Cozen O’Connor
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.03.17
* 41 Cat Pictures That Prove Beyond All Doubt That Being BuzzFeed’s GC Is Freaking Awesome. [Big Law Business]
* Jeffrey Wertkin, the ex-Akin Gump partner accused of trying to sell whistleblower complaints while in disguise, plans to plead guilty later this month. As he said upon arrest, maybe his life really is over… [The Recorder]
* Professor Stephanos Bibas of Penn Law was confirmed to the Third Circuit by the Senate in a 53-43 vote. According to the law school’s dean, Bibas “possesses all the skills to excel on the federal bench.” Congratulations! [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* Justice Joan Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court was confirmed to the Sixth Circuit by the Senate in a 60-38 vote. If you recall, Larsen was on the original version of President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist, and was one of his top five finalists for Justice Neil Gorsuch’s position. Congratulations! [Detroit Free Press]
* Cozen O’Connor’s lobbying affiliate, Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, poached a five-lawyer team of lobbyists from Manatt, and now Manatt no longer has a lobbying practice. [New York Law Journal]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.11.17
* “Legal aid is critical after a natural disaster,” so the Florida Bar has raised the income cap for its online legal clinic so Floridians affected by Hurricane Irma can get legal assistance, and the Florida Bar Foundation has set aside $500,000 to support legal aid organizations. How generous! [Law.com]
* Sixteen years have passed since the September 11 attacks, but we’ve yet to try or convict any of the five men who are said to have planned the day that changed America, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged “architect of 9/11.” Some lawyers wonder why this “isn’t a cause for more outrage.” [Al Jazeera]
* In case you missed it, Irell & Manella has elected Ellisen Turner as its first African-American managing partner. Among the many accolades he’s earned over the course of his illustrious legal career, Above the Law once referred to him as a “hottie.” Congratulations on all accounts! [Big Law Business]
* Lawmakers from both parties are interested in holding hearings on the massive Equifax hack, and after outcry from state attorneys general about an arbitration clause that would have prevented those affected by the data breach from suing, the credit reporting agency has changed its terms of service. [The Hill]
* In the wake of Justice Scalia’s death, Justice Kagan says the remaining justices did everything they could to avoid 4-4 split decisions: “[W]e all made a very serious effort to try to find common ground even where we thought we couldn’t. It sort of forced us to keep talking to each other.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
* Which Biglaw firm is about to get a lot bigger? It’s Cozen O’Connor, apparently. According to CEO Michael Heller, he’d like to increase the firm’s head count to somewhere between 700 and 1,000 lawyers in the next five years. About 600 attorneys are currently working at Cozen. [Am Law Daily]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 05.05.17
* What does Biglaw firm Cozen O’Connor share in common with Brooklyn hipsters? [Philadelphia Business Journal]
* Glenn Reynolds offers concise commentary on Comey. [Instapundit]
* “Kozinski, circuit judge, ruminating” — yeah, you know you want to click…. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* Professor Ann Althouse does not “like” punishing high school students for their Facebook activity. [Althouse]
* And Professor Orly Lobel questions the use of noncompetes, especially in terms of low-wage workers and women. [New York Times via PrawfsBlawg]
* How many Jewish justices have we had in Supreme Court history? [U.S. National Archives via How Appealing]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.26.17
* Can you hear me now? Modern marvels of technology like cellphones and other electronic devices are barred from the Supreme Court during oral arguments, but yesterday, justice was interrupted by the ringing of… a Justice’s cellphone. Who was the culprit? The offending phone belonged to Justice Stephen Breyer. Oopsie! [AP]
* After a week charged with sexual harassment allegations and the ouster of Bill O’Reilly, just when Fox News thought its troubles were over, a group of current and former employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the network alleging “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers got in this zinger of a statement: “When it comes to racial discrimination, 21st Century Fox has been operating as if it should be called 18th Century Fox.” [DealBook / New York Times]
* Ever since it dumped Eversheds, Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner has been out on the prowl for another merger partner, and it looks like the firm has finally found its ideal mate in New York boutique Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman. The whole thing seems to be a bit “incestuous” if you ask us. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]
* Ahead of his confirmation hearing todays, Makan Delrahim, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the antitrust division of the Department of Justice who’s been called a “centrist nominee,” has pledged to recuse himself from all matters involving his prior work as a lobbyist, including the merger between Anthem and Cigna. [Big Law Business]
* At some firms, like Ballard Spahr, senior partners must “transition[] their practices” by age 60, but at other firms, like Cozen O’Connor, age is nothing but a number. “We have so many lawyers who are extremely productive and terrific lawyers and if they want to work well into their 70s, God bless ’em,” says CEO Michael Heller. [Philly Inquirer]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.14.17
* Happy Pi Day to all of you who entered this profession to get away from math. [Pi Day]
* Alabama will decide Chief Justice Roy Moore’s ethics violations case sooner than expected because this guy just won’t go away. [AL.com]
* Profile of David Cole, the new national legal director at the ACLU. He had very different expectations for this job. [NPR]
* Burford set to make 91 percent return on bankruptcy investment. No one’s come out of a bankruptcy this good since Donald Trump. [Am Law Daily]
* Cozen O’Connor is likely getting out of the $900 million RICO suit brought against it and Full Tilt Poker. [Law360]
* Feds look to let Ammon Bundy’s lawyer off the hook for his comical outburst. [Oregon Live]
* Can you fly with legal weed? Sure. For now. [Salon]
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Biglaw, Politics
Biglaw Partner From Key Swing State Gets Trump Admin Position
Another firm gets a seat in the Trump inner circle. -
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 11.15.16
* An alternative take on potential Trump SCOTUS nominees. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* When judges get creative, hilarity ensues. [Versus Texas]
* The other side of actual malice. [Inforrm]
* You should really appreciate your paralegals. [Powers McCartan]
* All about the brevity of Twitter with Cozen O’Connor partner Michael Schmidt. [LeftFoot]
* The future of legal practice. [Reboot Your Law Practice]
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Biglaw, Donald Trump
Biglaw Firms Unsure Of What To Expect From Trump Presidency
At this point, anything could happen. -
Benchslaps, Biglaw, State Judges
Biglaw Partner Benchslapped: 'If You Can't Focus... Sit Down, And I Will Ask The Questions'
You know things aren't going well when the judge offers to do the job for you. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.31.15
* In the wake of fired CEO Martin Shkreli’s arrest for securities fraud, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company will be repped by Hogan Lovells (and likely won’t be charged 4,000 percent more than it should be). [Reuters]
* “Not all of it is law at its grandest but all of it is the practice of law.” Yet another contract attorney’s suit for overtime pay has bitten the dust with a recent dismissal. This time, Quinn Emanuel was the Biglaw firm victorious in keeping doc reviewers downtrodden. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Since Dechert decided to up the ante on first-year associate salaries, other Philadelphia Biglaw firms have responded in kind. Drinker Biddle has matched, while Pepper Hamilton and Cozen O’Connor are following close behind. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* Facebook needs a “dislike” button: The social media titan’s suit against DLA Piper and Milberg for their defense of alleged con man Paul Ceglia in a fraudulent breach of contract case versus Zuckerberg’s first baby was dismissed. [Buffalo Business First]
* From “weird to wildly costly,” check out some of the craziest malpractice cases that were filed against Biglaw firms during the course of 2015. The McDermott Will & Emery elder abuse case here is particularly creative. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
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Contests, Holidays and Seasons
ATL Holiday Card Contest: The Finalists!
Which of these law firm holiday cards is the best of 2015? Cast your vote! -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.03.15
* You don’t hear this much, but The Daily News nails it with a biting criticism of the GOP presidential candidates’ response to the tragic San Bernardino shooting: “Prayers aren’t working.” [The Daily News]
* Looks like Dickstein Shapiro is looking to get hitched before the end of the year — they are reportedly talking to multiple potential merger partners. [Law.com]
* Cozen O’Connor partner Wayne Rohde is accused of lying about his attorney disciplinary record. [National Law Journal]
* Rahm Emmanuel is resisting calls for his resignation amid the scandal surrounding the shooting death by Chicago cops of Laquan McDonald. [CNN]
* Browne George Ross LLP was hit with a $6 million malpractice suit. [Law360]
* Law firms are getting in the holiday spirit, over 100 firms are working together on a clothing drive for the homeless. [Legal Times]
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Biglaw, Blank Rome, BuckleySandler, Cozen O'Connor, Rankings, Williams & Connolly
The Best Law Firms To Work For (2015)
Making it to midlevel status in Biglaw isn't easy -- but once you get there, life is pretty good. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket 05.06.15
This profile makes the case for Elena Kagan to be your new favorite Justice. (Don’t worry RBG, you’ll always be first in Staci’s heart.) [American Prospect]
* The lateral partner wheel of fortune has taken another spin; Cozen O’Conner has added 8 lawyers from Dickstein Shapiro’s state Attorneys General practice group, that’s almost the entirety of the group. [National Law Journal]
* Speaking of lateral partner moves, are they worth it when clients get fed up with the disruption and potential conflicts that these moves cause? [Law360]
* After the scathing DOJ report detailing injustice, the City of Ferguson needs some quality lawyering. They got it in Winston & Strawn chairperson, Dan Webb, but it won’t come cheap. [American Lawyer]
* After egregious discovery delays caused a district judge to enter a default judgment as to liability against the defendant, a French drone maker, a jury awarded $7.8 million in damages in a patent infringement case. [Legal Intelligencer]
* Loretta Lynch makes her first official trip as Attorney General, to Baltimore to meet with community leaders, police, and the family of Freddie Gray. [NPR]
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Events
Law Bloggers, Now With Sound: Converge Podcast Round-Up
Audio highlights of the 2015 ATL Converge conference. -
Contests, Holidays and Seasons
ATL Holiday Card Contest: The Finalists!
Which of these law firm holiday cards is the best of 2014? -
Biglaw, Career Center, Career Files, Cozen O'Connor, Interview Stories, Job Survey, Law Students, Patton Boggs, Schiff Hardin, Sheppard Mullin
'Please Pretend To Care' And Other On-Campus Interviewing Lessons
A look at the results of our OCI survey, including the firms rated most highly by student interviewees. -
Biglaw, Cozen O'Connor, No Offers, Rankings, Summer Associates
Ranking 2013's Summer Associate Programs: You Were Very, Very Worried About Being No-Offered
Which Biglaw firm ranked the highest among summer associates? Let's find out! -
3rd Circuit, Anthony Kennedy, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Cozen O'Connor, Deaths, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Gay, Gay Marriage, General Counsel, International Law, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Magic Circle, Military / Military Law, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Supreme Court, Technology, Twittering, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Weddings
Morning Docket: 09.03.13
* We bet you never thought you’d be spending Labor Day weekend debating with your relatives the legality of a U.S. military strike on Syria and the intricacies of international law. Gee, thanks President Obama. [CNN]
* Over the long holiday weekend, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg served as officiant at the gay wedding of John Roberts. No, not that John Roberts, but what an incredibly apropos coincidence that was. [Washington Post]
* Speaking of same-sex marriage, even though “[n]o one told [him] it was an easy job when [he] signed on,” Justice Anthony Kennedy revealed himself to be an ally of the gay rights movement. [New York Times]
* Two days after filing an appeal with the Third Circuit, the parents of a deceased Cozen O’Connor partner have ended their battle to deny their daughter’s profit-sharing benefits to her wife. [Law360 (sub. req.)]
* Twitter’s general counsel deactivated his account position with the social media giant, and looks forward to “goofing off.” Congrats to Vijaya Gadde, who will head up the company’s IPO. [Bits / New York Times]
* Biglaw’s latest scapegoat for the culling of the associate herd is the decline of Chapter 11 filings, otherwise known by industry insiders as the “bankruptcy recession.” [New York Law Journal (sub. req.)]
* Without any rabbits left to pull out of hats, it’s been predicted that by 2018, the Magic Circle will be no more. This is one disappearing act lawyers obsessed with prestige hope will never happen. [The Lawyer]
* If you want to learn more about fashion law, check out this interview with Barbara Kolsun, a woman who literally wrote the book on it (affiliate link) while serving as general counsel at Stuart Weitzman. [Corporate Counsel]
* So what has Kenneth Randall been up to since he left the deanship at Alabama School of Law? He’s working to “train law students for jobs that don’t require a bar license” over at InfiLaw. Awesome. [Tuscaloosa News]
* Legal commentators like Elie and Lat would be ecstatic if law school were two years long, but because so many others have a “vested interest in the status quo,” change will come at approximately half past never. [CNBC]
* Ronald H. Coase, influential legend of law and economics and Nobel prize winner, RIP. [Chicago Law]