Equifax

  • Morning Docket: 10.31.19
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.31.19

    * Johnny Depp has settled a lawsuit against his former attorney who allegedly bilked him out of millions. In other words: Jack Sparrow has bested another pirate. [Bloomberg]

    * Hillary Clinton told an audience at Georgetown Law yesterday that she played a pivotal role in the selection of RBG to the Supreme Court. Maybe she’ll play herself in the next RBG movie. [CNN]

    * Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has been charged with unlawfully touching a third woman. [Yahoo Entertainment]

    * Attorneys handling the Equifax data breach class action are asking for $77M in fees. I’m still waiting for the money AOC promised me! [Daily Report]

    * The Second Circuit has upheld the conviction of Martin Shkreli’s lawyer for his role in helping Shkreli defraud investors. [Reuters]

    * R. Kelly skipped a hearing relating to his federal charges because he allegedly had an infected toenail. This excuse is even worse than saying he had to wash his hair. [People]

  • Morning Docket: 10.11.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.11.17

    * “[W]e will do whatever we have to do to properly protect his rights vis a vis the company.” Film producer and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein has hired Hollywood power lawyer Patricia Glaser to represent him in his fight against his own company. [Hollywood Reporter]

    * Hogan Lovells has been in the legal press a lot lately for its decision to shut things down, like careers. Now, the firm has decided to shut down an office in a far away land called Ulaanbaatar that you’ve likely never heard of before. [Legal Week]

    * What’s the easiest way to get a new practice group running? By acquiring a boutique firm that’s got an “innovative approach.” That’s what LeClairRyan did when it swallowed up Pizzo & Haman, a workers’ compensation firm which is unique in that… its attorneys charge more than others in the same practice area. [Am Law Daily]

    * Enrollment has gone up in a major way at the Appalachian School of Law. The school’s new 1L class is about 86 percent larger than last year’s entering class, and its overall enrollment has increased by almost 40 percent. Considering that the school has been struggling in recent years, this must be nice for everyone in Grundy. [WCYB]

    * “What Could Equifax CLO John Kelley Have Done Differently?” Literally, anything. [Corporate Counsel]

  • Morning Docket: 09.15.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.15.17

    * Yes, it’s true: Jeff Sessions came thisclose to resigning as attorney general, after Donald Trump berated him following the appointment of special counsel Bob Mueller in the Russia probe. [New York Times]

    * Bye-bye to blue slips? It wouldn’t exactly be “nuclear,” since their treatment has varied greatly over the years. [BuzzFeed]

    * The State Bar of California tries to cut down the arguments in favor of a lower cut score on the bar exam. [ABA Journal]

    * Technology platforms are driving an increase in transparency that’s having profound consequences for the employer/employee relationship (as I recently discussed on the podcast of Akerman employment-law partner Matt Steinberg). [Akerman]

    * Embattled Equifax has turned to Phyllis Sumner and King & Spalding for much-needed legal help in the wake of its massive data breach. [Law.com]

    * Statutory interpretation question: can you be both the victim and the perpetrator in a child pornography case? [How Appealing]

    * The ranks of nonequity partners continue to grow; has this trend gone too far? [Big Law Business]

    * Prosecution of individuals in cases of corporate wrongdoing (aka the Yates Memo), and Justice Department policy on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where it has been decriminalized — both are “under review” at the DOJ, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. [Law.com]

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  • Morning Docket: 09.11.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.11.17

    * “Legal aid is critical after a natural disaster,” so the Florida Bar has raised the income cap for its online legal clinic so Floridians affected by Hurricane Irma can get legal assistance, and the Florida Bar Foundation has set aside $500,000 to support legal aid organizations. How generous! [Law.com]

    * Sixteen years have passed since the September 11 attacks, but we’ve yet to try or convict any of the five men who are said to have planned the day that changed America, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged “architect of 9/11.” Some lawyers wonder why this “isn’t a cause for more outrage.” [Al Jazeera]

    * In case you missed it, Irell & Manella has elected Ellisen Turner as its first African-American managing partner. Among the many accolades he’s earned over the course of his illustrious legal career, Above the Law once referred to him as a “hottie.” Congratulations on all accounts! [Big Law Business]

    * Lawmakers from both parties are interested in holding hearings on the massive Equifax hack, and after outcry from state attorneys general about an arbitration clause that would have prevented those affected by the data breach from suing, the credit reporting agency has changed its terms of service. [The Hill]

    * In the wake of Justice Scalia’s death, Justice Kagan says the remaining justices did everything they could to avoid 4-4 split decisions: “[W]e all made a very serious effort to try to find common ground even where we thought we couldn’t. It sort of forced us to keep talking to each other.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

    * Which Biglaw firm is about to get a lot bigger? It’s Cozen O’Connor, apparently. According to CEO Michael Heller, he’d like to increase the firm’s head count to somewhere between 700 and 1,000 lawyers in the next five years. About 600 attorneys are currently working at Cozen. [Am Law Daily]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.17
    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]

  • Biglaw, Billable Hours, Canada, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law Firm Mergers, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 04.14.14

    * “[T]he one thing Windsor does not do is clearly establish a nationalized definition of marriage.” No one will be surprised when the same-sex marriage cases wind up before the Supreme Court. [National Law Journal]

    * Law firm mergers continue to hum along at a record pace, but whether they’ll actually work out is another question entirely. Only time will tell if we’ll see another “spectacular flameout.” [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

    * “The billable hour’s day has passed.” Eighty percent of law firm leaders believe hourly billing may soon be going the way of the dodo in favor of alternative billing arrangements. [Capital Business / Washington Post]

    * Despite its anti-gay policies, Trinity Western University Law has been granted approval from the Law Society of British Columbia to open its doors. And here we thought Canadians were supposed to be polite. [GlobalPost]

    * If you want to take an “Law and _____” class, sign up for Law and Traumatic Brain Injuries at GW Law. Having a TBI yourself seems like a requirement for enrollment, but shockingly, it’s not. [New York Times]

    * Times are so rough that God can’t even get a credit card. Instead of casting plagues upon the earth, he’s suing Equifax — though we’re sure he wouldn’t mind if the credit agency reps caught lice. [New York Post]