Harvard Law

* And then there were 6: More big names are opting out of U.S. News. [Inside Higher Ed]

* Stop Woke keeps getting stopped. Funny outcome, that. [The Guardian]

* A law adopted decades ago is still impacting Black adoptions. [Slate]

* AirBnB keeps getting the wind taken from its wings. [Axios]

* A survival guide for New York living as a lawyer. [Global Legal Post]

* Looks like NJ teachers may have even more work on their plates! [Bronx.News]

* David Stras spoke about The Holocaust and Free Speech at Harvard Law. Check out the write-up! [The Crimson]

* Trademark just doesn’t trademark like it used to. [Bloomberg Law]

* A Florida lawyer who became famous dressing up as the “grim reaper” on beaches to warn about COVID-19 may face discipline for an appeal he filed. Hope he didn’t wear the “grim reaper” outfit to court… [ABC News]

* Megan Markle won a lawsuit against a company that published portions of a private letter she wrote to her father. [Harper’s Bazaar]

* Check out this group of Harvard Law grads who are trying to eliminate harassments and discrimination in the legal profession. [New York Times]

* Bruce Springsteen has hired a New Jersey legal eagle to defend himself in a DWI case. [New York Post]

* Since Above the Law hasn’t had a “Lawyerly Lairs” segment in a while, just wanted to relate that a lawyer just bought a multimillion-dollar waterfront mansion in Jupiter, California. Check out the sweet digs in the article. [Real Deal]

* President Trump asked the FBI to investigate the claims of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, the first two women to accuse would-be SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault and misconduct, leaving out Julie Swetnick’s claims to the chagrin of her lawyer. [Wall Street Journal]

* So, just how limited in scope will the FBI’s new Kavanaugh inquiry be? Trump claims that the bureau has “free rein,” but no one who has contradicted the judge’s claims about his drinking and partying as a high school and college student are going to be interviewed. [New York Times]

* HLS is second best at feeling shame: Following student protests against Kavanaugh teaching at Harvard Law, the elite law school’s dean won’t come out and say whether the accused jurist will still have a job in legal academia come 2019. [HuffPost]

* ICYMI amid the Kavanaugh craziness, a judge ruled that the plaintiffs in Blumenthal v. Trump — the 201 Democratic members of Congress — have standing to sue the president for his alleged violations of the emoluments clause. [National Law Journal]

* That was quick! In the span of just a few days, Elon Musk settled the securities fraud lawsuit filed against him by the SEC, and the deal calls for him to pay a $20 million fine and step down as Tesla’s chairman for the next three years. [New York Times]

* As we previously mentioned, London-based firms CMS and Olswang and international firm Nabarro were considering entering into a merger. Partners at all three firms have officially voted in favor of the merger, which will close in May 2017. The new firm will operate under the CMS name. We’ll have more on this later. [Legal Week]

* “The infringement has been affirmed, now it’s whether this huge judgment should be affirmed.” In the Supreme Court’s first design patent case in more than 120 years, Samsung will face off against Apple today, where the smartphone companies will duke it out over how much Samsung should have had to pay for copying the iPhone. [Reuters]

* “Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg no longer needs to worry about whether she seems threatening to the Court. She is the Court.” A new linguistics research study tells us what we can learn from Justice Ginsburg’s accent as a lawyer versus her accent as a Supreme Court justice, and how all lawyers make accommodations in their speech. [TIME]

* By edict of a federal court — and over Governor Rick Scott’s objections — Florida’s voter registration deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday thanks to Hurricane Matthew’s interference with last-minute sign-ups. Florida’s Democratic Party alleged many voters would be “severely burdened” by the hurricane’s effects. [CNN]

* Sorry, social justice warriors: Harvard Law 1Ls wanted to feed the university’s striking dining services workers at their sections’ social committee events, but Dean Marcia Sells shut down their plans, saying it “does not seem to make sense for us to encourage … students to bring in food to feed workers who are on strike.” [The Concourse / Deadspin]

* As HBO prepares its take on the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings starring Kerry Washington as Anita Hill, it seems they were inundated with complaints from politicians, concerned over how they look in the real life drama. [Hollywood Reporter]

* Geek out over the Supreme Court Style Guide (affiliate link) and note it “frequently deviates from Bluebook style.” [Lawyerist]

* They were fired, but now they’re baaack. Amid declining enrollment, seven professors are back at Charleston Law. [Tax Law Prof]

* A 2013 paper from Harvard Law professor Matthew C. Stephenson arguing that a Supreme Court justice can be appointed without a confirmation hearing has been making the social media rounds as the non-action on Merrick Garland’s nomination continues. [Yale Law Journal]

* Does this disbarred attorney have information from the DC Madam that will change the 2016 election? Probably not, but let the speculation begin! [Gawker]

* What’s the difference between the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Judge Merrick Garland, his potential replacement? “[He] always sounds the same. Most of the time, he is very even-toned, not aggressive.” For starters, Scalia’s dissents were usually fiery and entertaining, while Garland’s dissents tend to be very respectful and courteous. [Washington Post]

* “[T]here were errors and flaws in the way Thomas Jefferson carried out their research.” An expert retained by Anna Alaburda in her suit against Thomas Jefferson Law testified that the methods the law school used to collect grads’ job data were improper and could have caused some inaccurate info to be reported. [Courthouse News Service]

* Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — and his path to the White House — may be interrupted by a pesky fraud trial over his now defunct real estate school. The Donald will likely be asked to testify by New York AG Eric Schneiderman, and if he pleads the Fifth, it could have YUGE implications on his defense strategy. [WSJ Law Blog]

* “When someone — or something — is going away, there are usually some people that want to get it before it goes away, for whatever reason.” Racist memorabilia? Harvard Law is trying to quickly eliminate all ties to its controversial shield, but its bookstore will be slowly selling off all remaining merchandise bearing the symbol. [Boston Globe]

* “The average graduate cannot expect to make enough in the years following graduation to even hope to make a dent in the student loans they take on from going to law school. And that’s if they can even pass the bar and find a job as an attorney.” Law profs face buyouts, but their students aren’t in a much better position. [Northwest Indiana Times]

* The Harvard Corporation agreed with the recommendation of Harvard Law’s faculty committee to scrap the official crest based on the sygil of a slaveowner. Will this address every instance of institutional racism? No. But that’s a pretty stupid reason to stick to a drawing. [Boston.com]

* Good news for Steven Rattner: The SEC says the former Quadrangle chief can be an investment banker again! Will this interrupt his present career repeating Obama administration talking points on Morning Joe? [Law 360]

* U.S. Biglaw offices in London have caught up to their U.K. peers in revenues and profits. When reached for comment, London Mayor Boris Johnson found some way to make this all the EU’s fault. [Legal Week]

* Sullivan & Cromwell buys up its office building, making it one of the larger landlords in lower Manhattan. [The Am Law Daily]

* What worries Trust & Estate partners? Mostly that there aren’t yet enough idle rich to keep the industry afloat now that everyone else moved online to write their wills. [Forbes]

* Microsoft will have to reboot its GC position with Horacio Gutierrez moving to Spotify next month. [Corporate Counsel]

* Congratulations to Camille Nelson, who will take up the deanship of American University Law School. [National Law Journal]

* It really isn’t okay that there are children that go hungry. Harvard Law student Thomas Tobin knows there is something that can be done to alleviate the problem. [Arkansas Online]

* The Supreme Court rejected requests for expedited audio in today’s two big cases: Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt and U.S. v. Texas. When are we going to be able to force them to put cameras in there and be done with it? [Fix the Court]

* Are the lawyers to blame for the giant Sharp / Foxconn deal falling through at the last second? And what can be done to salvage it? The clock is ticking and stock prices are falling. [Quartz]

* Remember a few months ago when Republican governors were all butthurt about Syrian refugees? U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled Indiana Governor Mike Pence was way outta line about the whole mess. [Wonkette]

* The EEOC is going after employers that discriminate on the basis of sexuality, saying such actions are banned under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. About time. [Buzzfeed]

* Looking back at one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time to understand how important filling Justice Scalia’s seat really is. [Huffington Post]

* A Sikh officer in the Army is suing, complaining his religious observations have subjected him to increased testing. [New York Times]

* For those of you who missed last week’s event at NYU Law, here’s video from “Love, Law, and… Clerkships,” featuring Professor Barry Friedman, Judge Alison Nathan (S.D.N.Y.), and our very own David Lat. [YouTube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjX6wLQmMIM&index=1&list=PLBC7DDA1DA3578169

* British trainee lawyer arrested for Christmas Eve murder of a young teacher. [Legal Cheek]

* Judge John Gleeson is stepping down and returning to private practice. [New York Daily News]

* 31 law professors think this case about the right of publicity and video games should be heard by the Supreme Court. [The Volokh Conspiracy]

* Are Harvard Law professors unfairly going after a former student and alleged sexual assault survivor? [Huffington Post]

* Even people in liberal states should care about the erosion of reproductive freedom rights in Red States: NYC, joined by a coalition of other cities, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Texas’s restrictive abortion law. [Jezebel]

* Looks like legal work won’t be outsourced to the robots any time soon. [New York Times]

* If you are on the criminal defense side of things, you’d always better be ready for a battle. [Katz on Justice]

* Are Harvard Law professors chilling the reporting of sexual assault on campus? [Huffington Post]

* Amal Clooney launches a scholarship to educate Lebanese women. [Los Angeles Times]

* Justices Scalia and Thomas just plain wrong on gun regulations. [The Atlantic]

* Baltimore reacts to the hung jury in the Freddie Gray case. [The Root]

* You know those late-night commercials for LifeLock, designed to convince elderly people to buy their product lest their identity be stolen? Yeah, the FTC announced the identity theft company would be paying $100 million to settle charges that it didn’t secure its customers’ info and misrepresented the strength of its product. [Washington Post]

* A motion for summary judgment has been filed in the case against Alan Dershowitz for defamation. [Palm Beach Daily News]

* Lowenstein Sandler Chair Gary Wingens comes out in favor of two-year law schools. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]