Commencement
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Commencement, Gay Marriage, General Counsel, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Politics, Sexual Harassment, Small Law Firms
Morning Docket: 05.22.14
* Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett, who really wants to win his reelection vote in November, won’t appeal the decision striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage, making him the third governor to concede after a major loss in court. [Bloomberg]
* Sen. Ted Kennedy finally received his diploma from UVA Law, albeit posthumously. The school’s registrar kept it for more than half a century — they didn’t have his address. Lucky guy never received donation letters, either. [National Law Journal]
* An associate is suing her former boss for six figures after he allegedly sent her erotic emails about his fantasy workplace affair. Her fantasy of loan repayment may come true if she wins this case. [Oregonian]
* Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell gave some pretty great advice to recent graduates at GW Law: “Be someone [your boss] can talk to, rather than someone she can give orders to.” [Corporate Counsel]
* The New Mexico Law Review is dedicating an upcoming issue to articles related to Breaking Bad, which officially makes it one of the only law reviews whose pages will be read by human beings. [WSJ Law Blog]
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Antonin Scalia, Commencement, Law Professors, Law Schools, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, William and Mary School of Law
Justice Scalia: The Current Law School Model Is 'Not Sustainable'
Even Justice Scalia, a defender of the three-year model of law school, believes that some things have to change. - 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… -
Commencement, Law Schools, Romance and Dating, Videos, Weddings
'Till Debt Do Us Part': A Law School Graduation Proposal You've Got To See
Is this the most exciting stunt you could pull off while receiving your law school diploma?
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Celebrities, Commencement, Law Schools
Commencement Speakers (2014): Any Controversial Choices?
Graduation season is upon us, but has your law school selected a “crappy” commencement speaker? -
Commencement, Law School Deans, Law Schools
Law Dean Complains That School Is Too Poor To Pay For Caps And Gowns
Law school tries to nickle and dime students, right until the end. -
Commencement, Law Schools, LLMs
Top Law School Offers Graduation Tickets To LLMs First -- All Hell Breaks Loose
Guess What Happens When School Revokes Grad Tix It Accidentally Sold Early? I'll Spoil It: Students Act Like Entitled Tools -
Commencement, Law Schools, Money
Law School Keeps Price-Gouging Students Up Until The End With Outrageous Graduation Fees
Students at one top-tier law school have described what they're expected to pay as jaw-droppingly "insane"... -
Commencement, Law School Deans, Law Schools
Alumni Object To Commencement Speaker Whose Collar Isn't Popped Nearly Enough
Isn't it a bit early for a commencement speaker controversy? - 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… -
Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Law Schools
How Long Does It Take A Law Student To Buy A Suit?
3Ls fight their law school for the right to a bartering economy. -
2nd Circuit, Commencement, Copyright, Harvard
While Oprah Is At Harvard, She Might Want To Retain Some Lawyers
You get a diploma, you get a diploma, you get a diploma... -
Commencement, Job Searches, Law Schools
The Commencement Emblem For the Class of 2013 Is...?
It's commencement season. What will you be bringing to flip off your dean? -
American Bar Association / ABA, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Commencement, Job Searches, Keker & Van Nest, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Sports, Summer Associates, Tax Law, White House Counsel
Morning Docket: 05.20.13
* Obama might have found out about the IRS scandal “when it came out in the news,” but the Office of White House Counsel knew what was going on weeks ago. Hooray, a new reason for people to lose their sh*t. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through ridiculously expensive litigation: making up almost two percent of our GDP, our legal system is the most costly on earth, which isn’t exactly something we should be bragging about. [Corporate Counsel]
* “It’s no surprise these lawyers would want to get off this sinking ship.” It looks like things are going just swimmingly for Steven Donziger now that John Keker’s out as his defense attorney in the Chevron fraud case. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* “Fantasy sports is usually the first and last thing I’ll do each day.” Here’s some proof that there’s such a thing as work/life balance in Biglaw… which is only applicable if you’re a partner. [Am Law Daily]
* Law school enrollment is down, and so is tuition revenue, so the legal academy is now selling new degrees. It’s only a matter of time before they market employment timeshares. [National Law Journal]
* On the bright side, if you’re still looking for a job, our own David Lat has some advice on how to get one (and how NOT to get one). We miss summer associates’ misbehavior. [U.S. News & World Report]
* Congrats are in order for this weekend’s graduates, including the first graduates of LMU’s embattled law school — they won’t let a lack of ABA accreditation rain on their parade. [Knoxville News Sentinel]
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Biglaw, Commencement, Crime, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Morning Docket, Murder, Sentencing Law, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Trials
Morning Docket: 05.10.13
* Growth was “steady” for New York’s top firms, with Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps leading the pack in terms of gross revenue — which wasn’t surprising, considering their Am Law 100 gross revenue ranking. [New York Law Journal]
* Dewey know when we’ll be able to stop using this pun? Hmm, at this rate, probably never. Steve Otillar and Citi recently settled their dueling suits over the ex-D&L partner’s capital contribution loan to the failed firm. [Am Law Daily]
* Cahill Gordon was supposed to investigate the Rutgers basketball scandal, but the firm cited a conflict of interest, so Skadden Arps stepped in. [Insert the joke of your choice here. I don’t like or watch this sport.] [Reuters]
* Surely you’ve heard about Justice Orie Melvin’s sentence by now. As it turns out, shaming a judge like you’d shame your dog online might not be enforceable… which is too bad. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
* When we last spoke about “controversial” commencement speakers, we didn’t bring up the fact that Nancy Pelosi would be pulling double duty at UC Davis and Baltimore. Thoughts? [National Law Journal]
* She’s got a death wish: the aggravation phase of the Jodi Arias trial was postponed at the last minute yesterday, and some think it’s because of the interview she gave after the verdict was announced. [CNN]
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
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Commencement, Law Schools
Adding Athleticism To Law School Graduation Ceremonies
Ways to draw attention to yourself during commencement... -
Celebrities, Commencement, Law Schools, Media and Journalism
Commencement Speakers (2013): Any Controversial Choices?
Which school has made students unhappy with its choice of commencement speaker? -
Commencement, Law Schools
Night Students Already Ruin Your Class Rank, Do They Have To Ruin Your Graduation Too?
Commencement: emphasis on the "meh." -
2nd Circuit, Akin Gump, American Bar Association / ABA, Arent Fox, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Breasts, Divorce Train Wrecks, Dorsey & Whitney, Duane Morris, Education / Schools, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Morning Docket, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Pornography, Privacy, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Sheppard Mullin, Supreme Court, Texas, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 08.10.12
* “I’ve been a restaurant waitress, a hotel hostess, a car parker, a nurse’s aide, a maid in a motel, a bookkeeper and a researcher.” This SCOTUS wife was well-prepared to give a graduation speech at New England Law. [Huffington Post]
* Sniffling over lost profits is the best way to get a court to take your side. Biglaw firms have asked the Second Circuit to consider reversing a decision in the Coudert Brothers “unfinished business” clawback case. [Legal Intelligencer]
* James Holmes, the alleged Aurora movie theater gunman, is being evicted from his apartment. Guess he didn’t know — or care — that booby-trapping the place with bombs would be against the terms of his lease. [Denver Post]
* The ABA has created a task force to study the future of legal education, and its work is expected to completed in 2014. ::rolleyes:: Oh, good thing they’re not in any kind of a hurry — there’s no need to rush. [ABA Journal]
* Indiana Tech, the little law school that nobody wants could, has hired its first faculty members. Thus far, the school has poached law professors from from West Virginia, Florida A&M, and Northern Illinois. [JD Journal]
* When divorces get weird: is this lawyer’s soon-to-be ex-wife hacking into his law firm email account and planning to publish privileged communications online? Yep, this is in Texas. [Unfair Park / Dallas Observer]
* Breast-feeding porn: yup, that’s a thing, so start Googling. A New Jersey mother is suing an Iowa production company after an instructional video she appeared in was spliced to create pornography. [Boston Globe]
* If someone from your school newspaper asks you for a quote about oral sex, and then you’re quoted in the subsequent article, you’re probably not going to win your invasion of privacy lawsuit. [National Law Journal]
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Commencement, Job Searches, Law Schools, Movies, Student Loans, Videos, YouTube
How The Other Half Graduates: A Cooley Commencement Speech Inspired By 'My Cousin Vinny'
The student speaker at Cooley Law's graduation offers an... interesting perspective... -
Blogging, Defamation, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Rape
Non-Sequiturs: 05.21.12
* There’s a war on prison rape. I’m excited about this. I can’t wait to bang prison rape in the ass. [Simple Justice] * Meanwhile, there’s more rape probing on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn front from a French prosecutor. [Fox News] * On the eve of his law school graduation, a student reflects on “the most colossal f*** up of [his] life.” [Shady Nation] * Jamie Dimon has had better months. [Dealbreaker] * Defamation by half-truth. [The Volokh Conspiracy] * There are a lot of bones to pick with this week’s Blawg Review. [Cyberlaw Central via Blawg Review] -
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, California, Canada, Celebrities, Facebook, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Law Schools, Privacy, Screw-Ups, Sex, Sex Scandals, Weddings
Morning Docket: 05.21.12
* With more allegations of misconduct revealed, the Canadian Judicial Council met to discuss Justice Lori Douglas’s sex scandal inquiry. Unlike her legs in her nude picture spread, this media circus will likely close in July. [Winnipeg Free Press] * “I want to apologize. Obviously, mistakes were made.” Admitting you’ve got a problem is just the first step. Greenberg Traurig’s executive director apologized for the Biglaw firm’s apparent screw-ups in a Rothstein-related trial. [Miami Herald] * Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng will be enrolling at NYU Law School on a fellowship. The administration is giving him a ritzy faculty apartment that comes complete with a kitchen full of Chinese food. He already knows how to eat like a law student. [New York Times] * Facebook is being sued in an amended consolidated class-action complaint for $15B over privacy issues, but Mark Zuckerberg was too busy getting married to Priscilla Chan to let it bother him. [Bloomberg] * “What [the f**k] comes next?” That’s what law school grads asked themselves when their commencement speakers tried to slap on a happy face and speak positively about the job market. [Connecticut Law Tribune] * But perhaps future law school grads will be able to find jobs more easily thanks to class offerings geared toward in-house counsel lawyering skills. Keep on dreaming that impossible dream. [Washington Post] * How does a small-time DUI attorney from California go from being an unknown to being a household name overnight? By filing a lawsuit filled with tawdry allegations against actor John Travolta. [Los Angeles Times]