Bridgegate

  • Morning Docket: 03.30.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.30.17

    * North Carolina lawmakers say they’ve reached a deal to repeal the state’s controversial bathroom bill. I wonder how those negotiations went: “Hey, this law is awful and is costing our state billions. Let’s get rid of it.” “Okay.” I mean that’s probably not how it went, but it’s how it should have gone. [Reuters]

    * Five University of California law schools are sharing the wealth after an improper foreclosure verdict results in a big punitive damages award. The judge directed a portion of that money to go to the law schools — $4 million each — earmarked for consumer law education and direct legal services. [Law.com]

    * Hawaii successfully converted the TRO on the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban 2.0 into a preliminary injunction. [Hogan Lovells]

    * Seattle is the first city to sue over the Trump administration’s threats against sanctuary cities. [LA Times]

    * Bridgegate results in prison sentences. Bridget Kelly was sentenced to 18 months, and Bill Baroni got 2 years. [New York Times]

    * Doublespeak — the environment edition. [Politico]

    * Is Sean Spicer is lying about whether the White House really wants former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify to Congress? [The Hill]

    * Judge Andrew Napolitano is back at Fox News, and back to conspiracy theories. [CNN]

  • Morning Docket: 01.13.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.13.17

    * The University of Houston Law Center and the South Texas College of Law Houston (formerly known as the Houston College of Law and the South Texas College of Law) still haven’t been able to resolve their trademark tiff. A judge has encouraged both law schools to “keep at it” to avoid a trial. [Houston Chronicle]

    * Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, a bill ending Chevron deference — perhaps the most important principal of administrative law. Apparently it will be much better for job creation and economic growth if judges ignore regulatory agencies’ legal interpretations. [Law360 (sub. req.)]

    * Leslie Caldwell, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, will be stepping down from her post today. She has no idea what’s ahead of her aside from a trip to the Caribbean next week. As far as her prospective successor is concerned, she thinks accessing data on encrypted devices will be “problem No. 1 to address.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * A New Jersey judge has refused to dismiss a gubernatorial candidate’s criminal complaint against Governor Chris Christie over the Bridgegate scandal, noting that a lower court judge “improperly denied counsel [to Christie] at a critical stage” of the case. If probable cause is found, Christie may face charges, just like his colleagues. [Reuters]

    * “Even if we could justify the need … it is far from clear that the funding case could be made….” Given the turmoil at Charlotte Law, people are wondering whether it would be a good idea for UNC Charlotte to open a law school. Just because one law school may be closing, it doesn’t mean that another needs to open in its place. [Charlotte Observer]

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  • Morning Docket: 10.24.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.24.16

    * “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to sue all of the “liars” who have accused him of sexual assault within the last two weeks when the election is over. As an attorney representing one of Trump’s accusers noted, a lawsuit would provide a “field day” to depose him under oath. [CNN]

    * The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has approved a tougher bar-passage rate standard that would require 75 percent of of a law school’s graduates who sit for the bar exam to pass it within two years. It’s up to the ABA House of Delegates to decide if the stricter standard will ever be implemented. We’ll have more on this later today. [ABA Journal]

    * “I don’t know why he would wait around for 200 days and then pull out at the very moment that it seemed likely that he was going to get confirmed.” Will Judge Merrick Garland be confirmed to SCOTUS? With senators calling for lame-duck hearings if Hillary Clinton is elected and a bare-bones oral arguments calendar scheduled, it seems like even the justices are holding out hope for a full house in 2017. [Washington Post]

    * In a deal likely to invoke government scrutiny, AT&T has agreed to purchase Time Warner for $84.5 billion. Teams from Sullivan & Cromwell (transaction work) and Arnold & Porter (regulatory work) will be representing AT&T, while Cravath will be representing Time Warner. Faiza Saeed, Cravath’s deputy presiding partner, will lead the team working on the deal from her firm. [DealBook / New York Times; Am Law Daily]

    * According to testimony from Bridget Kelly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Christie allegedly knew about the Bridgegate lane closures a month before they occurred, not afterwards, as he’s repeatedly claimed. Kelly, who says she thought the lane closures were for a traffic study, not a politically motivated scheme, is currently being tried in federal court over her role in the 2013 scandal. [Reuters]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 10.17.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.17.16

    * Guess? has the edge in its latest trademark dispute with Gucci. [The Fashion Law]

    * President Obama is making the judiciary more diverse, and it is changing the courts. [Law360 (sub. req.)]

    * U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker benchslaps Florida over its voter ID laws. [Slate]

    * On the need for a safeguard against racism in the jury room. [Jost on Justice]

    * Has the Supreme Court not been getting enough air time in the 2016 election? [Huffington Post]

    * The defendants to testify in Bridgegate. [Law and More]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 10.13.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.13.16

    * Workplace safety — especially when it deals with beloved actor Harrison Ford — is no laughing matter. And a Disney subsidiary is paying ~$2 million as a result. [io9]

    * A look at the oral argument in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado. [Slate]

    * This whole “publicly traded company” thing isn’t working out so great for Slater & Gordon. [Law and More]

    * A new summons for Governor Chris Christie over Bridgegate. [Huffington Post]

    * Despite SCOTUS ruling, there haven’t been many Hobby Lobby copycats. [Politico]

    * Copyright suit over the classic “Who’s On First” routine stays dead. [Hollywood Reporter]

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  • Morning Docket: 08.11.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.11.16

    * “Could a firm with a different business model suffer, potentially, if they don’t match the $180,000? Maybe.” Law firms may be competing for fewer students than in years prior thanks to decreased law school enrollment, but Biglaw’s new starting salary scale doesn’t seem to have made a big impact on the summer associate applicant pool — at most schools, OCI participation has held steady or risen only slightly since last year. [Law.com]

    * “Are you listening? He just flat out lied. … [I]t could be bad.” In a text message that was included in a federal court filing earlier this week, a former aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie claimed that the governor lied when he told the media none of his staff knew about a plan to block George Washington Bridge traffic. Uh-oh! [New York Times]

    * “We’ll tell the council that there’s a giant need for affordable law schools like us, and we’re going to meet that need.” After learning it was unlikely his school would receive accreditation due to students’ poor qualifications, Dean Royal Furgeson Jr. of UNT Dallas Law shrugged it off, saying the school would “get a fair hearing.” [ABA Journal]

    * Robert Schulman, a former partner at Hunton & Williams, has been indicted for allegedly trading on insider information ahead of Pfizer’s $3.6 billion purchase of King Pharmaceuticals, a client he represented in 2010 while at the firm. He, along with his investment adviser, will face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. [Big Law Business]

    * Yet another Biglaw firm has partnered with a financial company to assist its attorneys with their law school debt. Miller Canfield is working with Social Finance (SoFi) to provide loan refinancing options to the firm’s associates to help “ease the financial burden” of their heavy six-figure debt loads. [Grand Rapids Business Journal]

    * “They’re being terribly exploited.” Lichten and Bright, a New York labor law firm, has contacted hundreds of UFC fighters in an effort to unionize them and help get them benefits that other sports unions share, like health insurance, pensions, and the ability to negotiate the terms of their contracts with the mixed martial arts giant. [MMA Junkie]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.14.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.14.16

    * So, you lucky associate you, expect a bit of extra cash this summer? Here’s how you should be spending it. [American Lawyer]

    * Chris Christie allegedly took document preservation tips from Dick Nixon. [WNYC]

    * DLA Piper looks to join the ranks of employing droids, announcing a new partnership with Kira Systems to produce an AI tool for conducting due diligence. [DLA Piper]

    * Oh, the stupid things law schools do. Like how a bunch of Touro 3Ls are ineligible to sit for the bar exam this summer… [Reboot Your Law Practice]

    * Bands from Google Legal, Kirkland & Ellis, Lieff Cabraser, Simpson Thacher, Kazan Law, and Morgan Lewis are competing in a Battle of the Bands at 1015 Folsom nightclub tomorrow night in San Francisco in support of The Family Violence Appellate Project. [Family Violence Appellate Project]

    * M&A is having a pretty good 2016. [Fortune]

    * “The Scrooge Effect” for Biglaw firms that refuse to give pay raises to their associates. [Law and More]

    * The previously lost Marx Brothers musical, “I’ll Say She Is,” is currently playing at the Connelly Theater in the East Village. And it stars, Kathy Biehl a practicing New Jersey and Texas lawyer. [I’ll Say She Is]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.16

    * The unnamed alleged Bridgegate co-conspirators will stay unnamed a little longer — District Judge Susan Wigenton has postponed the release of the names after Jenny R. Kramer of Chadbourne & Parke filed a motion alleging her client would be caused “immediate and irreparable reputational harm” if his name were released. [Gawker]

    * Above the Law all-star Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal is leaving the judiciary for Facebook. [Recode]

    * The story of how faulty jury instructions led to a second chance for almost 150 Maryland prisoners sentenced to life in prison. [Highline]

    * District Judge Murray Snow found that Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, along with three aides, violated a federal order designed to stop racial profiling. [Talking Points Memo]

    * Manufacturing jobs are important, but the real key is union benefits for American workers. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

    * Catholic church be damned, Italy has legalized same-sex unions. [Slate]

  • Morning Docket: 03.04.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.04.16

    * “I’d hope they’d see reason but I wouldn’t bet the family farm on it.” Senate Republicans may be stomping their feet about confirming one of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, but it may behoove them to do it now before Hillary Clinton takes office with a Democrat-controlled Senate. [Common Sense / New York Times]

    * Sincere congratulations to Damaris Hernández, who recently achieved a seemingly impossible feat at her Bigfirm. The 36-year-old attorney is the first Latina to become a partner at Cravath Swaine & Moore. She joins the 46 other Hispanic women who are partners at just a few of America’s largest law firms. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Lawmakers from the Garden State have demanded that Gibson Dunn and digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg repay $2.8 million in legal fees in the Bridgegate case, the bulk of which were e-discovery charges to the tune of $2.3 million. Welcome to the absurdity that is document review, New Jersey! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * It looks like Apple isn’t the only tech company that’s dueling with the DOJ right now. Since “[t]he interest in secrecy does not last forever,” Twitter is mounting a First Amendment case against the Feds over its ability to publicly release data that allegedly contains details related to the government’s terrorism investigations. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * The 10 customers who filed a class-action lawsuit against Subway over the sub shop’s less-than foot-long footlong sandwiches will only be able to afford 100 $5 footlongs each, because the lawyers on the case are walking away with $520,000 out of $525,000 settlement dollars — that’s 99 percent of the settlement. Fair? [Dayton Daily News]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.14.15

    * Donald Trump has opinions on Supreme Court justices. He thinks that Roberts is “disgraceful,” that Scalia was “very tough” on black students, and that he loves Thomas. Perhaps he should take a cue from his favorite justice and shut up. [CNN; Associated Press]

    * An easy peasy solution? Rather than amend the Constitution, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio says that he’ll just appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn the decision in the Obergefell case because he thinks that gay marriage is “bad law.” [ThinkProgress]

    * Gibson Dunn has billed about $8 million to defend New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal thus far, so here’s a thought: perhaps you should show your hard-working associates some appreciation and announce bonuses already. [Fox News]

    * Taylor Swift filed trademark applications for five signature phrases (Swiftmas, Blank Space, And I’ll Write Your Name, A Girl Named Girl, and 1989). If you infringe upon any of them, you can expect that she’ll be writing your name — on a lawsuit. [USA Today]

    * Braeden Anderson, the Seton Hall law student and ball player who divides his time between the courtroom and the basketball court, has had one hell of a 1L year. When he graduates, this extremely lucky guy may have a job — with the NBA. [New York Times]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 12.11.15

    * We’ve been super lucky that Old Man Winter hasn’t pelted us with terrible, bitter cold weather… yet. But as Westerosians know, it is coming. Here’s how to look good — and professional — when it does. [Corporette]

    * The sad state of immigration law in this country is a big ball of tragedy and comedy. Not exactly an ideal policy. [Huffington Post]

    * We already reported on Freshfields announcing holiday bonuses today, but another Magic Circle firm is also in a giving mood. Slaughter & May bumped up its “new solicitor bonus” in time for the holidays. That should make this year’s Christmas party almost as fun as 1981’s. [Legal Cheek]

    * An historical analysis of how prohibition law led to the modern right wing. Fascinating stuff. [Slate]

    * Following up on a benchslap from back in April, Judge Charles Rendlen suspends another lawyer as “dishonest and dangerously incompetent.” Feel free to read the whole thing here. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

    * Gibson Dunn’s Debra Wong Yang, who has billed NJ taxpayers more hours in connection with the Bridgegate investigation than any other lawyer, is now hosting a big-dollar fundraiser for Christie 2016. Time for some traffic problems everywhere! [WNYC]