with their RFAs: Admit… that we are going to whip the dog piss out of you. We were specifically chided: “please don’t say ‘only in Arkansas,’” so we won’t. You should feel free to say exactly that though. [Hawg Law Blog] * Not really surprising, but patent trolling is the worst it has ever been. I’ll sit here and wait for the New York Times to blame millennials. [io9] * The most important Supreme Court decision you’ve never heard of! Well, except I have heard of it. In fact, there was a year-long college debate topic about it. But it’s still important. [Washington Post] * What’s the appropriate sentence for having a dog off a leash? Confining the guy to a seven-county area? [LA Weekly] * Things to do in Denver when you’re a lawyer: allegedly scam a few million off a client. [Denver Post] * Meet the lawyer who came up with the quirky reading that got the D.C. Circuit to temporarily derail Obamacare. [Wall Street Journal] * Meanwhile, this title says it all about Halbig: “Well, Conjecture, Tendentious Misreadings, and Cherry Picking Are Kinds of Evidence.” Pour a little out for Lionel Hutz. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * Everyday we (the ABA) hustlin’. [Law and More]
  • American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Bill Clinton, Dan Markel, Deaths, Document Review, Health Care / Medicine, Law Professors, Law Schools, LSAT, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology, Tobacco / Smoking, Trials

    Morning Docket: 07.21.14

    * NO, NO, NO, NOTORIOUS! Previously unpublished documents from the Clinton White House have been released, and it looks like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was criticized for her “laconic” nature. Not cool, Bill. [Legal Times]

    * Document review jobs aren’t going anywhere, folks. Exhibit A: Winston & Strawn’s e-discovery practice is bringing in the big bucks, earning the firm more than $20 million in revenue last year. [Capital Business / Washington Post]

    * More lawyers are being treated for substance abuse for drugs and alcohol than ever before. In fact, a founding partner of Farella Braun + Martel, one of California’s largest firms, was once a “functioning alcoholic.” [Am Law Daily]

    * A Florida jury apparently set on “sending a message” to tobacco companies awarded $23.6 billion in punitive damages to a chain smoker’s widow against RJ Reynolds. That was a costly message. [Reuters]

    * June 2014 marked the fewest people who sat for the LSAT in 14 years, but it may get even lower if a new ABA proposal which would allow the test to be waived for 10% of students passes. [Central Florida Future]

    * Dan Markel, FSU Law prof, criminal law theorist, and PrawfsBlawg founder, RIP. [Tallahassee Democrat]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Baseball, Basketball, Fashion, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sexual Harassment

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.10.14

    * According to his former lawyer, The Situation’s tan is as fake as his checks. [Defamer /Gawker] * The folks at New Republic explain the Notorious R.B.G. phenomenon in such excruciating detail as to make it really kind of awkward. [New Republic] * Lawyer who asked trainee 78 times to have sex with him and then secretly filmed her around the office gets an eight-month suspension and a fine. Seems like it should be more than that… [The Age] * Dealing with outfit “compliments” and maintaining your confidence. Frankly, learning how to deal with passive-aggressive jerks is an important skill for any working lawyer. [Corporette] * Law schools are in trouble, but something’s blocking reform: the ABA. Seriously, this article is probably a shocker if you haven’t been reading ATL for years. [Forbes] * Day 3 of the Sterling trial: wherein Donald calls his wife a “pig.” [mitchell epner] * Here’s why law students should care about legal funding. So they don’t screw up funding their cases as much as they did their education. [LFC 360] * Remember the brutal fan beating last year of a San Francisco Giants fan? A jury finds that the Los Angeles Dodgers acted negligently. [ESPN] * Corporate litigator leaves her gig to start a “Cat Cafe.” Which is exactly what it sounds like. [Denver Cat Co]
  • American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Crime, Intellectual Property, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Native Americans, Paralegals, Rankings, Sports, Trademarks, Vault rankings

    Morning Docket: 06.19.14

    * The latest Vault 100 rankings are out, and it’s time to find out which Biglaw firm is the most prestigious in all the land. Is it Wachtell? Is it Cravath? We’ll have the answer for you, and much more analysis, later today. [Vault]

    * An former office manager at Vedder Price has been accused in a $7M embezzlement scandal. She allegedly used the money to buy “lavish homes, numerous vacations” — it’s as if she were trying to live like a partner. [ABA Journal]

    * Since the Redskins’ trademark was canceled by the Patent and Trademark Office, sports fans are wondering whose offensive team name is next. The Cleveland Indians might get scalped. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * According to ALM Legal Intelligence, paralegal pay is on the rise, and it’s almost $80/hr in top roles. Why should new attorneys care about this? Because they’ll probably have to work as paralegals. [ALM]

    * Double the deanships, double the fun: Penn State Law’s campuses have been approved by the ABA to become separately accredited locations. We’ll take bets on which one closes first. [StateCollege.com]

  • Sponsored

  • American Bar Association / ABA, FDA, Food, FTC, Immigration, Non-Sequiturs, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.16.14

    * Lawyer explains to court how people illegally implanted a silicon chip in her head. No word on her feelings about Mondays. [Tampa Bay Times] * How much juice content did Coca-Cola think allowed them to market a product as juice? The answer will actually surprise you unless you really, really hate Coke. [PR Log] * Defendants should not have access to the Internet because they could beat someone to death with an iPad. I guess. [Lowering the Bar] * Mobile crammers settle for $10 million. The charge will appear on their next month’s phone bill. [Law and More] * Like most things in life, the path to victory involves beginning from the KISS principle. [Katz Justice] * Of all the over-the-top immigration control efforts in this country, arresting a couple in bed for not being “married enough” is one of the craziest. [Sun Sentinel] * The American Bar Association, fresh off loosening its accreditation standards, is actually trying to dupe kids into thinking this is the best time to attend law school. Check out this ad. And if you want to play with it in Photoshop, that would be cool too…
  • American Bar Association / ABA, Anthony Kennedy, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Jury Duty, Law Schools, Layoffs, Morning Docket, Murder, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.13.14

    * The SCOTUS decision in the Pom Wonderful case could have serious repercussions in terms of deceptive labeling litigation under the Lanham Act. Even Justice Kennedy was misled! [Huffington Post]

    * Dewey know when to WARN people? This failed firm apparently didn’t, and now it has to pay a $4.5 million class-action settlement to the employees it laid off without adequate notice. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * After getting bumped out of the Am Law 100 after a 17-year run, Shook Hardy & Bacon is letting go of three floors of office space it “no longer needs.” Secretaries Paper takes up a lot of room! [Am Law Daily]

    * Minutes after this career criminal was released from jail due to his accidental acquittal, he was stabbed to death with a steak knife. But for the jury’s crazy mistake, he would still be alive. Yikes. [Fresno Bee]

    * LMU’s Duncan Law, perhaps better known as the little law school that couldn’t, is still trying to get ABA accreditation. At least this time they’ll be able to use law schools’ national decline as a scapegoat. [WBIR]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Sports, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.09.14

    * If you’ve ever wondered what’s being said about Supreme Court justices during the vetting process, we’ve got a great one-liner about Justice Breyer, who’s apparently a “rather cold fish.” Oooh, sick burn. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

    * The NLJ 350 rankings are here, and this is where we get to see the big picture about the big boys of Biglaw. In 2013, it looks like headcount grew by 3.9 percent, which is good, but not great, all things considered. Meh. [National Law Journal]

    * A Wisconsin judge is the latest to give her state’s ban on same-sex marriage the finger, and she did it with flair, noting in her opinion that “traditional” marriages throughout history were polygamous. [Bloomberg]

    * The Ed O’Bannon antitrust case against the NCAA is going to trial today before Judge Claudia Wilken. Since it could change college sports forever, here’s everything you need to know about it. [USA Today]

    * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of those employed in the legal sector is at its lowest level since the beginning of 2014, with jobs still being shed. Welcome, graduates! [Am Law Daily]

    * UC Irvine Law has finally earned full accreditation from the American Bar Association. We’d like to say nice work and congrats, but we’re pretty sure the ABA would fully accredit a toaster. [Los Angeles Times]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Rankings, Rape, Videos

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.07.14

    * When you think of professions likely to be menaced by armed maniacs, you don’t think of veterinarians. You’d be wrong. [Legal Juice] * Robert Ambrogi talks with Bryan Garner about the latest edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, including the fact that three new terms coined by David Lat made this edition. Let’s start the campaign for Appellageddon and SCOTocaplypse for next time around! [Robert Ambrogi's LawSites] * The ABA has appointed an all-star panel to study law school financing. By “all-star” they mean “all the people responsible for the status quo.” That’s how you do “reform,” guys. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * A photo essay of people breaking the stupid laws on the books in various states. [The Phoblographer] * Law professors making a difference in the real world. Specifically, pushing the anti-smoking message. [PR Log] * A Seattle attorney pleads to 5 counts of third-degree rape to avoid trial over attacks on a series of massage therapists. He says he’s just a sex addict. The government says he was “kicking in doors, and pulling knives on them.” That sounds pretty extreme for a sex addiction. [Seattle Times] * Check out Elie talking about the ATL Top 50 Rankings, after the jump… [Mimesis Law]

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.)]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Contempt, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Jury Duty, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Sports, State Judges

    Morning Docket: 04.07.14

    * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector added 2,300 jobs in 2014. Our sincere condolences go out to all those who are still “too overqualified but too under-experienced,” all at the same time, to get hired. [Am Law Daily]

    * This lawyer protested jury duty by emailing the judge to say she’d “blame the plaintiff” for making her work nights and weekends for her client, but she can only blame herself for having to spend the night in jail. Oopsie! [Daily Report (reg. req.)]

    * “Would it be great if all unpaid internships paid really well? Sure. It would also be great if my dog made breakfast for me every morning, but I am not going to file a lawsuit over it.” Yep. [Los Angeles Times]

    * The law school transparency movement has come quite far since its inception, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. Encourage your school to hurry up and “publish what it has at its fingertips.” [Law.com]

    * UVA Law held its Softball Invitational this weekend. A Duke Law dude emailed us to say his school sucks at basketball, but it’s awesome at law school softball. Sweet accomplishment, brah. [Newsplex]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Cass Sunstein, Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Tax Law

    Non-Sequiturs: 04.01.14

    So which of these are real and which are not? * Cass Sunstein is writing listicles on the best Supreme Court justices. [Bloomberg View] * Attorney General Holder is really going to get to the bottom of these serious allegations that the IRS targeted conservative groups. [TaxProf Blog] * The ABA is ending the mandatory use of the LSAT to allow some struggling schools more flexibility in filling empty seats. [The Faculty Lounge] * The DOJ is looking into whether or not “God” has such a stranglehold on religion in America that it constitutes an antitrust violation. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * A pair of Texas lawyers tussle over the rights to a motorcycle club they ran. [Texas Lawyer] * Americans in the 80s made fun of lawyers more than any other society. [Overlawyered]
  • American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Job Searches, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Murder, Sentencing Law, Student Loans

    Morning Docket: 03.28.14

    * Scared of an audit, were we? With the unsealing of the case against Dewey’s former finance director comes greater insight into what was really going on behind the scenes at the failed firm. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * The American Bar Association is willing pay up to $15,000 to organizations that match unemployed law grads with jobs to serve the legal needs of the poor. So, how much do the poor law grads get paid? [National Law Journal]

    * Tenure may be “under fire,” but law professors are fighting back — and hard — because law school deans seem unwilling to speak up on their behalf. Let’s face facts though, tenure isn’t going anywhere. [Forbes]

    * It figures one of the faces of America’s $1 trillion of outstanding student loan debt is a lawyer. Hey, heavily indebted lawyers make great headlines and even better first paragraphs. [Big Story / Associated Press]

    * Jordan Graham, the newlywed who pushed her husband of eight days off a cliff, was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Protip: an annulment would’ve been a better option than second-degree murder. [CNN]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Drinking, Football, Job Searches, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Sports

    Non-Sequiturs: 03.26.14

    * The shaming of Professor Rene Reich-Graefe continues, with Steven Harper weighing in. Law professors… so many people are onto your game of creating rosy scenarios to dupe prospective law students. Maybe you could spend more time trying to fix the problem in legal education, and a little less time trying to hide it? [Belly of the Beast] * I enjoy reminding subway performers that their career choices are illegal. [Above the Law: Redline] * Can’t Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, and Jim Beam settle their differences over a beer? [Wall Street Journal] * I only hope Northwestern’s law students have as much legal success as Northwestern’s football students. [Deadspin] * The ABA wants comment on whether for-credit externships can also be paid. [Faculty Lounge] * I miss Kash. I hate drones. [Forbes] * This isn’t a legal link. There’s no legal standard regarding gender specific displays of pubic hair. There’s just a double standard. [Fashionista]