George Mason University School of Law
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.02.16
* Arizona Law’s plans to scrap the LSAT in favor of the GRE has angered the Law School Admission Council terribly. In fact, LSAC’s general counsel says the school’s new policy may violate the organization’s bylaws, so it may boot Arizona Law from its membership, thereby cutting the school out of its applications and admissions clearinghouse. We’ll have more on this news later today. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Tom Brady of the New England Patriots hasn’t filed an appeal of the Second Circuit’s reinstatement of his four-game suspension yet, but you can bet your ass that it’s coming soon, because the quarterback just made the ultimate Hail Mary legal hire by adding Ted Olson to his team of lawyers. Sports fans can look forward to a bid for an en banc Second Circuit hearing, or even a possible flea flicker to the Supreme Court. [NBC Sports]
* “Republicans haven’t been satisfied to simply hobble the court’s ability to function. In recent weeks, they have gone to remarkable lengths to impugn the integrity of the justices and thus the legitimacy of the court.” The New York Times Editorial Board has a piece that essentially begs Republicans to stop their shenanigans, give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing, and “rescue the Supreme Court from limbo.” [New York Times]
* Law firm merger mania is already in full bloom this spring, but which Biglaw firm was one of the first to bite the bullet? It looks like it’s Husch Blackwell, which is merging with Milwaukee-based Whyte Hirschboek Dudek, effective July 1. The combined firm will have more than 700 attorneys, 19 offices, and it will likely be among the country’s 100 top-grossing law firms. We hope redundancy layoffs won’t follow. [Journal-Sentinel]
* “We respect other professors’ point of view, but it’s less than (8 percent) of the academic faculty.” Some professors are outraged over Mason Law being renamed after the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but the university isn’t budging, and plans to stick with its new name since administrators “believe that the Antonin Scalia Law School, once it’s approved, will be one of the top law schools in the country.” [Big Law Business]
* Law students, you make think you know what a gunner is, but you haven’t met this prodigy yet. Eighteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed will be the first student to attend the University of Southern Florida College of Medicine and the Stetson University College of Law at the same time. If you hurry, you may be able to convince this genius to join your study group. You’ll surely be the envy of all of your new friends. [ABC Action News]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.28.16
* ASS Law is back in the news: Earlier this week, professors on the George Mason University Faculty Senate voted 21-13 to reopen the naming process on the already twice-renamed Antonin Scalia Law School. These professors must know that their actions have no impact on the administration’s decisions… right? [BuzzFeed News]
* Thanks to allegations of sexual harassment brought forward by courthouse personnel, Judge José A. Fusté of the District of Puerto Rico was allegedly forced by the First Circuit to “retire” from his position, effective June 1. If you’re unable to read in Spanish, Google Translate has a version in broken English that may be slightly helpful. [El Nuevo Día]
* Attention intellectual property attorneys, because your practice area just got a little more exciting. The Defend Trade Secrets Act passed in the House yesterday by a vote of 410-2, and that means the “most significant expansion of federal law in intellectual property since the Lanham Act in 1946” will likely soon become law. [WSJ Law Blog]
* “Transitioning at a Biglaw firm, are you crazy?” Not only is it possible to transition in Biglaw, but it’s possible to thrive as a transgender woman in Biglaw, and Sara Schnorr of Locke Lord had the full support of her firm. In fact, she was recently appointed to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Congrats! [Big Law Business]
* “Is nonlawyer ownership of law firms long overdue? Or a bad idea?” The U.K. and Australia are already doing it, and now the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services is seeking comments for an issues paper on the risks and benefits of nonlawyer law firm ownership. Email us or tweet us and let us know what you think. [ABA Journal]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.08.16
* Professors at George Mason are outraged that administrators agreed to rename the law school after the late Justice Antonin Scalia without any input from the people who work or study there — his opinions don’t “reflect the values of our campus community.” They’re circulating a petition to denounce the name change, but thus far, none of its signatories are law professors. [NBC News]
* “I would appreciate if we could keep things that are very serious here appropriately viewed that way.” 50 Cent got yelled at by his bankruptcy judge because he brought his cellphone into the courthouse, took a picture of himself with a stack of fake cash, and posted it on Instagram. A motion to dismiss this wanksta is needed. [WSJ Law Blog]
* SCOTUS will hear oral arguments on the appeal of securities fraud case Salman v. United States next term, and Eugene Ingoglia of Morvillo L.L.P. hopes the justices will provide some greater detail as to “what counts as a personal benefit.” Let’s just hope that they don’t make insider trading’s road any rockier. [DealBook / New York Times]
* “The district court’s ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin.” You know that when an appellate holding begins with the prior statement, the trial judge is going to be in for a doozy of a benchslap. We’ll have more on the First Circuit slapping around Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez (D.P.R.) later today. [BuzzFeed]
* Jamie Wine, who was recently appointed as the chair of Latham’s global litigation and trial department, says even though L&W already has 610 litigators, she’s looking to hire more of them in the firm’s New York and London offices. If you think you want to lateral in, you should know you may be meeting with up to 50 partners. [Big Law Business]
* Hiring for law school summer associates may be on the rise, but you shouldn’t assume this means you’ll automatically be able to land a job at a prestigious law firm. These firms tend to “put a high value on law school pedigree and grades,” so if you happen to attend a lesser school, you’ll need to be ranked very highly. [U.S. News & World Report]
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Antonin Scalia, Law Schools
Lawmaker Opposes George Mason Name Change To #ASSLaw
Who's the ASSoL now, George Mason? -
Bad Ideas, Law Schools, Screw-Ups
#ASSLaw At George Mason Attempts Re-Brand, Will Fail
This is the name of your law school now, George Mason. -
Law Schools
Stats Of The Week: The Thriving Law School Eponymy #ASSLaw
Scalia joins Charles Widger and S.J. Quinney in the select club of 45 individuals after whom ABA-accredited law schools are named. -
Antonin Scalia, Law Schools, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
George Mason Law Changing Name To Antonin Scalia School Of Law
If George Mason just wanted to appeal to conservative students, they could have called themselves the Chick-Fil-A School of Lawsauce. -
Law Schools
A Curious Law School Pitch To Prospective Students
Law schools work a lot of different angles to bring in students. This is a pretty non-traditional one. - Sponsored
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.19.16
* The New York Times editorial board believes SCOTUS justices “already have all the evidence they need to join the rest of the civilized world and end the death penalty once and for all” — and they may get the chance to do so this Term (but won’t). [New York Times]
* A Texas lawyer has filed the first “birther” lawsuit against Republican candidate Ted Cruz, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Canadian-born senator isn’t eligible to run for president. The filing is a pretty entertaining read in that it’s completely insane. [KHOU 11 News]
* Just when ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis thought his legal troubles were over, Citibank swooped in to slap him with a suit seeking repayment of a $400,000 loan for his capital contribution to the failed firm. [New York Law Journal via ABA Journal]
* The U.S. Copyright Office has formed an academic partnership with George Mason University School of Law. We bet students and law school administrators alike are probably hoping it’ll turn into an employment partnership as well. [IP Watchdog]
* Lower-ranked law schools ought to thank their lucky stars that U.S. News “ranking competition” exists, because if not for fear they’d sink in the rankings, higher-ranked schools would’ve enrolled students typically bound for unranked schools. [Forbes]
* Not only has Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s first bid to get a new trial been rejected, but in what’s been called a “symbolic gesture,” the convicted Boston Marathon bomber has now been ordered to pay more than $101 million in restitution to his victims. [Boston Globe]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 02.09.15
* The Supreme Court is going to strike down bans on marriage equality folks. And the tea leaves aren’t that hard to read. [Slate]
* Even if the Court proclaims marriage equality the law of the land, discrimination will march on. On that note, can American law schools like Liberty continue to follow Canada’s controversial Trinity Western in functionally barring homosexuality? [Tax Prof Blog]
* Law students f**king love Atticus Finch. Um, you know he lost right? Start looking up to winners, like Dan Fielding or something. [Slate]
* Who else is jumping from the hulk that was once Patton Boggs? [Legal Times (sub. req.)]
* Our old friend George Mason Assistant Dean Richard Kelsey, who we last saw Tweeting about black people and the lack of reason, is back explaining that abortion is genocide… because it leads to immigrants coming to America. Or something. [CNS News]
* Meanwhile, there’s a new casebook out covering reproductive rights law that challenges the conventional classification of the subject as a subset of women’s issues. [RH Reality Check]
* Harvard Law 3L, soon-to-be Clifford Chance associate, rapper. [J.KO]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.30.14
* An African-American Cleary Gottlieb project attorney is suing, claiming that the firm discriminated against him when he was fired. He alleges that white lawyers kept their jobs, but he lost his because he was black. [Legal Times]
* For law deans, hindsight is 180: This D.C.-area school “aggressively” raised tuition when everyone decided to go to law school to ride out the recession, and now its dean is admitting that doing so was a “mistake.” [Washington Post]
* “I want to bring blind justice to the Michigan Supreme Court.” Come New Year’s Day, Richard Bernstein — who has been legally blind since birth — will do just that when he’s sworn in to serve on the state’s highest court. Congratulations! [WSJ Law Blog]
* It’s important to learn the skill of entrepreneurship as part of today’s legal education since you never know when you’ll be forced to open your own practice because you can’t get someone else to give you a job. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
* Associate bonuses aren’t the only charitable causes Biglaw firms are willing to throw money at in a given year. In fact, some firms dole out millions upon millions of dollars for the purpose of doing good and supporting their communities. [Am Law Daily]
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Law Schools, Racism
Law School Dean Suggests Black People Lack 'Reason' And Other Delightful Post-Ferguson Talk
And just for good measure, an NYU law student composes a "parody" of the situation and it goes about as well as you'd expect. -
Events, Law Schools
D.C. Law Students: Who Wants To Party With Us And Get Some Free Stuff?
When: November 6. Where: Washington, D.C. Be there or be square.
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Elena Kagan, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Pornography, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 09.09.14
* A website has been set up to collect stories, videos, photos, memories, and more, to share with slain Professor Dan Markel’s young sons. His memorial is scheduled for next Tuesday. [Prawfsblawg] * What would happen if lawyers gave out GPS directions? [Legal Cheek] * George Mason Law is looking for a new dean. Brush off that résumé, Elie! [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Is it me, or do we need to buy Justice Kagan a new outfit? [Josh Blackman's Blog] * The scion of a Biglaw Bigwig (go ahead and guess which firm…) arrested for filming and distributing video of his sexual escapades with his girlfriend without her permission. It’s like revenge porn without the revenge element. [Law and More] * Don’t bring creeps with you to a jury trial. [What About Clients?] -
Law Professors, Law Schools, Quote of the Day
It's Never Too Early To Quit
Important 1L advice from a law professor. -
Biglaw, Cocaine / Crack, Non-Sequiturs, Rape, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 06.24.14
* The importance of firm toilets. [Legal Cheek] * JFK University is holding “Saturday Law School” at a shopping mall. They’ll be down by the “Macy’s and California Pizza Kitchen.” [Pleasanton Weekly] * Professor David Bernstein from GMU Law explains how sex works. Basically, unless you’re dealing with prostitutes, the proper way to deal with women is to just stick it in and see what happens. [Gawker] * "Noticing that different people look differently = innate human observation a little girl can do. Ascribing vastly different levels of trustworthiness based on skin color = police work." [ATL Redline] * Michelle MacDonald, the GOP nominee for Minnesota Supreme Court, has a pending DWI and an old contempt arrest, which she blows off with the line, “You can play foosball in the court when a judge isn’t there.” Picking real winners there, Minnesota. [Politics in Minnesota] * Cocaine gave this lawyer 9 lives. [Missouri Lawyers Weekly (sub. req.] * Mike Rowe decides not to take a lawyer’s advice. [IJ Review] * The Supreme Court was pretty good to the environment yesterday. Something must have been wrong. [Grist] -
BARBRI, Biglaw, Christopher Christie, Football, Job Searches, Labor / Employment, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Public Interest, Technology
Morning Docket: 05.07.14
* According to the latest Citi report, Biglaw was looking pretty good during the first quarter of 2014. Revenue was up by 4.3 percent — the best first quarter results since 2008. Hooray! [Am Law Daily]
* Nice work if you can get it: Gibson Dunn, the firm hired to handle New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” investigation, billed about $1.1 million for roughly two weeks of work. [NJ.com]
* A “perfect storm” of too many grads and not enough jobs caused the decline in law school enrollment. The solution is obviously online learning instead of lowering tuition. Yep. [New Hampshire Public Radio]
* Spend your summer in a “nontraditional” job setting. This is some great advice to prepare yourself for not being able to get a job at a firm after graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* Our congratulations go out to Catherine Wauters of George Mason Law, winner of BARBRI’s inaugural public interest fellowship! (Our very own managing editor, David Lat, served as one of the judges.) [CNBC]
* The latest football franchise to face the wrath of underpaid cheerleaders is the New York Jets. Members of the team’s “Flight Crew” say they make less than minimum wage to shake their pom poms. [Bloomberg]
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Law Schools, Rankings, Reader Polls
The Decision: Rankings Upheaval Complicates One Prospective Law Student's Choice
Which of these three schools could this prospective law student choose? -
Crime, Law Professors, Law Schools
Law Prof Gets Pepper Sprayed During Class In Attempted Citizen's Arrest Incident
Things can get crazy pretty quickly when law professors at Top 50 law schools get attacked during class. -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Crime, Job Searches, Kasowitz Benson, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Rap, Wall Street
Morning Docket: 03.27.14
* The federal judiciary is hiring for staff and public defender positions lost during the government’s sequestration throughout the better part of last year. Ready, aim, fire those résumés! [Legal Times]
* New York Biglaw firms always manage to find their way to the top of the Am Law 100 rankings. When all’s said and done, being so close to Wall Street definitely has its perks. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
* Absolutely no one should be alarmed about the fact that Kasowitz Benson’s profits per partner have dropped by 15 percent — well, no one but the equity partners, that is. Have fun with that. [Am Law Daily]
* The managing partner of Jacoby & Meyers is worried people will think his personal injury firm is going under, not Jacoby & Meyers Bankruptcy. Either way, those commercials won’t die. [New York Law Journal]
* A professor at George Mason University Law was pepper sprayed IN THE FAAAAAACE by an unknown assailant in his classroom yesterday afternoon. We’ll obvious have more on this story later. [ARLNow]
* La Verne is the first law school to offer flat-rate tuition. There will be no scholarships and no discounts. Students will pay $25K/year, nothing more, nothing less. This is, dare we say, wise. [National Law Journal]
* “Passion over pension.” Mekka Don, the Weil Gotshal corporate lit attorney turned rapper, just released his first CD, and it’s all about leaving Biglaw to follow his dreams. Go buy it here (affiliate link). [MTV]