Citizens United

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 05.15.15

* "What Law Firms Can Learn From the Business Decisions of 'Mad Men.'" I'm hoping the answer is "more drinking on the job." [Legal Times] * Hillary Clinton pledges to nominate SCOTUS justices who will overturn Citizens United. And if you agree with her, she'll gladly accept your unlimited donations to her *wink* unaffiliated SuperPAC. [Jezebel] * Seema Iyer talks about one of our favorite recent cases, Driskell v. Homosexuals. [MSNBC] * Sometimes getting fired can be a positive. As they say the Chinese word for crisis contains the word "opportunity." Crisitunity. [Wisconsin Lawyer] * A great detailed piece on California's recent decision to grant a law license to Hong Yen Chang, the Columbia Law grad denied his license over 100 years ago on the grounds of his "Mongolian nativity." [Bloomberg BNA / Big Law Business] * Bad: Being wrongfully convicted. Worse: The system strong-arming the wronged into signing away their right to compensation. [LFC 360] * Should graduate students and adjuncts unionize? Depends. Do they want to be exploited by an unappreciative institution until their souls are sucked dry? Yes? Then no. [New York Times] * Sen. Toomey wants Judge L. Felipe Restrepo on the Third Circuit. Maybe he should start talking to his obstructionist colleagues instead of whining to the paper. [Constitutional Accountability Center] * PacerPro to automatically retrieve documents referenced in notices of electronic filing from PACER. That can help cut down on some mistakes... eh, Sidley Austin? [Law Sites] * Thomson Reuters has a new social network for small law firms. For every post, users can push a little "thumbs up" icon to express, "I [and my successors, assigns, and heirs of my body, indicate my generally warm feelings, reserving all rights to reverse or withdraw this endorsement at any time for any reason whatsoever notwithstanding any prior representations] This!" [Legal Research & Writing Pro] * The 2015 World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest in Memphis is this weekend. How does that relate to ATL? Bob Cornish, a D.C.-based attorney at Phillips Lytle LLP and a trained and certified expert in BBQ is a judge. [Memphis In May]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 04.01.15

* Protesters disrupt the Supreme Court to complain about Citizens United. Just two or three more of these and Alito is sure to break! [SCOTUSBlog] * In completely unrelated news, TV spending in the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin has now topped $600,000. No risk of corruption there. [Brennan Center For Justice] * Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has, at the last minute, refused to sign a new RFRA after watching Indiana blow up its own economy over the same law. In other news, Indiana Governor Mike Pence received a delightful gift basket today this morning with the message, "Thanks for taking the hit on this one -- Asa XOXOXO." [New York Times] * Speaking of the RFRA kerfuffle, defending champion UConn is boycotting the Final Four in Indiana this weekend. Not qualifying for the tournament certainly helps. How about we hold off praising this "bold stance" until a team actually playing this weekend makes a symbolic show of support. [NBC Connecticut] * After a season of reading about cops brutalizing unarmed kids for no reason, there's a project in Baltimore trying to get the police to better connect with teens. Anything would help. [Washington Post] * There's a new .sucks domain name, more or less designed for the sole purpose of extorting money from companies and celebrities. I don't see the problem, they extort money out of us all the time. [LXBN] * Cool new tech. It's like Google Glass for transactional lawyers, designed to instantly identify and highlight key provisions. OK this is an April Fools gag, but their real product actually operates on the same principle. [Kira Specs] * Just because married couples can file jointly doesn't mean they should. For that matter, just because couples can marry doesn't mean they should. Think about it. [California Lawyer] * Richard Hsu talks with Guy Kawasaki, the Chief Evangelist of Canva, and former Chief Evangelist of Apple. Evangelists just in time for the holiday! [Hsu Untied] * What have we done? We wrote about a candidate for SBA President at the University of Miami School of Law with a cheesy campaign video and he won. And now he's drunk with power. He's instituting a mandatory dress code! His email is on the next page... Miami Law Family, First and foremost, congratulations to all of the newly elected Student Leaders. Today's Passing of the Gavel ceremony was a huge success, and I look forward to working with you all during the upcoming school year. It is now time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. I recently surveyed a group of students about immediate issues they want the SBA to address. Without question, they felt that the biggest issue with the law school was that too many students wear flip flops and T-shirts to class. Thus, starting next Monday, April 6th, the SBA will be implementing a mandatory business casual/professional dress code for all full-time students. I know it may come as a shock, but my cabinet felt that this is a priority that needed to be addressed. We chose to make this our first order of business to demonstrate that we are here to work. This is clearly the first step to improve our bar passage rate, and I thank you for your understanding. I will be following up with you all later this week about upcoming SBA matters. I know you all had a nice break from me spamming your inbox, but I'm back and better than ever. Please see below for a detailed outline of what attire will be included/excluded from the mandatory dress code. Truly yours, Matt Deblinger President, Student Bar Association — * ** *** **** ***** ****** ******* ******** keep scrolling ********* ******** ******* ****** ***** **** *** ** * Oh, before I forget... THANK YOU to Outgoing SBA President Sara Solano. Miss Solano did a phenomenal job as President, and she left big shoes to fill, despite being much shorter than me. As for that mandatory dress code I mentioned..... April Fools!!! :) In all seriousness- I cannot wait to work with all of the SBA E-board members, SBA Senators, administrators, and the student organization leaders. There is an SBA meeting tomorrow, 4/2/15, at 12:30PM in F309, where we will be appointing our Speaker of the Senate and discussing next year's SBA Budget. As always, time will be allotted for general student body comments. We encourage you all to attend. Your Student Leaders are going to be working hard to ensure that the 2015-16 school year will be one of the most successful year’s in Miami Law’s history. You've elected a great group of students. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas-- or simply want to grab Icees & appetizers with me-- please do not hesitate to call/text me. It's my job is to serve you, but at the end of the day, I'm equally your colleague and friend. Here's to a good year, Matthew Ryan David Deblinger President, Student Bar Association University of Miami School of Law

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 01.30.15

* Did two little kids get slapped with a lifetime gag order barring them from talking about fracking. But how will they explain their third eye? [The Guardian] * Private equity firm TPG is suing its former PR man -- former Bush spokesperson Adam Levine -- for allegedly stealing confidential documents and threatening to leak them to the press. They probably showed where the Iraq WMDs were. [O'Dwyer's] * So maybe the blizzard of 2015 fizzled for New Yorkers. But winter's not over yet -- how do you interview in a snowstorm? [Corporette] * Simpson Thacher could have some malpractice issues with that $1.5 billion SNAFU. [Law360] * "The Supreme Court's Billion-Dollar Mistake"? Well, they're still half a billion ahead of Simpson Thacher. [New York Review of Books] * Suge Knight accused of murder. Not an archival story. [Los Angeles Times] * As Juggalo Law likes to say, "'Sup With Aaron?" A recap of day 2 of the Aaron Hernandez murder trial, the Patriots scandal that isn't about deflated balls. [ESPN] * Lagarrette Blount marijuana charges dropped like a Boise State linebacker. Huh. I guess this was yet another Patriots scandal. [ESPN] * 30 bats flew into an Arkansas courtroom disrupting a trial. That'll teach them to let Joe Chill go free. [MyFoxNY] * An online CLE on the ethical issues of laterals and collapsing firms. Dewey know any firms who could have used this information? [Bloomberg BNA]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.26.15

* Senate Republicans are contemplating abolishing filibusters for SCOTUS nominees. This could go one of two ways: it could work out nicely for them, or explode in their faces. It's like a choose your own adventure game. [POLITICO] * When it comes to the upcoming gay marriage cases before SCOTUS, "[e]very lawyer involved will want to argue." Remember, when you're given the chance to make history, you better hope that you're on the right side of it. [National Law Journal] * "[I]f there is one decision I would overrule, it is Citizens United." Even RBG thinks this campaign finance decision is one of the Supreme Court's "darkest hour[s]." [Salon] * SCOTUS refused to stay Charles Warner's execution, but it agreed to grant cert on his lethal injection case days after his death. Better late than never? [New York Times] * The NFL has drafted Ted Wells of Paul Weiss to blow up the absurd controversy that is "Deflategate." Come on, who cares if the Patriots cheated again? [WSJ Law Blog] * Do you know any chronic Biglaw firm-hoppers? How many firms are too many to lateral to? Three? Five? Seven? Jesus Christ, for this guy, try 10 firms. [Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky