Crime

* Sam Bankman-Fried tried to contact the GC of FTX by encrypted text?!? How does he not understand how this works? [Law360]

* Judges increasingly use Wikipedia to write opinions. This is not an endorsement, but… ChatGPT looks pretty good by comparison. [Legal Cheek]

* The Harvard Law School attack suspect is now facing criminal charges. [10 Boston]

* “I’m gonna live forever” is a catchy lyric, but not a succession plan. And law firms can do good business scooping up smaller firms that never planned ahead. [American Lawyer]

* Joe Biden may have won the State of the Union by tricking Republican legislators into pledging not to cut Social Security or Medicare, but the Fifth Circuit has already cooked up a new theory to do it through judicial fiat. [Slate]

* We should’ve hit this story yesterday, but St. Thomas Law is naming itself after civil rights attorney Ben Crump. [Reuters]

* Sam Bankman-Fried objects to “overbroad” bail restrictions. Bail restrictions can be onerous and harassing but these boil down to “please don’t talk to possible witnesses against you or send automatically deleting communications,” which seems… reasonable. Next thing you know they’re going to be telling him he can’t pay fines with magic beans! [Reuters]

* When looking in the mirror in 2023, there’s one question we must all ask ourselves: Was I at Camp Lejeune? I don’t think so, but these ads have got me wondering if I might’ve been stationed there for 5 years and just forgot. [Bloomberg]

* Life Sciences work is going to stay busy. It seems there’s still plenty of money out there despite all the grumbling. [The Recorder]

* It took a Ninth Circuit opinion, but it turns out that, yes, the president can fire people who work for him. Glad we got that settled. [Law360]

* The Prenda Law saga continues as a federal court shuts down the latest attempt of the imprisoned lawyer to file more of the same lawsuits that landed him in prison in the first place. [Ars Technica]

* Friday the 13th comes for Donald Trump, as the Trump Organization entities pegged with tax fraud are sentenced today. [Reuters]

* This is the economic cycle where clients will drive work toward the Am Law second hundred in earnest. We say that every economic downturn and it never really ends up happening and this recession isn’t actually materializing, but… it’s gonna happen! Kidding aside, it might, but probably because companies are slashing legal department budgets regardless of the economic climate. [Law.com]

* Maybe not all legal departments… Apple’s top lawyer got a pay bump. [Bloomberg]

* Laurence Tribe joins Kaplan Hecker & Fink. Didn’t see that one coming, but if he joined any firm, this is the one that makes sense. [American Lawyer]

* Sam Bankman-Fried’s pre-trial blogging continues bashing Sullivan & Cromwell’s bankruptcy efforts and offering insights into his defense strategy. [Law360]

* Also, happy birthday week to Judge Richard Posner, who just turned 84!

* FINALLY. Firm leaders willing to come right out and say that “recession” fears are overblown at this point. Regular followers of Above the Law might have heard this point five or six hundred times over the last six months. [American Lawyer]

* Covington sued for non-compliance in client data leak investigation. If a leak happens in the woods and no one properly investigates it, does it even happen, really? [Law.com]

* Supreme Court allows New York gun regulations to stand while Second Circuit litigation continues. Congratulations New York! You get to exercise the state sovereignty to regulate guns guaranteed by the actual text of the Second Amendment… for a few more months. [Law360]

* Sam Bankman-Fried is blogging on Substack now? Perfect client, 10 out of 10, no notes! [Reuters]

* New high-powered firm set up to fight threats to democracy. It’s a growth industry. [New York Times]

* Get ready professional responsibility nerds, because the Supreme Court is hearing argument on the scope of attorney-client privilege on Monday. [ABA Journal]

* Twitter hires Perkins Coie despite Elon Musk’s history of bashing the firm for its work on behalf of Democrats. I’m starting to think this guy doesn’t have a firm grasp on management. [Reuters]

* On this anniversary, a new wrongful death lawsuit targets Trump over January 6 riot. [MSNBC]

* Pharmacies plan to offer morning after pills in states where it’s still legal. [NY Times]

* Speaking of commercial pharmacies, a Walgreens executive finally admitted that all those shoplifting losses that the company claimed would run them out of business were totally exaggerated. [CNBC]

* Prosecutors win right to use the word “bribe” in a case about Fox executives accused of, well, bribing people. [Law360]