Colorado
-
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw
After Wedding, Biglaw Associate Drastically Overbills Her Way To A 9-Month Suspension
Little did she know she was throwing her career away along with her bouquet. -
Litigation Finance, Litigators
The Best And Worst States For Litigation Finance (Part II)
And the most attractive states for investing in litigation are.... - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Lawyerly Lairs: Justice Neil Gorsuch's House, On The Market For $1.7 Million
This house is handsome and conservative -- just like its owner, Justice Neil "Silver Fox" Gorsuch.
-
Family Law, Gay, Health Care / Medicine, Kids, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Supreme Court Confirms 'Constellation of Benefits' For Same-Sex Couples
What do you call it when the law treats gay women worse than straight men, for no good reason? Unconstitutional. -
Health Care / Medicine
Latest $400K Settlement Underscores Significance Of Phishing
After a 2011 phishing incident, Metro Community Provider Network has agreed to pay $400,000 to settle claims that it violated HIPAA. -
Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
Even Your Sperm Needs A Will
Don't forget to address your sperm or eggs in your will. -
Legal Ethics, Technology
Another State Adopts The Duty of Technology Competence
This means 26 states have now adopted some version of Comment 8 to ABA Model Rule 1.1. -
Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
State Of The Union On Surrogacy Laws
How will the results of the presidential election affect the legal environment for surrogacy? - 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… -
Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
The Latest Embryo Fight, And Does Being Single Or Gay Make You Disabled?
The latest developments in assisted reproductive technology ("ART") law. -
Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
I Want To Put A Baby In You: What Should Happen To Their Embryos When A Couple Divorces?
Divorce is already emotional -- and the fight over a couple's not-yet-conceived children just adds more tension. -
Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
I Want To Put A Baby In You: Making History (In Montana)
Sometimes things go just a little bit haywire -- and history is made. -
Marijuana
Killer Pot? An Analysis Of The Cannabis Wrongful Death Suit In Colorado
Though the plaintiffs' chances of prevailing are slim, this will certainly not be the last cannabis wrongful death lawsuit. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.15.16
* Ted Cruz may not like dildos, but he doesn’t seem to mind legal weed. Earlier this week, the Republican presidential candidate said that while he opposes federal legalization of cannabis, states should be free to experiment because the Constitution allows for it. Colorado’s legalization of recreational marijuana is safe and sound, for now. [Denver Post]
* “It was a very pleasant meeting, but it has changed nothing.” Senate Republicans may want nothing to do with confirming D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, but they’ve sure been taking their sweet time telling him “no” during their courtesy meetings with him. Some of these seemingly pointless meetings have gone on for more than an hour. [New York Times]
* Chief Judge Garland may be wasting his time with these lengthy meetings, though, because if the jurist isn’t confirmed before the upcoming presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders said during last night’s Democratic debate that if he wins, he’d ask President Obama to withdraw his nomination, as he doesn’t think that Garland would pass his progressive litmus test on Citizens United. Are you still feeling the Bern? [TIME]
* Lawmakers in several states have passed bathroom bills that enable bigotry in the name of protecting religious rights, but what you may not have known is that there is one lawyer behind them all. Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel — who was recently in the news for representing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis — says he’s doing it to push back against the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. [CBS News]
* Professor Richard Sander of UCLA School of Law, whose claim to academic fame is his “mismatch” theory of affirmative action, has been trying to get more than 30 years’ worth of data from the State Bar of California for quite some time in an effort to continue his research into the “large and persistent gap in bar passage rates among racial and ethnic groups,” and now he’s finally going to get his day in court. [WSJ Law Blog]
* David Gherity, a former Minnesota lawyer who was falsely accused of setting his girlfriend on fire using accelerants like alcohol, lotion, hair spray, and fingernail polish remover, has filed a civil rights suit against the police and prosecutors who kept him in jail for about two months. Gherity, who was suspended from practice in 2004, alleges a violation of the “protected interest in his good name.” [Twin Cities Pioneer Press]
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
-
Biglaw, Bonuses, Clerkships, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Money
Another Firm Raises Its Clerkship Bonus; Is This A Trend In The Making?
Are clerkship bonuses heading higher? Here's one new data point. -
Marijuana, Supreme Court
ICYMI: SCOTUS (Puff, Puff) Passes On NE & OK v. CO Marijuana Lawsuit
What is most important about this decision is that the highest court in our country refused to consider a challenge to state-legal marijuana. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.24.16
* “If you give a judge a meeting, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk, because he is probably very thirsty from that one time you compared him to Idi Amin.” In light of the stranglehold Republicans have on Chief Judge Merrick Garland’s fate when it comes to his confirmation hearings, Dahlia Lithwick composed this cute riff on the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. [Slate]
* In an attempt to get with the times, Vermont Law is offering a Reduced-Residency Juris Doctor program, where students will be able to take up to 15 credits online in an off-campus location. Unfortunately, this flexibility comes at a price — the same exact price as the school’s regular J.D. program. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]
* Considering the high tensions during oral arguments yesterday in Zubik v. Burwell, a legal battle having to do with the ACA’s contraceptives mandate, the Supreme Court seems poised to issue another 4-4 split decision in one of the most controversial cases this term. If that happens, the lower court ruling would be left intact. [New York Times]
* The ABA Journal wants to know how much you paid in law school tuition. If you graduated before the cost of a three-year legal education was akin to a mortgage, please take a moment to reflect on how lucky you are. If you’re a recent graduate, you’ve got plenty of people to commiserate with about your hefty debt burdens. [ABA Journal]
* “Did the Supreme Court make weed legal across America?” No, no it did not, and you must be stoned if you think that’s what the high court did in its decision, or lack thereof, in the Nebraska v. Colorado case that it begged off on earlier this week. For now, the federal legalization of marijuana is nothing more than just a pipe dream. [Inquisitr]
-
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.17.16
* “There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done in off years. That’s not in the constitutional text.” Angering armchair constitutional scholars, President Obama vowed to appoint someone to replace Justice Scalia following his death, despite the fact that it’s an election year. [New York Times]
* “My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas.” The fact that Justice Scalia was found dead with a pillow over his head has made conspiracy theorists come out in droves. Some are “stunned” that an autopsy wasn’t performed on the late justice. [Daily Intelligencer / New York Magazine]
* Dickstein Shapiro partners were informed via letter that they’d face “the almost certain loss of all firm capital.” For some equity partners, that’s more than $1 million — and the letter wasn’t even signed “sincerely.” How rude! [National Law Journal via ABA Journal]
* Justice Scalia’s passing could have an impact on the anti-marijuana legalization suit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado. The Court was supposed to discuss it this week, but the justices may not want to overpack their bowls, so to speak. [Guardian]
* Troubled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not be seeking reelection after her term expires in January 2017. With her license to practice law suspended and criminal charges pending, we’ll see if she’s even able to make it that far. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Vigilante justice on the internet swift: Despite Google listing the firm as “permanently closed” and its brutal one-star Yelp rating, “Making a Murderer” prosecutor Ken Kratz assured reporters his law firm was still open, contrary to appearances. [Post-Crescent]
* Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former U.N. Secretary General, RIP. [New York Times]
-
Benchslaps, Biglaw
Judge Tells Biglaw Firm To Stop Wasting His Time In Entertaining Benchslap
According to this judge, size does matter. -
Charles "Cully" Stimson, Drugs, Marijuana, Politics
America's Youth: The Marijuana Martyrs
As Colorado "celebrates" its third year of marijuana legalization, marijuana enthusiasts gloat of the state’s sweeping success -- but it comes with significant costs, as columnist Kayleigh McEnany points out. -
Marijuana, Supreme Court
Top Fed Attorney Says Colorado Pot Lawsuit Should Be Cashed
It’s great for the cannabis industry to see the federal government’s number one attorney telling SCOTUS it lacks jurisdiction to hear this case.