iPhones
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Small Law Firms
More Law Firms Should Offer Work Cellphones To Employees
Perhaps it would help them be able to better separate their work-life boundaries. -
In-House Counsel
Texting. Two Different People. While On A Conference Call.
Given the choice between hiring the person who pays attention and hiring the person who's ignoring you even before he's been retained, who would you hire? - Sponsored
How AI Is The Catalyst For Reshaping Every Aspect Of Legal Work
Findings from the "Future of Professionals Report," based on a survey of 1,200 professionals from North and South America and the UK. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.27.17
* Is SCOTUS walking back its landmark commitment to equal rights for the LGBTQ community? Considering what could happen in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case and the high court’s refusal to grant cert in Pidgeon, it seems like it. It’s not as if this hasn’t happened before. ::coughBrownvBoardcough:: [New Republic]
* A federal judge ruled that an American ISIS suspect who’s been detained as a “enemy combatant” in Iraq for the last three months is, in fact, entitled to a lawyer, and called the Trump administration’s quest to deny counsel in this case “both remarkable and troubling.” [New York Times]
* Everything really is bigger in Texas: According to the ABA, there are just 0.8 percent more first-year law students this year than last year, but entering classes at law schools in the Lone Star State were 4 percent larger than they were last year. Hopefully all these students will be able to lasso themselves jobs. [Texas Lawyer]
* Lawsuits have been rolling out ever since Apple admitted that it was slowing down iPhones with older batteries, and one of them was filed by two students who currently attend USC Law and hope to get the suit certified as a class-action. This is an absolutely awesome use of winter break. [RT]
* Which states are likely to legalize marijuana in the new year? Vermont, New Jersey, and Michigan may soon end their prohibitions on cannabis, either through legislative means or by puff-puff-passing a voter referendum. [Forbes]
* If you’re a journalist with three years of experience and cover the legal profession in your reporting, consider applying to be a fellow at Loyola Law School’s annual Journalist Law School. There is no cost to attend. The application deadline is February 9, 2018. [Journalist Law School]
* Judge Thomas Griesa, the Southern District of New York jurist who oversaw the Argentine debt battle in federal court, RIP. [New York Law Journal]
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Biglaw, Cellphones, Technology
Which Biglaw Firm Is Providing Funds For All Associates To Get An iPhone X?
This is pretty awesome. -
Technology, Women's Issues
Siri Thinks More Women Should Be Judges
In courts of emoji law, all judges are apparently women. -
Technology
alt.legal: What Stops Lawyers From Using Macs At Work?
If the iPhone crossed over into enterprise, why not the MacBook? -
Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Technology
Thank You, Mr. President, For My $379 Speedier, More Secure Office On The Go
The increased assault on privacy at the border is a wake-up call for lawyers on cybersecurity. -
Cellphones, Technology
ABA Tech Survey Reveals Lawyers' Favorite Mobile Apps And Phones
Lawyers love their iPhones, as well as Westlaw, Fastcase, and Lexis Advance. - Sponsored
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Please help us benchmark your firm against your peers through this (always) brief and anonymous survey and enter for a chance to win a $250… -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
9 Tips For Client Meetings
Important advice from Biglaw partner turned in-house counsel Mark Herrmann on client relations. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.29.16
* Legal showdown averted (for now): the feds were able to access the data on the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone without any help from Apple. [Washington Post]
* A Harvard Law School grad stands accused of a $95 million fraud scheme — yikes. We’ll have more on this later. [ABA Journal]
* Does a sentencing delay violate the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial? Some on SCOTUS seem skeptical. [How Appealing]
* Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announces his intention to veto the Free Exercise Protection Act, which critics claimed would have protected discrimination as a form of religious liberty. [New York Times]
* Hillary Clinton takes Republicans to task for their handling of the current Supreme Court vacancy. [Wisconsin State Journal via How Appealing]
* Some thoughts from Professor Noah Feldman on the recent Seventh Circuit ruling about the use of form contracts on the internet (which nobody reads). [Bloomberg View]
* Save money (on taxes), live better: a federal judge strikes down a tax levied by Puerto Rico on mega-retailer Wal-Mart. [Reuters]
* The Bracewell law firm, now sans Giuliani, elects Gregory Bopp as its new managing partner. [Texas Lawyer]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.22.16
* WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN THIS JURY’S PUNITIVE DAMAGES AWARD RUNS WILD ON YOU?!? Gawker was hit with an additional $25M in punitive damages yesterday in Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit, on top of the $115M award the jury had already slapped the media company with last week. That loud typing sound you hear is the appeals being furiously written. [Reuters]
* They were gonna grant you leave to file, but then they got high? The Supreme Court has puff, puff, passed on the opportunity to hear a challenge posed by Nebraska and Oklahoma to Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented, contending that the case fell within the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction. [NPR]
* This took longer than the iOS 9 download: Hot on the heels of the announcement of new Apple products, we got the news that the tech giant and its rival, Samsung, will face off next term before SCOTUS in a patent case that’s been going on since the iPhone 4 was still considered the latest and greatest in smartphone technology. [WSJ Law Blog]
* “Once you start seeing leading law firms offering this, it’s going to become more prevalent and pretty rapidly, because it’s going to be required to compete.” Lawyers with law school debt will probably jump at the chance for their firms to pitch in to repay their loans, but don’t forget, all of that assistance will be taxable as income. [U.S. News]
* “My job is to enforce the law, and starting today, DraftKings and FanDuel will abide by it.” In a settlement reached with New York AG Eric Schneiderman, the
sports bettingdaily fantasy sites will cease operations in the state, and in exchange, the AG will hold off on additional litigation that could force them to pay restitution to their losers. [ESPN] -
Technology
How Apple Could Lose By Winning: The DOJ's Next Move Could Be Worse
Taking a stand against the government is sort of like a game of freedom-depleting whack-a-mole. -
Technology
The FBI Claims Failure To Guess Password Will Make Data 'Permanently Inaccessible,' Which Isn't True
It's literally unbelievable that the FBI doesn't have access to the tools to perform this or the expertise to get it done.
Sponsored
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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How AI Is The Catalyst For Reshaping Every Aspect Of Legal Work
Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.11.16
* Hooray, this study says it’s a great time to be a lawyer! According to career website Glassdoor, lawyers are the second-highest paid professionals in the country, with a median base salary of $144,500. See, everybody, you’ll be able to pay off your six-figure law school debt in no time! You’re probably rich! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
* John Oliver of “Last Week Tonight” trademarked the word “Drumpf” ahead of the humorous segment on his show, and he turned to Kenyon & Kenyon to get the job done. The comedian was apparently trying to keep it in the “Daily Show” family with his choice of legal representation — as we’ve noted before, Kenyon’s managing partner is Stephen Colbert’s older brother. [Am Law Daily]
* Here’s a ranking that’ll be useful for prospective law students and legal professionals who love being boastful: Which law schools have the highest percentage of graduates who pass the bar exam on the first try? You may legitimately be surprised by the placement of some of the law schools on this list. We’ll have more on this later. [AL.com]
* “The tone of the brief reads like an indictment.” The Justice Department filed a pretty feisty response to Apple in its legal battle over the encryption of an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple’s GC says the DOJ lawyers are now “so desperate” to get what they want that they’ve “thrown all decorum to the wind.” [CNBC]
* U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York will have to face a lawsuit filed by David Ganek of Level Global Investors, once a $4 billion hedge fund, over allegations that the federal prosecutor’s office filed a misleading affidavit and fabricated evidence as part of an insider trading probe that resulted in the fund failing. [Newsday]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.01.16
* Senior White House adviser Brian Deese has assembled a crack team to help President Obama choose a Supreme Court nominee who will be able to win confirmation before an angry Senate to replace Justice Scalia. Let’s see which way the 2009 Yale Law School graduate steers this important project. [Reuters]
* Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is feeling the pain of being the world’s first publicly traded law firm after a $958.3 million first-half loss. The firm, which is now being referred to as a “corporate catastrophe,” hopes to lay out a restructuring plan in the next few months amid the likelihood of multiple shareholder suits. [Herald Sun]
* Texas State District Judge Julie Kocurek returned to court this week after a shooter opened fire on her in November 2015 in what police are now calling an assassination attempt. She lost a finger during the shooting, but says she feels “very lucky that is all [she] lost.” Welcome back to the bench, Your Honor! [Austin American-Statesman]
* Sorry, FBI, but a judge has ruled that Apple doesn’t have to help the security service unlock an alleged New York drug dealer’s iPhone. This isn’t binding precedent for the tech company’s San Bernardino case, but you can bet your ass its legal team will try to convince the judge handling the order at issue that it should be considered. [NBC News]
* If you’ve been waitlisted at the lowest-ranked law school you applied to this admissions cycle, it doesn’t mean you’ll be rejected from every other school you applied to this admissions cycle — it just means you may have to work a little bit harder on all of your letters of continued interest. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* Law firms aren’t the only businesses that go through break-ups; the communications firms that represent these elite firms apparently have rocky relationships, too. Spencer Baretz and Cari Brunelle of Hellerman Baretz Communications have split to found their own firm, and they took the entire HBC team with them when they left. [Business Wire]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.26.16
* Given the unusually “circus-like atmosphere” surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation process, anyone who is nominated to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat must “have the backbone to take the risk of being out there in front of the recalcitrant Senate.” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval apparently didn’t have the testicular fortitude necessary for the challenging endeavor. [WSJ Law Blog]
* President Obama nominated Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.), the queen of Silicon Valley tech-industry and patent litigation, to the Ninth Circuit. Consider what’s likely to be her difficult confirmation a preview to the politically divisive process of getting Justice Scalia’s replacement a meeting before the Senate. [San Jose Mercury News]
* Of the current justices, Elena Kagan is the only one who has experienced the fallout of an eight-member Supreme Court. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall when there was an almost eight-month vacancy on the Court, and may have learned how to avoid 4-4 decisions from Chief Justice William Rehnquist. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]
* Apple wants to vacate an order compelling the tech giant to help the FBI unlock one of the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhones, noting “[i]f this order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent.” [The Hill]
* Johnson & Johnson may have suffered a $72 million blow in its loss in a case alleging links between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that other plaintiffs will come away from their talc-cancer cases with windfalls quite as large. They’ll still have to convince a jury that J&J’s products caused their illness. [Reuters]
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Technology
White House Is Either Lying About Apple Order Or Doesn't Understand What A Backdoor Is
The government effort to force Apple to break into one of its phones has spawned some double-speak. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.27.15
* The Cincinnati Bengals reached a $255K settlement with their cheerleaders in a wage-and-hour suit. Each Ben-Gal stands to receive at least $2,500. Hmm, maybe they needed better lawyers who could BE AGGRESSIVE! B-E AGGRESSIVE! B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E! [CBS News]
* Biglaw leaders think that first-year associates are likely to be replaced by robots within 10 years. Some even think that second- and third-year associates could be replaced by artificial intelligence. Damn, no wonder NY to $190 is still a pipedream. [Ars Technica via Am Law Daily]
* “What you’re asking them to do is do work for you.” Despite the fact that the cellphone was seized in an investigation, this federal magistrate judge says that he isn’t quite sure if he has the legal authority to compel Apple to access data on a locked iPhone. [Reuters]
* Justice waits for no one, except this defendant who allegedly murdered her 19-month-old daughter in 2010. After her trial was rescheduled for the 18th time, a judge finally decided he’d had enough: “Anything following this will be a trial or dismissal.” [WSJ Law Blog]
* If you’re trying to get into to law school, there’s no need to wait for your fall semester grades before you send off your applications. A pulse and the ability to sign federal loan documents are all that you’ll need. [Law School Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
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Blackberry-Crackberry, Cellphones, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Technology
Cicero On Being More Than Just A Lawyer
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day life of a lawyer. And the longer you are a lawyer, the more it will come to define you – if you let it. But it is a limiting definition, even for the best and brightest of lawyers. Take Marcus Tullius Cicero, likely the most famous lawyer in history. […] -
Cellphones, Constitutional Law, Politics, Privacy, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology
NSA Surveillance In 2013: The Year Of Vindicated Political Paranoia
What is the real tragedy of 2013’s mass surveillance revelations? Some thoughts from conservative columnist Tamara Tabo.