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  • Morning Docket: 08.23.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.23.17

    * Statues of Chief Justice Roger Taney may have been removed in his native Maryland, but don’t expect his bust to be removed from the Supreme Court’s Great Hall or his portrait to be taken down from the high court’s East conference room in the near future. The visage of the Dred Scott opinion’s author will remain. [National Law Journal]

    * The Charlotte School of Law may be dead, but that doesn’t mean that former students’ proposed class-action lawsuits against the school have been put out to pasture. Though the bulk of the claims were dismissed, two such cases with allegations of unfair and deceptive trade practices have survived motions for summary judgment. Best of luck against Infilaw’s first fallen school. [Law.com]

    * Much to his defense attorney Benjamin Bratman’s chagrin, the names of the jurors who convicted Martin Shkreli of securities fraud have been released. They’ve been talking to the press about the disgraced pharma bro, and one of them referred to him as “his own worst enemy.” [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Meanwhile, Martin Shkreli’s ex-lawyer, former Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel, remains charged with wire fraud conspiracy, a charge on which Shkreli was acquitted by a jury. Greebel’s defense attorneys at Gibson Dunn have called this “a Kafkaesque scenario,” that is “frightening for every corporate lawyer in America simply doing their jobs representing clients.” [New York Law Journal]

    * Berkeley Law is planning to launch a hybrid online/on-campus LL.M. program for foreign-educated attorneys. Students will be able to complete their fall and spring semesters online, but must attend classes on campus at the law school during the summer months. Tuition is a whopping $57,471. [The Recorder]

    * Earlier this week, a California jury handed down the largest verdict thus far in a talcum powder cancer case against Johnson & Johnson. The plaintiff, Eva Echeverria, who had used J&J baby powder since the 1950s and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, was awarded $417 million. [Consumer Affairs]

  • Morning Docket: 06.14.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.14.17

    * Several people were reportedly shot this morning at a GOP baseball practice, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is now in stable condition. The gunman is in custody. We may have more on this later today. [The Hill]

    * The Supreme Court has granted Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall more time to file papers in order to respond to the recent Ninth Circuit decision upholding a lower court decision which blocked President Donald Trump’s travel ban. This means that any action taken by the high court on the administration’s emergency pleas for certiorari will be even further delayed. [Reuters]

    * “I am protecting the right of the president to assert [executive privilege] if he chooses.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to have no desire to speak about his interactions or conversations with President Donald Trump regarding James Comey’s handling of the Russia probe during his Senate hearing yesterday, and didn’t feel the need to provide a real legal basis for his refusal to answer questions on the topic either. [New York Times; Washington Post]

    * In the meantime, even though rumors have been swirling about President Donald Trump’s supposed desire to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says he has no reason to fire Mueller at this time: “If there were good cause, I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn’t matter to me what anybody says.” [Law360 (sub. req.)]

    * Marc Kasowitz may have taken a “career-defining” role representing the “predisent,” but one wonders what will happen to his law firm while he pursues this ambitious undertaking. Kasowitz Benson could suffer when it comes to recruiting new talent to the firm thanks to its leader’s choice of clientele, not to mention the fact that its revenue has been on the decline. [Am Law Daily]

    * In an effort to fight the “historic drug epidemic” that in no way involves marijuana, AG Jeff Sessions has asked Congress to roll back the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to prosecute states that have instituted their own laws authorizing the “use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” [Washington Post]

    * Herma Hill Kay, the first female dean of Berkeley Law, RIP. [The Recorder]