Hillary Clinton

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.04.17

* Two-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will travel to Wales next weekend to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Swansea University, but that's not the only honor she'll receive while there. Swansea's law school is being renamed, and will soon be known as the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law. Congratulations! [Wales Online] * Special counsel Robert Mueller has added an appellate lawyer from the Justice Department's criminal division to his team. Per a spokesperson, Scott Meisler, who had not been previously identified as being involved, joined the effort in mid-June. Meisler is a 2005 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. [Reuters] * Winston & Strawn may have more than 900 lawyers, but according to the firm's managing partner, that's still not good enough. You can soon expect the firm's corporate transactions practice in New York to expand, its D.C. office to grow in size, and its West Coast presence to double or triple. [Big Law Business] * According to Altman Weil’s MergerLine, law firm mergers are now on pace to break a 2015 record. Thus far in 2017, 76 tie-ups have been announced, which may lead the industry to surpass its previous high of 91 mergers. The number of law firm combinations could even exceed 100 this year. Exciting times... [Am Law Daily] * Retired U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson Jr. will be retiring as founding dean of the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law as of June 30, 2018. Why is Furgeson planning to retire with only five years as dean under his belt? He's almost 76, and "plan[s] to do a lot of things when [he's] 80 -- but not this job." [Law.com]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.28.17

* Under cover of a natural disaster, President Donald Trump decided to pardon former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of criminal contempt after ignoring a federal judge's order. Trump, who has shown contempt for judges since the start of his campaign, now seems to be using his "weaponized pardon power" to circumvent the powers of the judiciary. [New York Times] * Speaking of Hurricane Harvey, we know that many lawyers, law students, and law professors in Texas have been and continue to be affected by the devastating after effects of the storm. How has your firm or your law school handled the destruction and historic flooding? Please get in touch with us via email, text message (646-820-8477), or tweet (@atlblog) to let us know. [Above the Law] * Getting back to Joe Arpaio's pardon, lawyers, former government officials, and current lawmakers of all stripes have spoken out against the president's unconventional action. Perhaps our favorite comment of all came from Professor Orin Kerr of USC Gould School of Law: "Trump shows his love of the Constitution by pardoning a man who refused to stop violating it." [Law.com] * Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating whether former national security adviser Michael Flynn played any kind of a role in obtaining Hillary Clinton's emails from Russian hackers. If he did have something to do with it, Flynn may be more concerned about Clinton's emails right now than the average Trump voter was in the lead-up to the election. [Wall Street Journal] * Thanks to President Trump, Irell & Manella now stands to lose one of its top rainmakers. In a Friday announcement, patent litigator Andrei Iancu, a partner at the firm, was nominated to become the next Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. We wonder how long it'll take for him to be confirmed.[Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.28.16

* "Absent a showing that the requested enforcement action could not shake loose a few more emails, the case is not moot." Because 2016 isn't over yet and we love kicking horses thought to be dead, the D.C. Circuit has revived a legal challenge regarding Hillary Clinton's private email server that was once considered to be moot. [Reuters] * The Supreme Court may be taking a turn to the conservative side come 2017, but not immediately. It's expected that shortly after his inauguration, President Trump will announce his nominee in either late January or early February, with confirmation hearings held in March, and a vote sometime in April. By the time a new justice is sworn in, there will be just a few days left of oral arguments for the current Term. [NPR] * "This case of cyber meets securities fraud should serve as a wake-up call for law firms around the world." Three Chinese hackers have been charged with breaking into the servers of several Biglaw firms -- firms like Cravath and Weil Gotshal -- to illegally trade on stolen information. They made more than $4 million, but only one of them has been arrested thus far and is awaiting extradition to the United States. [Bloomberg] * "Providing a profit motive to make arrests gives officers an incentive to make improper arrests." In counties across the country, those who are arrested must pay "booking fees," regardless of whether or not they are found guilty of their crimes. Two cases regarding these fees will soon be heard by the Supreme Court in early 2017, and one county was so brazen that it didn't even bother to submit a brief in opposition. [New York Times] * If you're applying to law school, you may be wondering how you can make the strongest argument for your acceptance in your application. Focus on your essays and make sure that you provide compelling examples of the type of person you are and your career goals. If you can sway just one person on the admissions committee to give you a chance, then you might soon find an acceptance letter with your name on it. [U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.28.16

* "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." President-elect Donald Trump can't keep himself away from his Twitter account thanks to the recount that's going on, and now he seems to have accidentally called into question the legitimacy of the election in its entirety. Oopsie! [New York Times] * Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has jumped on Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's election recount bandwagon, but according to campaign general counsel Marc Elias, it's only "to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides." Thus far, Wisconsin has already agreed to perform a recount. [CBS News] * Just like the president-elect who's included him on his Supreme Court shortlist, Judge Raymond M. Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit seems to be incredibly blunt. The judge expects civility between parties in briefs, but is well known for his "caustic rebuke[s]" and "eviscerat[ing] [litigants] like first-day law student[s]." [Big Law Business] * Per recent TV ads, "Wells Fargo is making changes to make things right," but only if those changes don't involve public court records: Wells Fargo customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their names have filed a class-action suit, but the bank is trying to quash their claims by forcing plaintiffs into arbitration. [CNN Money] * "If you look at other parts of the state — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio — everybody has a law school." But that doesn't mean that everybody needs to have a law school. A dearth of potential applicants be damned, because lawmakers in the Texas Rio Grande Valley are going ahead with plans to establish a public law school in the area. [Valley Star]

By Staci Zaretsky