Fashion

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 02.06.15

    * Records show that Case Western Law bought former dean Lawrence Mitchell’s house for $575,000. Was it still furnished with the Chinese silk sheets? [The Observer]

    * Judge Posner explains that ALJs are basically working a conveyor belt. To wit, here’s a visual representation of Social Security ALJs at work. [Valpo Law Blog]

    * Um, what’s the charge for “acting like you’re in Fast and Furious”? [Legal Juice]

    * Republicans making moves to stop net neutrality. Netflix needs to start showing more Bible documentaries to sap this movement’s political will. [Bloomberg Politics]

    * Professor Campos reviews a new paper on the future of higher education funding. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

    * The law dean at the University of New Brunswick is accused of “sexism, harassment, and, in one case, threats of violence by two of his former law school colleagues.” That’s some very un-Canadian behavior. But Levitt used to be the dean at Florida A&M, and that does sound like some very Floridian behavior. [CBC] UPDATE (2/23/16 12:57 p.m.): Checking back in on this story we have a LOT to add. Since we first linked to this, the CBC has had to retract its stories about Professor Levitt. It turns out he was not a party, witness or even deposed in the law suits even though CBC was giving off the impression that he was the central figure in criminal cases. It seems he wasn’t even a party to the civil cases when they were reporting that! CBC has had to report that Levitt was absolved or ‘cleared’ of any wrongdoing not once, but twice. The whole saga seems, from what we know today, to have been pretty egregious and raises troubling questions about race and media bias in Canada, as discussed in this piece about the matter.

    * How to make your shoes last longer. [Corporette]

    * Michael Cannon and Professor Jonathan Adler use some pretty compelling evidence in their amicus brief decrying King v. Burwell. Unfortunately, they kind of made up a quote. When the woman they quoted tries to clear the record, Cannon tells her he understands what she clearly said better than she did. In a sense this is a microcosm for the whole case. [Constitutional Accountability Center]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.30.15

    * Did two little kids get slapped with a lifetime gag order barring them from talking about fracking. But how will they explain their third eye? [The Guardian]

    * Private equity firm TPG is suing its former PR man — former Bush spokesperson Adam Levine — for allegedly stealing confidential documents and threatening to leak them to the press. They probably showed where the Iraq WMDs were. [O’Dwyer’s]

    * So maybe the blizzard of 2015 fizzled for New Yorkers. But winter’s not over yet — how do you interview in a snowstorm? [Corporette]

    * Simpson Thacher could have some malpractice issues with that $1.5 billion SNAFU. [Law360]

    * “The Supreme Court’s Billion-Dollar Mistake”? Well, they’re still half a billion ahead of Simpson Thacher. [New York Review of Books]

    * Suge Knight accused of murder. Not an archival story. [Los Angeles Times]

    * As Juggalo Law likes to say, “‘Sup With Aaron?” A recap of day 2 of the Aaron Hernandez murder trial, the Patriots scandal that isn’t about deflated balls. [ESPN]

    * Lagarrette Blount marijuana charges dropped like a Boise State linebacker. Huh. I guess this was yet another Patriots scandal. [ESPN]

    * 30 bats flew into an Arkansas courtroom disrupting a trial. That’ll teach them to let Joe Chill go free. [MyFoxNY]

    * An online CLE on the ethical issues of laterals and collapsing firms. Dewey know any firms who could have used this information? [Bloomberg BNA]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.26.14

    Ed. note: Above the Law will be dark on Thanksgiving and on a reduced publishing schedule on Friday, November 28, while we recover from turkey-induced comas.

    * Holy backfire Batman! Florida desperately wanted to display a nativity scene in the State Capitol because it’s more important than making real laws. Now they’re probably going to be forced to display a scene from the Satanic Temple. [Slate]

    * Researchers assert that college prestige has no bearing on the quality of the teaching. Would this carry over to law schools? [TaxProf Blog]

    * The National Bar Association, representing predominantly African-American attorneys and judges, has issued a response to the grand jury’s decision in the Michael Brown shooting. [The National Bar Association]

    * Speaking of Ferguson, apparently the investigator listed Darren Wilson as the “victim.” If you needed any more evidence of the power of semantics. [Lowering the Bar]

    * The CATO Institute talks about the First Amendment and One, Inc. v. Olesen. It’s an hour-and-a-half panel discussion. Pretty impressive for a 24-word (plus one citation) decision. [C-SPAN]

    * Is it a lie? Well, that depends on what your definition of “lie” is? [Dorf on Law]

    * Are over the knee boots appropriate office attire? [Corporette]

    * 8 women who left the law to follow their passions. [One 400]

    * Yesterday, we suggested you should write more thank you notes. Well, here are some reasons why you shouldn’t. [The Muse ]

  • Biglaw, D.C. Circuit, Divorce Train Wrecks, Fashion, Health Care / Medicine, Labor / Employment, Law Firm Mergers, Morning Docket, Nude Dancing

    Morning Docket: 11.17.14

    * When Loretta Lynch still worked at Hogan & Hartson (now known as Hogan Lovells thanks to a merger), her colleagues described her as a warm person without “a political bone in her body.” That said, best of luck to her in D.C. [National Law Journal]

    * The D.C. Circuit upheld the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive opt-out plan for religious employers, but since “[t]he court is wrong,” we can count on a at least a few organizations that’ll refuse to comply. Gee, thanks a lot, Obama. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Some call the latest Biglaw tie-up “law-firm Darwinism,” but hey, “[i]t’s not like [Bingham’s] a wounded gazelle and we are pouncing on them,” says a too coy Morgan Lewis lawyer. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

    * Fashion law may be a $985 billion global industry, but only five law school courses on the topic exist in the U.S. Why? “There’s no defensible reason except that fashion is perceived as a frivolous subject.” [AFP]

    * This woman plans to appeal a $1 billion divorce settlement award because it’s not “fair and equitable.” In her defense, she did get a very small percentage of her ex-husband’s multibillion-dollar wealth. [People]

    * Wage and hour laws have never been so sexy: Thanks to this court ruling, Rick’s Cabaret is going to have to make it rain on thousands of strippers to the tune of more than $10 million. [New York Times]

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  • Biglaw, Confirmations, Federal Government, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Law Firm Mergers, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Sandra Day O'Connor

    Morning Docket: 11.14.14

    * Loretta Lynch, America’s would-be attorney general, has been flying under the radar for years, and now senators are searching to find something, anything at all really, that could possibly be wrong with her. [Legal Times]

    * “[T]his is the best period of time that we have seen in a long time.” According to Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, Biglaw’s revenue, hours, and profits all rose in the first nine months of 2014. Nice work! [Am Law Daily]

    * Biglaw mergers and acquisitions are now on pace to meet or beat last year’s record, and company legal departments are pretty pissed off about it, especially since “[l]arge firm views on conflicts [tend to] drive [GCs] crazy.” [Reuters]

    * Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor attended the groundbreaking of Arizona State Law’s new campus, and even shoveled some dirt in honor of the school named after her. [Arizona Republic]

    * What’s the price on being blackballed? Condé Nast settled its unpaid intern class-action lawsuit yesterday for $5.8 million, which will result in $700 to $1,900 payouts per aggrieved intern. [Fashionista]

  • 11th Circuit, Copyright, Department of Justice, Election Law, Fashion, Law Reviews, Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.20.14

    * Eric Holder gave millions to Nazis! Or at least that’s how Darrell Issa will put it. But seriously, the Department of Justice has a long-standing policy of allowing Nazi war criminals to collect Social Security payments if they agree to get the hell out of the U.S. [Associated Press via New Europe] * A Cleveland attorney, Peter Pattakos, is not worried about contracting Ebola, even though he was in a room with a current Ebola patient, because Pattakos is neither a crazy person nor a cable news producer and realizes that he never exchanged bodily fluids with the patient. As he points out, “I’m much more likely to be mistakenly killed by a police officer in this country than to be killed by Ebola, even if you were in the same bridal shop.” [Cleveland.com] * Chanel is suing What About Yves for trademark infringement. The question Professor Colman asks is whether “we really want a trademark ‘protection’ regime in which mark ‘owners’ can prevent creative, non-confusing uses of ‘their property.'” [Law of Fashion] * One for the career alternatives file: Miami lawyer who ranks local restaurants opens his own restaurant. At ATL we rank law schools, maybe we should open our own law school. [Southern District of Florida Blog] * Academic publishers fighting the war on common sense by charging an arm and a leg for access to research that is written and peer reviewed by other people for free scored a victory on Friday when the Eleventh Circuit rejected the lower court’s articulation of educational fair use in the digital age. [The Chronicle of Higher Education] * Balancing parenthood and the “jealous mistress” that is the practice of law. [Jed Cain] * An amazing symposium on campaign finance reform from the NYU Law Review and the Brennan Center for Justice. It’s a wealth of content. [NYU Law Review] * Josh Gilliland from The Legal Geeks gave a presentation on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Law at the San Diego Comic Fest, which sounds much more fun than any “and the Law” class I ever took. He’s provided his slideshow presentation…

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  • Antonin Scalia, Drinking, DUI / DWI, Fashion, Federal Judges, Food, Non-Sequiturs, Sexual Harassment

    Non-Sequiturs: 09.12.14

    * Mexican drug cartels are moving beyond shipping cocaine and are starting to grow the stuff too. As long as they stop hijacking lime shipments and driving up margarita prices. [Vocativ] The prosecutor who admitted Ray Rice into a pre-trial intervention program (and there are pros and cons to that decision) specifically denied the same option to a working single mother of two who didn't realize her out of state gun permit wasn't accepted. She was offered a 3+ year prison deal. Because, you know... prosecutors. [Huffington Post] * If you’re planning on getting arrested in New Orleans — and who isn’t? — don’t get arrested at night. [The Times-Picayune] * A federal judge is accused of sexual misconduct with a clerk. I had to check twice to make sure this wasn’t just a plot point in David’s upcoming book (affiliate link). [Waco Tribune-Herald] * Defense lawyer allegedly drives drunk… to the courthouse. [Indianapolis Star] * The complex legal tapestry of sandwiches. [The Atlantic] * “Mathew Martoma’s Parents Raise Some Good, Less Good Points.” [Dealbreaker] * If you were interested in the mélange of issues surrounding privilege, whistleblowing, and litigation finance, here’s a primer. [LFC360] * Jimmy Kimmel asked some New York Fashion Week attendees about Justice Scalia. Hilarity ensues. Video embedded below… [YouTube]
  • Copyright, Fashion, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Reader Polls, Television, Weddings

    Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.14

    * David Letterman and CBS got smacked with the latest internship class action. To think, poor Paul Shaffer’s been working for free all those years. [Deadline] * Class action could be on the horizon over high-frequency trading. [Wall Street Journal] * Frankly, I don’t know what the problem is. [Washington Post] * You may have been following the story of Justice Ginsburg’s officiating a wedding in New York this weekend. Well, if so, here’s the Times write-up. [New York Times] * The federal courts are looking at tightening the word limits on appellate briefs. How do you feel about this move? I’m with the author that “The number of cases where attorneys think they need a word extension is greater than the number of cases that actually warrant one.” [New Mexico Appellate Law Blog] * Scott Brown, formerly of both Massachusetts and the Senate, is threatening to sue Harvard’s Larry Lessig after Lessig labeled the Nixon Peabody “advisor on governmental affairs” a “lobbyist.” Lessig asks if the campaign preferred he write the more technical, “sold his influence to a DC lobbying firm.” Ha. [Time] * Fordham professor Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute and designer Narciso Rodriguez make the case for strong legal protection for fashion designs. [Room for Debate / New York Times] * On Friday, Keith Lee wrote about a lawyer who billed a client for sanctions. We’ve written before about lawyers billing for the time spent boning their clients. A law professor who teaches professional responsibility asks: “Is billing for sanctions better or worse than billing for sex. I say sanctions. Can we have a survey on this?” Of course you can. Poll after the jump….
  • Drugs, Election Law, Fashion, Marijuana, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Prisons, Trademarks

    Non-Sequiturs: 08.26.14

    * This probably goes without saying, but don’t smuggle drugs into prison. This grandpa apparently failed that lesson. [Legal Juice] * Town gets fed up and just sues every single citizen. [Lowering the Bar] * A city lawyer heads out to the country to woo a pretty maid. At least this song gets it right and the lawyer fails. [Legal Cheek] * Some thoughts on trademark law and post-parody fashion, from Professor Charles Colman. [U. Penn Law Review] * Attorneys took different approaches to litigating slavery. Nothing really funny here, it’s just interesting. [The Faculty Lounge] * James Sherwin of SOR Solicitors made this infographic about patents in Europe (and where Ireland fits in). In case you ever wanted to know if Europe’s intellectual property set up is as crazy as America’s. [SOR-Solicitors]