Fourth Circuit

  • Morning Docket: 04.17.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.17.17

    * Settlements have been reached between Berkeley Law, the school’s former dean, and the dean’s former assistant. If you recall, then dean Sujit Chaudry was accused of sexually harassing his assistant, and as part of the settlement, he’ll have to pay $100K in fees and charitable donations, but will be considered to be on “sabbatical” until May 2018, keeping all of his benefits. Hmm, do we think this is fair? [Mercury News]

    * “We have not livestreamed before, but that’s not to say that won’t happen in this case.” The Fourth Circuit is considering livestreaming oral arguments for travel ban 2.0, much like what the Ninth Circuit did with oral arguments for Trump’s first travel ban. Maybe you’ll be able to do some “professional development” billing… [National Law Journal]

    * “Arkansas does not intend to torture plaintiffs to death.” Judge Kristine G. Baker (E.D. Ark.) has halted a whirlwind series of eight executions — the state’s first executions scheduled since 2005 — citing a “threat of irreparable harm” if the drug midazolam is used as part of the lethal injection drug protocol and somehow fails. [New York Times]

    * More and more out-of-state Biglaw firms are flocking to Houston, Texas, to open their own offices, which has inspired many lawyers to leave their current firms for greener pastures — in terms of both money and opportunities. But is there enough legal work to go around with all of the new competition? Only time will tell. [Houston Chronicle]

    * Ten Harvard Law student affinity groups are gunning for Professor David B. Wilkins to become the next dean of the school after Martha Minow steps down at the end of the year. They’ve written a letter to the university president, imploring him to take their advice and select their dean candidate for the position. Check it out. [Harvard Crimson]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 04.13.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 04.13.17

    * There’s been an arrest in the murder of Chicago judge Raymond Myles. [The Root]

    * On the regulatory definition of milk. [LawSci]

    * A deep dive into the way people talked about the Gorsuch confirmation hearings. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * The Fourth Circuit’s liberalization. [Washington Post]

    * President Trump signed a bill allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood in private, away from the cameras. Wonder why the spotlight-seeking president decided to sign this law without the media present. [CNN]

    * What it takes to wield the awesome power and responsibility of being a judge. [Katz Justice]

    * Courts are ignoring the big questions in privacy cases. [Slate]

    * When the “safe” career choice is no longer safe. [Law and More]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 03.10.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 03.10.17

    * Let the heads roll: 46 US Attorneys reportedly asked for their resignation by Jeff Sessions. [The Hill] * Woman lawyer gives important speech, people care only about her body. [Washington Post] * This is why education about your legal rights is essential. [New York Post] * Eight interesting and largely horrifying facts about the Texas prison system. [Versus Texas] * Travis LeBlanc, formerly of the FCC, is heading to Boies Schiller. [Law and More] * This Fourth Circuit case is being described as "one of the most gruesome and inhumane decisions in recent memory." [Slate] * Being a public figure has to change your Twitter habits. [Huffington Post] * What's the future for organized labor? [Lawyers, Guns and Money] * How does appropriate dress vary from city to city? [Corporette]
  • Non-Sequiturs: 12.15.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 12.15.16

    * The jury deliberated for just two hours before convicting Dylann Roof of the Charleston church murders. [The Daily Beast]

    * Tables turned: how Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) got the Second Circuit, which normally reviews his judgments, overturned. [Bloomberg BNA]

    * Keith Lee takes a deep dive into newly released law school data (the ABA 509 disclosures). [Associate’s Mind]

    * Eugene Volokh breaks down a new Fourth Circuit ruling that protects the right of police officers to criticize department policies on Facebook. [Volokh Conspiracy]

    * David Lander evaluates the pluses and minuses of law schools relying upon adjunct professors to fill curricular gaps. [PrawfsBlawg]

    * What variables best explain the decisions of the Roberts Court? [Tennessee Law Review via Hangley Aronchick]

    * Check out Womble Carlyle’s new podcast, Bulldog Bites. Says host Mark Henriques, “I promise it won’t feel like work. If you don’t learn something, hopefully you’ll laugh with us about something.” [Womble Carlyle]

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  • Morning Docket: 06.01.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.01.16

    * The Justice Department is seeking a stay of Judge Andrew Hanen’s benchslap and order of ethics training while it appeals the ruling — a ruling the DOJ says could cost approximately $5 million to $8 million to comply with. [Texas Lawyer]

    * Cheryl D. Mills, chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, wishes that the issue of Clinton’s private email server “had been something we thought about.” [New York Times]

    * Jim Lewis, counsel to Sigfredo Garcia, the man charged last week with the murder of Professor Dan Markel, maintains that Garcia had “had nothing to do with” the crime. [Tallahassee Democrat]

    * Former attorney general Eric Holder says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden performed a “public service” by sparking a debate over government surveillance — but still must pay a price for his illegal actions. [CNN]

    * The Fourth Circuit holds that the police don’t need a warrant to obtain a person’s cellphone location data. [How Appealing]

    * In other Fourth Circuit news, the court won’t go en banc to rehear its prior ruling in favor of the Obama Administration’s policy that transgender students are protected under existing civil rights law (aka the “transgender bathroom case”). [BuzzFeed via How Appealing]

    * Those unsealed Trump University documents we mentioned yesterday? They don’t put the Donald in the best light. [New York Times]

    * And Donald Trump isn’t getting much financial love from the legal community, as measured by campaign contributions (c’mon, Jones Day lawyers, help your client out). [American Lawyer]

    * Judge Joseph Portelli of New Jersey, recently reprimanded for alleged inappropriate comments to counsel, gets renominated to the bench. [ABA Journal]

    * Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: congratulations and best wishes to acclaimed novelist (and Dentons partner) Scott Turow and fellow lawyer Adriane Glazier — who first met when he interviewed her years ago for a summer associate gig. [New York Times]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 04.19.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 04.19.16

    * Watch out, law students! Democratic politician Darren Soto is in hot water for what he wrote as part of Law Revue. [Gawker]

    * Bernie may be complaining about Hillary’s fundraising, but according to election law expert Rick Hasen, “legally this seems weak.” Well, when you are alleging someone is breaking the law, “legally weak” is good enough. [The Atlantic]

    * Fourth Circuit to the rescue! Today, the court held that federal law prevents public schools from banning students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. [Slate]

    * Predictions on how the justices will wind up voting in U.S. v. Texas. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * A new day, a new lawsuit against Trump. Filed yesterday, Cheryl Jacobus is suing for defamation, and Michelle Fields seems like she might not be far behind. [The Slot]

    * ICYMI, here’s our own Elie Mystal talking elections on Morning Joe. [MSNBC]

    * Need more time to focus on business development? Delegate your work. [Reboot Your Law Practice]

  • Morning Docket: 03.14.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.14.16

    * Now that the Supreme Court shortlist has been whittled down to just three appellate judges, people are speculating as to whether we’re on track to see our first Asian-American nominee. Sri Srinivasan, the front-runner whose “ethnic identity would be the real novel factor here,” could be the high court’s first Hindu justice. [Washington Post]

    * Those on the left, however, apparently have objections to Judge Srinivasan’s nomination. During his time at both O’Melveny & Myers and the DOJ, he supported companies accused of gross human rights abuses — a “deeply disturbing” record for someone being considered for SCOTUS. [The Hill]

    * Oopsie! Somebody wasted $250K! On Friday, Judicial Crisis Network launched an ad campaign against Judge Jane Kelly of the Eighth Circuit’s possible nomination to the nation’s highest court. You can “[t]ell your senator Jane Kelly doesn’t belong on the Supreme Court” all you want, but this is a bit of a moot point now. [POLITICO]

    * Since “simply claiming that an attorney’s conduct was fraudulent does not allow plaintiffs to circumvent attorney immunity,” the Fifth Circuit tossed a suit alleging that Proskauer Rose and Chadbourne & Parke helped to conceal R. Allen Stanford’s $7.2B Ponzi scheme. Stanford is serving a 110-year sentence. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * You snooze, you lose: “[W]e find it impossible not to conclude that [Nikita] Mackey slept, and was therefore not functioning as a lawyer during a substantial portion of the trial.” The Fourth Circuit vacated a man’s conviction and 30-year sentence because his lawyer slept “almost every day” of his trial, for at least 30 minutes. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • Morning Docket: 02.05.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.05.16

    * Today the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention held WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for more than three years, is being “arbitrarily detained” arguing he should be allowed freedom of movement without fear of being extradited to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning for a variety of charges including rape. Though the decision has no formal authority, but Assange, who has maintained his innocence on the Swedish charges, can at least claim a moral victory. That’s something at least. [Washington Post]

    * The Fourth Circuit found that Maryland’s gun law, passed in the wake of the horrific Newton shooting, should be reviewed under a strict scrutiny standard since it “significantly burdens the exercise of the right to arm oneself at home” and remanded the case back to the district court. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Uber had an actual victory amid all of its legal woes. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided against combining over a dozen employment cases into a MDL. [National Law Journal]

    * Meet the woman recently hired as the NFL’s senior vice president for investigations. Lisa Friel, formerly a New York prosecutor in the Sexual Victim’s Unit under District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, is charged with investigating all potential violations of the league’s personal conduct code. Hopefully she can bring some consistency to the process. [New York Times]

    * The human cost behind a life led in immigration limbo. No wonder last night’s Dem debate spent so much time talking about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. [CNN]

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  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.06.15

    * Another American doctor is accused of illegally killing another lesser-known lion in Zimbabwe, but this time, Biglaw is in the doctor’s corner. Apparently when you’re a hunter who’s become the hunted, you turn to Blank Rome. [Am Law Daily]

    * Where Dewey eat when allegedly conspiring to scam the firm’s creditors about its financial situation? According to testimony in the D&L trial, criminal activity reportedly tastes better when paired with fine dining experiences. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * At some point in the very near future, it’s likely that one or more new Supreme Court justices will need to be appointed, and some say that it’s obvious that Justice Don Willett, the Tweeter Laureate of Texas, is plotting a course to be a nominee. #blessed [Forbes]

    * The Fourth Circuit handed down an important opinion on cellphone location records, and it looks like the police need a warrant. Thanks for the circuit split. Quick, someone write a law review note before SCOTUS takes it. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * For some would-be law students, applying early decision may not be the right choice. After all, if you think you can get into ALL of the T14 schools, we bet you’d probably like to see if your huge ego is correct. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.11.15

    * More whining about President Obama opining on Supreme Court cases while the justices “deliberate” — as though anyone’s opinion is up in the air. Apparently presidents have rarely done this. Fun fact: cynical lawyers have rarely gotten to the Supreme Court to attack a president’s landmark legislation on a tortured textual reading, but here we are. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * It’s like the Hangover. Except in prison. With more drugs. [Legal Juice]

    * Hey, remember when Jeb Bush got behind a law that required rape victims to publish their sexual histories in the newspaper until the law was shot down by the courts two years later? Good times. [Salon]

    * The Right proclaims Jeb Bush really doesn’t believe in publicly shaming women for having sex. Hm. See item 3 supra. [Legal Insurrection]

    * Wow. The Senate actually passed something. It’s a resolution hailing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Is it a sign of my cynicism that I’m shocked even that got approved? [Constitutional Accountability Center]

    * Why the rationale of Roe doesn’t really matter. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

    * Fourth Circuit panel snipes at each other over whether to call out overzealous prosecutors. It got so bad they actually sealed the opinion. [Maryland Appellate Blog]

    * Derek Khanna has a new report on patent reform written with Lincoln Labs. The fundamental premise: patents are not encouraging innovation any more. [Lincoln Labs]

    * Watchdog is reporting that Kroll Associates conveniently overlooked dozens of terrible LSAT scores in its report on University of Texas admission standards. It bears repeating: just how dumb must Abigail Fisher be to not get into this school? [Watchdog]

    * A short memoir about suing The Grateful Dead. [The Faculty Lounge]

  • 4th Circuit, Crime, Fashion, Immigration, Legal Ethics, Non-Sequiturs, Privacy, Technology

    Non-Sequiturs: 07.18.14

    * Latter-day Dan Fielding seems to have used his office to meet the ladies: alleged to have had an affair with and then impregnate a woman he prosecuted. When she raised the issue with his wife, he filed a motion to revoke her probation. This is all terrible, but the weirdest part was having to have her defense counsel in the bedroom the whole time. [Lexington Herald-Leader] * Woman shot a guy because he didn’t ejaculate enough. The most dreaded words in that neighborhood must be, “Omar’s not comin’ yo.” [Detroit Free Press] * What caused the child immigration crisis at the border? Turns out it was Free Slurpee Day. Who knew? [CNBC] * Overcommunication is a virtue. Did you hear that? Overcommunication is a good thing. It really is. You should overcommunicate. It’s good. [What About Clients?] * Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III thinks the criminal justice system is just super. As far as innocent people going to jail, them’s the breaks. [Wrongful Convictions Blog] * A guy’s guide to lawyerly fashion. It misses my personal pet peeve: use collar stays! Seriously, how do people not know this? [Attorney at Work] * There were a record number of data breaches in New York last year. The problem is the persistent use of 12345 as a password. [Information Law Group]
  • 4th Circuit, Biglaw, Crime, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Gay Marriage, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 05.14.14

    * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may retire by the end of summer 2015, or she may retire by the end of summer 2017, or she may retire whenever she damn well pleases. For the love of God, please stop with this. [Legal Intelligencer]

    * The Fourth Circuit appears to be split on Virginia’s gay marriage ban. The Tenth Circuit appeared to be split on Utah’s gay marriage ban. We’ll give you three guesses on the eventual Supreme Court outcome. [New York Times]

    * Law deans lose their jobs when their schools drop in rank, and it seems Biglaw chairmen lose their titles when their firms post the worst single-year drop in revenue ever. Sorry Bingham McCutchen. [Am Law Daily]

    * Ex-D&Ler Zach Warren wants to sever his case from the likes of Joel Sanders and the Steves, using a “guilt by association” argument. The only thing he’s guilty of is being too cute. [National Law Journal]

    * The drama continues at Albany Law, where faculty members now face possible pay cuts or being put on unpaid leave following a “smear campaign” waged against Dean Penelope Andrews. [Albany Times Union]

  • 4th Circuit, Anna Nicole Smith, Biglaw, Christopher Christie, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Gender, In-House Counsel, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Women's Issues

    Morning Docket: 04.02.14

    * Sonia Sotomayor has been dubbed as the “people’s justice” in a law professor’s article recently published in the Yale Law Journal Online. If only RBG had appeared on Sesame Street, the title could’ve been hers. Sigh. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]

    * It’s a “procedural game-changer”: Virginia’s class action lawsuit against same-sex marriage has been stayed pending the outcome of the Fourth Circuit’s decision in the case that struck down the state’s ban on gay marriage. [Legal Times]

    * “They’re certainly going to be very careful about biting the hand that feeds them.” Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, the firm behind the “Bridgegate” report that cleared Gov. Christie of wrongdoing, received $3.1M from New Jersey last year. [New Jersey Star-Ledger]

    * Now that approximately 60 percent of compliance officers are women, in-house insiders are starting to wonder if the position is being reduced to “women’s work” — and not in a good way. [Corporate Counsel]

    * Everyone involved in this case is dead, but it’s been hanging in the courts for more than a decade. Soon we’ll find out if Anna Nicole Smith’s ex-stepson will be sanctioned in the grave. [National Law Journal]

  • 4th Circuit, American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Conferences / Symposia, Copyright, Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Immigration, John Roberts, Morning Docket, Pornography, SCOTUS, Summer Associates, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 08.08.13

    * “[J]ust because something is constitutional doesn’t mean it’s the best idea, or even a good one.” Perhaps we’ve given Chief Justice John Roberts a little too much to do. No wonder he’s gotten cranky. [Opinionator / New York Times]

    * “It’s raining lawsuits.” As Justice Scalia predicted, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Windsor case, gay couples across the nation have banded together to challenge bans on same-sex marriage. [NBC News]

    * The Fourth Circuit ruled that state authorities in Maryland can’t arrest and detain people just because they look like they might be illegal immigrants. They can only do that in Arizona. [Baltimore Sun]

    * No more fun during sequestration, ever! Judges, get ready to kiss your “lavish accommodations” at judicial conferences goodbye, because Senator Tom Coburn is on the case. [National Law Journal]

    * For all of the talk that Biglaw is in recovery, summer associate hiring just isn’t what it used to be. Summer class sizes shrank since last year. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]

    * On Friday, the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar will consider making changes to its law school accreditation standards. Yes, the ABA does have standards. [ABA Journal]

    * Open wide and suck this down: A film on the life and times of porn star Linda Lovelace may be lost to the cutting room floor because Deep Throat’s rights holders are seeking an injunction. [The Guardian]