California
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Law Schools
With Second-Worst Pass Rate In More Than 30 Years, Almost Everyone Fails California Bar Exam
The overall pass rate was just 31.4 percent. -
Technology
California Bar Exploring Opportunities To Deploy AI
The agency is examining how artificial intelligence could help it review misconduct complaints and administer the bar exam. - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Government
State Bar Gets Warmer Reception From California Auditor
A new state audit says increasing attorney fees is warranted, though at a smaller amount than the bar has proposed.
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Law Schools
Kim Kardashian Plans To Become Lawyer, Will Take Bar Exam In 2022
She's studying to become a lawyer without going to law school. -
Government
California Lawmakers Planning To Scrutinize Lack Of Diversity In State's Legal System
An upcoming legislative hearing will examine ways to boost minority representation in the law and on the bench. -
Government
Re-Fingerprinting Of California Lawyers Turns Up Thousands Of Criminal Records
The State Bar of California is examining more than 2,000 lawyer convictions it did not previously know about. -
Law Schools
California Bar Pleased With Initial Results From Program To Help Exam Takers Handle Stress
Test takers who took advantage of the program performed much better on the bar exam than those who did not participate. -
Government
California AG Says Journalist Broke The Law By Obtaining A List Of Convicted Officers Via A Public Records Request
The AG stepping in to tell journalists they can't have a document they already have is the wrong kind of audacious. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Small Law Firms
Will California Lawyers Have To Pay For Malpractice Insurance?
There could be a negative impact on access to justice if lawyers statewide had to raise their fees to cover the costly insurance. -
Government
Trump Mocks Federalism, Steps Up Retaliation Against California
I just need everybody to remember what Trump is doing to California when a Democratic President comes for Texas. -
Law Schools
The Time Is Now For California To Lower Its Bar Exam Pass Score
The evidence is clear: California needs to align with the national standard. -
Small Law Firms
The $100K Paralegal: Lawyer Winds Up Paying Six Figures Over $300 Dispute With Former Employee
This lawyer represented himself into a gigantic financial hole. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.02.19
* Out of the mouths of
babesfederal judges: “Those conclusions – that the president’s statements on national security are not always to be taken literally or to be trusted – are legal victories for his Justice Department….” Did you think you’d ever see a something like this written about the U.S. president? That’s our Trump! [USA Today]* A good New Year’s resolution for the federal judiciary? Chief Justice John Roberts says that while progress has been made when it comes to protecting law clerks from sexual harassment, “[t]he job is not finished until we have done all that we can to ensure that all of our employees are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.” [Washington Post]
* The American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union for federal employees, has filed suit against the government, claiming that requiring essential employees to work without pay during the shutdown — an “inhumane” practice for people who don’t know when their next paycheck is coming — violates the Fair Labor Standards Act. [CNN]
* Barbara Underwood really made a name for herself during her short tenure as New York’s first female attorney general. After she was thrust into the role, she quickly began her assault against President Donald Trump, eventually taking down his charitable foundation after alleging that he was using it as a front for his his private businesses and political campaign. [NBC News]
* Yet again, it’s time for women in Biglaw to celebrate fractional achievements for gender equality. According the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance, 39 percent of new partners named at Am Law firms were women, which was a “slight uptick,” but “the numbers really haven’t changed that much in the last five years.” Hooray. [Big Law Business]
* It’s a new year, so you know there are going to be a bunch of interesting new laws. Here are just a few: In California, domestic-violence convicts can lose their gun rights for life; in Hawaii, physician-assisted suicide is now legal; in Virginia, legislators and their staff members must undergo mandatory sexual-harassment training; and in New York City, non-binary people can now list their gender as “X” on birth certificates. [Wall Street Journal]
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Law Schools
A Breakdown Of California Bar Exam Results By Law School (July 2018)
Which in-state law schools did the best on the test, and which schools did the worst? -
Law Schools
How In The World Can We Solve The Problems With The California Bar Exam?
How can we stop so many people from failing the bar exam? -
Law Schools
California Bar Exam Pass Rate Reaches Nearly All-Time Low
These are historically horrible results -- the worst in nearly 70 years. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.19.18
* “You were very busy. Wow. Wow. I always knew I liked him.” President Trump posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom to the Justice Antonin Scalia on Friday and managed to crack a joke about the late justice’s sex life when referring to his wife and their nine children. Wow. [USA Today]
* Speaking about birth control… President Trump has proposed a new way for employers to get around the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate by creating a Title X loophole that would “hijack” programs that already have limited funding and send women to low-income family planning clinics to get their contraceptives. [New York Times]
* Will Biglaw be the next thing that millennials kill? Not only has Weil Gotshal shortened its partner track in order to keep its youthful talent from walking out the door, but the firm that once made a big joke out of work/life balance is now allowing associates to work from home once a week. [American Lawyer]
* The California bar exam results are out, and they’re not anything to write home about — except if you enjoy schadenfreude, that is. Nearly six in 10 failed the test, and the overall pass rate is historically horrible. More on this later. [The Recorder]
* After having already been rejected by the ABA’s House of Delegates, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has sent its proposed 75 percent bar-passage rate within two years of graduation accreditation standard right back for another vote. Will it be approved this time around? We shall see. [ABA Journal]
* Joel Sanders, the ex-CFO of failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, was jailed on Thursday for failing to pay a $1 million fine associated with his fraud conviction, but he was out by the wee hours of the morning on Friday thanks to his new firm, Greenspoon Marder, which paid the entire sum on his behalf. [American Lawyer]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.07.18
* Republicans’ control over the Senate grew after the midterm elections, but Democrats managed to take the House. Here are six interesting reasons why that means President Donald Trump could be in “huge legal trouble” now. [Law & Crime]
* Florida voters approved an amendment to their state constitution to restore felons’ voting rights, which will now be automatically restored after prison time is completed and restitution paid. That’s at least 1.4 million more voters! [Orlando Sentinel]
* Remember Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after she refused to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples? Last night, she lost her reelection campaign to Elwood Caudill Jr., a Democratic challenger. [Lexington Herald Leader]
* In case you missed it, President Donald Trump chose former White House counsel and current O’Melveny of counsel A.B. Culvahouse to go Down Under to
put another shrimp on the barbieserve as U.S. ambassador to Australia. [National Law Journal]* A California appellate court has paved the way for former Winston & Strawn partner Constance Ramos to get out of an “unconscionable” arbitration agreement with the firm. This may be the first Biglaw gender bias case to make it to trial. [The Recorder]
* Sorry, but you can’t deduct the cost of your law degree on your taxes because it qualified you for a new trade or business. The U.S. Tax Court says that even with a shiny new J.D. in your possession, you’ve only enhanced your current skills. [Law360]
* Grab ’em by the public interest: Per a new Gallup survey, pre-law students don’t care about Biglaw money; no, they say the top reason to go to law school is to “pursue a career in politics, government, or other public service.” [Idaho Business Review]
* A group of crypto investors has filed suit against rapper T.I., alleging that they could not have whatever they like because he tricked them into backing FLiK Token. The Rubberband Man’s lawyer says, “Tip is truly disheartened by the lawsuit.” [Complex]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.24.18
* As she steps away from public life in the wake of her dementia diagnosis, rather than banish retired Justice Anthony Kennedy to the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor bequeathed her chambers to him. The Supreme Court will miss her. [National Law Journal]
* Judges say the darndest things: Bill Cosby’s bid to get a new trial and reduce his sentence was summarily turned down by Judge Steven O’Neill, who noted in a simple, one-page ruling that “no hearing or argument is required on the issues.” [NBC News]
* Desmarais, the elite IP litigation boutique that recently raised salaries for first-year associates to $210,000, will be making its “first and probably [] last expansion,” opening a West Coast office in San Francisco to serve its Bay Area clients. [Law360]
* In case you missed it, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners awarded Thomas Jefferson School of Law with state accreditation after an 8-7 vote, with one committee member abstaining. Now its graduates will be able to sit for the California bar exam even if the ABA revokes its accreditation. [ABA Journal]
* If you’ve been wondering what killed the Middle Tennessee State University / Valparaiso Law School deal, one member of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission says it had to do with “genuine concern about the labor supply and demand for lawyers” — and that seems entirely reasonable. [Murfreesboro Post]
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Marijuana
California Dealin': Pot Indemnities Deserve Your Attention
What makes for a good indemnification provision in a cannabis contract?