Flori-duh

Benchslaps

Morning Docket: 11.28.12

* Chief Justice John Roberts gave a Solicitor General’s Office attorney a vicious tongue-lashing for failure to be upfront about policy changes between presidents. Now that’s what we’d call a verbal benchslap! [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * When asked if they’d be following Cravath’s bonuses, a dozen Am Law 100 firms didn’t even care to respond or discuss the matter. It seems the partners would rather keep their associates squirming with suspense a while longer. [Am Law Daily] * Watch out, world, because Catholic University of America just hired a Biglaw senior partner to lead its law school. Say hello to Dean Daniel Attridge, formerly managing partner at the D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. [National Law Journal] * A federal judge ordered tobacco companies to disclose in product warnings that they chemically induce smoking addictions to turn a profit, but those fools will keep puffing their cancer sticks anyway. [WSJ Law Blog] * This just in from Flori-duh: you know you’re probably going to have a bad day in court when the judge won’t declare a mistrial even though the prosecutor technically wasn’t a member of the state Bar. [Miami Herald]

By Staci Zaretsky
Election 2012

Morning Docket: 11.05.12.

* Campaign Lawyers are ready to go to the mattresses. Actually, they're already there. [Bloomberg] * You can see why they're nervous. The race is close. Don't forget to vote. [FiveThirtyEight] * And don't let them suppress your vote. [Blog of the Legal Times] * Because you know if you are trying to vote in Florida and might be a Democrat, they're going to try to take your vote away. [Huffington Post] * When you step back and look at it, the legal landscape for gays and lesbians is shockingly different than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Yeah, I know a bunch of you care about marginal tax rates on Americans making over $250,000 way more than basic civil rights, but still. [New Yorker] * Lawyers have really been working under difficult conditions in the aftermath of the storms. [National Law Journal] * Donor secrecy up for review. [Los Angeles Times]

By Elie Mystal
2nd Circuit

Morning Docket: 10.08.12

* Should Biglaw firms bill by the result instead of by the hour? When some of the results-oriented strategies involve reading less and writing faster to improve work efficiency, we’re not sure how well this would work in a law firm setting. [New York Times] * Roller coaster of employment: after losing 1,400 jobs in August, the legal sector added 1,000 jobs in September. Alas, there are way more than 1,000 new bar admittees gunning for all of those paralegal and secretarial positions. [Am Law Daily] * “They were throwing furniture at both of us.” Both sides on the Jacoby & Myers non-lawyer firm ownership case took a beating before the Second Circuit during oral arguments, but who won? [New York Law Journal] * Come November, Floridians will vote on constitutional amendments that deal with abortion and separation of church and state. Meanwhile, half the voters won’t even read the entire ballot, so there’s that. [New York Times] * A love triangle + an Arkansas Wal-Mart = a judicial suspension for Circuit Judge Sam Pope after an all-out brawl with… Bill Murray? Hey, at least this guy’s estranged wife got three punches in. [National Law Journal] * Tyler Clementi’s family won’t file suit against Rutgers University and Dharun Ravi — instead, they’ll use the publicity from their son Tyler’s suicide for “positive purposes,” like supporting gay and lesbian youths. [CNN] * “This guy is a bully, and he uses the court system to do it.” Robert V. Ward Jr., the former dean of UMass Law, had to deal with Gregory Langadinos, a serial law school litigant, and it wasn’t exactly pretty. [Boston Globe]

By Staci Zaretsky