* Zephyr Teachout, the Fordham Law professor and congressional candidate, wants to take on her opponent's backers. [Gawker]
* A somewhat less expensive way for law school to take money from students is gaining in popularity. [WVTF]
* Good luck with that whole work/life balance -- the law is a jealous mistress. [Reboot Your Law Practice]
* If you can imagine it, Harvard Law School actually used to be more miserable, particularly for black women. [Huffington Post]
* Who will be live-tweeting the first presidential debate, or simpler, who won't be? [Law and More]
* The conservative legacy of Justice Powell is still felt today. [Truthdig]
* Today, the ABA will vote on a proposed change to the model rules of professional conduct that would prohibit harassment and discrimination by lawyers while practicing law. This may put an end to sexism in the law, but critics say it will chill zealous representation. [DealBook / New York Times; Seattle Times]
* "[I]f the polls continue to show that vulnerable Republicans are experiencing backlash, there will be greater momentum to give Garland a hearing during the lame duck." If Donald Trump continues to return unimpressive poll results, some say that Supreme Court nominee Chief Justice Merrick Garland could receive a hearing after all. [The Hill]
* "Changing our state's election laws close to the upcoming election ... will create confusion for voters and poll workers." Last week, the Fourth Circuit struck down North Carolina's voter ID law, and now, North Carolina plans to ask the Supreme Court to allow that law to stand via stay in light of the upcoming presidential election. [Reuters]
* Who are fourteen of the most successful Harvard Law School alumni of all time? Would it surprise you that five of them are Supreme Court justices, two of them are U.S. presidents, three of them are would-be U.S. presidents, two of them are business magnates, and only one is actively practicing law as an attorney? [Business Insider]
* Julie Kay, intrepid reporter on the business of law, RIP. [Daily Business Review]
* In keeping with our new morning ritual, we recap the firms that announced salary raises yesterday. We had Schulte Roth & Zabel, Robbins Russell, Arnold & Porter, Kramer Levin, Hughes Hubbard, McDermott, and Cadwalader. [Above the Law / 2016 Salary Increase]
* Womble Carlyle is forming a "strategic alliance" with U.K. firm Bond Dickinson. If mergers are law firm marriages, then think of this as the law firm f**k buddy arrangement. [Legal Week / Daily Report]
* This law school thinks the future of law is taking money to educate non-lawyers. [Newsworks]
* Here, read Law360 describe how Law360 settled with the NYAG's office. It's very meta. [Law360]
* Harvard Law grad suing NY State Board of Law Examiners for failing to accommodate her disability and causing her to twice fail the exam. [ABA Journal]
* Amid criticism, Shannon Liss-Riordan agrees to cut her fee in half for negotiating a class action settlement with Uber on behalf of the drivers. Apparently she was 2x surge priced the day she secured the deal.
* X marks the sanction: Attorney disciplined for hiding sunken treasure records. [Courthouse News Service]
* Do not mess with federal judges: Shortly after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California at a political rally by calling him a "hater," the judge ordered that internal Trump University documents from a consumer fraud trial be unsealed. [POLITICO]
* The Clark County Defenders Union that represents Zohra Bakhtary condemned Judge Conrad Hafen in an open letter, writing, "[h]andcuffing an attorney who is merely doing her job to teach her a lesson is simply improper and has never been done in the history of Nevada." [WSJ Law Blog]
* When we last checked in with Stephen DiCarmine, Dewey's ex-executive director, he told a judge that due to financial constraints, he'd like to represent himself at retrial. Now, he's hired Rita Glavin of Seward & Kissel for the job. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Uh-oh... Mossack Fonseca, the law firm behind the Panama Papers leaks, announced via Tweet its plans to close offices in several offshore tax havens. The firm will shutter offices in the island nations of Jersey, Gibraltar. and the Isle of Man. [VICE News]
* Who knew a Libor-rigging trial could be so exciting? Former Barclays trader and criminal defendant Ryan Reich was scolded by a judge after he interrupted a co-defendant's testimony with shouts of "no, no, no, no." [Big Law Business]
* Cassandra Q. Butts, former deputy White House counsel and longtime friend and advisor to law school classmate President Barack Obama, RIP. [Washington Post]
* Yikes! Thanks to its expensive legal battle with Hulk Hogan -- one that's been revenge-financed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel to the tune of millions of dollars -- Gawker Media is exploring a possible sale of the company and has hired Mark Patricof of Houlihan Lokey to provide financial advice. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Maybe Harvard Law grads are a like Carrie Bradshaw after all -- except their degrees cost more than their shoes: In addressing Harvard's 2016 grads at the Law School’s Class Day, Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City admitted she had no idea why she was chosen as a speaker, and said she initially turned down the offer. [Harvard Crimson]
* Alan Koslow, formerly of Becker & Poliakoff, resigned yesterday after he was charged in a federal money-laundering conspiracy scheme. Koslow's charge is the result of a three-and-a-half year undercover FBI sting. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. We may have more on this later today. [Orlando Sun-Sentinel]
* “Oracle shouldn’t ‘own’ programmers simply because they had taken the time to learn Java." Google escaped an almost $9 billion copyright lawsuit with the help of a jury that concluded the tech giant had made fair use of Oracle's Java programming language in the creation of its Android operating system for its phone business. [Big Law Business]
* Closing the gender gap, one job at a time: The OnRamp Fellowship, a program that pairs female lawyers who want to return to practice with the nation's top firms in the hope of receiving an offer at the end of their one-year stints, has now expanded to in-house legal departments. Congratulations on your excellent work. [WSJ Law Blog]
* In case you missed it, one of the categories on Jeopardy! earlier this week was "Law Firms." One of the questions that stumped a contestant was: “Tops for patent litigation per U.S. News & World Report, Fish & Richardson specializes in IP, short for this.” Come on, you dope, the very easy answer was "What is intellectual property?" [WSJ Law Blog]
* After receiving overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law yesterday afternoon. The DTSA is the most significant expansion of federal law in IP since the Lanham Act. Companies will now be able to file federal civil lawsuits for theft of trade secrets. [Law 360 (sub. req.)]
* Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal, says that it will be filing suit against the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for leaking information that the firm alleges to be false. Attorneys at the firm say the ICIJ has forced them to "start aggressive legal action to protect [them]selves." [France24]
* "You don't have to work for a 501(c)(3) or anything like that in order to be eligible. You just have to not make that much money." More law schools are trying to entice students to attend by touting their low-income protection plans and loan repayment assistance plans. We hope your law school is willing to help you after graduation. [U.S. News]
* Not to harsh your mellow, dude, but according to a recent study by AAA, fatal car accidents have "surged" in states where marijuana has been legalized. For example, in Washington, the number of fatal crashes involving stoned drivers increased from 8% to 17% from 2013 to 2014, the year recreational marijuana was legalized. [Inquisitr]
* Puff, puff, pass the vote! In honor of today's nationwide holiday for cannabis aficionados, these are all of the states that have legalized marijuana, be it for either recreational or medical use. This year, at least 10 more states may legalize weed by ballot referendum for recreational use, and pot could be rescheduled by the Drug Enforcement Agency depending on the outcome of the upcoming election. [Refinery 29]
* Members of student activist group Reclaim Harvard Law have demanded that the prestigious law school eliminate tuition completely. They propose that the school dip into its endowment to cover tuition, or cut costs like faculty salaries to make debt-free legal education a reality. This won't happen, but it's a nice thought. [Harvard Crimson]
* The ABA is investigating Brigham Young Law's policy of expelling ex-Mormon students. Per ABA guidelines, law schools can't discriminate on the basis of religion, and yet the BYU honor code requires students to get annual endorsements from LDS Church members -- endorsements for which former Mormons aren't eligible. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Pharma bro Martin Shkreli was dropped from a lawsuit related to his purchase of the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan's latest album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin." It's likely plaintiff Jason Koza, who claims his art was used for the album without his approval, dumped Shkreli due to a purchase-agreement indemnity clause. [New York Post]
* Because a judge reduced his manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide at the last minute, former NYPD Officer Peter Liang will not serve jail time for the 2014 shooting death of Akai Gurley. Liang once faced up to 15 years in prison, but instead he was sentenced to five years of probation and 800 hours of community service. [CNN]
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
* Howrey doing with all those profit clawbacks for unfinished business? The bankruptcy trustee for this defunct firm filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit to determine whether his method of collecting cash for the insolvent firm's estate was legal, and in an amicus brief, the ABA has sided with the law firms being bilked for funds, saying such efforts must be nixed. [ABA Journal]
* The Tenth Circuit dismissed a challenge to Utah's ban on polygamy that was brought by TLC's "Sister Wives" family, saying they didn't have standing to sue as they were no longer subject to a credible threat of prosecution. This will probably add fuel to the rumors that the show is on the verge of cancellation before Season 7. [WSJ Law Blog]
* The SEC has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in connection to a stock scam involving tech company Servergy. Paxton allegedly assisted the company with raising investor funds, but never disclosed his commissions. With three pending criminal indictments and a bar complaint, this guy is batting 1000. [Dallas Morning News]
* Reclaim Harvard Law protestors who have been occupying the school's student center claim that they found a voice-activated recording device in "Belinda Hall," and have interpreted this as an "intentional effort to surveil [their] movement." If your goal was to get people to listen to your message, consider this an achievement unlocked. [Observer]
* If you're uncertain about your law school decision, you can certainly put down multiple seat deposits, but we're not sure why you would want to. By all means, start your legal education by putting yourself into debt -- you'll be off to a great start for the six figures of loans you'll have accumulated by graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
