Baker & McKenzie

  • Morning Docket: 12.21.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.21.16

    * “The Department’s actions violate law and are contrary to basic principles of fairness and deeply damaging to the critical public service missions of these plaintiffs and the ABA.” The American Bar Association has filed suit against the Department of Education, alleging that some public interest lawyers had been indiscriminately dropped from the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. We may have more on this later. [ABA Journal]

    * “The American Bar Association forces this young man to litigate all the way to the United States Supreme Court to prove that a blind person shouldn’t draw a picture.” After suing the ABA for discrimination for forcing him to take the LSAT — a test he can’t pass because he can’t draw the diagrams required for the logic games section — a blind Michigan man is hoping that SCOTUS will grant his petition. [Michigan Radio]

    * In what’s being viewed as one of President Obama’s last hurrahs before leaving office, he used the Outer Continental Shelf Act to restrict new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The Trump administration will likely be forced to go to court to reverse the Obama administration’s pro-environment actions. [Reuters]

    * “I am proud to have played a part in the substantial progress the firm has made toward gender equality.” After years of litigation, Mintz Levin settled a gender discrimination case filed by former associate Kamee Verdrager, who was allegedly demoted for taking disability leave when she developed pregnancy complications. [Am Law Daily]

    * Baker McKenzie’s new chair has been with the firm for 30 years, and now that he’s in leadership, he’s sharing with the world why the firm decided to do away with the ampersand that once resided in the firm’s name. Apparently the ampersand’s untimely death was about “freshening up the brand” to appear “agile.” [Big Law Business]

  • Morning Docket: 06.28.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.28.16

    * In case you haven’t been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that have recently raised salaries: Thompson & Knight, Chapman & Cutler, Sterne Kessler, Edelson, and BakerHostetler. If you’re ever worried that you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, you can check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

    * Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit, who is known well for his longtime feud with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, isn’t going to let a little thing like death keep him from lobbing “posthumous swipe[s]” at the deceased jurist. Constitutional historian David Bernstein was quick to call Judge Posner’s comments “revolting.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * “The ruling deals a crushing blow to this most recent wave of state efforts to shut off access to abortion though hyper-regulation.” The Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health could open doors to challenges to other laws concerning restrictions on abortions — or inspire narrowly tailored anti-abortion legislation. [New York Times]

    * “[O]ur concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.” In case you were too caught up with the abortion-rights decision, SCOTUS also tossed former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s conviction. [NPR]

    * The aftermath of the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum has left law firms in Great Britain scrambling to provide answers to questions about legal uncertainties. From Baker & McKenzie to Allen & Overy to Clifford Chance, several Biglaw firms are trying to assist their clients with webinars, white papers, and 24-hour hotlines. [ABA Journal]

    * Tony Villegas was convicted of the murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, a former partner at Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s firm. Villegas blamed Lewis for the breakup of his marriage thanks to her friendship with his ex-wife, who once served as the Rothstein firm’s chief operating officer. Villegas was sentenced to life in prison. [Sun-Sentinel]

  • Sponsored

  • Morning Docket: 04.14.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.14.16

    * “You’re not getting out of jail today.” Affluenza teen Ethan Couch has been sentenced as an affluenza adult to serve four consecutive 180-day terms for each person who was killed in a fatal drunken-driving car crash he caused in 2013. The judge may reconsider Couch’s sentence in two weeks. [NBC News]

    * Who will be the next chair of Baker & McKenzie? Four prominent partners have put their names forward to compete for the title. This would be much more entertaining if it were a Biglaw ladder match where we could watch Paul Rawlinson, Gary Senior, Claudia Prado, and Eric Lasry fight for the shiniest brass ring of them all. [Big Law Business]

    * If only law schools had more clinical opportunities for future corporate drones: Law schools have offered students more chances to perform public interest work, but this law professor worries schools are “inculcat[ing] law students with a responsibility of social justice that reflects the morality of the faculty and administration.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * “It doesn’t cry out as a triable case.” Andrew Caspersen, the high-flying Harvard Law grad charged with a $95 million fraud scheme, likely won’t face trial. His lawyer says that he thinks his client’s criminal case will be resolved within the next 60 days. He thinks the case will end in a settlement with the SEC. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Sources say that Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski will not be prosecuted for battery after an incident with former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields following a press conference in March. Apparently the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has a “higher standard to go forward with a prosecution.” [POLITICO]


    Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.07.15

    * “People who have a dream of going to law school should go into it with their eyes wide open.” In case you haven’t heard, not all of the law school lawsuits were dismissed; in fact, one of them filed against Thomas Jefferson School of Law is going to trial in March. [ABC News]

    * Dewey know which D&L defendant will likely be able to escape a retrial? It seems that Steven Davis, the failed firm’s former chairman, may find himself on the receiving end of a deferred prosecution agreement instead. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * At this point, it’s anyone’s best guess as to what the future of net neutrality may be: The FCC’s latest proposal for equal treatment of internet traffic apparently left a bad taste in the D.C. Circuit’s mouth during oral arguments at a recent hearing. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Baker & McKenzie used to be the largest law firm in the world before Dentons arrived on the scene, but now it’s got its eyes on expansion in a territory that the Biglaw behemoth hasn’t completely claimed: the United States. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

    * Give thanks, because according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector added 600 jobs last month. If you’ve got a job on your Christmas wish list, Santa just might deliver one to you this year. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.29.15

    * PETA’s general counsel swears his organization isn’t monkeying around when it comes to asserting the IP rights of Naruto the selfie-taking monkey, but he may have to deal with a jungle of jurisdictional issues first. [Motherboard / VICE]

    * Mmmm, Dewey smell a mistrial? On the eighth day of deliberations in the criminal trial of D&L’s former leaders, the jurors likely made defense counsels’ hearts skip a beat when they asked the judge for instructions on what to do concerning their undecided colleagues. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Chief Justice John Roberts, who has voted conservatively in 85 percent of the Supreme Court’s most divisive 5-4 decisions, apparently isn’t conservative enough for our conservatives. It’s the damn Affordable Care Act. Thanks, Obama. [New York Times]

    * According to the latest Acritas Global Elite Law Firm Brand Index 2015, for the sixth year running, Baker & McKenzie has the most recognizable Biglaw brand in the world. DLA Piper will continue to “churn [those] bill[s], baby!” in second place. [PR Web]

    * Take the deal: Ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who’s accused of hiding large sums used as hush money to conceal his prior sexual misconduct, is negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors. If he were convicted at trial, he’d face up to 10 years in prison. [Reuters]

Sponsored