Florida Coastal School of Law

* Grammy-winning musician John Legend will be joining the advisory board of the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice. Not to worry, because the Center’s director says the decision to add the singer to the board was actually “a substantive thing,” not “just a celebrity thing.” [Law.com]

* In response to its abysmal performance on Florida’s February 2017 administration of the bar exam (only 25 percent of those who took the exam passed), Florida Coastal School of Law will not only be changing its curriculum and teaching methods, but it’ll also be raising its admissions standards… starting this fall. What in the world took so long? [Jackson Daily Record]

* According to court records, Judge Patricia Minaldi of the Western District of Louisiana was ordered by the chief judge of the Fifth Circuit to undergo at least 90 days of substance abuse treatment because her alcoholism was so severe that one of her judicial colleagues believed she could no longer take care of herself. [Associated Press]

* Canada is taking steps to legalize recreational marijuana across the country. If this new legislation passes, possession of small amounts of pot will be legal throughout the Great White North as of July 18, 2018. This could understandably create some confusion at the border, so we may need to build another wall. Notify the president ASAP. [USA Today]

* Kevin Jones, head of the China labor and employment practice at Faegre Baker Daniels, always wanted to run a marathon and always wanted to visit North Korea, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone by running the Pyongyang Marathon. He finished the 26-mile race in 4 hours and 21 minutes. Congratulations! [WSJ Law Blog]

* Both Lady Gaga and Katy Perry have now been dragged into the legal battle between Kesha and producer Dr. Luke that’s been ongoing since October 2014. During a recent discovery hearing, a judge ruled that Dr. Luke may show Perry a text message sent from Kesha to Gaga that had previously been sealed by the court. The contents of the mysterious message are currently unknown to the public. [Daily Mail]

* Oopsie! U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts is recusing himself from the Life Technologies v. Promega patent case that was heard on December 6. As it turns out, Roberts owns $175,000 of stock in Thermo Fisher Scientific — which owns Life Technologies — but his chambers “inadvertently failed to find this potential conflict.” Thanks to the error, only seven of the high court’s eight justices will render a decision in the case. [Reuters]

* Democratic leaders of the California Legislature have hired former AG Eric Holder, now a partner at Covington & Burling, to represent them in any legal fights against Donald Trump’s Republican White House administration. Having Holder on their side will cost a pretty penny, but “[t]he cost will be very minimal compared to the billions of dollars at stake if California doesn’t adequately make its case.” [New York Times]

* Uh-oh… The European and Middle Eastern arm of King & Wood Mallesons has stopped paying its staff members ahead of its forthcoming administration. The number of staff who have been placed on unpaid leave pending expected layoffs is around 100 at the moment. They were notified earlier this week that while they’re still technically employed by the firm, they won’t receive pay checks. Happy New Year! [Legal Week]

* “Their malfeasance has made it to where we can’t get federal loans anymore, but they still want us to pay full price and give them that same amount and pretend like they didn’t do anything wrong – like it was our fault.” Charlotte Law students aren’t too keen about taking out private loans to complete their degrees at Florida Coastal Law, and in fact, they’d like to see the school president and dean loss their jobs. [WBTV]