Cravath Swaine & Moore

* “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to sue all of the “liars” who have accused him of sexual assault within the last two weeks when the election is over. As an attorney representing one of Trump’s accusers noted, a lawsuit would provide a “field day” to depose him under oath. [CNN]

* The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has approved a tougher bar-passage rate standard that would require 75 percent of of a law school’s graduates who sit for the bar exam to pass it within two years. It’s up to the ABA House of Delegates to decide if the stricter standard will ever be implemented. We’ll have more on this later today. [ABA Journal]

* “I don’t know why he would wait around for 200 days and then pull out at the very moment that it seemed likely that he was going to get confirmed.” Will Judge Merrick Garland be confirmed to SCOTUS? With senators calling for lame-duck hearings if Hillary Clinton is elected and a bare-bones oral arguments calendar scheduled, it seems like even the justices are holding out hope for a full house in 2017. [Washington Post]

* In a deal likely to invoke government scrutiny, AT&T has agreed to purchase Time Warner for $84.5 billion. Teams from Sullivan & Cromwell (transaction work) and Arnold & Porter (regulatory work) will be representing AT&T, while Cravath will be representing Time Warner. Faiza Saeed, Cravath’s deputy presiding partner, will lead the team working on the deal from her firm. [DealBook / New York Times; Am Law Daily]

* According to testimony from Bridget Kelly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Christie allegedly knew about the Bridgegate lane closures a month before they occurred, not afterwards, as he’s repeatedly claimed. Kelly, who says she thought the lane closures were for a traffic study, not a politically motivated scheme, is currently being tried in federal court over her role in the 2013 scandal. [Reuters]

* “No one I know likes law school. It was a bad experience. I wouldn’t wish it on a dog I didn’t like.” Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s likely vice-presidential running mate, is an attorney whose law license is listed as “inactive in good standing,” and though he had a B average, he apparently hated law school — just like the vast majority of law students. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Faiza Saeed, who on January 1, 2017, will not only become Cravath Swaine & Moore’s first female presiding partner, but the first female to manage any Wall Street firm, will be joining a “sorority” of about 25 women who lead or serve as co-heads of some of the nation’s largest law firms. Congratulations on this historic appointment! [Law.com]

* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may have issued a “mea culpa” with regard to her remarks about presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but legal scholars say her non-apology “does not unring the bell.” At the very least, she may be forced to recuse if Election 2016 turns into a Bush v. Gore situation. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The American Civil Liberties Union has pledged to file constitutional challenges to many of Donald Trump’s would-be political policies should be be elected president and try to enact them. Specifically, the ACLU finds Trump’s stances on immigration, American Muslims, torture, and freedom of speech to be problematic. [ABA Journal]

* The University of Houston Law Center and the Houston College of Law (formerly the South Texas College of Law) will face off in court today to resolve an emergency motion. The original Houston Law seeks to ban the new Houston Law from using its name or logo on merchandise, brochures, and promotional materials. [Houston Chronicle]

* “[S]he didn’t earn the nickname ‘The Notorious RBG’ for nothing.” During a press briefing yesterday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that he was not surprised that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had decided to weigh in about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his qualifications. [POLITICO]

* In a recent Twitter poll, Law.com asked whether Justice Ginsburg’s comments related to Trump were “out of bounds” for a Supreme Court justice. After thousands upon thousands of user votes poured in, the results were split, with 51 percent responding “no,” and 49 percent responding “yes.” What do you think? Email us. [Law.com]

* Cravath Swaine & Moore partners have elected a new presiding partner to succeed C. Allen Parker. Faiza Saeed is currently the co-head of Cravath’s mergers-and-acquisitions practice, and will soon serve as the first-ever female presiding partner of the firm. Congratulations! We’ll have more on this exciting news later today. [Am Law Daily]

* Like his balls, Tom Brady must be a little down since it looks the challenge to his four-game “Deflategate” suspension has officially been sacked. The Second Circuit has flat-out refused to rehear the case or rehear it en banc, and now the New England Patriots quarterback’s hopes rest on a Hail Mary to the Supreme Court. [Big Law Business]

* It’s well-known that music icon Prince died of an accidental drug overdose without a will, but according to a recent order from the judge presiding over the probate of his estate, a Minnesota law firm that previously represented the singer “might possess confidential information potentially relevant” to who his true heirs are. [USA Today]

* “Elle [Woods] embodies fighting for what is right, staying true to yourself, and defeating the odds.” It’s been fifteen years since the film first hit theaters, but Legally Blonde is still inspiring people to go to law school, despite the bleak employment scene that awaits graduates. Unfortunately, the bend-and-snap won’t win you a job. [People]

* “Say you’ll remember me, standing in a black robe, waiting for a hearing, babe. Begging the SJC, say you will confirm me, even if it’s just in my wildest dreams, ah-ha ohh.” SCOTUS nominee Judge Merrick Garland has something in common with an overwhelming number of teenage girls: he loves Taylor Swift sing-alongs. That’s cute! [People]

* “A judge does not check his First Amendment rights at the courthouse door.” Judge Olu Stevens has filed suit against the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission on free-speech grounds in an attempt to stave off an ethics sanction for publicly commenting on Facebook about all-white juries and their “disproportionate and disparate impact on black defendants.” [Courier-Journal]

* Hardly any partners leave Cravath, but a very important one just did, and his exit is making people talk. Scott Barshay, once a top M&A partner at the firm that tends to set the associate bonus scale, has defected to Paul Weiss, where he’ll become its global head of M&A. Which clients will he take to the “dream team”? [DealBook / New York Times]

* This plaintiff’s antitrust allegations against Uber’s CEO may be “wildly implausible” and representative of an “impossibly unwieldy conspiracy,” but in Judge Jed Rakoff’s eyes, they were enough to overcome a motion to dismiss that was filed by Boies Schiller. Something tells us Uber’s legal bills are going to see some surge-pricing. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Per a study by Ravel Law, in a new index that tracks federal judges by their rulings and subsequent citations to those rulings, Michigan produces the most influential judges on the federal bench, followed by Chicago, Harvard, and Yale. Harvard has finally gotten one over on Yale — but for a measly bronze trophy. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector gained 1,200 jobs in March. On top of that positive news, February’s numbers were revised from a loss of 1,500 jobs to a gain of 100 jobs. In any case, what with the huge discrepancy, we’re happy to see Dewey’s bookkeepers found new work. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* According to a statement released by the RIAA, hundreds of musicians and songwriters — like Katy Perry, for example — have called on Congress to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Safe-harbor clauses are absolutely killing the artists’ bottom line, and something must be done. [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]

* “[M]any law firms have had breaches, which they’ve kept quiet.” Following the news that Cravath and Weil Gotshal had been victims of data breaches, Edelson, a plaintiff’s side firm, announced it would be filing class-action suits against 15 major Biglaw firms with cybersecurity problems. We can’t wait to find out which ones will be on the receiving end of these complaints. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Being the world’s first publicly traded law firm has turned out to be quite the debacle for Slater & Gordon. First, the Australian firm announced market losses of about $740 million, citing “underperformance in U.K. operations,” and now its general counsel has decided to throw in the towel after only two months on the job. Ouch. [Am Law Daily]

* “I have lost my faith in the potential for the Law School or its curriculum to put out people who care deeply about things.” Members of Harassment/Assault Law-School Team, a student group that advocates for sexual assault victims, aren’t impressed with Harvard Law’s inaction on educating students about sexual assault. [Harvard Crimson]

* How can we guarantee educators are being honest about graduates’ job prospects? Based on the results of the Corinthian Colleges fiasco and the Alaburda v. TJSL trial, it seems like “[s]trict disclosure rules for all schools would be better than lawsuits and government aid as a way to ensure educator honesty.” [DealBook / New York Times]

* “I’d hope they’d see reason but I wouldn’t bet the family farm on it.” Senate Republicans may be stomping their feet about confirming one of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, but it may behoove them to do it now before Hillary Clinton takes office with a Democrat-controlled Senate. [Common Sense / New York Times]

* Sincere congratulations to Damaris Hernández, who recently achieved a seemingly impossible feat at her Bigfirm. The 36-year-old attorney is the first Latina to become a partner at Cravath Swaine & Moore. She joins the 46 other Hispanic women who are partners at just a few of America’s largest law firms. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Lawmakers from the Garden State have demanded that Gibson Dunn and digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg repay $2.8 million in legal fees in the Bridgegate case, the bulk of which were e-discovery charges to the tune of $2.3 million. Welcome to the absurdity that is document review, New Jersey! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* It looks like Apple isn’t the only tech company that’s dueling with the DOJ right now. Since “[t]he interest in secrecy does not last forever,” Twitter is mounting a First Amendment case against the Feds over its ability to publicly release data that allegedly contains details related to the government’s terrorism investigations. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The 10 customers who filed a class-action lawsuit against Subway over the sub shop’s less-than foot-long footlong sandwiches will only be able to afford 100 $5 footlongs each, because the lawyers on the case are walking away with $520,000 out of $525,000 settlement dollars — that’s 99 percent of the settlement. Fair? [Dayton Daily News]