Fourth Circuit

  • Non Sequiturs: 04.28.19
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non Sequiturs: 04.28.19

    * Adam Feldman poses — and answers — an interesting question: are particular justices more or less partial to certain lawyers’ or law firms’ positions? [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * Speaking of the federal judiciary, Carrie Severino offers this helpful scorecard of President Donald Trump’s track record on judicial appointments — which underscores, as she notes, the importance of the 2020 elections. [Bench Memos / National Review]

    * And speaking of President Trump, Joshua Matz and Laurence Tribe have this excellent explanation of why the Supreme Court does not have a role in adjudicating impeachments. [Take Care]

    * In the wake of the Mueller Report, Ilya Somin pushes back against conventional wisdom and takes this position: “Not all foreign interference in elections is unjustified. Far from it, in fact.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

    * Fair use in the copyright context is an infamously amorphous concept — so the Fourth Circuit’s recent ruling in Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions deserves your attention. [All Rights Reserved]

    * Congratulations to Westlaw Edge, voted the “best new analytics product” by the readers of Dewey B Strategic. [Dewey B Strategic]

    * And congrats to Kira Systems on being picked by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as its AI solution for “high-volume workstreams” across the firm. [Artificial Lawyer]

    * If you’re a libertarian-leaning lawyer with two to six years of experience under your belt, check out these great employment opportunities over at IJ. [Institute for Justice via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

  • Morning Docket: 03.06.19
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.06.19

    * Happy birthday, Your Honor! More than a thousand of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fans signed up to plank on the steps of the Supreme Court for her 86th birthday on March 15. Do you love the RBG enough to plank for justice? [Washingtonian]

    * Allison Jones Rushing, a Williams & Connolly litigation partner, was confirmed to the Fourth Circuit in a vote of 53-43. Rushing is now one of the youngest federal appeals judges to be appointed by President Trump. [National Law Journal]

    * According to a new poll, more voters believe convicted felon and disbarred lawyer Michael Cohen than President Trump, and want Congress to “do more” to investigate Cohen’s “claims about President Trump’s unethical and illegal behavior.” [CNBC]

    * According to the American Bar Association, there’s not much that can be done for students at Western State University College of Law. This is not welcome news for people who have yet to receive their loan disbursements. [InsideHigherEd]

    * Remember Raj Rajaratnam, the former Galleon Group head who was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy way back in 2011? Thanks to the Second Circuit, he still has to pay a $93 million civil fine for insider trading. [Big Law Business]

    * In case you missed it, Kanye West has filed suit against EMI because he’s contractually barred from retiring, and his attorneys from Quinn Emanuel say the contract “violated California public policy.” [THR, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter]

  • Morning Docket: 12.17.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.17.18

    * President Trump wants a court to step in to determine whether Saturday Night Live may continue to “defame & belittle” him, wondering if it could be “collusion.” That’s our Trumpy! [New York Daily News]

    * Aww, you thought you could build a natural gas pipeline across two national forests and the Appalachian Trail? Cute. The Fourth Circuit is so pissed that a three-judge panel quoted The Lorax in their opinion: “We trust the United States Forest Service to ‘speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.'” [NPR]

    * On Saturday night, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drew a sold-out audience at the Museum of the City of New York where she participated in a Q&A session with Nina Totenberg and announced that Friday was her “first day doing [her] whole workout routine” after breaking three ribs. Get it, Your Honor! [NBC News]

    * Move over, Aaron Schlossberg. Yet another New York lawyer has been caught on camera, this time physically attacking a fellow subway passenger as she shouts obscenities, spits on people, and lets loose with racial slurs. [American Lawyer]

    * Her hips may not lie, but her tax filings allegedly do. Spain has charged pop singer Shakira with tax evasion thanks to her claimed Bahamian residency. [Forbes]

  • Morning Docket: 11.16.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.16.18

    * After delaying the decision, Judge Tim Kelly will be releasing his ruling in CNN’s First Amendment case at 10 a.m. Is it lawful to revoke a reporter’s press pass after an argument with the president? We’ll soon find out. [USA Today]

    * “[W]e’re not going to leave any judges behind over these next two months.” According to Senator Tom Cotton, the Senate is apparently planning to work through Christmas and New Year’s Eve to confirm all of President Trump’s judicial nominees in an effort to head off any obstruction by the Democrats. [Washington Times]

    * “I’m not trying to be rude. I can see your résumé. You’re a rock star.” Despite her strong résumé, Allison Jones Rushing, the 36-year-old Fourth Circuit nominee, was repeatedly questioned by the Judiciary Committee about her “life experience” — or lack thereof, since she graduated from law school 11 years ago. [National Law Journal]

    * What is David Boies planning for his next act? Is retirement on the table? He and the other name partners at Boies Schiller Flexner have apparently “been planning succession for 15 years.” He said if he retired today, “the firm would be in good shape,” but he thinks he “still [has] some things to contribute.” [New York Law Journal]

    * Stormy Daniels says that while the “serious and obviously very troubling” domestic violence allegations against her lawyer Michael Avenatti are “only allegations” and that she’ll “reserve judgement” [sic] until the investigation ends, she’ll be “seeking new representation” if it turns out that the allegations are true. [New York Magazine]

  • Morning Docket: 10.17.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.17.18

    * President Donald Trump claims that Michael Cohen lied under oath when he testified that Trump told him to violate campaign finance laws and that the allegations are “totally false.” Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, has some words Trump ought to be concerned about: “audio and tape.” [USA Today]

    * “I can fire him whenever I want to fire him, but I haven’t said that I was going to.” In other Trump-related news, the president has confirmed that Pat Cipollone will serve as his next White House counsel, and also confirmed that he’s still really pissed off at AG Jeff Sessions about the Mueller probe. [Associated Press]

    * In the wake of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s highly political confirmation hearing where he brought up Clinton conspiracies during his testimony, Chief Justice John Roberts really wants the American public to know that the judiciary “requires independence from the political branches.” Really. He pinky promises. [CNN]

    * If you’re interested in learning what junior partners are making at Williams and Connolly, look no further than Fourth Circuit nominee Allison Jones Rushing’s financial disclosure form. The 2007 Duke Law graduate pulled in more than $650K during her first year as a partner at the firm. [National Law Journal]

    * This ex-Foley & Lardner partner “should have known better” than to backdate documents, paste his clients’ signatures onto them, and mislead the IRS during an audit, so he’s been suspended from practicing law for two years. [American Lawyer]

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  • Morning Docket: 08.17.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.17.18

    * In response to President Trump’s “relentless assault” against the press, more than 300 newspapers published editorials denouncing his attacks and defending the freedom of the press. In response, Trump said he wants “true” freedom of the press, but without the “FAKE NEWS.” Come on, even the Supreme Court wants the press to remain free. [National Law Journal]

    * Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster, the publishers of Omarosa Manigault Newman’s White House memoir, are hitting back hard against President Trump’s attempts to silence her and stop its publication. this letter from Davis Wright Tremaine partner Elizabeth McNamara is freakin’ fantastic. [Deadline]

    * According to prosecutors, an argument over family financial matters is allegedly what caused John Gately III to fatally shoot his brother-in-law, Mayer Brown partner Stephen Shapiro. The Supreme Court star reportedly died in an attempt to protect his wife. Gately has been denied bond and plans to plead not guilty. [American Lawyer]

    * ICYMI, two judges were just confirmed to the Fourth Circuit by margins we haven’t seen in a while. Meet Julius Richardson, a federal prosecutor who once worked at Kellogg Huber (81-8), and Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a former Nelson Mullins partner who’s been a a federal judge for six months (62-28). [Courthouse News]

    * Law firm merger mania: Stinson Leonard Street will be merging with IP boutique Senniger Powers to add some extra oomph to the firm’s “market-leading IP services.” The merger is expected to close on October 1, bringing Stinson Leonard’s total headcount to almost 500 attorneys. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

    * Trinity Western University wants to open a law school so badly that the administration is now willing to drop the “community covenant” that would have forbidden gay students from having sex. That rule will now be optional for the student body at the Christian school. Would you want to enroll? [StarMetro Vancouver]

  • Morning Docket: 04.30.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.30.18

    * “Please Stay, Justice Kennedy. America Needs You.” The editorial board of the paper of record has penned a moving letter to Justice Anthony Kennedy, pleading with him not to retire from the Supreme Court during a moment in history when the high court — and the country at large — faces “an institutional crisis.” [New York Times]

    * Par for the course? In order to be hired for her job, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s top spokeswoman apparently had to swear fealty to President Donald Trump because she had criticized him during the 2016 Republican primaries. [Washington Post]

    * House Republicans want to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a punishment that was last used against an executive branch employee 122 years ago. FYI, “[i]t’s not meant to use to go after officials who don’t share your policy views or your political goals,” so it’s not likely to happen, but good luck with that. [USA Today]

    * T-Mobile has agreed to buy Sprint (again), and this time, they think that the Trump administration will allow the deal to go through because they want Make America’s 5G Great Again. To paraphrase what Sprint spokesman Paul would say, all law firms are great, but we wonder which ones are on this deal. [Wall Street Journal]

    * The first lawsuit has been filed against Southwest Airlines by a survivor of the deadly flight where a passenger was partially sucked out of the window following an engine explosion. The suit was filed by Lilia Chavez, who “prayed and feared for her life” after she “witnessed the horror” of the disaster, and now claims she has PTSD. [ABC News]

    * Judge Robert F. Chapman, senior judge of the Fourth Circuit, RIP. [Fourth Circuit]

  • Morning Docket: 01.22.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.22.18

    * Paramedics rushed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s apartment on Friday after the diabetic jurist experienced a low blood sugar episode. She was not hospitalized, and went to work because she’s “doing fine.” Somewhere, President Trump is cackling gleefully about one of his predictions. [POLITICO]

    * After a months-long drought, the Supreme Court will finally issue some opinions today. This is the slowest the high court has been in issuing opinions since 1868. Did Justice Neil Gorsuch’s arrival on the bench set SCOTUS efficiency back by 150 years? [Big Law Business]

    * Taylor Weyeneth, the 24-year-old who was recently appointed by Trump to be the nation’s deputy drug czar, is just like most Trump appointees without any experience. His résumé full of “errors,” and he forgot to mention that he lost his job at a law firm after not showing up. [Washington Post]

    * “Even though David Boies has the energy of a 4-year-old, he is in the twilight of his career,” so a new generation of partners at the firm are preparing to move Boies Schiller into the future after Boies and Jonathan Schiller step back from their active leadership roles. [American Lawyer]

    * A Dentons partner whose firm was gobbled up by the Biglaw behemoth last year has been suspended and placed on a leave of absence after word of his alleged inappropriate sexual behavior with female employees at his legacy firm for around to management. [American Lawyer via RollOnFriday]

    * California has been going after the LSAC for years over its disability accommodations for people who want to take the LSAT, and now the state wants the council to be held in contempt. LSAC thinks California needs to study reading its comprehension. [The Recorder]

    * Are you ready for some disparaging team names in football?! Many people are likely to continue calling them the “Washington team,” but in the wake of the Matal v. Tam Supreme Court case, the Fourth Circuit has officially vacated the decisions that canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark registrations. [USA Today Sports]

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  • Morning Docket: 01.10.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.10.18

    * Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were both appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon. Booker is the first African-American man to ever serve on the SJC, and Harris is the second African-American woman to ever serve on the SJC. Congratulations! [The Hill]

    * Rescind immigration protection from current DACA recipients? Dream on! That’s not going to happen under Judge William Alsup’s watch. He issued a nationwide injunction to block the Trump administration from denying program renewals for “dreamers.” [Washington Post]

    * Sorry, North Carolina, but according to the Middle District, your congressional map is unconstitutionally gerrymandered. This is the first time that a federal court has blocked a congressional map because it was “motivated by invidious partisan intent.” [New York Times]

    * Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has filed defamation suits against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier following Senator Dianne Feinstein’s publication of a transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Fusion’s co-founder. The legal action was announced over Twitter, obviously. [POLITICO]

    * “Lawyers like shiny things, and so there has been a huge spike in interest in blockchain law, especially over the last year.” This is just one of the reasons why so many Biglaw firms now have blockchain practice groups and task forces. [Big Law Business]

    * Norton Rose Fulbright has closed its doors in Abu Dhabi, making it the largest law firm to shutter an office in the Middle East. [American Lawyer]

    * Professor Toby Heytens of UVA Law has been named the next solicitor general of Virginia. He’ll be taking his second leave of absence from the law school during his term. He took his first leave to serve in the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office. [Daily Progress]

    * No, contrary to popular belief, Radiohead has not filed suit against Lana Del Rey for similarities between their hit song “Creep” and her song “Get Free” — but the band really should consider doing so, and their lawyers ought to become as “relentless” as Del Rey claimed on Twitter. Take a listen, here. [Rolling Stone]

  • Morning Docket: 10.20.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.20.17

    * Judge Posner wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to help pro ses. Now that he’s retired, he’s decided to “dedicate [his] post-judicial career” to the cause. He recently filed an affidavit to serve as advisory counsel to a pro se litigant before the Fourth Circuit. [Big Law Business]

    * This administration is full of Biglaw attorneys: Trump’s nominee to lead the FTC is Joseph Simons, co-chairman of the antitrust group at Paul, Weiss. Prior to joining the firm, he served as the Director of the Bureau of Competition at the FTC. Congrats! [National Law Journal]

    * Harvard Law’s Student Government is planning to conduct a mental health survey in an effort to assist students with mental health issues. They’re also teaming up with Parody, the school’s law revue squad, to film videos addressing mental health issues. Hmm, nothing at all could possibly go wrong here. [Harvard Crimson]

    * GW Law School has implemented a bunch of diversity initiatives this year, but apparently the members of the faculty have absolutely no idea what they are or what they entail. This… doesn’t seem very helpful. [GW Hatchet]

    * Johnny Depp has filed a malpractice suit against Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman (that’s a mouthful), claiming the firm and its lawyers had a hand in putting him in a bad place financially. [Am Law Daily]

  • Morning Docket: 06.23.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.23.17

    * Federal investigators are delving into multimillion-dollar deals involving former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai. [New York Times]

    * The Fifth Circuit lifts the injunction against H.B. 1523, Mississippi’s notorious “religious freedom” law that many regard as antigay (but the court ruled on jurisdictional rather than gay-hating grounds). [Texas Lawyer]

    * In the wake of a mistrial in the criminal case against him, Bill Cosby plans to educate young men on how to avoid accusations of sexual assault. (My advice: don’t commit sexual assault.) [New York Times]

    * The Fourth Circuit affirms almost all the convictions of ex-CIA officer in a leak case — a potentially significant ruling if the Trump administration follows through on its threats to prosecute leakers. [How Appealing]

    * The Seventh Circuit declines to reinstate the conviction of Brendan Dassey, the defendant made famous by Making A Murderer. [ABA Journal]

    * Martin Shkreli, aka “Pharma Bro,” is gearing up for trial — and, for the record, he is “so innocent.” [New York Times]

    * More disturbing news from my ancestral homeland of the Philippines, involving accusations that the police are shaking down families in distress as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.” [Washington Post]

  • Morning Docket: 05.24.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 05.24.17

    * President Donald Trump has hired his longtime lawyer, Marc Kasowitz of Kasowitz Benson, to represent him as his independent counsel in the investigation of claims that his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. Is anyone really surprised that Trump chose to hire Kasowitz? Moreover, is anyone really surprised that he’d further complicate hiring Joe Lieberman as FBI director by doing so? [FOX Business]

    * In somewhat related news, despite having worked as a partner at WilmerHale — a firm that represents former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as well as Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — Robert Mueller has been approved by ethics experts at the Justice Department to go ahead as special counsel in the Trump/Russia investigation, as he did not participate in those matters. Things are about to start heating up. [NPR]

    * President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 fiscal budget includes a $1.1 billion cut in funding for the Department of Justice. The $27.7 billion request for the DOJ represents a 3.8 percent decrease from its current funding level, while the antitrust division’s funding will remain the same, at just under $165 million. It makes you wonder which initiatives will be discontinued. [Big Law Business]

    * Speaking of the Trump budget, American Bar Association President Linda A. Klein has spoken out against it, criticizing its “egregious cuts to the Constitution’s promise of a fair legal process.” Funding for the Legal Services Corporation and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have been completely eliminated, and if the money is not reinstated, “severe damage [could be done] to the most vulnerable people in our society.” [ABA Journal]

    * Convicted killer Dylann Roof, who was found guilty of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes and religious rights violations, has appealed his conviction and his death sentence to the Fourth Circuit. According to his lawyers, Roof wanted to appeal to drag the case on as long as possible, since he thinks white supremacists will eventually take over the country and pardon him. Wow. [AP]