Benchslap

Benchslaps

Outsiders Criticize Law Schools, But Will Change Ever Come?

While many of the law school deans and other administrators at the AALS conference acknowledged problems with the system, most of the actual critiquing came from people with no power to change it. Media members criticized law schools, judges criticized law schools, outgoing deans that shamelessly profiteered off of unwitting law students criticized law schools -- and the people who could actually change their systems dutifully listened. But despite all of the critiques, there weren't a lot of schools that seemed ready to institute sweeping change to the business of educating lawyers....

By Elie Mystal
Benchslaps

Blago’s Class of 2007 Lawyer: A ‘Harebrained’ Hottie?

Landing a huge case is what all lawyers dream about. For most lawyers, the planets never align, and that dream never becomes a reality. But for one lawyer, that dream came true just a few years after having graduated from law school. Sometimes, however, dreams turn into nightmares. When you're representing a notorious client like Rod Blagojevich, your successes might soon turn into failures. Who is the (rather attractive) class of 2007 lawyer representing Blago, and why did a judge characterize her recent courtroom stylings as "harebrained"?

By Staci Zaretsky
7th Circuit

Was Judge Posner a Dodo in His Ostrich Opinion?

Of course not! But the headline got your attention, didn’t it? The notion of Judge Richard Posner as being anything other than a genius will certainly make people sit up and take notice. There’s a reason why there’s a Facebook group called Richard Posner for Philosopher King (of which I am a proud member). It […]

By David Lat
Benchslaps

Benchslap of the Day: What Not To Do If You’re A Prosecutor

[T]his Court is compelled to find that the Government team allowed a key FBI agent to testify untruthfully before the grand jury, inserted material falsehoods into affidavits submitted to magistrate judges in support of applications for search warrants and seizure warrants, improperly reviewed e-mail communications between one Defendant and her lawyer, recklessly failed to comply […]

By David Lat
Benchslaps

Benchslap of the Day: A Case of Having Too Much Flair

Remember Venus Springs? She's the former Mayer Brown associate who alleged discrimination and filed a Title VII complaint against the firm after being fired in September 2008. Well, she's back, and she's brought a whole new lawsuit to the table. So, who is Springs suing this time, and what are her allegations? We'll give you that information, plus the details of the benchslap associated with her latest case, after the jump....

By Staci Zaretsky
Benchslaps

August Lawyer of the Month: Bow Down Before the King

While some of the candidates for August's Lawyer of the Month were bold in their displays of public idiocy, others were bold in their candid assessments of the legal profession. We thought that legal smarts were taking a substantial lead over legal stupidity. But as it turns out, the margin is much closer than we thought. In this polling cycle, just ten votes separated our Lawyer of the Month from our second-place finisher....

By Staci Zaretsky
Benchslaps

Lawyer of the Month: August Reader Poll

The month of August brought us a slew of disasters, both natural and otherwise. At the end of the month, we faced off against the Great D.C. Earthquake of 2011. Shortly thereafter, we got slammed by Hurricane Irene. But August wasn’t just about natural disasters — there were plenty of man-made disasters to deal with […]

By Staci Zaretsky
Admin

Morning Docket: 09.05.11

Ed. note: Due to the Labor Day holiday, we’ll be on a reduced publication schedule today. We’ll be back to normal tomorrow. A restful and happy Labor Day to all! * More about the Delaware benchslap that we covered last week (including the news that Judge Peggy Ableman’s pajama party did not go forward as […]

By David Lat
Alston & Bird

Non-Sequiturs: 09.01.11

* Remember the “kindergarten party” that Judge Sam Sparks (W.D. Tex.) was planning to hold? His Honor has canceled the festivities. [WSJ Law Blog] * John Althouse Cohen — yes, son of La Althouse — discusses one way in which Texas might be emulating… Europe? [Jaltcoh] * Professor Paul Campos opens up a can of […]

By David Lat
American Bar Association / ABA

Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.11

* Some thoughts from our colleague Matt Levine on the Justice Department’s opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. [Dealbreaker] * Judge Sam Sparks (W.D. Tex.), king of the benchslap — yes, we already covered his latest handiwork, so no need to email the “kindergarten party” order to us again — has blocked key parts of the […]

By David Lat
Attorney Misconduct

Benchslap of the Day: Judge Sparks Burns More Attorneys

You do not want to mess with Judge Sam Sparks, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. We recently wrote about Judge Sparks accusing a lawyer appearing before him of incompetence -- in a harshly worded order that pulled no punches. Judge Sparks has been doling out stinging benchslaps for years, and he's gotten pretty good at it. Last week, Judge Sparks lit more lawyers on fire....

By David Lat