California
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California, Lawyer Advertising, Small Law Firms, Travel / Vacation
The Practice: What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Lawyers can look for ways to improve their business, even when they're on vacation. -
Airplanes / Aviation, Boalt Hall, California, Contests, Crime, Lawyer of the Day, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Nauseating Things, Reader Polls, Ridiculousness, Trials
Lawyer of the Month: June Reader Poll
Who should receive the title for June's Lawyer of the Month? Vote in our poll! - 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… -
Airplanes / Aviation, California, Constitutional Law, Copyright, Department of Justice, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Food, Gay Marriage, Intellectual Property, John Roberts, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, UNC Law
Morning Docket: 07.04.12
Ed. note: Your Above the Law editors are busy celebrating their freedom today (and we hope that you are, too). We will return to our regular publication schedule on Thursday, July 5.
* At this point, the Supreme Court’s dramatic deliberations on the Affordable Care Act are like a leaking sieve. Now we’ve got dueling narratives on Chief Justice Roberts’s behind-the-scenes flip-flopping. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fabulosity! The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to grant cert on two DOMA cases, contending that Section 3 of the statute is unconstitutional. [Poliglot / Metro Weekly]
* A famous fabulist: according to California’s State Bar, disgraced journalist Stephen Glass is a “pervasive and documented liar,” but that’s not stopping him from trying to get his license to practice law. [Los Angeles Times]
* Clayton Osbon, the JetBlue pilot who had an epic mid-flight nutty and started ranting about religion and terrorists, was found not guilty by reason of insanity by a federal judge during a bench trial. [New York Post]
* After a month of bizarre legal filings, Charles Carreon has dropped his lawsuit against Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal. We’re hoping that there will be an awesome victory cartoon drawn up soon. [Digital Life / Today]
* Northwestern Law is the only American law school to have joined a 17-member global justice league geared toward legal teaching and research collaborations. But do they get cool costumes? [National Law Journal]
* UNC Law received two charitable gifts totaling $2.7M that will be used to fund tuition scholarships for current and future students. Maybe their students won’t have to create tuition donation sites anymore. [Herald-Sun]
* This law is for the birds (literally and figuratively). California’s ban on the sale of foie gras had only been in effect for one day before the first lawsuit was filed to overturn it as unconstitutional. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce recently announced that mermaids do not exist. Not to worry — it’s still legal to believe that Ariel is a babe. [New York Daily News]
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California, Fabulosity, Intellectual Property, Patents, Trademarks
Patent Office Comes to California, Where the Innovators Live
The Patent and Trademark Office is escaping its northern Virginia bubble. Go West, young trademarks! -
California, Privacy, State Judges, Technology
How Can a Worried Judge Go Off the Grid -- Without Actually Going Off the Grid?
A technology company introduces an interesting strategy for protecting judges' privacy. -
California, Courtship Connection, Law Schools, Romance and Dating
Courtship Connection SF: 'Law School Has Ruined Her'
How did Kash's latest Courtship Connection pairing work out? -
California, Deaths, Facebook, Federal Judges, Free Speech, Jury Duty, Non-Sequiturs, Sports
Non-Sequiturs: 06.21.12
* Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, has a very lawyerly license plate — and expired tags, too? [Deadspin] * In other sports law news, Darren Heitner says at least one football helmet manufacturer should be afraid, be very afraid, of concussion litigation. [Forbes] * A pop culture blogger, Jenni Maier, is rudely awakened to the boring, sexless, receding-hairline-filled real world of jury duty. [Crushable] * A pair of former Lawyers of the Day, Michael Tein and Guy Lewis, are in trouble again — this time for allegedly acting “recklessly and unprofessionally” towards the judge in a wrongful death case they were handling. [Miami Herald] * The Minnesota Supreme Court rules that a Mortuary Science student was legally flunked for making fun (on Facebook) of the cadaver she had to dissect. Chalk up another point to the Facebook Fun Police. [City Pages] * Senior U.S. District Judge Robert J. Kelleher, the oldest serving federal judge, died at 99 in California. [Associated Press] -
9th Circuit, California, Conferences / Symposia, Quote of the Day, Ridiculousness
Quote of the Day: It's Not Like They're Flying to Guam
The Ninth Circuit catches flack for holding a judicial conference… in the Ninth Circuit. - 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… -
California, Quote of the Day, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns
Quote of the Day: You Give Me the Kreeps
Did a "birther" seriously get elected as a judge in California? -
Boalt Hall, California, Drugs, Kids, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Partner Issues
A Law Firm Partner and His Boalt Hall Wife Stand Accused of Planting Drugs on an Elementary School Volunteer
If the allegations are true, then you do not want to mess with the kid of these two (rather attractive) lawyers, because you may wind up facing drug charges... -
Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Boalt Hall, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Drugs, Health Care / Medicine, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, Sex, Supreme Court, Tax Law
Morning Docket: 06.20.12
* It’s not just media groups that are urging the Supreme Court to allow live coverage of the announcement of the ACA decision. Senators Patrick Leahy and Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee have joined the club. [Blog of Legal Times]
* Dewey know whether this failed firm’s former partners will be settling their claims any time soon? Team Togut hopes to reach a deal in the next six weeks, and claims that cooperation will absolve D&L’s deserters of all future liability. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
* From Biglaw to the big house: former Sullivan & Cromwell partner John O’Brien, who is serving time for tax evasion charges, has been suspended from practicing law in New York. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* A Stradling Yocca partner and his wife, a Boalt Hall graduate, stand accused of planting drugs on a school volunteer who supervised their son. Looks like the only thing they’re straddling now is jail time. [OC Register]
* Dharun Ravi was released early from jail yesterday after completing a little more than half of his 30-day sentence. Funny how bad behavior got him into the slammer, but good behavior got him out of it. [CNN]
* “Why would somebody so smart do something so stupid?” Kenneth Kratz, the sexting DA from Wisconsin, claims that the answer to that question is an addiction to sex and prescription drugs. [Herald Times Reporter]
* Jay-Z’s got 99 problems and this bitch is one. He’s been accused by Patrick White of plagiarizing parts of his own best-selling memoir, “Decoded,” and slapped with a copyright infringement suit. [New York Daily News]
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Bar Exams, California, Immigration, Job Searches, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Undocumented Immigrants Are Now Totally Indistinguishable from the Class of 2011
Should undocumented immigrants be allowed to practice law if they've passed the bar exam? -
Boalt Hall, California, Crime, Judge of the Day, Old People, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns
Judge of the Day: The Road to Hell…
Our Judge of the Day stands accused of stealing a LOT of money from his elderly neighbor.
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
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California, Cars, Jury Duty
Chris Draws Jury Duty in the Suburbs: You Know What, It Wasn't So Bad…
Jury duty in the suburbs of California is way better than jury duty in Oakland, or probably any major city… -
Biglaw, California, Deaths, Football, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Police, Silicon Valley, Texas, Trials, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 06.14.12
* Kleiner Perkins responded to Ellen Pao’s gender discrimination suit, and it’s not pretty. Not only does the firm’s answer deny her allegations, but it also calls into question her work product. [San Jose Mercury News]
* Joe Amendola’s preferred strategy at the Jerry Sandusky trial seems to be the use of the “tried and tested technique” of ignoring all of the alleged accusers’ tears and making them cry all over again. [New York Times]
* Who in their right mind would attempt to fake being a lawyer these days? Michelle Fyfe, a 43-year-old woman from Texas, is accused of forging a law degree from SMU Dedman School of Law. [Dallas Morning News (sub. req.)]
* Say hello to Baltimore Law’s new dean, Ronald Weich, the former assistant attorney general who penned the notorious false gun letter to Congress. Surely this ex-DOJ official will stand up to Bogomolny. [The Hill]
* This must be like getting it caught in your zipper — but much, much worse. A Brooklyn man claims that members of the NYPD “strangled his penis,” so he’s suing. [Huffington Post via Courthouse News Service]
* Reuben G. Clark Jr., a founding partner of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering (WilmerHale), RIP. [Washington Post]
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Biglaw, California, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, Football, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Prostitution, Reality TV, Social Networking Websites, Television, Trials
Morning Docket: 06.13.12
* Dewey even care if we spent money like it was going out of print? A new D&L bankruptcy court filing states that the failed firm used $43M of secured lenders’ funds in less than a month in an attempt to save the ship from sinking. [Bloomberg]
* The Jerry Sandusky trial continues: Mike McQueary’s testimony in the former football coach’s case was pretty disgusting, but then again, most things are going to be pretty disgusting when you’re dealing with an alleged child predator. [Daily Item]
* A few ways you can tell this isn’t England: 1) our dental hygiene is generally better; 2) our royalty is entirely made up of reality TV stars; and 3) you still can’t serve people via social networking sites like Facebook. [paidContent]
* Foul ball(s)! Remember Clark Calvin Griffith, the former William Mitchell adjunct sports law professor who was accused of unsportsmanlike penile conduct? He pleaded guilty to indecent exposure. [Pioneer Press]
* “Do I have to read the whole settlement?” Yup! UC Irvine Law’s consumer protection clinic will work to see if banks are keeping their end of the bargain in a $25B foreclosure-abuse settlement. [Los Angeles Times]
* Anna Gristina, the accused “Millionaire Madam,” claims in a motion to dismiss that police tried to make her name her johns, one of whom is apparently “a prominent Manhattan lawyer.” But which one? [New York Post]
* CBS claims that ABC’s “Glass House” is a rip off of “Big Brother,” and the network is trying to block the show from airing. OMG, please let it air so we can see this law school dropout in action. [Celebrity Justice / FindLaw]
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Boutique Law Firms, California, Celebrities, Litigators, Quote of the Day, Small Law Firms
Quote of the Day: Your Lawyer Is Your Last Line Of Defense
John Keker is quite the passionate arguer, err, trial attorney. -
California, Craigslist, Job Searches, Summer Associates
Is This Person Looking for a Summer Intern or a Summer Fling?
Beware the employer who doesn't want you to post on Above the Law. -
9th Circuit, Bankruptcy, Baseball, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Brown Rudnick, California, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Football, Gay Marriage, Health Care / Medicine, Insider Trading, Kasowitz Benson, Kathleen Sullivan, Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.05.12
* Dewey know the firms that have been tapped to represent the groups that this failed firm owes money to? Yes, we do! Brown Rudnick for the unsecured creditors’ committee, and Kasowitz Benson for the former D&L partners. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
* The Ninth Circuit is supposed to be issuing an order today regarding an en banc reconsideration request on the Prop 8 case. They really ought to slap a big fat denial on that motherf’er and call it a day so we get some SCOTUS action. [Poliglot / Metro Weekly]
* Matthew Kluger, most recently of Fried Frank, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, which is the longest sentence that anyone’s ever received in an insider trading case. Uh yeah, he’ll definitely be appealing. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Hughes Hubbard & Reed has billed more than $17M in the first four months of its work on MF Global’s unwinding. Will the firm will be handing out spring “special” bonuses like they did last year? [Reuters]
* Mattel is appealing MGA’s $310M copyright award, claiming that the judgment was based on “erroneous billing invoices.” Don’t you call my billable hours into question, Kathleen Sullivan. [National Law Journal]
* Jerry Sandusky’s accusers will be named in court thanks to this judge’s ruling. But don’t worry — there’s no tweeting, texting, or emailing allowed in his courtroom. Like that’ll make a difference. [Legal Intelligencer]
* Trust me, I’m a lawyer: a disbarred Colorado attorney somehow managed to scam a convicted con artist out of more than $1 million. Now that’s some pretty sweet karmic intervention for you. [Missouri Lawyers Media]
* A bus driver is suing a hospital because he claims that instead of treating his painful erection, the staff watched a baseball game on TV. Whatever, that was a really great Yankees game. [Associated Press]
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California, Labor / Employment, Sexism, Silicon Valley, Technology, Women's Issues
High-Profile Sex Discrimination Suit Shines Ugly Light on Silicon Valley 'Bro Culture'
What does a recent sexual discrimination suit, filed by a Harvard Law alumna, mean for attorneys who work within the emerging “brogrammer” culture in Silicon Valley…