Diversity

* California takes the first steps to disbar Michael Avenatti. Can he repeat as Above the Law’s Lawyer of the Year (an accolade designed to represent the lawyer who dominates the year’s headlines) if he’s no longer a lawyer? [CNN]

* Lawyer numbers are up. Numbers of lawyers able to make a living at the law aren’t necessarily changed. [ABA Journal]

* Trump calls on Americans to boycott AT&T because it now owns CNN — a merger that the Trump administration ultimately approved — because CNN occasionally reports on the stuff Trump actually does. [Gizmodo]

* But antitrust law gets trickier when neither party to the deal has publicly questioned the president. CVS and Aetna are set to appear in court to defend their merger plans, which the administration signed off on, but the judge appears to view with some suspicion. [WSJ]

* The corporate world is so far ahead of Biglaw when it comes to diversity that clients are starting to seek out smaller firms to make good on their commitment to the cause. [American Lawyer]

* Trustee fighting to clawback $15 million in transfers to the Arizona Cardinals. Get in line behind everyone else disappointed that they’ve ever given money to the Cards. [Law360]

* A thoughtful deep dive into the invocation of executive privilege from a former Senior Counsel to the Whitewater investigation. In short, Clinton abused it and Trump is abusing it systematically worse. [The Atlantic]

* In legal victory, we will no longer have a chance to watch Bob Kraft get a massage. You’re welcome America. [Boston Globe]

* With in-house legal departments demanding more diversity in outside counsel, women-owned firms are starting to see a distinct advantage. [Law.com]

* Hearing slated for today to determine whether or not Trump can block his accountants from complying with a subpoena [National Law Journal]

* Firms starting to worry about slower growth going forward. Something about the near decade of bad demand numbers might be starting to sink in. [American Lawyer]

* A look at Xavier Becerra’s plans for California’s new data privacy law rollout. It’s going to be like GDPR… except actually useful. [NBC News]

* Atlanta lawyer to repay $40 million. [AJC]

* In a move that could become a trend for fundraising entities, Ropes & Gray was hired by NYU to investigate allegations against donor. [Pro Publica]

* “Karaoke, ax-throwing sites want to sell beer under Utah law.” Obviously one of those raises way more safety concerns for innocent bar patrons than the other — let the ax places sell beer. [Fox News]

* Overrated: This whole affair has hurt Bill Barr’s reputation. Underrated: This whole affair has hurt Emmet Flood’s reputation. [Politico]

* Ninth Circuit cuts off copyright claims that could have been brought as part of an earlier patent suit. Everyone should be a lot more troubled that copyright is bleeding into patent so much that this was even a discussion. [The Recorder]

* Facial recognition software has some well-documented problems and now regulation is coming. [Legaltech News]

* Diverse legal teams are happier. [Law360]

* DLA Piper leans into tech development. [American Lawyer]

* George Carlin’s impact on legal history. [Biography]

* Game of Thrones bar prep? How does the Rule Against Perpetuities consider reanimated corpses? [Law.com]

* Labor Department flags Biglaw for diversity failings. That’s not the announcement most expected to hear from this administration, but we’ll take it. [American Lawyer]

* Julian Assange got kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy and is now in custody. It seems as though Robert Mueller might have wanted to keep his investigation open a couple more weeks. [Huffington Post]

* Speaking of the Mueller investigation, Greg Craig expects to be indicted. [CBS News]

* GCs want law firms to be their partners — not so much their friends. [Law360]

* Texas mulls death penalty for women who get abortions. [Vox]

* Amal Clooney adds a new title with UK government appointment. [Legal Cheek]

* Sorry, bro, but one of them doesn’t like beer anymore: The Tenth Circuit denied 20 appeals of its earlier decision to dismiss misconduct complaints against now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but this time, the panel was split, with one judge saying the “entire council should be disqualified.” [National Law Journal]

* “It’s not enough to legalize marijuana at the federal level — we should also help those who have suffered due to its prohibition.” If you’re a Democratic candidate running for president in 2020, you better be down with legalizing weed in the name of social justice. [New York Times]

* Preet Bharara, ex-U.S. attorney for the S.D.N.Y., knows his former coworkers could cause Trump trouble. They’re “very aggressive,” “very fearless,” “very independent,” and they don’t even “care about politics” — they’ll prosecute anyone. [NBC News]

* The National Women’s Hall of Fame recently announced its Class of 2019, and three lawyers of note were honored: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, and Native American tribal law expert Sarah Deer. [AP]

* According to a new new report from Thomson Reuters and Acritas, there’s a “disheartening” lack of diversity in corporate legal departments. Given how “diverse” law firms are, this isn’t exactly shocking news to anyone. [Corporate Counsel]

* Michael Cohen’s three days in the sun begin. [CNBC]

* Lawyers trying to hold back release in Kraft massage parlor matter. [WPTV]

* Firm GCs are volunteering to mentor Biglaw on diversity. If they’d just live up to their commitment to take business away from firms that either don’t make or make only a token attempt at diversity, they wouldn’t need to hold these cute mentorship meetings. [American Lawyer]

* Elon Musk is either completely ignorant of his legal obligations or doesn’t care that he violates them. Either way, it’s an invitation to massively step up sanctions. [Law360]

* Trump campaign staffer claims he forcibly kissed her without her consent, which shocks no one who’s ever listened to him talk. [National Law Journal]

* The burgeoning niche practice of hash brown law. [Washington Post]

* Profiling the intellectual property lawyer fighting for the CBD industry. [Forbes]

* Accountants are the new bakers when it comes to discriminating against gay people. I guess this means tax prep is more a matter of artistic interpretation, which in fairness explains Amazon’s tax bill last year. [Fox News]

* Tesla GC self-driven back to Williams & Connolly after two months. [National Law Journal]

* “Lawyer likens R. Kelly to Beethoven to explain studio move.” Who can forget that “immortal beloved” letter about urolagnia? [Star Tribune]

* A good look at the renewed effort to undermine the litigation finance business for doing the unconscionable and allowing regular folks to afford to bring meritorious claims against big companies. [CDR Magazine]

* A call for law schools to be accredited based on post-graduation job prospects. It seems like a certain website’s been calling for that for years now… [Law.com]

* Strip club copyright suits are the lucrative niche practice no one knows about. [Law360]

* Rosen likely to succeed Rosenstein. [Courthouse News Service]

* Direct call for quotas to improve Biglaw diversity — for women anyway. [Legal Cheek]