Cory Booker

  • Morning Docket: 07.02.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 07.02.18

    * President Trump acknowledges he needs to pick someone “great” to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court. That person needs to be “extraordinarily well qualified” and have a “portfolio of solid academic writing,” but according to advisors, he doesn’t care about reading any of it, come on now. [Washington Post]

    * “I’m really sorry that something we thought we had won for future generations instead we must leave for future generations to protect for themselves.” Sarah Weddington, the attorney who argued Roe v. Wade 48 years ago, is “really worried” about women’s reproductive rights now that Justice Kennedy is retiring. [Vox]

    * Meanwhile, Republican Senator Susan Collins — whose vote on the next Supreme Court justice will be critical — says that any nominee who would contemplate overturning Roe v. Wade would “not be acceptable,” and that all nominees must have “respect for precedent.” Let’s see if any of her colleagues agree. [ABC News]

    * Latham & Watkins announced that London-based partner Richard Trobman was elected as the firm’s next chair and managing partner. Trobman has been serving as the firm’s interim co-chair ever since Bill Voge Lathamed himself over inappropriate conduct involving “communications of a sexual nature.” [American Lawyer]

    * Senators Cory Booker, Tim Scott, and Kamala Harris have introduced a bill that would make lynching a federal hate crime punishable by a sentence of up to life in prison. A law like this has never been passed. Per Sen. Booker, “This bill finally rights a wrong that should have been done a long time ago.” [New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 01.10.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.10.18

    * Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were both appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon. Booker is the first African-American man to ever serve on the SJC, and Harris is the second African-American woman to ever serve on the SJC. Congratulations! [The Hill]

    * Rescind immigration protection from current DACA recipients? Dream on! That’s not going to happen under Judge William Alsup’s watch. He issued a nationwide injunction to block the Trump administration from denying program renewals for “dreamers.” [Washington Post]

    * Sorry, North Carolina, but according to the Middle District, your congressional map is unconstitutionally gerrymandered. This is the first time that a federal court has blocked a congressional map because it was “motivated by invidious partisan intent.” [New York Times]

    * Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has filed defamation suits against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier following Senator Dianne Feinstein’s publication of a transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Fusion’s co-founder. The legal action was announced over Twitter, obviously. [POLITICO]

    * “Lawyers like shiny things, and so there has been a huge spike in interest in blockchain law, especially over the last year.” This is just one of the reasons why so many Biglaw firms now have blockchain practice groups and task forces. [Big Law Business]

    * Norton Rose Fulbright has closed its doors in Abu Dhabi, making it the largest law firm to shutter an office in the Middle East. [American Lawyer]

    * Professor Toby Heytens of UVA Law has been named the next solicitor general of Virginia. He’ll be taking his second leave of absence from the law school during his term. He took his first leave to serve in the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office. [Daily Progress]

    * No, contrary to popular belief, Radiohead has not filed suit against Lana Del Rey for similarities between their hit song “Creep” and her song “Get Free” — but the band really should consider doing so, and their lawyers ought to become as “relentless” as Del Rey claimed on Twitter. Take a listen, here. [Rolling Stone]

  • Morning Docket: 07.25.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 07.25.16

    * If Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wins the election, he may be the first president-elect to be standing trial for fraud prior to taking the oath of office. Judge Gonzalo Curiel has tentatively refused to dismiss one of the two pending Trump University cases, saying plaintiffs had met requirements for the case to move forward for a jury to decide whether Trump “participated in a scheme to defraud” students. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

    * After being served with a class-action suit alleging she rigged the Democratic primaries and the release of emails in the latest Guccifer hack showing her favoritism for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is resigning as the Democratic National Committee’s chair after this week’s convention. [CNN; Observer]

    * Five senators, including Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), have introduced the Student Loan Tax Relief Act, which would exempt forgiven loans from being taxed as income. Law school grads on IBR, ICR, or PAYE should pray this bill is passed. [Forbes]

    * In an announcement made before markets opened, Verizon said it would be purchasing Yahoo for $4.83B. It’s rumored that Faiza Saeed, Cravath’s incoming presiding partner — who was appointed to a committee to explore Yahoo’s sale — was the driving force behind the deal, which is expected to close in early 2017. [Reuters; Big Law Business]

    * Law firms are apparently in a “weak spot” when it comes to the detection of money laundering operations. That may be how Shearman & Sterling got mixed up with an alleged Malaysian plot to siphon funds from its trust account to purchase luxury items in a scheme that’s turned into an attempted $1B DOJ asset forfeiture. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 07.21.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.21.16

    * Despite some big-ticket cases, the Supreme Court still leans right. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * The Kafka-esque treatment of a mentally ill rape victim, who was locked up over the Christmas holiday to make sure she’d testify, will infuriate you. [Mimesis Law]

    * Cory Booker is still in the VP race, and he’s pissed about what he sees at the RNC: “It’s as if truth means nothing,” and the GOP is a “counter-factual party.” [Washington Post]

    * Chris Christie “turned over his political testicles long ago.” Sounds about right. [Huffington Post]

    * Is Ted Cruz’s political snub better than a legal remedy? [Law and More]

    * Should India consider taking up Russia’s offer to build a nuclear aircraft carrier? [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

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  • Morning Docket: 07.19.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 07.19.16

    * It’s been exactly two years since FSU Law Professor Dan Markel was killed in an alleged murder-for-hire plot. He was locked in child-custody litigation with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, until the time of his death, and it is that litigation that is the suspected motive for his violent slaying. The Adelsons’ attorney suggests instead that perhaps some FSU students “had it in for [their] law professor.” [Sun Sentinel]

    * In an effort to ensure criminal defendants receive competent representation, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has introduced the Clarence Gideon Full Access to Justice Act, which would create the Defender Office for Supreme Court Advocacy. Per Justice Elena Kagan, a program like this would be an “enormous help to the system.” [Big Law Business]

    * Husch Blackwell and Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek have officially completed their merger, and the combined firm, which will continue to be known as Husch Blackwell, has more than 700 lawyers. Now that the books are closed on the merger, maybe the firm will have time bring its associate salaries to market — or not. [Journal Sentinel]

    * The recent outcome of the Microsoft data privacy case is a great example of what can happen when the law can no longer keep up with technology. Perhaps Congress will be inspired to update these old laws related to digital information that were first created when email was still considered a nascent technology. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Is getting a law degree still lucrative? Probably not, but despite the lawyer glut and fewer job opportunities for law school grads, there still exists a need for legal representation among the poor and working class. You may not be able to make a lot of money this way, but you may be able to help close the justice gap. [Clarion Ledger]

  • Boalt Hall, Depositions, Federal Government, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Mark Cuban, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Politics

    Morning Docket: 10.17.13

    * The fiscal impasse in our nation’s capital is over! The government shutdown is over! Obamaphones for everyone!!!!! [Washington Post]

    * Tim Geithner was recently deposed as part of a lawsuit alleging that the government bailout of AIG was unconstitutional. Muammar Gaddafi was less recently deposed as part of a coup alleging that his female bodyguards were unconstitutionally sexy. [Fox Business]

    * Berkeley Bird Beheader begins boot bivouac. [Fox5 Vegas via Las Vegas Law Blog]

    * Cory Booker (Yale Law ’97) won a Senate seat last night, promptly bumping Lat from the cover of the next Yale Law alumni magazine. It was the Halloween issue — the annual Boo Haven edition. [ABC News]

    * Mark Cuban was acquitted of insider trading charges yesterday. In related news, this basset hound loves fans. [CBS News]

    * Brooklyn Law faces a possible debt downgrade from Standard & Poor’s. The school’s unemployed graduates, substandard and poor, have yet to weigh in. [Crain’s New York Business]

    * In other law school news, Chicago-Kent announces an interesting new initiative (with a Whopper of a name). [IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (press release)]

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  • Antitrust, BARBRI, BP, Copyright, Family Law, Intellectual Property, Kids, Law Schools, Lunacy, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Rankings, SCOTUS, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 08.14.13

    * Victoria Espinel, chief IP counsel to the White House (better known as the “copyright czar”), has stepped down. A tech or trade company will snap her up in 3… 2… [Corporate Counsel]

    * Child custody train wreck alert: Baby Veronica of SCOTUS fame was in the news after her father was arrested for refusing to return his child to her adoptive parents. [ABC News]

    * Rather than watching people pump gas, BP is watching people pump out lawsuits against the company at a rather alarming rate as a result of its 2010 oil spill. [Businessweek]

    * Cynthia Brim, the Illinois judge who was reelected despite the fact that she was legally insane, finally had a complaint filed against her by the state’s judicial board for being just a little bit too kooky for court. [Chicago Tribune]

    * Your degree might not be worth a million dollars, but if you went to one of these schools, you probably got a good bank for your buck. We’ll have more on this later. [The Short List / U.S. News & World Report]

    * The fight over attorneys’ fees in the antitrust lawsuits filed against BARBRI continues rage on, and class members still haven’t received a penny — which is all they’d really get, anyway. [National Law Journal]

    * Congratulations to Newark Mayor and Yale Law alumnus Cory Booker! Last night, he handily won the New Jersey Democratic primary election for the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s seat. [CBS News]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Bernie Madoff, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Federal Government, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law Professors, Law Schools, Lunacy, Money, Morning Docket, Small Law Firms, War on Terror

    Morning Docket: 08.12.13

    * Dewey know which Biglaw firms and ex-partners were sued by the failed firm’s bankruptcy estate? Sadly, they must all be asking, “Howrey going to survive now that Allan Diamond is on the case?” [Am Law Daily]

    * You’d probably love to work as an associate on a 9-5 schedule with billable requirements so low you’d get canned anywhere else. There’s just one catch: You’d have a “proportionately lower salary.” [Daily Report]

    * “Law professors and law deans are paid too much,” so the ABA is reducing tenure requirements for law school accreditation, which will make it easier for them to be laid off. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

    * The ABA also decided to cut law schools some slack in terms of graduates’ employment data, and it’s likely due to the U.S. News rankings reckoning. Say hello to the 10-months-after graduation jobs statistic. [National Law Journal]

    * Following the Windsor ruling, the Social Security Administration is paying claims for married gay couples living in states where same-sex marriage is recognized. As for the rest, better luck next time. [BuzzFeed]

    * Would-be senator Cory Booker has taken annual payouts from his former firm, Trenk DiPasquale, since he left. You may remember that firm’s name from the C&D letter seen around the world. [New York Post]

    * Author John Grisham was so pissed his books were banned at Guantánamo Bay that he took up the cause of prisoners wrongfully accused, detained for years, and released without apology. [New York Times]

    * Almost as if to add insult to injury, Bernie Madoff was allegedly involved in a love triangle with one of his employees who’s about to go to trial. Apparently having dirty money is a desirable trait in a man. [Reuters]

    * Amanda Bynes is still in the psych ward on a 5150, and her mother was granted a temporary conservatorship over her cray cray kid’s financial affairs. Way to follow in Britney Spears’s footsteps. [CNN]

  • Art, Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Books, Clerkships, Headhunters / Recruiters, Howrey LLP, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Privacy, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.10.13

    * Edward Snowden, the computer technician who leaked details on the programs the NSA didn’t want you to know about, sacrificed his life to save your privacy’s soul. Thanks a bunch, Technology Jesus! [CNN]

    * While we wait for Fisher, DOMA, and Prop 8, if you’d like some background info on the people behind the most controversial and talked about SCOTUS cases of the term, give this one a read. [NBC News]

    * If a justice claims he’s never met a homosexual and he’s got a gay law clerk, telling him to “look around [his] chambers” to find one is the NKI. My, how times have changed since the mid-80s. [New York Times]

    * In 2012, Justice Sotomayor earned $1.9 million in royalties from her memoir, My Beloved World (affiliate link). Yeah, her world is probably so beloved because she’s rolling around in money. [Blog of Legal Times]

    * Howrey going to make use of this empty wall space? If you’re in the market for some art, this bankrupt firm’s decor will be up for auction in D.C. later this week. [Bankruptcy Beat / Wall Street Journal]

    * When you’re dealing with the most beautiful people in Biglaw, the price for pretty is high: Davis Polk was slapped with a million-dollar lawsuit over a recruiter’s fee. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

    * Gerald Shargel, criminal defense attorney to the Mafia stars, is retiring his shingle to join Winston & Strawn. Biglaw better keep him entertained — he gets bored easily. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Cory Booker, one of everyone’s favorite Yale Law School grads, announced his candidacy for a New Jersey Senate seat over the weekend. Best of luck in the special election! [The Note / ABC News]

    * The feds are seeking a four-year sentence for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in his campaign funds misuse case. No MJ memorabilia is worth prison time, no matter how big a fan you are. [The Hill]

    * “[I]f you ever call me on my cellphone again, I’ll strangle you.” Yikes. Looks like this Kentucky judge won’t have the chance to wring his hands around lawyers’ necks any time soon. [Courier-Journal]

  • Biglaw, California, Department of Justice, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Layoffs, Military / Military Law, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Patton Boggs, Romance and Dating, SCOTUS, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants, Staff Layoffs, Student Loans, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 03.01.13

    * In the nick of time, lawyers for the Obama administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court urging the justices to strike down California’s ban on gay marriage. Let’s hope their views have evolved. [BuzzFeed]

    * As the lawyers and administrative staff who just got laid off at Patton Boggs can attest to, it sucks to be on the wrong side of “rightsizing.” We’ll have more on this developing story later today. [Reuters]

    * Lanny Breuer is leaving the DOJ today, and he’s doing it with a bit of “swagger.” He’s shrugging off rumors that he’ll retreat to Covington, insisting he’ll interview at many firms. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * It’s time for the changing of the guard over at Milbank Tweed. Mel Immergut, the longest serving chair of any Am Law 100 firm in New York, is passing the reins to Scott Edelman. [New York Law Journal]

    * Michigan Law has a new “Debt Wizard” program that’s extremely useful in that it will allow you to see what you’re getting yourself into. Or, in my case, how poor I’ll be for the rest of my life. Yay! [National Law Journal]

    * All he wanted to do was “make the world a better place,” but that didn’t work out so well. In a plea deal, Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to 10 of the charges against him in his WikiLeaks case. [Los Angeles Times]

    * Of all of the words that are used to describe Cory Booker, one of them is now “matchmaker.” The Newark mayor assisted a young Seyfarth Shaw associate with his engagement proposal earlier this week. [TIME]

  • Biglaw, Christopher Christie, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.16.12

    * Associates should assume that making partner is like rising up in a drug organization. And really, who wouldn’t want to work at New Jack LLP? [Litigation & Trial] * Wait, Justice Souter has a “secret” Citizens United dissent? That sounds cool. Utterly useless, but pretty cool. [Slate] * Signs that your firm is in trouble? How about if your firm name can be made into endless puns on ATL? I Cleary have one firm in my sights. [Greedy Associates] * I always kind of picture Matt Taibbi stomping around outside of Goldman Sachs like Achilles standing outside of Troy yelling, “Hector.” [Rolling Stone] * Isn’t it about time for Ashley Dupré to have sex with somebody else now? [Dealbreaker] * You got to give it up to Chris Christie, the man does have a sense of humor…. Also cool, Cory Booker. [Video]