Gay Marriage

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.20.15

    * ♫If you wannabe happy for the rest of your life…♫ be a tax lawyer. After all, they’re like rock stars. [Vault]

    * Possibly the world’s most expensive sex. It doesn’t involve Ashley Dupré, but it does involve the American health care system. [Daily Telegraph]

    * A possible preview of Justice Alito’s upcoming dissent in the marriage equality decision. [The Onion]

    * Maybe on the more serious side, here’s Elizabeth Wydra charting the course of the Supreme Court and matrimony in anticipation of the upcoming marriage equality case. [Tampa Tribune]

    * Why Best Value is a better alternative to LPTA. This is not a guide for prospective law students, but it could be. [Government Executive]

    * A wide-ranging talk with Professor Khiara Bridges of Boston University School of Law about law, reproductive rights, and classical ballet. [Hsu Untied]

    * Let the breakdown continue: California’s out of state bar exam pass rates. [Bar Exam Stats]

    * The legal fiction that are Biglaw firms. [Think Outside the Bar]

    * Looking for some CLE in L.A.? On Thursday, Judge Alex Kozinski and our own David Lat will be chatting about judging, clerking, ethics, and ambition. [Supreme Ambitions]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.19.15

    * On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to evaluate the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, and this is perhaps the definitive article on how the justices have been preparing the nation for marriage equality. Get ready for some big gay weddings this summer. [BuzzFeed]

    * Smile for the camera! Kent and Jill Easter, the infamous helicopter-parenting lawyers who went to jail for attempting to frame a volunteer at their son’s school on drug charges, found themselves at the center of a 20/20 story. [ABC News]

    * With it being highly likely that the Supreme Court will declare bans on same-sex marriage by the states unconstitutional, people are wondering which justice will be the one the vote hinges upon. Could it be Chief Justice Roberts? [New Republic]

    * Come on now, the swing vote in the same-sex marriage cases will obviously be Justice Kennedy. The legal tea leaves have been read, and with his majority opinions in Romer, Lawrence, and Windsor, the future has been foretold. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Steven Metro, the former managing clerk of Simpson Thacher’s New York office, was finally indicted after being charged with insider trading almost one year ago. If you’re interested, flip to the next page to see the juicy indictment. [Am Law Daily]

    * In a new report, the Texas attorney general’s office concluded the forgivable faculty loan program at UT Law not only violated school rules, but also “set into motion a lack of transparency that ultimately led to a lack of accountability.” [Texas Tribune]

    https://www.scribd.com/doc/252991700/Indictment-U-S-v-Steven-Metro

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.16.15

    * It’s on. SCOTUS grants cert in marriage equality cases. [Supreme Court]

    * Law schools are admitting students who have no real hope of passing a bar exam. But keep talking about academic integrity! [TaxProf Blog]

    * The Daily Show looks at Alabama’s Attorneys for Fetuses law, the impetus for the CLE “Charging an arm and a leg when your client doesn’t have an arm or a leg.” [Mediaite]

    * A follow-up on the Yale mental health survey and the challenges facing the legal profession. [Law and More]

    * Justice may get a little more affordable in New York. [LFC360]

    * One Virginia lawyer is staying open despite Counter-Civil Rights Day Lee-Jackson Day. [Katz Justice]

    * AG Holder puts a stop to the government’s Equitable Sharing program, which was a nice way of saying the “police stealing things from people” program. [Washington Post]

    * School chancellor: “After careful consideration, I’ve concluded that enlisting our students as confidential informants is fundamentally inconsistent with our core values.” Would have been better to have figured that out before a student died while acting as an informant. [Redline]

    * Another review for Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link). Check it out. [Blog Talk Radio]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.13.15

    * With fewer and fewer students applying to law school, acceptance rates have skyrocketed. Some, like GW Law, have even been accused of “laundering [their] credentials” by padding their enrollment numbers with transfers. [GW Hatchet]

    * “People don’t graduate from law school understanding the business of law.” That’s just one of the reasons recent grads are having such a tough time getting jobs as associates. Suffolk Law thinks it can help change that. [Boston Business Journal]

    * “This is an example of the system working as intended”: Hundreds of thousands of dollars are due to successful plaintiffs in same-sex marriage cases, and millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees for that work is racking up interest. [National Law Journal]

    * James Risen, the New York Times reporter who refused to out his source as part of a CIA investigation, has won the right to keep his journalistic integrity intact after a long legal battle. Prosecutors have officially dropped him as a witness. [Bloomberg]

    * After much talk about partners heading for the exits before, during, and after the Patton Boggs and Squire Sanders merger, and Bob Luskin has finally left the building for Paul Hastings. We hope his parting wasn’t “painful” for him. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.12.15

    * George Zimmerman was arrested for aggravated assault and domestic violence with a weapon. His lawyer said his client “has not been lucky with the ladies.” He hasn’t been lucky with being a decent human being, either. [USA Today]

    * Lawrence McCreery, the Hawaii lawyer who licked a client’s ear and inspired the judge on his case to call him a “dirty old man,” has had his harassment conviction upheld on appeal. Get excited, he’s still got a law license, ladies. [Associated Press]

    * We may soon see same-sex marriage bans in three states struck down, as the Fifth Circuit “appeared poised” to do so after oral arguments on Friday. Roberta Kaplan, our 2013 Lawyer of the Year, delivered a standout performance in arguing against Mississippi’s ban. [BuzzFeed]

    * What do Sidley Austin, Baker & McKenzie, Reed Smith, Hogan Lovells, and Skadden Arps have in common? Their names were used in phishing emails to scam people out of their money. Some might say that’s business as usual. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

    * An arrest was made in the forcible rape of a woman — presumably a law student — that took place in the stacks of the Southern University Law Center’s library last semester. The accused rapist is currently behind held without bond. [WBRZ]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.09.15

    * Per New York City’s gossip rag of record, an alleged “bed-pooping, cokehead” banker and his “alcoholic” wife were called out by the judge in their divorce case for involving their kids in a “horrible fiasco.” [New York Post]

    * For time infinitum, the structure of Wachtell Lipton’s billing was “cloaked in mystery.” Thanks to an errant fee agreement, however, we have an idea of what the prestigious firm charges for its “distinctive service.” [Am Law Daily]

    * Hey guys, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and there’s a newly single Bachelorette on the prowl. The lovely Andi Dorfman called off her reality TV stunt engagement. Perhaps the ADA will return to prosecuting cases? [E! Online via TODAY]

    * “We are in the end game on the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.” Later today, we may find out whether the Supreme Court intends to take up any of the same-sex marriage disputes that have been presented to it this Term. [Bloomberg]

    * It looks like the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law is starting an LL.M. program in gambling law. Step right up, because we’re now taking bets to see whether this degree will be advantageous for its graduates in the job market. [National Law Journal]

    * California’s foie gras ban was recently struck down by a judge as an illegal encroachment upon the federal government’s regulatory domain. Please remember that while it’s delicious… it’s supposedly only “for assholes.” [San Francisco Chronicle]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.08.15

    * 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft got to live out many an American’s fantasy: he got to screw a lawyer, again and again. [Gawker]

    * “I guess if I had to change one thing, it would have been to go to law school after college. But I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up until I actually grew up, and by then it was a little too late for those goals.” [XX Factor / Slate]

    * Hoboken councilwoman Beth Mason and her husband, Wachtell Lipton partner Ricky Mason, just got hit with more than $40,000 dollars in fines for election finance reporting violations. [Politicker NJ]

    * Some thoughts from Professor Jonathan Adler on standing up for free speech in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * Speaking of Charlie Hebdo, Professor Ann Althouse isn’t a fan of slobbery kisses. [Althouse]

    * How do legal rules contribute to the evolution of the institution of marriage? Thoughts from Professors Naomi Cahn and June Carbone. [Concurring Opinions]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.31.14

    * Per the Department of Education, Harvard Law sucks at handling sexual assault and harassment complaints. As it turns out, the DoE only found out about the misconduct because a faculty member from New England Law snitched on the Ivy League school. [Boston.com]

    * Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the penalties for pot possession. One state legislator wants to change that in the new year, and hopes his colleagues will puff, puff, pass his bill in favor of small civil fines instead of jail sentences. [VICE]

    * “If the court has been waiting until the country is more comfortable with gay marriage, they’ve waited long enough.” The first SCOTUS conference of 2015 will focus on gay marriage cases. It’d be fabulous if they took one. [Supreme Court Brief]

    * Latham and Fried Frank are going to be advising on Shake Shack’s initial public offering. Hungry attorneys working on the IPO will be disappointed to learn that their client doesn’t have any public offerings for consumption on Seamless. [Am Law Daily]

    * The bankruptcy trustee for the late, great, defunct firm of Howrey LLP keeps lining up big settlements for its remaining creditors. This time, Wiley Rein will contribute $1 million to the failed firm’s coffers. Howrey like dem apples? [Wall Street Journal]

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  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.18.14

    * Many Biglaw firms seem to be dragging their feet to match Davis Polk’s generous bonus scale. Why’s that? According to one partner, these bonus matches have cut into his firm’s profits by about 4 percent. Yikes! [The Economist]

    * Total 1L enrollment in law school is the lowest it’s been since 1973, when there were 53 fewer schools. The next step would be to reduce tuition to 1973 levels, and then no one would have any more complaints. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Just because Bingham McCutchen bit the big one, it doesn’t mean that all of its pro bono cases will have to suffer the same fate. Not only did Morgan Lewis rescue most of the firm’s attorneys, but it’s also saving 500 of its pro bono cases. [Am Law Daily]

    * Now that President Obama has decided to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba, lawyers are champing at the bit for more business opportunities. Love Cuban cigars? Well, lawyers love trademark disputes involving those cigars. [National Law Journal]

    * Greenberg Traurig reminds Florida clerks that if they issue gay marriage licenses, they could be criminally charged. Plaintiffs’ attorneys remind Florida clerks that if they refuse to issue gay marriage licenses, they could be sued. [Tampa Bay Times]

    * Our managing editor, David Lat, sat down with Vivia Chen to dish about some of his favorite things, from his new book, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), to his new fiancé. Her book review: “I liked it! It’s a fun, breezy read.” Hooray! [The Careerist]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.05.14

    * A former Cleary Gottlieb associate will be a very rich man after The Lending Club, the company he founded post-Biglaw, completes its IPO. [American Lawyer]

    * Marriage equality won’t arrive in Mississippi just yet. [How Appealing]

    * The federal civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner could complicate Loretta Lynch’s nomination to serve as attorney general. [New York Times]

    * In other news about excessive use of force by police, the U.S. Department of Justice just blasted Cleveland’s department for abysmal record-keeping about such incidents. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

    * And what does possible 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton think about police abuses? [New York Times]

    * Non-random appellate panels in the federal courts are far more common than you might think, reports Alison Frankel. [Reuters via How Appealing]

    * A smart and thoughtful review by Rosemarie Yu of my new book, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link). [New York Law Journal]

    * Eugene Ingoglia, one of the S.D.N.Y. prosecutors who helped send Harvard Law cheater Mathew Martoma to prison, will be joining Morvillo LLP as a partner. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Former federal government lawyer Michael Richter: “It’s Not Top-Secret If You Can Google It.” [Wall Street Journal]

    * Congratulations to eBrevia, a legal technology company we’ve previously profiled, on raising $1.5 million in seed funding. [Law Technology News]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.25.14

    * “Have a taste of this. It will do you good in so many ways.” Louisa Moritz, one of Bill Cosby’s alleged victims, is interested in filing a class-action lawsuit against the comedian. [Fox News Latino]

    * If you’re interested, here’s all of the testimony and evidence that was presented to the grand jury that resulted in no true bill for Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting. [Associated Press]

    * HBO hired a team of 160 lawyers to look at its film adaptation of Lawrence Wright’s book about Scientology. The power of thetans compels them to keep churning that bill, baby. [Hollywood Reporter]

    * “The Constitution is not a math problem,” but it seems like the Supreme Court is playing a numbers game when it comes to its decisions having to do with same-sex marriage. What’s the magic number for SCOTUS to take a case? [New York Times]

    * It’s official: Morgan Lewis has gobbled up most of Bingham McCutchen ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Stick a fork in it, because Morgan Lewis is done — it’s now stuffed full of more lawyers than any other firm in the country. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

    * Emerson Briggs III, an ex-partner at Hunton & Williams, is facing disbarment in D.C. over the child pornography he downloaded at work. Oh, how the mighty have fallen: he’s been working as a paralegal since being disbarred in New York. [Legal Times]

    * Patricia Nesci, a law firm secretary, allegedly forged a judge’s signature on an order to show cause to keep herself from being evicted from her home earlier this month. She apparently did not get a Biglaw-style bonus from her former firm. [Syracuse.com]

    * Before you submit your applications, you should try creating a budget to see just how financially screwed you’ll be during and after law school, and then compare it to your pre-law school budget. Try not to cry. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

  • Antonin Scalia, Bar Exams, Biglaw, Clarence Thomas, Gay Marriage, Insider Trading, Law Firm Mergers, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Small Law Firms, Supreme Court, Video games

    Morning Docket: 11.13.14

    * Look, ma, no Justice Kennedy! Over the dissent of Justices Scalia and Thomas, the Supreme Court quickly lifted its earlier stay on allowing same-sex marriages to go forward in Kansas. [USA Today]

    * Sources say were it not for Bingham McCutchen’s malpractice settlement with the former owner of the Dodgers, Morgan Lewis would’ve walked away from the potential merger deal. #blessed [Am Law Daily]

    * Mathew Martoma, the would-be lawyer who was expelled from Harvard Law for faking his transcripts, was denied his bid for bail pending appeal on an insider trading conviction. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start: The ex-general counsel to Occulus VR started his own firm and angel investment company to address the needs of video game companies. [Gamasutra]

    * New York is holding off on adopting the Uniform Bar Exam, at least for a little while longer, mostly because “the[re] is just not enough turnaround time to do it for July ’15.” Hooray? [New York Law Journal]

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  • Biglaw, Crime, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Drugs, Gay Marriage, Job Searches, Law Schools, Marijuana, Morning Docket, Pregnancy / Paternity, S.D.N.Y., SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Trials, U.S. Attorneys Offices

    Morning Docket: 11.10.14

    * “I think the court has to take a case now. This is their job.” It’s time to hurry up and wait: SCOTUS is running down the clock when it comes to taking a gay marriage case this Term. [National Law Journal]

    * Zach Warren will be tried separately from the former leaders of D&L on criminal charges in the wake of the firm’s failure. Dewey think lawyers still care about him? [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Good news, everyone! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector added 300 jobs in October. This sure is exciting for the fraction of the class of 2014 that number represents. [Am Law Daily]

    * A Long Island attorney requested that one of her trials be postponed during her high-risk pregnancy, but lawyers from the S.D.N.Y. allegedly “shouted at and insulted” her in response. Wow. 🙁 [New York Times]

    * Since enrollment dropped off, law schools are competing to attract transfer students. Georgetown, for example, recently took more than 100 transfers — a 75 percent increase in two years. [Washington Post]

    * Just because your state puff, puff, passed the vote to legalize smoking pot, it doesn’t mean you won’t be fired for doing it. Careful with your dope, unless you’d like to see your career go up in smoke. [CNN Money]

  • 6th Circuit, Bankruptcy, Gay Marriage, Immigration, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Racism

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.07.14

    * U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes approved the deal tossing about $7 billion of Detroit's debt. He declared that it was now time to restore democracy to Detroit. We'll see how that turns out. [The Detroit News] * How many law schools are in dire economic straits? Try 80. [TaxProf Blog] * Professors Eric Posner and Glen Weyl think the answer to global income inequality is low-paid migrant labor. It’s not entirely as crazy as it sounds. But it’s still kinda crazy. [The New Republic] * On the other hand, economic inequality could be greatly exacerbated by technology anyway. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * Life imitates Shawshank. [Clarion-Ledger] * Attorney and author Lawrence Otis Graham explains how no amount of economic or educational privilege can fully shield African-Americans from racism. [Washington Post] ** A women's group pledges to stand up for victims of harassment on Twitter. Not to discount some of the vile stuff women are subjected to on Twitter, but it's possible that Twitter is rife with gender-neutral horribleness. [What About Clients] * That Sixth Circuit marriage equality opinion is… well, fundamentally wrong about how constitutional democracy works. [Detroit Free-Press]
  • 6th Circuit, Biglaw, Books, Cars, Crime, Edwards Wildman, Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Jeffrey Toobin, Law Schools, Layoffs, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 11.07.14

    * As mentioned earlier, the Sixth Circuit upheld same-sex marriage bans in four states. Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey’s dissent is a very fun read because it’s dripping with sarcasm. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Sentencing has been delayed for Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s friends during the pendency of the Yates case at SCOTUS. Like a grouper, a backpack may not be a “tangible object.” [National Law Journal]

    * Bingham McCutchen and Edwards Wildman Palmer are planning to shed lawyers and staff members in anticipation of their proposed mergers with Morgan Lewis and Locke Lord. Ouch. [Am Law Daily]

    * Weekend reading? ATL’s managing editor, David Lat, reviews Blindfolds Off (affiliate link), an interesting collection of interviews with judges about how they decide their toughest cases. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Everyone, please stop what you’re doing. Jeffrey Toobin has discovered that law schools are in trouble, and he’s on the case. You can read more information about this new phenomenon here. [The New Yorker]

    * Adam Tang, the man who drove a 26-mile loop around Manhattan in 24 minutes, was convicted of reckless driving without being present. Check out the video of his crazy drive, after the jump. [ABA Journal]

  • 6th Circuit, DUI / DWI, Gay, Gay Marriage, JPMorgan Chase, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Patents

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.06.14

    * The Sixth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Jeff Sutton, just upheld four states’ bans on same-sex marriage. Next stop, SCOTUS? [BuzzFeed] * JPMorgan Chase really doesn’t want people to hear this woman’s story. [Rolling Stone] * Dating site busted for sharing users’ STD info. [Slate] * If you’re opting for a life of crime, dream bigger. [Legal Juice] * There’s a patent on filming yoga classes. So class, you’re going to transition from “downward dog” to “shameless patent troll.” [Lowering the Bar] * The continued existence of Thomas Jefferson School of Law has spawned so many good lines. The Times compared the school to Dracula. Now Steven Harper describes it as “throwing furniture into the fireplace to keep the house warm.” [TaxProf Blog]
  • Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Clarence Thomas, Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Gay, Gay Marriage, Gender, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Women's Issues

    Morning Docket: 10.27.14

    * “I think we have to be concerned that almost all of us are from two law schools.” Justice Clarence Thomas thinks that the Supreme Court bench ought to be more diverse. [New York Times]

    * The DoJ expanded its recognition of gay marriage by adding six states to its roster of those newly entitled to federal benefits — now more than half the country. Yay! [Bloomberg]

    * Former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has withdrawn from consideration as a nominee for Eric Holder’s job as AG. She and her shoe collection will remain at Latham. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * [I]t’s profound that we have not made much progress on that front in the legal profession.” There’s still an income gap between men and women in the law, and it gets worse over time. 🙁 [National Law Journal]

    * Come sail away, come sail away, come parasail away with me. This former Biglaw associate found that life slaving away at a law firm wasn’t her paradise, so she decided to move to the beach. [Am Law Daily]

  • Document Review, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Movies, Non-Sequiturs, Police, SCOTUS, Suicide, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.21.14

    * That didn’t take long. John Oliver’s Supreme Court dogs have already been used to recreate Hobby Lobby. The entire Hobby Lobby argument. [Above the Law] * Squire Patton Boggs is representing the pharmaceutical company promoting Ebola drugs. Or, as CNN would put it, EVERYONE AT SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS HAS EBOLA!!!! [Law and More] * China Central Television advises citizens not to name themselves “Lawyer.” Good advice. [CCTV News] * Slate posits that appealing gay marriage decisions to the Supreme Court may violate Rule 11. They’re wrong, but that’s what they’re positing. [Slate] * Dr. Ruth is incredibly impressive. Next time you complain about the job market, try moving somewhere with no understanding of the language and getting your own TV show. [What About Clients?] * Documentary about eDiscovery going on a six-city tour. This way other people can understand how much it sucks to do document review. [Bloomberg BNA] * UC Hastings students are protesting their own graduation. [Change.org] * Judges are an autocratic lot, and as long as we inflate the criminal justice system, many of them will be subpar and autocratic, which is an unfortunate combination. [Katz Justice] * A man arrested for a carjacking and shooting up an apartment last week is — per our sources — a law student at Florida Coastal. Probably testing out the Crim issue spotter. [News4Jax] * Are lawyers the new dentists? Or something like that. [TaxProf Blog] * Man attempting suicide by cop told detectives he’d wanted to be killed and was disappointed in the officers’ marksmanship. [Seattle Times]
  • Barack Obama, Biglaw, Death Penalty, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Real Estate, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court, Trials

    Morning Docket: 10.21.14

    * When asked what his favorite SCOTUS decision was during his POTUS tenure, Obama said it was the high court’s cert denials on the gay marriage cases. Well played, sir. [Wall Street Journal]

    * “Leverage has started to shift away from law firms.” Despite the fact that their headcounts are rising, Biglaw firms are downsizing office space as rents keep climbing higher. [Am Law Daily]

    * Schools are trying to slap lipstick on the pig that legal education has become amid an “anemic job market.” We bet your law school has some shiny new innovations too. [News Observer]

    * Citing the fact that “the courts do not exist to win popularity contests,” a judge sentenced Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison. Serious question: Will he be allowed to bring his prosthetic legs? [New York Times]

    * Nancy Grace and her friends have pitchforks at the ready because Jodi Arias’s penalty phase retrial begins today, and another jury will decide if she deserves to die for murdering her boyfriend. [Reuters]