Edward Snowden
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.23.20
* A lawyer for Edward Snowden claims the whistleblower has received permanent residency from Russia. Guess he’ll be going without Hot Pockets for a while longer… [New York Daily News]
* A judge has thrown out the Trump Campaign’s lawsuit against New Jersey’s mail-in-voting plans. [Politico]
* A Pennsylvania lawyer who was disbarred in 2000 for substance abuse issues and criminal convictions was denied reinstatement, even though he completed rehabilitation. [Bloomberg Law]
* President Trump has seemingly selected his pick to replace Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the Seventh Circuit. [Chicago Tribune]
* Walmart has sued the federal government in anticipation of being litigated against for opioid claims. [Wall Street Journal]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.18.19
* The Judicial Conference of the United States convened yesterday, but not one word was said about the allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh or the procedures in place to address misconduct for those of his ilk (i.e., appellate judges who are elevated to the Supreme Court). So much for that… [National Law Journal]
* “He does not want to sue the New York Times. That’s going to open up a Pandora’s box for him.” But if he did, could Justice Kavanaugh sue the Times for libel and win? Unlikely. [Fox News]
* The Justice Department filed suit against NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for failing to turn over his book to the government for clearance before it was published, and now the DOJ wants all proceeds earned from sales to be turned over instead. [CNBC]
* Did you think law school was full of jerks? Think again. According to the results of the latest Law School Survey of Student Engagement, law students are actually quite nice, thank you very much. [Law.com]
* In case you missed it, Robert Cicale, the Long Island judge who allegedly broke into a former intern’s home to steal her panties, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and will have to register as a sex offender. [New York Post]
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Justice, Politics
Obama Pardons Don't Go Far Enough, Which Kind Of Sums Up His Whole Legacy
Maybe Obama could have done more...
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.15.16
* A considered case for pardoning Edward Snowden by Timothy Edgar, who was on the team responsible during the George W. Bush administration for determining that most of the secret surveillance programs had a firm basis in law. [Lawfare]
* The Virginia Supreme Court denied an effort by Republican legislators to find Governor McAuliffe in contempt over an effort to restore voting rights to felons. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]
* The “Urban Cowboy” threatens to sue New York City. Most importantly, he’s lawyered up with Richard Luthmann, the Staten Island lawyer who previously sought trial by combat. This should be fun. [Gothamist]
* An omnibus look at what the election means for the courts. Beyond Justice Peter Thiel, of course. [Law.com]
* Many University of Chicago professors have denounced the “no safe spaces” publicity stunt from a few weeks ago, but the law school has largely
missed the point of the disputestayed out of the fray. [WSJ Law Blog]* You don’t see many paeans to the Lochner era, but here’s one. [Library of Law and Liberty]
* Oregon has settled with Oracle over the state’s troubled health exchange. [Oregonlive]
* Walking meetings improve productivity. Yeah, I’ve watched West Wing reruns too. [TaxProf Blog]
* ATL Editor Kathryn Rubino talks politics on the latest Today’s Verdict. [BronxNet]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 06.06.16
* Not your most typical legal job: the life of a PETA lawyer. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Joe Scarborough has weighed in on Donald Trump’s statement about Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage. For the record, the former Republic Congressman thinks “[i]t’s completely racist.” [Politico]
* Based on comments Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made, what will our next Supreme Court justice be like? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* They may hate him, but with the perspective of three years, it is clear Edward Snowden actually helped the legal intelligence community. [Lawfare]
* Donald Trump “fought back” against Elizabeth Warren, saying she made a “quick killing” in real estate after the economic downturn, but what do you know? Facts suggest otherwise (namely that she bought real estate in Oklahoma to help her family and their construction business). [Washington Post]
* You can win an early copy of The Curve, a brand new novel by Jeremy Blachman and Cameron Stracher, about a corrupt Trump University-style law school. They’ve set up a website for the fake law school in the book, and would love readers to check it out and submit their own worst law school story for a chance to win an advance copy. [Manhattan Law School]
* Who knows what the composition of the Court will be like when they hear it, but the Supreme Court will take on another racial gerrymandering case. [Election Law Blog]
* The D.C. Disciplinary Counsel took seven years to pass judgment on an administrative law judge who sued a dry cleaner for $60 million over a pair of pants. [Legal Profession Blog]
* What Muhammad Ali lost when he went to the Supreme Court. [Slate]
* Using the life of a passed appellate attorney as inspiration for practice. [Guile is Good]
* Does a sound legal case exist for indicting Hillary Clinton? [Beck’s Law]
* BuzzFeed turns down cold hard cash over its decision to turn away Trump for President ads. [Buzzfeed]
* The “Gig Economy” — things are only getting worse for adjunct professors. [Law and More]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.01.16
* The Justice Department is seeking a stay of Judge Andrew Hanen’s benchslap and order of ethics training while it appeals the ruling — a ruling the DOJ says could cost approximately $5 million to $8 million to comply with. [Texas Lawyer]
* Cheryl D. Mills, chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, wishes that the issue of Clinton’s private email server “had been something we thought about.” [New York Times]
* Jim Lewis, counsel to Sigfredo Garcia, the man charged last week with the murder of Professor Dan Markel, maintains that Garcia had “had nothing to do with” the crime. [Tallahassee Democrat]
* Former attorney general Eric Holder says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden performed a “public service” by sparking a debate over government surveillance — but still must pay a price for his illegal actions. [CNN]
* The Fourth Circuit holds that the police don’t need a warrant to obtain a person’s cellphone location data. [How Appealing]
* In other Fourth Circuit news, the court won’t go en banc to rehear its prior ruling in favor of the Obama Administration’s policy that transgender students are protected under existing civil rights law (aka the “transgender bathroom case”). [BuzzFeed via How Appealing]
* Those unsealed Trump University documents we mentioned yesterday? They don’t put the Donald in the best light. [New York Times]
* And Donald Trump isn’t getting much financial love from the legal community, as measured by campaign contributions (c’mon, Jones Day lawyers, help your client out). [American Lawyer]
* Judge Joseph Portelli of New Jersey, recently reprimanded for alleged inappropriate comments to counsel, gets renominated to the bench. [ABA Journal]
* Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: congratulations and best wishes to acclaimed novelist (and Dentons partner) Scott Turow and fellow lawyer Adriane Glazier — who first met when he interviewed her years ago for a summer associate gig. [New York Times]
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Biglaw, Crime, Small Law Firms, Technology
7 Cybersecurity Tips For Lawyers
In the wake of the big hack of Biglaw, it's time to focus on what you can do to make yourself more cyber-secure. -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 03.23.16
* The Supreme Court is behind some of the epic lines voters have experienced during the primaries. [The Nation]
* Did Justice Kennedy just reveal himself to be hostile to the contraception mandate accommodation in today’s oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell? [Slate]
* Senator Pat Toomey may be caving on the Merrick Garland front — the Pennsylvania Republican has agreed to take a meeting with the judge. [Politico]
* This is the actual problem with the most recent interpretation of Superman. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* Making the connection between reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights. [Huffington Post]
* Opining on the ultimate fate of Edward Snowden. [Law and More]
* Charting the spread of marijuana legalization. [Pacific Standard Magazine]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.29.15
* Chattels, bailment, and your car: What everyone needs to know. [Adequate Man]
* What would the tax code look like if Donald Trump were president? A lot like Donald Trump actually. [Dealbreaker]
* If it looks like a
duckbribe, swims like aduckbribe, and quacks like aduckbribe, then it probably is protected speech??? [Slate]* We know bar exam results are getting worse, but does that impact Biglaw? [Bloomberg BNA]
* What is really behind Edward Snowden’s new Twitter account? [Law and More]
* Fordham Law professor does a deep dive into the psyche of a Republican voter. Scary. [Huffington Post]
* In which reason and passion are equal partners in the law. [Guile is Good]
* Consumers seeking litigation financing are smarter than you think. [Mighty]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.05.15
* According to the latest data from NALP, summer associate hiring is up for the fifth year in a row. Hooray! But wait, don’t go licking each other’s popsicles just yet — some law firms (35 percent of them, in fact) actually reduced the number of offers they made. [National Law Journal]
* In response to outcry over bar exam reforms, this Dechert partner took time out of his day to wonder: “Is it too much to expect that future lawyers know the difference between a tort and a tenancy in common, or do we expect clients to pay them $400 an hour to learn it?” [Wall Street Journal]
* Now that oral arguments in King v. Burwell have concluded, it’s probably time you found out what’s at stake for you if you haven’t done so already, procrastinators. This is what will happen if SCOTUS strikes down Obamacare subsidies. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Edward Snowden is reportedly ready to return to the United States, provided, of course, that he’ll receive a “legal and impartial trial.” Attorney General Eric Holder has already promised Snowden that he won’t face the death penalty, so that’s a start. [CNN]
* An ADA in Texas apparently referred to defense counsel as a “motherf*cker” in front of jurors during a trial. We think now would be a great time to add this to the list of things that will get you kicked off a case. [Austin American-Statesmen via ABA Journal]
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Cars, Contracts, Guns / Firearms, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Police
Morning Docket: 10.24.14
* Thanks to this Government Accountability Office ruling, the company that cleared NSA leaker Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis may lose a $210M contract. [Legal Times]
* After being acquitted on insider trading charges, Rengan Rajaratnam agreed to settle the civil suit filed against him for a cool $840K. At least he’s not in jail like his brother. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Those interested in going to law school may want to know that Philadelphia is purportedly home to some of the cheapest law schools in the country — not Penn Law, though, sorry ’bout that. [Main Street]
* Professors at WUSTL Law held a “teach-in” to discuss the Michael Brown police shooting case. According to them, the likelihood Darren Wilson will be federally charged is “slim to none.” [Student Life]
* Attack of the aggrieved ex: a man drove a burning pickup truck loaded with explosives into a law firm, destroying much of the building. He had apparently dated one of the firm’s former clients. [Virginian-Pilot]
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Litigators, Litigatrix, Privacy, Quote of the Day, Technology
Edward Snowden's Lawyer Is One Bad-Ass Chick
What are some of the technological luxuries she's given up to keep his secrecy intact? -
Barack Obama, Federal Government, Politics, Privacy, Technology, White-Collar Crime
Nietzsche, American Power, And Edward Snowden
What does the handling of the Edward Snowden affair say about the U.S. government?
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Alan Dershowitz, Books, Celebrities, Law Professors, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, O.J. Simpson, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks, Trials
An Evening With Alan Dershowitz
The celebrated litigator and law professor looks back on his life and career. -
Federal Government, Politics, Privacy, Technology
Did Edward Snowden Have Options?
And how well did Snowden think through his options before acting? -
Books, Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Media and Journalism, Politics, Quote of the Day
Blowing Up Eric Holder's Phone
What does Glenn Greenwald think of Hillary Clinton, and how much did he earn as a first-year Wachtell associate back in the 1990s? -
Biglaw, Food, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Unemployment, White House Counsel
Morning Docket: 04.21.14
* When asked whether she thought Edward Snowden was “a whistleblower or a traitor,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg politely declined to answer — justices of the Supreme Court don’t just give previews of their opinions. [CNN]
* Ed Siskel recently left his role as deputy counsel in the Office of White House Counsel. It’s anyone’s guess which Biglaw firm added Gene Siskel’s nephew to its practice. Hopefully it’ll get a thumbs-up. [Politics Now / Los Angeles Times]
* It’s a “tale of two law schools”: the kind that place their students in jobs and the kind that let them languish in unemployment or underemployment. More on this tomorrow. [National Law Journal]
* Two NYU Law students’ emails were subpoenaed after they denounced the business activities of one of the law school’s trustees. Now, we’re not going to say that the school picked a side, but… [DNAinfo]
* Congrats, you can “Like” General Mills all you want without fear of arbitration. The company was so overwhelmed by negative consumer response that it withdrew its new legal terms. [New York Times]
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ACLU, Billable Hours, Insurance, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Sex, Tort Reform
Non-Sequiturs: 03.11.14
* Missouri lawyer is hauled into a disciplinary hearing about his practice of showing a picture of a naked woman to a female client. He says it wasn’t about sex and he was just showing her the kinds of pictures that come up in a divorce proceeding. That sounds like a fine explanation. I mean, every divorce involves autographed photos of strippers. He also commingled funds. That’s less easy to explain. [Inside the Ozarks] * Hey look! They brought back Debtors’ Prison. The prison-industrial complex has gotta get paid somehow. [Bergen Dispatch] * Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are now looking into David Samson, the chair of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a Christie appointee. If government agencies aren’t for petty revenge and plunder, then what are they for? [Talking Points Memo] * Insurance company cronies threaten that insurance company may have to get out of the business because of all the lawyers winning cases making the insurance company actually pay their contractual obligations. Don’t they understand the purpose of litigation is just to collect premiums? [Legal Newsline Legal Journal] * How ACLU attorney Ben Wizner became Snowden’s lawyer. [Forbes] * “One of the reasons I could never imagine being a lawyer is because you have to account for your time in 15-minute increments.” Thankfully she was corrected and told that lawyers are actually more irritatingly measured in 6-minute increments. [Dear Prudence / Slate] * With all the talk of patent law reform coming from the President, this is an excellent time to look back at eight dumb patents. [Mashable] -
Biglaw, Craigslist, Football, Gambling / Gaming, Gay, Gay Marriage, Lateral Moves, Non-Sequiturs, Partner Issues, Prisons, Technology, Video games
Non-Sequiturs: 02.14.14
* Being a mass murderer wouldn’t be any fun if you couldn’t play video games. Also, let’s Upworthy this: Elie tells a story about himself dancing naked… you won’t believe what happens next. [ATL Redline] * Ted Wells of Paul Weiss finally got off his duff and issued his report on the harassment situation in the Miami Dolphins locker room. [Deadspin] * ♫Rubber Duckie, you’re the one, you make state legislative sessions drafting complicated statutes allowing gambling on racing you so much fun!♫ [Lowering the Bar] * From the “dick moves” file, this guy put up a Craigslist ad pimping out his neighbor without her knowledge or consent. From the f**king idiot files, this guy had no idea how easy it would be for the authorities to track him down. [IT-Lex] * Is the aggressive lateral partner recruitment strategy bringing results? [Adam Smith, Esq.] * There’s pretty much nothing OK with the new gay segregation law in Kansas. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * The Virginia decision legalizing gay marriage made one slight misstatement. “Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal.” Really? Does it now? [Josh Blackman's Blog; WSJ Law Blog] * Intelligence Squared held a debate last night between Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the ACLU’s Ben Wizner against former prosecutor (not Weekend at Bernie’s star) Andrew McCarthy and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey on the question: Snowden Was Justified. The video is embedded after the jump…. [Intelligence Squared] -
Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Guns / Firearms, Health Care / Medicine, Immigration, Politics, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court
BINGO! Getting Drunk During the State of the Union
This year, let's play some Bingo during the President's speech.