Federal Judiciary
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Courts
Deeply Divisive Politics Behind Spike In Threats To The Federal Judiciary
Not a great sign for American democracy. -
Courts
GOP Senator Blocks Judicial Pick Over Transgender Rights
The battle over blue slips heats up. - Sponsored
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
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Law Schools
Diversity Matters: A Study On Federal Judiciary Diversity Goes About As You'd Expect
If we had a more diverse clerking body, we'd probably have fewer "Lawyer Dog" moments.
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Courts
Court Packing Has A Dr. Strangelove Problem
There are only two useful answers to this question. -
Courts
Liberal Calls For Court Packing Gain Steam, And Mitch McConnell Couldn't Be Happier
Some men just want to see the world burn. Try not to give them matches. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.10.18
* McDermott Will & Emery has a new plan to protect Michael Cohen: get Michael Avenatti’s pro hac motion denied. That seems… weak. [National Law Journal]
* Another list of possible successors to Eric Schneiderman. Still no one talking about Eliot Spitzer… that guy has experience! [Law360]
* David Lat argues that the end of blue slips is a good thing for the judiciary over the long-term. He’s totally right, and regardless of the naked cynicism involved, it’s refreshing that Senate Republicans have decided to ditch their states’ rights principles over this. [New York Times]
* Interesting election-related legal issue: can Facebook ban international advertisers from buying ad space related to the upcoming midterms? The answer seems to be yes. [Corporate Counsel]
* Have lawyers finally embraced the cloud? [Legaltech News]
* Managing clerk isn’t known as a particularly lucrative position. But a former Simpson Thacher clerk figured out how to make ends meet. Unfortunately, he’s going to have to go to jail for it. [American Lawyer]
* Lawyers for white guy accused of murdering a black student argue that his Facebook posts are too offensive to be shown to the jury. They say stuff about him hating black people and, really, what’s the probative value of that in a case where the defendant had no apparent motive other than racial animus? [Daily Beast]
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Politics
'Fake Law': The Latest Effort To Delegitimize The Judiciary And The Constitution
Law professor's rant weaponizes a troubling trend. -
Justice, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Rep. Steve King Proposes Bill To Prevent Supreme Court From Citing Its Own Precedent
Amendment or GTFO, Steve King. - Sponsored
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Federal Government, Technology
Challenge To PACER Fees Survives Motion To Dismiss
The putative class action claims that a faulty formula causes PACER to routinely overcharge for document downloads. -
Biglaw, Federal Judges
Obama Makes Historic Nomination To Federal Judiciary, Makes Donald Trump's Head Explode
The Donald can't be excited about this Biglaw partner's nomination. -
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Politics, Supreme Court
Like It Or Not, The Left Still Loves The Supreme Court
Possible Hillary slogan: "It's the Supreme Court, stupid!" -
Law School Deans, Law Schools
First Monday Musings By Dean Vik Amar: Reflections On Judge Posner's 'Divergent Paths'
Some of Judge Posner's points are clearly correct; in other cases, the situation is more complicated than he seems to appreciate.
Sponsored
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Clerkships, Federal Judges, Richard Posner
Should Judges Write Their Own Opinions Or Leave Drafting To Their Law Clerks?
With all due respect to Judge Posner, there's nothing wrong with judges delegating drafting to their clerks. -
Federal Judges, Rankings, Sponsored Content, Technology
Judging The Judges: Who Are the Most-Cited New Jurists On The Federal Bench?
Which federal judges get the most attention from their bench-mates: the prodigies born in the ‘70s, or the late bloomers approaching their own seventies? -
Federal Judges, Job Searches, Law Schools
Confused Law Student Applies For Job With Federal Court That Doesn't Exist
Holy crap. This is embarrassing. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.16.15
* Last week in court, a murder suspect in Louisiana apparently pooped his pants during a case status hearing, wiped said poop all over his face, and muttered to himself that “life is like a box of chocolates.” Sorry about that crappy candy, dude. [New Orleans Advocate]
* According to early Am Law 100 data, New York’s most elite and prestigious firms have once again broken away from the rest of the pack when it comes to both revenue and partner profits. Biglaw’s best may be back to models and bottles. [Am Law Daily]
* Michelle Lee, the first woman to ever serve as director of the USPTO, was sworn in on stage at SXSW Interactive. Michelle Lee, who worked with the Girl Scouts to issue a patent patch (instead of more makeup and sewing patches), is pretty damn awesome. [Mashable]
* The federal judiciary has plans to decrease the word limit of appellate briefs from 14,000 to 12,500, and lawyers are pissed. Lawyers from Brown Rudnick say it could result in more acronyms, confusing construction, and less “punctilious citation,” oh my! [WSJ Law Blog]
* Lee Smolen, the ex-Sidley Austin partner who faked $69,000 in travel expenses while at the firm (and possibly $379K more), has been suspended from practice for one year and will have to undergo psychiatric treatment. [Legal Profession Blog via ABA Journal]
* Taking New York’s lead, California is considering requiring all would-be attorneys in the state to complete 50 hours of pro bono work within one year of being admitted. Leave it to people who don’t know what they’re doing yet to close the justice gap. [Los Angeles Times]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.18.14
* 3D printing and lightsabers and intellectual property. [Concurring Opinions]
* Speaking of IP law, let’s talk Santa Claus and intellectual property. [Trademark & Copyright Law Blog / Foley Hoag LLP]
* “ExamExtensionGate” stirs up conservatives, but also a lot of liberal to moderate Boomers, because… “Lazy Millennials!” Forgetting of course that law students in the 1960s did the exact same thing. But those were mostly white kids talking about Vietnam, so it’s like… different, man. [PrawfsBlawg]
* If you’re excited to hear this year’s annual report on the federal judiciary and can’t hardly wait until Chief Justice Roberts unleashes it upon the world, perhaps you can sate your appetite with this prebuttal. [Fix the Court]
* The Texas judge who kicked a lawyer out of court for thoughtlessly appearing with a broken leg has earned the ire of the Dallas legal community. [Legal Juice]
* More than 70 years later, a judge concludes that South Carolina shouldn’t have executed a 14-year-old based on a one-day trial. Took ya long enough. [WTOP]
* Interesting academic piece on Muslims in the Antebellum South. In other news, there were Muslims in the Antebellum South. [The Faculty Lounge]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.05.14
* A former Cleary Gottlieb associate will be a very rich man after The Lending Club, the company he founded post-Biglaw, completes its IPO. [American Lawyer]
* Marriage equality won’t arrive in Mississippi just yet. [How Appealing]
* The federal civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner could complicate Loretta Lynch’s nomination to serve as attorney general. [New York Times]
* In other news about excessive use of force by police, the U.S. Department of Justice just blasted Cleveland’s department for abysmal record-keeping about such incidents. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
* And what does possible 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton think about police abuses? [New York Times]
* Non-random appellate panels in the federal courts are far more common than you might think, reports Alison Frankel. [Reuters via How Appealing]
* A smart and thoughtful review by Rosemarie Yu of my new book, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link). [New York Law Journal]
* Eugene Ingoglia, one of the S.D.N.Y. prosecutors who helped send Harvard Law cheater Mathew Martoma to prison, will be joining Morvillo LLP as a partner. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Former federal government lawyer Michael Richter: “It’s Not Top-Secret If You Can Google It.” [Wall Street Journal]
* Congratulations to eBrevia, a legal technology company we’ve previously profiled, on raising $1.5 million in seed funding. [Law Technology News]
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Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Crime, Job Searches, Kasowitz Benson, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Rap, Wall Street
Morning Docket: 03.27.14
* The federal judiciary is hiring for staff and public defender positions lost during the government’s sequestration throughout the better part of last year. Ready, aim, fire those résumés! [Legal Times]
* New York Biglaw firms always manage to find their way to the top of the Am Law 100 rankings. When all’s said and done, being so close to Wall Street definitely has its perks. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
* Absolutely no one should be alarmed about the fact that Kasowitz Benson’s profits per partner have dropped by 15 percent — well, no one but the equity partners, that is. Have fun with that. [Am Law Daily]
* The managing partner of Jacoby & Meyers is worried people will think his personal injury firm is going under, not Jacoby & Meyers Bankruptcy. Either way, those commercials won’t die. [New York Law Journal]
* A professor at George Mason University Law was pepper sprayed IN THE FAAAAAACE by an unknown assailant in his classroom yesterday afternoon. We’ll obvious have more on this story later. [ARLNow]
* La Verne is the first law school to offer flat-rate tuition. There will be no scholarships and no discounts. Students will pay $25K/year, nothing more, nothing less. This is, dare we say, wise. [National Law Journal]
* “Passion over pension.” Mekka Don, the Weil Gotshal corporate lit attorney turned rapper, just released his first CD, and it’s all about leaving Biglaw to follow his dreams. Go buy it here (affiliate link). [MTV]