Irell & Manella

His story is important for everyone in Biglaw to read.

* Former tax partner gets two year prison sentence. Maybe he can claim a good behavior deduction. [New York Law Journal]

* Chilling report on South Carolina’s routine violation of constitutional norms. [New York Times]

* Top in-house counsel share their thoughts on forging a privacy policy. As we all know, the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. [Law.com]

* Austria’s racism manages to punish a law student in a shark costume. It’s the saddest moment for sharks since Left Shark. [Lowering the Bar]

* Checking in on Rogers Stevens, the Blind Melon guitarist who now works as a mid-level Labor and Employment attorney at Ballard Spahr. [Coverage Opinions]

* Experts say the Cowboys edict that the team will bench anyone who kneels during the anthem doesn’t run afoul of the NLRA… yet. [Law360]

* A conversation with Ellisen Turner, Irell & Manella’s newly minted managing partner, about race and discrimination and the added pressure that comes with being a person of color in the legal industry. [Am Law Daily]

If confirmed, he'll be taking a gigantic pay cut.

* Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore has won the Republican primary runoff election for the Senate seat that was once occupied by AG Jeff Sessions. Perhaps we can look forward to history repeating itself and Moore being twice suspended if he wins the special election. [New York Times]

* Senate Republicans don’t have the votes for the Graham-Cassidy effort to repeal Obamacare to pass, but not to worry, because they’ll be back at it again soon via the 2019 budget reconciliation process, and next time, they’re going to be transparent, hold committee hearings, and even consult Democrats. [CNN]

* The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has refused to waive Jones Act shipping restrictions that are preventing Puerto Rico from getting the gasoline and supplies that are so desperately needed for the island’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria. Senator John McCain is pissed, and says it’s time to repeal the “archaic and burdensome” Act. [Reuters]

* Freedom hangs in the balance for Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey, whose case was heard before the full Seventh Circuit yesterday. According to court watchers, the judges seemed split, and we can’t help but to wonder what Judge Richard Posner would have thought. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

* Irell & Manella’s Andrei Iancu, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is awaiting confirmation. There’s no better way to bide our time while we wait than to discuss the fact that he’d been pulling down a $4 million paycheck at the firm. We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]

* “How can you expect companies to do the right thing when you[r] agency has not?” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton is taking heat over the fact that his agency was hacked in 2016, but nothing was mentioned about it until last week. He’s set a great example. [Big Law Business]

* According to a recent study, no matter what women do, in most cases, they’ll continue to earn less than men. The ban on asking employees about their salary history is doing nothing for women; in fact, they’re being penalized for refusing to disclose their salaries, while men are being rewarded. [The Careerist]

* “Legal aid is critical after a natural disaster,” so the Florida Bar has raised the income cap for its online legal clinic so Floridians affected by Hurricane Irma can get legal assistance, and the Florida Bar Foundation has set aside $500,000 to support legal aid organizations. How generous! [Law.com]

* Sixteen years have passed since the September 11 attacks, but we’ve yet to try or convict any of the five men who are said to have planned the day that changed America, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged “architect of 9/11.” Some lawyers wonder why this “isn’t a cause for more outrage.” [Al Jazeera]

* In case you missed it, Irell & Manella has elected Ellisen Turner as its first African-American managing partner. Among the many accolades he’s earned over the course of his illustrious legal career, Above the Law once referred to him as a “hottie.” Congratulations on all accounts! [Big Law Business]

* Lawmakers from both parties are interested in holding hearings on the massive Equifax hack, and after outcry from state attorneys general about an arbitration clause that would have prevented those affected by the data breach from suing, the credit reporting agency has changed its terms of service. [The Hill]

* In the wake of Justice Scalia’s death, Justice Kagan says the remaining justices did everything they could to avoid 4-4 split decisions: “[W]e all made a very serious effort to try to find common ground even where we thought we couldn’t. It sort of forced us to keep talking to each other.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

* Which Biglaw firm is about to get a lot bigger? It’s Cozen O’Connor, apparently. According to CEO Michael Heller, he’d like to increase the firm’s head count to somewhere between 700 and 1,000 lawyers in the next five years. About 600 attorneys are currently working at Cozen. [Am Law Daily]

* 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]

Reports of Biglaw's death are greatly exaggerated.

Associates at this firm say morale is terrible.

Who are the American Lawyer Top 10 A-List firms?

Which lawyers make the list of those able to charge $2,000 an hour?

Chalk up another big raise!

* A ray of light for Madonna as the Ninth Circuit hands her a victory in a long-running copyright infringement case, creating a circuit split in the process. [Billboard]

* The New York Court of Appeals overturns the $17.2 million award Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder earlier won against Cadwalader at summary judgment. Life’s hard for billionaires who beg regular people pay their bills for them. [Law360]

* Kirkland & Ellis plays hardball with departing partner, forcing him to repay a $120K bonus before walking out the door. [Legal Week]

* This is why we can’t have nice things. Literally. Intellectual property concerns threaten customizable goods. [Corporate Counsel]

* Texas AG Ken Paxton’s still gonna have to face those criminal fraud charges. [Courthouse News Service]

* Industry groups come out of the woodwork to challenge a Department of Labor rule requiring retirement advisors to act in the best interest of their customers. Crocodile tears abound as the groups claim they agree with the sentiment of the rule but just want the SEC to write it — knowing full well that the SEC isn’t going to write it. [Wall Street Journal]

* Add ABA President Paulette Brown to the list of people outraged that Donald Trump is criticizing a federal judge for, among other things, being of Mexican descent. [Law360]

* Irell gets sneaky in this copyright win over pre-1972 songs. [Litigation Daily]

These are the firms that work to allow distressed corporations a fresh start.

Two firms -- a top IP litigation firm, and a Magic Circle member -- do exactly what they did last year.

Associates who hit their hours got 10 percent, 30 percent, or 50 percent above market.

Some of these drops in headcount are stunning -- we're talking more than 20 percent.

The legal profession has a long way to go when it comes to diversity and inclusion, according to columnist Renwei Chung, but some firms are doing a great job of positively distinguishing themselves in these areas.

A lawyer representing herself has a fool for a client. But a really entertained audience.

* If you’re having girl problems, he feels bad for you son, he’s got 99 problems, but an aggravated pimping charge ain’t one. Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was acquitted on his latest sex scandal charges by a French court. [Bloomberg Business]

* “Justice may be blind, but she still sees it our way 88.4% of the time.” Humblebrag? Quinn Emanuel may kick ass at winning trials, but its percentage of “wins” advertised on airport signage has gone down by 3.9% since 2008. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Which Biglaw firms had the greatest percent changes in headcount in the first half of 2015? With a 29.2 percent drop, McKenna Long & Aldridge is leaking lawyers like a sieve. Irella is in second place, with attorney headcount down by 22.8 percent. [Am Law Daily]

* Say hello to the National Cannabis Bar Association, an organization that’ll help you get some higher education as you navigate through the haze of marijuana laws. If you want to learn more, then come to our marijuana law event next week in Denver. [ABA Journal]

* If you’d like to strengthen your law school application, then you may want to consider getting to know some current professors and alumni from the school of your choice. That way, you can suck up while you’re sucking up. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* Williams & Connolly has been subpoenaed as a part of the ongoing Lance Armstrong fraud case brought by former teammate Floyd Landis. I’m just glad I don’t have to put together that privilege log [Legal Times]

* Two Biglaw partners, Hydee Feldstein a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Hastings and Peter Gregora a partner emeritus at Irell & Manella, face off in divorce court over $20 million that’s gone “missing.” It’s probably under the couch, whenever stuff goes missing in my house it’s under the couch. [The Recorder]

* Legal research prevails: after “thorough” research Georgia prosecutors have dropped murder charges against Kenlissia Jones for taking the abortion pill. [Washington Post]

* Pope Francis is establishing a court to deal with the bishops who woefully mishandled clerical child sex abuse allegations. Just another reason why Pope Francis is making it okay to be a Catholic again. [Wall Street Journal]

* Leaders in Nepal finally reached an agreement for a new constitution. After years of infighting the terrible tragedy of the Nepalese earthquake motivated the parties to work together. [Jurist]

* Ever wonder what it takes to make a successful law blog? Wonder no more — and read tips from our own David Lat. [Law360]