California Bar Exam

* What’s it like to take the California bar exam as a 46-year-old law professor? Orin Kerr enlightens us. [Reason / Volokh Conspiracy]

* Charles Glasser points out the dangers involved in holding a speaker responsible for actions taken by listeners. [Daily Caller]

* In the Term that just ended, the Supreme Court tackled technology issues in a big way — and the implications are far-reaching, as J.P. Schnapper-Casteras explains. [Take Care]

* Elizabeth Slattery and I joined Laurence Colletti, guest host of the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast, to discuss Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s SCOTUS retirement and the nomination of his successor, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. [Legal Talk Network]

* There has been a lot of speculation about how a Justice Brett Kavanaugh might move the Court to the right; Adam Feldman digs into the cases to make some educated guesses. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* What lessons could losing the Court teach the Democrats? Here are some thoughts from Seth Lipsky and David Leonhardt. [New York Post via Instapundit]

* And what lessons can lawyers learn from Judge Kavanaugh’s excellent writing? Ross Guberman identifies five of them. [Legal Writing Pro]

* Joel Cohen and Dale Degenshein explore what happens when a citizen “flips the bird” at the police (hint: it’s not a good idea). [Law and Crime]

* Congratulations to Thomson Reuters on the launch of Westlaw Edge, the latest version of its industry-leading legal research platform — which boasts a slew of new, artificial-intelligence-driven features, helpfully explained by Jean O’Grady. [Dewey B Strategic]

* And speaking of AI, congratulations to Fenwick & West on cutting the time for contract review in half, with the help of technology from Kira Systems. [Artificial Lawyer]

* Yes, it’s true: Jeff Sessions came thisclose to resigning as attorney general, after Donald Trump berated him following the appointment of special counsel Bob Mueller in the Russia probe. [New York Times]

* Bye-bye to blue slips? It wouldn’t exactly be “nuclear,” since their treatment has varied greatly over the years. [BuzzFeed]

* The State Bar of California tries to cut down the arguments in favor of a lower cut score on the bar exam. [ABA Journal]

* Technology platforms are driving an increase in transparency that’s having profound consequences for the employer/employee relationship (as I recently discussed on the podcast of Akerman employment-law partner Matt Steinberg). [Akerman]

* Embattled Equifax has turned to Phyllis Sumner and King & Spalding for much-needed legal help in the wake of its massive data breach. [Law.com]

* Statutory interpretation question: can you be both the victim and the perpetrator in a child pornography case? [How Appealing]

* The ranks of nonequity partners continue to grow; has this trend gone too far? [Big Law Business]

* Prosecution of individuals in cases of corporate wrongdoing (aka the Yates Memo), and Justice Department policy on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where it has been decriminalized — both are “under review” at the DOJ, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. [Law.com]

* Northwestern Dean Dan Rodriguez perfectly sums up the California bar’s decision to punt on the cut score question. [PrawfsBlawg]

* The Equifax hack leaves 143 million people vulnerable. But the Equifax executives may end up the most vulnerable after they reacted to the breach by selling shares… fast. Oh, who are we kidding? This DOJ isn’t going to prosecute that! [Huffington Post]

* The Empire’s stormtrooper armor is really terrible. [The Legal Geeks]

* Professor Douglas Litowitz is on the law school job market, and he’s rejecting all rejection letters. “I wish them great success in placing their rejection letters with other candidates. I have simply received a sufficient number of excellent rejection letters already.” [Faculty Lounge]

* The University of Colorado faces a lawsuit over allegedly protecting a football coach over an a domestic abuse survivor. No one ever lost money betting against schools changing their cultures on a dime, but honestly we’re not far removed from the last round of lawsuits about the school’s hostile environment. [Rewire]

* How much do you know about “The Reid Method”? Wyatt Kozinski (Judge Kozinski’s son) calls for a new “Wickersham Commission” to investigate the method’s role in a spate of false confessions undermining the credibility of the criminal justice system. That said, the President’s first foray into politics was calling for executions based on false confessions, so maybe we shouldn’t hold our breaths for this commission. [The Crime Report]

* Irma threatens lives… and the return of an overused metaphor. [Law and More]

* Speaking of hurricanes, Harvey has spawned its first lawsuit. [The Atlantic]

* Another edition of “bad places to hide.” [Lowering the Bar]

* Congratulations to lawyer Anthony Franze, author of The Outsider (affiliate link), on the thriller getting picked up for possible television development! [Deadline]

* Harvard Law School unveils new plaque recognizing the contributions of Isaac Royall’s slaves. [Smithsonian Magazine] * In an open letter, 47 high-profile conservatives, including Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, blast the Southern Poverty Law Center for using the […]