BASF

* The clerk who allegedly took a turn at judging has been fired. [Chicago Tribune]

* DLA Piper partner Joseph Finnerty was fined and resigned from a public position after fundraising fiasco. [Law360]

* The ABA Journal’s 2016 Legal Rebels revealed! This is like the Vogue September issue, except for nerdy lawyers. [ABA Journal]

* The ABA is taking a tough line with a couple of law schools, but is this show of force still too late to save its accreditation status? [Inside Higher Ed]

* Oh look, Chris Brown’s in the news again! [ABC News]

* Paul, Weiss is investigating the alleged culture of sexual harassment at Fox News and they’re facing a lot of skepticism. [Law.com]

* One client is drawing a firm line with law firms: alternative fee arrangements or else. [Corporate Counsel]

* A unanimous Seventh Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Posner, just struck down Wisconsin and Indiana’s bans on same-sex marriage. The result isn’t surprising in light of the blistering benchslaps delivered by Judge Posner at oral argument, but the timing is faster than usual (for a federal appellate opinion in a high-profile case, not for the prolific Posner). [BuzzFeed]

* Bad news for Cahill Gordon: the Third Circuit just revived a fraud case against the high-powered firm and one of its clients, a unit of BASF. [WSJ Law Blog]

* And badder news for BP: a federal judge just concluded that the oil giant was grossly negligent in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [New York Times]

* Freshfields gets fresh talent, adding former Wachtell partner Mitchell Presser and former Skadden partner James Douglas to its ranks. [American Lawyer]

* The dean of Seton Hall Law, Patrick Hobbs, will step down from the deanship at the end of the current academic year. Congratulations to Dean Hobbs on a long and successful tenure. [South Orange Juice]

* And congratulations to John Grisham and Jason Bailey, winners of, respectively, the 2014 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2014 ABA Journal/Ross Short Fiction Contest. [ABA Journal]

* Brittany McGrath, Brooklyn Law class of 2014, RIP. [TaxProf Blog]