Drake University Law School

His policy experience will be a welcome addition to the law school's offerings. Congratulations!

* Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he plans to introduce legislation to end our “absurd policy of birthright citizenship.” Good luck with that, Senator, because if you want to amend the Constitution, you’ll need a two-thirds majority in Congress and ratification of three-quarters of the states. [The Hill]

* Women are allegedly being paid to make false sexual assault and harassment claims against Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and now the FBI is investigating the situation. The going rate for these made-up stories is apparently $20,000. [The Atlantic]

* After having its plan to gift a troubled law school to Middle Tennessee State University be flat-out rejected, Valparaiso Law has decided to call it quits. We’ll have more on this totally unpredictable development later today. [ABA Journal]

* If you’re in law school and your girlfriend breaks up with you, you should probably stop calling her — unless, of course, you don’t mind a harassment conviction and spending a year in jail. Now this fellow is trying to overcome his character and fitness obstacles to become a member of the bar. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

* In case you missed it, the Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School just unleashed about 6.5 million digitized court decisions online, for free, as part of the Caselaw Access Project. No, that’s not a typo — everything is free. [Fortune]

* How did graduates of the Charleston School of Law do on the South Carolina bar exam this past summer? Not too well. For the second year in a row, more than half of them failed the test. On the “bright side,” 59 percent of first-time takers from the school passed, up 11 percentage points from last year. [Post and Courier]

* “I hope you can let this go.” Former FBI director James Comey was writing memos detailing his conversations with Donald Trump to document what he believed were the president’s improper attempts to influence the Michael Flynn investigation. Comey, a damn good lawyer, likely knew that an FBI agent’s notes are admissible in court as credible evidence. [New York Times]

* The Securities and Exchange Commission just got a Biglaw-style facelift: SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, formerly of Sullivan & Cromwell, has asked Willkie Farr partner Robert Stebbins to serve as his general counsel and SullCrom associate Sean Memon to serve as his deputy chief of staff. [Big Law Business]

* Rolling your eyes and calling a federal judge’s ruling on an objection “f*cking bullsh*t” will certainly do you absolutely no favors in Judge Amy St. Eve’s courtroom. In fact, it just might get you suspended from practice for three months and barred from being a lead trial attorney for a year. [Chicago Tribune]

* “I’m an attorney in a capital case!” In videos introduced into evidence during Dylann Roof’s mental competency hearings, the convicted killer said his attorneys were “evil,” “the spawn of hell,” and “liars,” and only wanted to keep them while representing himself “so I can abuse them.” [Post and Courier]

* Drake Law School has entered into an agreement with three historically black colleges and universities to increase its diversity. Entering students will be guaranteed a scholarship to cover at least half of their tuition. Drake’s first-time bar pass rate in Iowa was 82 percent in July 2016. [Iowa Public Radio]

* Thus far, five law schools — Hawaii, Iowa, St. John’s, Drake, and Buffalo — have decided to drop the LSAT for top-performing applicants, and it’s no surprise that all five law schools have watched their enrollment numbers take traumatic tumbles. [Bloomberg Business]

* “[E]veryone calls colleagues for advice, particularly when we get gnarly jury notes.” As it turns out, judges in the Southern District of New York are big proponents of the “phone a friend” lifeline for their trickier cases. FYI, those friends are never law profs. [New York Times]

* Well, that was incredibly quick! Josh Seiter, the 2013 graduate of Chicago-Kent Law who’s built a successful career stripping, working as an escort, and appearing on reality TV shows, didn’t even make it past the first rose ceremony on The Bachelorette. [Heavy]

* Without WARNing? Butler & Hosch, one of the largest foreclosure firm’s in the country, decided to abruptly close up shop, leaving hundreds of attorneys and staff members of out work. Sources have told us that the firm was unable to make payroll. [Orlando Sentinel]

* Sorry, boutiques, but according to Lexis/Nexis CounselLink’s Enterprise Legal Management Trends report, the biggest of all Biglaw firms are controlling the market when it comes to performing specialized IP litigation work. [DealBook / New York Times]

* As we mentioned previously, Sam Kamin of Denver Law is the first professor to hold a pot law professorship. Here’s an interesting Q&A with the law firm partner who came up with the idea. See Prof. Kamin at our marijuana law event in June. [National Law Journal]

* Even more law schools are doing away with their LSAT requirements. Let’s give a great big welcome to Drake Law and St. John’s Law, who are joining the likes of SUNY Buffalo Law and Iowa Law. Woohoo, welcome aboard the bandwagon, folks! [U.S. News & World Report]

* Judge James W. Haley Jr. of the Virginia Court of Appeals held a drunk intruder at gunpoint while he waited for the police to arrive. This unwanted houseguest was only wearing one shoe as he wandered through the judge’s home. Oopsie! [Free Lance-Star]

* Well, that was quick. Fried Frank has hired away James “Jamie” Wareham, DLA Piper’s $5 million man, about four years after he lateraled to the firm from Paul Hastings. April Fools’ Day was his last day at the firm… or was it? J/K, it was for real. [Am Law Daily]

* J. Michael Farren, the ex-White House lawyer who was convicted of attempting to murder his wife and sentenced to 15 years in prison, is now facing the loss of his law license. This should really be the very least of his worries. [Connecticut Law Tribune]

* The U.S. Marshals Service has increased the reward for tips related to the shooting of U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg. Now you’ll get $50,000 if you’ve got information that’ll lead to arrests and convictions of the suspects who shot a federal jurist. [Detroit News]

* Human Rights Watch wants to “stop killer robots” from being used as cops. In case that was really weighing on your mind. [PC World] * A profile and Q&A with Twitter’s foremost jurist, Justice Don Willett of Texas. He indulges us with answers longer than 140 characters. [Coverage Opinions] * The Berkeley bird beheader gets four years probation and service to an animal shelter. And you just know some bird is going to try and start something with him on the first day. [Associated Press via San Diego Union-Times] * Instead of announcing a new dean, Louisville has given a three-year extension to its interim dean to keep holding the “interim” title. What’s going on? Could one of the commenters be right: that the school doesn’t want to take on a new salary because they expect the school to fold? [The Faculty Lounge] * The Drake Law service dog lawsuit is over. [Des Moines Register] * Today is the last day to enter the New York’s Funniest Professional Competition! [Manhattan Comedy School / Gotham Comedy Club] * Internet collegiality alert: Internet Tax Lawyers blog blatantly rips off another blogger. For shame. [Law and More] * Comparing the U.S. News peer ranking with which faculty’s academic writing really gets read. [Tax Prof Blog]

* When it comes to billing rates, starting at the junior level, female law firm partners are still lagging behind their male counterparts by an average of 10 percent less. Boo. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

* Just in time for the graduation of one of the largest law school classes in history, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the legal sector is shedding jobs. That sucks. Sorry Class of 2014. [Am Law Daily]

* Law school deans are dropping like flies. Since last week, at least three have announced their intention to leave their positions. We know of one more that we may discuss later. [National Law Journal]

* If you want to work as an attorney, your odds are better if you go to a Top 50 law school. Seventy-five percent of Top 50 grads are working as lawyers, compared to 50% of all others. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]

* The verdict is in on the latest Apple v. Samsung patent case, and Apple is probably pretty miffed it was awarded only $120M this time, since lawyers for the company requested billions in damages. [Reuters]

* Laura LaPlante, a 3L who was set to graduate from U. Chicago Law on June 16, RIP. [Chicago Tribune]

Eliminating the bar isn't the cost cutting maneuver people are looking for.

* “Many organizations have people who do dumb things.” Members of the Secret Service aren’t the only suits getting secretly serviced. Apparently Treasury Department officials like hookers, too. [New York Daily News]

* The cool cats at WilmerHale arrived for their first day of work yesterday at their hip new downtown location. Their library has a Wii, but who are they kidding, it’s probably just for show. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]

* On the other side of the fence, we’ve got some signs of the impending lawpocalypse. Soon Biglaw veterans will be forced to say goodbye to the corner office and hello to the glass-walled cubicle. [WSJ Law Blog]

* George Zimmerman: alleged murderer, and now an alleged child toucher (though he was still a child himself). Witness 9 claims Zimmerman abused her for a decade while they were both underage. [CNN]

* “We want to have a bar pass standard that really works. And it’s clear it doesn’t work now.” Oh boy, would you look at that. The ABA is trying to make it look like it’s doing something to improve law schools! [ABA Journal]

* Emory Law received a record donation, and more than half will fund minority student scholarships. Little do these kids know that they’ll soon be condescendingly told to move to Nebraska. [National Law Journal]

* But then again, maybe Nebraska isn’t so bad, considering three law schools are shipping students to neighboring Iowa. The towns are tiny, and the surroundings are rural, but come on, the state’s got jobs. [NPR]

The first time I looked at the grand total of what it would cost to get a law degree, I cried. And then I realized that this is what I want to do. I’ll have debt for the rest of my life, and that’s that. — Allissa Klatt, an incoming law student at Drake University […]