Crime

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.17

* Northwestern Dean Dan Rodriguez perfectly sums up the California bar’s decision to punt on the cut score question. [PrawfsBlawg] * The Equifax hack leaves 143 million people vulnerable. But the Equifax executives may end up the most vulnerable after they reacted to the breach by selling shares... fast. Oh, who are we kidding? This DOJ isn’t going to prosecute that! [Huffington Post] * The Empire's stormtrooper armor is really terrible. [The Legal Geeks] * Professor Douglas Litowitz is on the law school job market, and he's rejecting all rejection letters. "I wish them great success in placing their rejection letters with other candidates. I have simply received a sufficient number of excellent rejection letters already." [Faculty Lounge] * The University of Colorado faces a lawsuit over allegedly protecting a football coach over an a domestic abuse survivor. No one ever lost money betting against schools changing their cultures on a dime, but honestly we're not far removed from the last round of lawsuits about the school's hostile environment. [Rewire] * How much do you know about "The Reid Method"? Wyatt Kozinski (Judge Kozinski's son) calls for a new "Wickersham Commission" to investigate the method's role in a spate of false confessions undermining the credibility of the criminal justice system. That said, the President's first foray into politics was calling for executions based on false confessions, so maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths for this commission. [The Crime Report] * Irma threatens lives... and the return of an overused metaphor. [Law and More] * Speaking of hurricanes, Harvey has spawned its first lawsuit. [The Atlantic] * Another edition of “bad places to hide.” [Lowering the Bar] * Congratulations to lawyer Anthony Franze, author of The Outsider (affiliate link), on the thriller getting picked up for possible television development! [Deadline]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.23.17

* Statues of Chief Justice Roger Taney may have been removed in his native Maryland, but don't expect his bust to be removed from the Supreme Court's Great Hall or his portrait to be taken down from the high court's East conference room in the near future. The visage of the Dred Scott opinion's author will remain. [National Law Journal] * The Charlotte School of Law may be dead, but that doesn't mean that former students' proposed class-action lawsuits against the school have been put out to pasture. Though the bulk of the claims were dismissed, two such cases with allegations of unfair and deceptive trade practices have survived motions for summary judgment. Best of luck against Infilaw's first fallen school. [Law.com] * Much to his defense attorney Benjamin Bratman's chagrin, the names of the jurors who convicted Martin Shkreli of securities fraud have been released. They've been talking to the press about the disgraced pharma bro, and one of them referred to him as "his own worst enemy." [DealBook / New York Times] * Meanwhile, Martin Shkreli's ex-lawyer, former Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel, remains charged with wire fraud conspiracy, a charge on which Shkreli was acquitted by a jury. Greebel's defense attorneys at Gibson Dunn have called this "a Kafkaesque scenario," that is "frightening for every corporate lawyer in America simply doing their jobs representing clients." [New York Law Journal] * Berkeley Law is planning to launch a hybrid online/on-campus LL.M. program for foreign-educated attorneys. Students will be able to complete their fall and spring semesters online, but must attend classes on campus at the law school during the summer months. Tuition is a whopping $57,471. [The Recorder] * Earlier this week, a California jury handed down the largest verdict thus far in a talcum powder cancer case against Johnson & Johnson. The plaintiff, Eva Echeverria, who had used J&J baby powder since the 1950s and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, was awarded $417 million. [Consumer Affairs]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.21.17

Ed. note: We're sure you already know this, but there's a total eclipse today. If you're planning to watch the eclipse, make sure you do so safely. Enjoy and have fun! * More than 30 percent of law students are minorities, but only 15 percent of lawyers and less than 9 percent of partners are attorneys of color. Racial diversity in law firms seems to have flatlined, but some law firms are doing a little better than others when it comes to recruiting and retaining minority lawyers. We'll have more on this sometime soon. [Law360 (sub. req.)] * Is "Google" undeserving of trademark protection thanks to genericide? "There is no single word other than google that conveys the action of searching the Internet using any search engine," and perhaps that's why Chris Gillespie, who lost his case at the Ninth Circuit when he attempted to have Google's trademark invalidated, has applied to the Supreme Court for certiorari. [Ars Technica] * Judge Jim Hinkle of Gwinnett County, Georgia, who was suspended after posting some controversial remarks about Charlottesville on Facebook -- i.e., comparing "snowflake" counter-protesters to ISIS because they were "destroying history" -- has officially resigned from the bench. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] * James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old accused of ramming his car into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring numerous others, has been charged with five additional felony counts on top of the five he was already facing, one of which was second-degree murder. [CNN] * Some law schools are doing more than others when it comes to helping students with mental health and substance abuse issues. While some law schools are offering students and professors an impressive suite of awareness, reporting, and counseling services, others are a bit behind the eight ball. [Daily Report] * In what could very well be one of the first virtual law firm mergers, FisherBroyles and Ntellect Law, two cloud-based firms, have tied the knot, combining to form the largest law firm of its kind. Kevin Broyles, the firm's co-founder, thinks the firm will join the Am Law 200 by 2018. [Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.18.17

* "It’s a terrible signal for this group to be holding their meeting at the Trump International Hotel and for a Supreme Court justice to legitimate it by attending. It just violates basic ethical principles about conflicts of interest." Justice Neil Gorsuch is under fire for speaking at an upcoming event at the Trump International Hotel just two weeks before SCOTUS will hear arguments in the travel ban case. [New York Times] * After 23 years, National Conference of Bar Examiners president Erica Moeser will be retiring from her job on August 21 and handing over the reins to Judith Gundersen, the NCBE's director of test operations. If you recall, Moeser once infamously -- and most likely, correctly -- said that plummeting bar pass rates were due to "less able" test takers. Enjoy your retirement! [Law.com] * With funding of almost $6 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, NYU Law is launching the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, in an effort to assist state attorneys general who "don’t begin to have the resources to meet these challenges" fight any of the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle environmental protections and climate policies. [Washington Post] * Jacqueline B. Jones, the lawyer who called in a bomb threat to the federal courthouse on the day she was supposed to defend herself against being sanctioned, is set to plead guilty today to third-degree falsely reporting an incident. She faces jail time and up to $15,000 in fines. [Syracuse.com] * "The story's true. I'm not doing anything. I barely show up to work and I've been caught." The spokesman for New York's Office of Court Administration accidentally left a message for a reporter who was working on a story about his truancy on the job, laughing about how he "barely" showed up to work, just after lying and saying the reports were false. Oopsie! [New York Law Journal] * "In an era of alternative news and fake facts, the ABA should be the definitive source of real facts when it comes to the law." Check out the ABA's new online resource, the legal fact checker, a website where members of the public can learn about what the law says regarding current events in the news. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky