Guns / Firearms

* We welcome Alan Futerfas to the party. This administration said it would create jobs, but I don’t think any of us expected they’d all be jobs for criminal defense attorneys. [The Independent]

* Witness says Martin Shkreli’s focus reminded him of Raymond Babbitt from Rain Man. That’s funny, because his smarmy appearance and despicable greed reminded me of Charlie Babbitt. [Law360]

* The CFPB wants to ban clauses that prevent consumers from opting out of arbitration. Conservative groups vow to block the rule because freedom requires waiving your rights through adhesion contracts. [Law.com]

* Speaking of how financial institutions never do anything wrong so people shouldn’t have the right to sue them, Wells Fargo tentatively set to pay $142 million to settle claims arising from its fake accounts scandal. [Courthouse News Service]

* An interview with Floyd Abrams discussing his new book, The Soul of the First Amendment (affiliate link). [Coverage Opinions]

* In case you missed it, the judge has tossed the University of Texas faculty members’ challenge to the state’s “an armed classroom is a polite classroom” law. [Texas Tribune]

* A real-time experiment testing which in-house practices and law firm attributes tend to produce the strongest relationships, satisfaction, and results. So we’ll finally be able to quantify “give me the moon and charge me nothing.” [Corporate Counsel]

* If you’re going to San Diego Comic Con next week, be sure to hit up these legal panels. There’s the mock trial of Luke Cage on Friday and an omnibus Star Wars panel featuring California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Ninth Circuit Judge John B. Owens, former Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal and other jurists discuss the legal issues of a galaxy far, far away. [The Legal Geeks]

* Sometimes you fall for someone who is always jerking you around and the whole thing is just doomed from the start. That’s… probably how Norton Rose feels. [Big Law Business]

* Speaking of Chadbourne, Judge J. Paul Oetken has denied the firm’s motions to end the $100 million gender discrimination class action they’re facing. [Am Law Daily]

* Marcia Coyle points to the tragic coincidence that the Supreme Court is set to review a concealed carry case the day after yesterday’s shooting — mirroring their review of Sandy Hook legislation the day after the Orlando attack. It’s not really a coincidence… there are shootings every day now. [Law.com]

* A little preview of the hoopla surrounding the upcoming Bristol-Myers Squibb decision where the Supreme Court is suspected to crack down on class action forum choices. Because mom and pop stores like Bristol-Myers Squibb just can’t be bothered to litigate in all the places they sell drugs. [Corporate Counsel]

* Since the NBA Finals weren’t really competitive, maybe you can get your competitive sports fix from this Wilkinson v. Kessler showdown over football. [National Law Journal]

* That Jim Harbaugh is the face of legal aid will never stop being insane. [ESPN]

* Looks like Anna Stubblefield will get a new trial. [Slate]

* Several people were reportedly shot this morning at a GOP baseball practice, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is now in stable condition. The gunman is in custody. We may have more on this later today. [The Hill]

* The Supreme Court has granted Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall more time to file papers in order to respond to the recent Ninth Circuit decision upholding a lower court decision which blocked President Donald Trump’s travel ban. This means that any action taken by the high court on the administration’s emergency pleas for certiorari will be even further delayed. [Reuters]

* “I am protecting the right of the president to assert [executive privilege] if he chooses.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to have no desire to speak about his interactions or conversations with President Donald Trump regarding James Comey’s handling of the Russia probe during his Senate hearing yesterday, and didn’t feel the need to provide a real legal basis for his refusal to answer questions on the topic either. [New York Times; Washington Post]

* In the meantime, even though rumors have been swirling about President Donald Trump’s supposed desire to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says he has no reason to fire Mueller at this time: “If there were good cause, I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn’t matter to me what anybody says.” [Law360 (sub. req.)]

* Marc Kasowitz may have taken a “career-defining” role representing the “predisent,” but one wonders what will happen to his law firm while he pursues this ambitious undertaking. Kasowitz Benson could suffer when it comes to recruiting new talent to the firm thanks to its leader’s choice of clientele, not to mention the fact that its revenue has been on the decline. [Am Law Daily]

* In an effort to fight the “historic drug epidemic” that in no way involves marijuana, AG Jeff Sessions has asked Congress to roll back the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to prosecute states that have instituted their own laws authorizing the “use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” [Washington Post]

* Herma Hill Kay, the first female dean of Berkeley Law, RIP. [The Recorder]

* Prosecutors raid Jones Day. This is not a joke. [Am Law Daily]

* Jim Harbaugh’s gonna be pissed. [ABA Journal]

* Harvard Law grad sentenced in kidnapping case. [SF Gate]

* Judge Gorsuch doesn’t really buy legislative history because sticking your fingers in your ears and going, “na, na, na, I’m not listening” is always solid jurisprudence. [Corporate Counsel]

* Should privilege cover PR flacks? [Law360]

* Lawyers may hate numbers, but clients don’t. [Legaltech News]

* Florida wants to bolster its stand your ground law, because there’s never been any problems with it. [Washington Post]

* The Seventh Circuit — in an opinion by Judge Diane Sykes, a top-tier SCOTUS possibility under President Trump — just struck down Chicago ordinances regulating shooting ranges as violative of Second Amendment rights. [ABC News]

* Speaking of firearms, law professor Fredrick Vars has an excellent proposal for preventing gun suicides. [Washington Post]

* Possible good news for legalizing sports betting in New Jersey: the U.S. Supreme Court wants to hear from the solicitor general on this issue (although we don’t yet know who the solicitor general will be). [How Appealing]

* But we think we know who the principal deputy solicitor general will be — Noel Francisco, whose imminent departure from Jones Day is now public. [National Law Journal]

* In other Justice Department news, what can we expect from Jeff Sessions’s DOJ in terms of civil rights enforcement? [New York Times]

* Are we seeing a “fragile recovery” in the number of people interested in law school? [ABA Journal]

* If you share my curiosity about the future of Chief Judge Merrick Garland in the wake of his unsuccessful SCOTUS nomination, it seems that the distinguished jurist is back on the bench — at least for now. [National Law Journal]

* Claud “Tex” McIver, the Fisher & Phillips partner who accidentally shot and killed his wife and allegedly blamed the incident on a local Black Lives Matter protest, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter (a felony) and reckless conduct (a misdemeanor). McIver will now be retiring from the firm at the end of the year, instead of in 2017 as originally planned. [Big Law Business]

* “We keep being told that the administration was so surprised. Then you read what the government released. How can you possibly have been surprised?” Students at Charlotte Law are incredibly angry that the school was dropped from the federal loan program, and many feel like they were duped by the administration. Some students have even contacted local law firms to discuss filing suit against the school. [Charlotte Observer]

* “Your father is ruining the country. Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private.” The unruly passenger who allegedly accosted future first daughter Ivanka Trump on a JetBlue flight to Florida yesterday is — you guessed it — a lawyer. Daniel J. Goldstein, a graduate of UCLA Law, once worked as a labor relations specialist at the U.S. Mint before moving to Brooklyn. His current place of work is unknown. [Forward]

* According to the results of an investigation by a law firm hired by the University of Oregon, law professor Nancy Shurtz committed “discriminatory harassment” by wearing a blackface costume on Halloween, in violation of the school’s anti-discrimination policies. The report does not indicate if Professor Shurtz was punished, but she is no longer on paid leave and is not scheduled to teach this spring. [The Oregonian]

* Michelle K. Lee, the outgoing director of the Patent and Trademark Office, says the “interactions that we have been having [with the president-elect’s transition team] are very positive,” and that although Donald Trump’s relationship with the denizens of Silicon Valley has at times been rocky, she thinks “any administration would have a strong and robust intellectual property system as a priority.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* Alec Baldwin will be playing controversial Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Vecchione in a new TV series in development that was adapted from the lawyer’s 2015 book, Crooked Brooklyn (affiliate link). Not to worry, because we’re sure that the actor will still be able to find the time during his shooting schedule to impersonate and infuriate President-elect Trump with his portrayals on Saturday Night Live. [Page Six / New York Post]

* Which Biglaw giants are “committing tens of millions of dollars in free legal services” to the gun control cause? Seems like they’re getting a great return on that investment… [New York Times / Dealbook]

* The EU fined JPMC and two other banks $552 million for manipulating futures. As if the EU has any future now! [Courthouse News Service]

* Lawsuit filed against teacher for 16-year-old bad grade that trapped lawyer in low prestige career. It’s like the Plasgraf of bad life choices. [Legal Cheek]

* Police called because man whistled “Closing Time.” Good. [Lowering the Bar]

* Celebrate the holidays with this buyer’s guide for trademark disputed beer and wine! [Trademark & Copyright Law Blog]

* Immigrant children need assistance coping with trauma. Pro bono lawyers can help. [Psychology Today]

* A short reaction to today’s piece on Tiffany Trump’s law school plans — and make sure to note the update to that story about her experience taking the LSAT. [Law and More]

* Before Donald Trump sets foot into the Oval Office, he’ll have to step into a federal courthouse to litigate claims made by former students who claim they were defrauded by Trump University. How in the world will they find an impartial jury? “This is a jury consultant’s nightmare to pick in a case like this. It will be taught in jury consulting school.” [Reuters]

* Yesterday, in a silent act of protest against Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wore her “dissent jabot” during oral arguments at the Supreme Court. This summer, she famously remarked that she “[couldn’t] imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president.” [The Hill]

* In his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump says he’ll appoint a conservative judge to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and his legacy may be the undoing of Supreme Court precedent, like overruling Roe v. Wade, ending affirmative action, striking down campaign finance laws, and invalidating gun restrictions. [Los Angeles Times]

* How will Donald Trump’s presidency change the DOJ and the SEC? There will likely be changes at the top of both organizations. It’s speculated that Rudy Giuliani may be selected to replace Loretta Lynch as AG, but Trump has given no indication as to who he’ll choose to replace Mary Jo White as commissioner. [DealBook / New York Times]

* If you’d like to know what it takes to become a law firm partner, these 338 lawyers who made partner within the last four years have some helpful hints for you. It seems to be a mixture of “hours, hours, hours” and being a man — two-thirds of those who were surveyed were men who had worked at their firms for five to 10 years. [Am Law Daily]