California

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.09.16

* Following a concession call from Hillary Clinton last night, and in a "stunning repudiation of the establishment," Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States. Congratulations to President-elect Trump. How do you like them apples? This historic election wasn't "rigged" after all! [New York Times] * Marijuana also won big in the polls last night. Voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine approved recreational marijuana initiatives, with Arkansas, North Dakota, and Florida approving medical marijuana initiatives, but "[t]here are various ways in which a hostile White House could trip things up." We'll have more information on this news later today. [Washington Post] * As we saw in the ATL electoral law school poll, many practicing lawyers voted for Hillary Clinton, but alas, it was all for naught. For example, Lisa Blatt, head of Arnold & Porter’s appellate and Supreme Court practice, had this to say when asked who she voted for in the election: "Duh! Clinton; early voting; and seriously?" [Big Law Business] * Despite UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander's pleas to use the data to support his opposition to affirmative action, the California State Bar need not disclose the race or ethnicity of those who took the bar exam since 1972 because it would amount to an invasion of privacy for those promised confidentiality. [San Francisco Chronicle] * Per an ALM survey, revenue per partner slipped in 2015 to an average of $468,511, down from an average of $491,729 in 2014. This 4.7 percent decline is the largest ALM has seen since it first started tracking the metric. Why is this happening? "Demand is soft. Quite a few firms still have more lawyers than work for them." [Am Law Daily] * This must be an interesting situation for the clothing company's GC-cum-CEO: After deciding to ignore its own reorganization plan and announcing that it would be winding down its U.K. operations, American Apparel is desperately attempting to stave off another bankruptcy filing and has now resumed talks with potential buyers. [Reuters]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.07.16

* "He has always said he’s given to politicians his entire career and he thinks the system is broken. A review of Donald Trump's political donations show that the Republican presidential candidate has made campaign contributions to several to state attorneys general while they weighed decisions affecting his business, particularly in New York. What's that about a "rigged" system? [Wall Street Journal] * Carl Ferrer, the chief executive officer of Backpage.com, was arrested last night on in Houston, Texas, on a California warrant for criminal charges including pimping. If you recall, Backpage.com was recently in the news thanks to a Senate investigation into allegations that the site was helping to facilitate child sex trafficking. [Reuters] * Per a report publish by Altman Weil, law firm merger and acquisition activity was way down in the third quarter of 2016. Last year at this time, the merger market was 40 percent more active. Why are so dormant? "[F]irms are waiting on the sidelines seeing if it will all work: 6,000-lawyer law firms and that type of thing." [Big Law Business] * "Congratulations to the 'Nino' Scalia Law School for memorializing, for celebrating this most remarkable judge and teacher." Justices Kagan, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, and Sotomayor -- attended the dedication for the school named after Scalia, while Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Ginsburg attended a dinner in his honor. [USA Today] * "If students are graduating and they can't pass the bar, that's a big problem." Law schools are coming around to the fact that it's now a buyer's market for students, and some will even allow 0Ls to "vet" their schools to evaluate the teaching methods being used. You can even check out professors' résumés. [U.S. News & World Report]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.06.16

* Rudy Giuliani will be taking a "voluntary leave of absence" from Greenberg Traurig thanks to his activities related to Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency. Is Giuliani's move truly voluntary, or was the prominent partner forced to take a break as Election 2016 draws closer and the race for the White House becomes even more heated? We'll have more on this development later today. [Observer] * In 196 deals with a total volume of $379.6 billion, White & Case is ranked No. 1 on Bloomberg’s M&A charts for global deals in the first three quarters of 2016. The firm surpassed the likes of SullCrom (No. 2), Wachtell Lipton (No. 3), Davis Polk (No. 4), and Skadden (No. 5). This time last year, Skadden was leading the pack. [Big Law Business] * In one of the first cases related to race that SCOTUS grappled with this Term, some say it appeared as though the justices may side with a black death row inmate in search of a new sentence because his own lawyer used an expert witness at trial who testified that the man was more likely to be dangerous in the future because of his race. [Reuters] * Government lawyers continue to flock to Biglaw firms, and this time, the lateral hire is a "true patriot, who believes in service to the nation as a calling." WilmerHale welcomes Alejandro Mayorkas, a former U.S. Attorney who has worked for the the past three years as No. 2 at the Department of Homeland Security. Congratulations! [WSJ Law Blog] * "I just hope that when people think the rules don’t apply to them, they will think twice before they abuse their power." Thanks to a California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it is now a felony punishable by up to three years in prison for state prosecutors to tamper with evidence or hide exculpatory material from the defense. [Los Angeles Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.03.16

* The New York Times has obtained Donald Trump's tax records from 1995, revealing a nearly $916 million loss that would have enabled him to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period. Marc Kasowitz, name partner of Kasowitz Benson, represents Trump, and has threatened the paper with "prompt initiation of appropriate legal action" for its publication of his client's tax records. [New York Times] * George Mason University will host a grand opening ceremony this week for the twice renamed Antonin Scalia School of Law Antonin Scalia Law School -- a ceremony that five SCOTUS justices will reportedly attend -- and some students and faculty are planning to protest the Koch brothers' funding of scholarships by wearing red tape over their mouths to symbolize their voices being taken from them. [Big Law Business] * Katherine Magbanua, the woman who is suspected of connecting Florida State University law professor Dan Markel's alleged killers, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, with the family of Markel's ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, has been arrested on murder charges. According to police, she has "received numerous benefits from the Adelsons since Markel’s murder." We'll have more on this later today. [Tallahassee Democrat] * According to Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida, Orlando-based firm Butler & Hosch violated the WARN Act when it closed suddenly in May 2015 and conducted mass layoffs of more than 700 employees without giving them 60 days of advance notice. The firm, which is bankruptcy, could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages. We may have more on this later today. [Orlando Sentinel] * Following the embarrassment that was former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner's light sentence in the sexual assault of an unconscious woman at his school, California Gov. Jerry Brown has broadened the state's legal definition of rape to include penetration with a foreign object, mandate prison time if the victim was unconscious at the time of the assault, and forbid judges from granting probation or parole in such cases. [Reuters] * "Frankly, USD has been a bit behind in that, in part, up until 2014, we had no problem with the bar exam. When you’re hitting in the high 80s or 90s, you don’t worry about much." Unofficial results from the South Dakota bar exam are out, and after years of declines in passage rates for graduates of South Dakota Law, administrators are ready to take action now that only about 50 percent of graduates passed the test. [Argus Leader] * "I was empty and then this woman walked into my life. I didn’t think it would happen again and it did. She is it." LGBT rights pioneer Edie Windsor, the plaintiff whose Supreme Court case rendered DOMA unconstitutional in 2013 and laid the groundwork for the high court to declare that marriage equality was a fundamental right just two years later, remarried in New York last week. Our very best wishes! [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.27.16

* “Even with a new Republican appointee, [Justice Clarence] Thomas is likely to remain somewhat isolated on the extreme right.” In the case of Justice Thomas, it wouldn't even matter if Donald Trump won the presidency -- he'd still be the most conservative justice in the modern history of the Supreme Court. [New York Times] * The Supreme Court's long conference was yesterday, and we'll likely find out later today (or in the days to come) the cases for which the justices decided to grant certiorari for the 2016-17 term. One of those cases may be NCAA v. O'Bannon, where the question of sports amateurism for the purpose of athletes' pay is up for debate. [CBS Sports] * Hot on the heels of the news that Dentons dragged down revenue per lawyer rankings for the entire 2016 Global 100 thanks to its mega-merger with Dacheng, the firm had a more upbeat announcement. Partners Mike McNamara, Jeff Haidet, and Peter Wolfson have ascended to national and global leadership positions. Congrats! [Big Law Business] * Under a new California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, actors may conceal their age and force websites like IMDb to remove their age from bio pages in order to shield themselves from age-based discrimination in casting. Critics of the law are calling this an attack on free speech -- and it's too little, too late for Junie Hoang. [WSJ Law Blog] * Judge Leonard I. Garth, Third Circuit Court of Appeals jurist, RIP. [Washington Post] * Daniel O. Bernstine, president of LSAC, RIP. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky