Freedom of Information Act / FOIA

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.19.18

* Eighty-three judicial ethics complaints against Brett Kavanaugh have been tossed out by the Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit due to an "intervening event": his SCOTUS confirmation. The Council, set up to fail by Chief Justice John Roberts, "[l]ack[s] statutory authority to do anything more." [National Law Journal] * The Senate passed the First Step Act in an 87 to 12 bipartisan vote, and now the sweeping criminal justice reform legislation will move on to the House for approval before being sent to the White House. This is a major victory. Thanks for the assist on this, Jared Kushner! [Washington Post] * The tax man commeth, but not for Donald Trump. Judge Karen Henderson of the D.C. Circuit has denied a Freedom of Information Act request for the President's IRS tax records, citing the agency's confidentiality protections for all citizens. [CNN] * Cross-border mergers are on the rise, and one firm has been responsible for the vast majority of them. In 2018 alone, with about 9,000 lawyers and counting, Dentons has completed more global mergers than all other U.S. firms. [American Lawyer] * Brooklyn Law will have a new dean come July 1. Michael Cahill, who's been serving as co-dean of Rutgers Law, will return to the place where he spent 13 years as a professor, associate dean, and vice dean. Congrats! [New York Law Journal] * People and things in the legal profession dominated Google's most searched for queries over the course of 2018, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford's SJC testimony, Aaron Schlossberg, and taking some top spots. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.20.16

* The “Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book” -- which is exactly what it sounds like, a trial manual by federal prosecutors for federal prosecutors -- is protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act as attorney work product. [Wall Street Journal] * Donald Trump Jr. seems to have "borrowed" lines from his convention speech from his own speech writer. And the defense of Melania Trump's plagiarism at Monday night's RNC keeps getting more and more outlandish. Now it involves My Little Pony. [CNN] * Former Cardinals director of baseball development Christopher Correa is going to jail for hacking into emails of the Houston Astros, and now Major League Baseball is looking into the scandal. [Law360] * The Department of Justice really, really wants the Supreme Court to rehear the immigration case of U.S. v. Texas, which ended in an unsatisfying tie -- preferably once they get, you know, the traditional nine justices. [National Law Journal] * And you thought your job was stressful -- imagine if you were running your global firm's Turkey office. [American Lawyer] * Potential merger in the air: CMS Cameron McKenna is eyeing Olswang. [The Lawyer]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.06.16

* In case you haven't been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that recently raised salaries: Jackson Walker. Where are the rest? If you’re worried you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law] * "[I]t's stunning that it takes a court decision for federal employees to be held accountable to the law." Perhaps someone should tell Hillary Clinton about this, but according to the D.C. Circuit, federal officials may not use private email accounts to avoid having their documents and messages fall under public records laws. [The Hill] * Steven Davis, the former chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf, owes quite the pretty penny to Citibank in the form of an unpaid loan. Davis was ordered by Judge Nancy Bannon to pay nearly $400K to the bank to cover what was once his capital contribution to the firm before it flopped under his leadership. [New York Law Journal via ABA Journal] * Thanks to a string of victories in fending off complaints about its controversial practices, it's highly unlikely that the Securities and Exchange Commission will stop using its system of in-house administrative law judges any time soon. The SEC is very reluctant to give up its perceived "home court" advantage. [DealBook / New York Times] * If you're thinking of applying to law school with a criminal record, you probably don't need to worry too much about whether you'll be accepted. From murderers to bank robbers, plenty of ex-cons have gone to law school before you, and many of them are successful in their non-criminal careers. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.09.16

* According to a statement filed in court by 50 Cent, the cash the bankrupt rapper has been flashing in all of his Instagram photos isn't real. He claims the bills he was posing with were just props. Unfortunately, it seems that Fiddy is a wanksta, so he really needs to stop fronting. [Hartford Courant] * Not that she was a likely choice to begin with, but AG Loretta Lynch says that a Supreme Court nomination would "curtail her effectiveness in her current role," and has graciously asked that she not be considered for the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia. [Associated Press] * "I am very concerned about the harm caused to the law school, our students, and our alums by the inaccurate info being put out there." Dean Michael Schwartz of Arkansas School of Law (Little Rock) seems worried about Professor Robert Steinbuch's FOIA lawsuit seeking access to the school's admissions data. Wonder why... [Campus Reform] * From the Big House to the White House: more ex-convicts are heading to law school and successfully starting their lives anew. Christopher Poulos, for example, used to be a cocaine dealer who did time in federal prison, but he recently completed an internship with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. [Washington Post] * "I never had a problem with the article. My problem is the videotape. It's on the Internet. It lives forever." Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) took the stand yesterday in his invasion-of-privacy case against Gawker, and his testimony became "extremely explicit" as his sex life and sex organs were discussed at length and in detail. [USA Today]

By Staci Zaretsky
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