Books

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.08.14

* A student at Barry Law claims someone stole her phone and used it to call an African-American blogger an N-word on Instagram. We'll have more on this believable story later. [Miami Herald] * Mark Wahlberg wants to be pardoned for a crime committed before he was known as Marky Mark. He should also consider asking to be pardoned for The Happening and Planet of the Apes. [CNN] * The job market was flat last month, and in 2014, the legal sector lost 3,000 jobs. Don't worry, you'll get a job eventually, per the hopes and prayers of your career services employees. [Am Law Daily] * Shine bright like A. Diamond: Howrey's bankruptcy trustee says he'll have a confirmed creditor-repayment plan "well before" the end of next year. [WSJ Law Blog] * iF*ckedUp? The last named plaintiff in the Apple iPod class action may not have bought an iPod during the time period at issue in the suit. [Bits / New York Times] * We suppose that with new tech comes new logos, because Covington & Burling is dropping the "& Burling" for global branding purposes. [National Law Journal] * David Lat, ATL's founder and managing editor, doesn't "think [he's] defamed anyone" in his book, Supreme Ambitions (aff. link). Yay! We'll have more on this later. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.05.14

* A former Cleary Gottlieb associate will be a very rich man after The Lending Club, the company he founded post-Biglaw, completes its IPO. [American Lawyer] * Marriage equality won't arrive in Mississippi just yet. [How Appealing] * The federal civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner could complicate Loretta Lynch's nomination to serve as attorney general. [New York Times] * In other news about excessive use of force by police, the U.S. Department of Justice just blasted Cleveland's department for abysmal record-keeping about such incidents. [Cleveland Plain Dealer] * And what does possible 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton think about police abuses? [New York Times] * Non-random appellate panels in the federal courts are far more common than you might think, reports Alison Frankel. [Reuters via How Appealing] * A smart and thoughtful review by Rosemarie Yu of my new book, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link). [New York Law Journal] * Eugene Ingoglia, one of the S.D.N.Y. prosecutors who helped send Harvard Law cheater Mathew Martoma to prison, will be joining Morvillo LLP as a partner. [DealBook / New York Times] * Former federal government lawyer Michael Richter: "It’s Not Top-Secret If You Can Google It." [Wall Street Journal] * Congratulations to eBrevia, a legal technology company we've previously profiled, on raising $1.5 million in seed funding. [Law Technology News]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.04.14

* "[I]t’s hard to find anybody as handsome as Antonin Scalia." Some would beg to differ, but as it turns out, legal scholar Bryan Garner can brown-nose with the best of them. [WSJ Law Blog] * For the third year in a row, Cooley Law graduates have mostly failed the July administration of the Michigan bar. So much for it being a "highly prestigious" law school. [Crain's Detroit Business] * In a lawsuit filed against real estate database Zillow, a former employee claims she was subjected to the "most heinous acts of sexual harassment imaginable" and "sexual torture." That's just lovely. [LAist] * Law firm merger activity is still going strong as 2014 winds down to a close. Aside from big-name tie-ups like Bingham / Morgan Lewis and Locke Lord / Edwards Wildman, other firms like Verill Dana also had the urge to merge. [Am Law Daily] * "Does it really surprise me? Not all that much." University of Memphis School of Law students are on high alert during finals time after one of their own was almost robbed at gunpoint across the street from campus this week. Yikes. [WMC Action News 5] * In case you've been sleeping under a rock, Above the Law's managing editor, David Lat, wrote a book called Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), and it's been receiving rave reviews. If you dig clerkship lit, you should try to check it out. [National Law Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 11.25.14

* Grand juries rarely let someone go without an indictment unless it's a cop. Apparently pigs do not make for ham sandwiches. Instead of wishing for another rubber stamp indictment, this may be a good time to demand that everyone benefit from such skeptical grand juries. [FiveThirtyEight] * Well that's an interesting name... [Legal Juice] * Have you written a thank you note lately? Probably not. But you should. [What About Clients?] * Professor Ilya Somin reviews Lat's Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link) and talks about the importance of blogs. We agree with him. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Maybe you should ditch that temp legal job and go into PR? [Law and More] * Kinney Recruiting expands its operations to Chicago. [Kinney Recruiting]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.25.14

* "Have a taste of this. It will do you good in so many ways." Louisa Moritz, one of Bill Cosby's alleged victims, is interested in filing a class-action lawsuit against the comedian. [Fox News Latino] * If you're interested, here's all of the testimony and evidence that was presented to the grand jury that resulted in no true bill for Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting. [Associated Press] * HBO hired a team of 160 lawyers to look at its film adaptation of Lawrence Wright's book about Scientology. The power of thetans compels them to keep churning that bill, baby. [Hollywood Reporter] * "The Constitution is not a math problem," but it seems like the Supreme Court is playing a numbers game when it comes to its decisions having to do with same-sex marriage. What's the magic number for SCOTUS to take a case? [New York Times] * It's official: Morgan Lewis has gobbled up most of Bingham McCutchen ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Stick a fork in it, because Morgan Lewis is done -- it's now stuffed full of more lawyers than any other firm in the country. [Philadelphia Inquirer] * Emerson Briggs III, an ex-partner at Hunton & Williams, is facing disbarment in D.C. over the child pornography he downloaded at work. Oh, how the mighty have fallen: he's been working as a paralegal since being disbarred in New York. [Legal Times] * Patricia Nesci, a law firm secretary, allegedly forged a judge's signature on an order to show cause to keep herself from being evicted from her home earlier this month. She apparently did not get a Biglaw-style bonus from her former firm. [Syracuse.com] * Before you submit your applications, you should try creating a budget to see just how financially screwed you'll be during and after law school, and then compare it to your pre-law school budget. Try not to cry. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky
6th Circuit

Morning Docket: 11.07.14

* As mentioned earlier, the Sixth Circuit upheld same-sex marriage bans in four states. Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey’s dissent is a very fun read because it’s dripping with sarcasm. [WSJ Law Blog] * Sentencing has been delayed for Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s friends during the pendency of the Yates case at SCOTUS. Like a grouper, a backpack may not be a “tangible object.” [National Law Journal] * Bingham McCutchen and Edwards Wildman Palmer are planning to shed lawyers and staff members in anticipation of their proposed mergers with Morgan Lewis and Locke Lord. Ouch. [Am Law Daily] * Weekend reading? ATL’s managing editor, David Lat, reviews Blindfolds Off (affiliate link), an interesting collection of interviews with judges about how they decide their toughest cases. [Wall Street Journal] * Everyone, please stop what you’re doing. Jeffrey Toobin has discovered that law schools are in trouble, and he’s on the case. You can read more information about this new phenomenon here. [The New Yorker] * Adam Tang, the man who drove a 26-mile loop around Manhattan in 24 minutes, was convicted of reckless driving without being present. Check out the video of his crazy drive, after the jump. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
2nd Circuit

Non-Sequiturs: 10.31.14

* Thanks to Wonkette for pointing out that we were on this whole Ruth Baby Ginsburg thing last year. [Wonkette] * Speaking of our legally themed Halloween costume contest, please send us your nominations. [Above the Law] * Salacious allegations about a high-flying investment banker invite comparisons to The Wolf of Wall Street. [Dealbreaker] * The Second Circuit puts a stop to a legal challenge to the stop-and-frisk settlement. [How Appealing] * You’d expect a former lawmaker to have a better understanding of… the law. [Lexington Herald-Leader] * The Wall Street Journal reviews Paul Barrett’s new book (affiliate link) about the never-ending Chevron/Ecuador litigation. [Wall Street Journal] * Speaking of the Chevron/Ecuador matter, here’s more about the Canadian Bar Association’s controversial involvement, which Canada columnist Steve Dykstra covered earlier. [rabble.ca] * Some thoughts from Jonathan Mermin on something lawyers see every day: bad arguments. [Green Bag] * Here’s a great new resource for our fellow aficionados of appellate arguments. [Free Law Project]

By David Lat
Abortion

Non-Sequiturs: 10.30.14

* Using children’s books to describe the legal academy. It also works for law firms. Like The Monster at the End of This Book (affiliate link), about an associate who fears and reviles an overbearing partner and then learns (about 8 years in) that they’ve had the monster within them all along. [lawprofblawg] * In advance of its showdown before the Supreme Court, UPS changes its policy, but denies wrongdoing. [Redline] * I’ve never been called a Greek Chorus before. I like it. [Law and More] * Reproductive & Sexual Health and Justice senior legal analysts Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo discuss both voting rights and abortion access in Texas with political reporter Andrea Grimes. [RH Reality Check] * Op-ed notes that Obamacare opponents are cherry-picking their history. Are there actually Obamacare opponents left? [Washington Post] * A week or so ago I made a joke about OSU Coach Mike “I’m a Man! I’m 40!” Gundy. Apparently he tried to trademark it. [Campus Insiders] * LFC360 chats with Bentham IMF’s Ralph Sutton about making Biglaw more affordable with third-party litigation funding. [LFC360] * A list of the top 100 Wild Men and Wild Women in history. Justice Scalia, Racehorse Haynes and David Boies all make the list. I get why he went with Haynes, but when it comes to a Texas litigation “wild man,” I think Joe Jamail. [What About Clients?]

By Joe Patrice