K&L Gates

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.17.16

* Tiger-blooded warlock Charlie Sheen sued by American Express over $287,879 in debt. #Winning. [Courthouse News Service] * It's really happening, folks! Get ready for ASSLaw. [Washington Post] * Morgan Lewis knows how to play both sides -- the firm is handling Donald Trump's tax returns and accompanying controversy while simultaneously vetting Hillary Clinton's possible running mates. [Law.com] * Law school announces a technological innovation concentration... because programming the next LawyerBot is probably the only hope these students have for jobs in 10 years. [Northwestern Pritzker School of Law] * Cuneo Gilbert attorneys said that they felt threatened when former colleague Preetpal Grewal emailed another former colleague stating she wanted “to kill” them in connection with her national origin discrimination suit. Someone's overreacting here. [Law360] * The SEC targets a patent troll and a former Fulbright & Jaworski and Bracewell associate in an unrelated securities fraud case. [The Am Law Daily] * Neil Sedaka may have thought "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do" but for law firms, mergers are the tough part. [National Law Journal] * The justice gap for poor civil litigants keeps on growing. [The Nation]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.02.16

* WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN HULKAMANIA SELECTS A JURY TO RUN WILD ON YOU?!?! Jury selection has started in Hulk Hogan's $100M sex-tape case against Gawker. The trial begins next week, and if he wins, his 24-inch pythons could put the site out of business. [New York Post] * President Obama met with Senate leaders yesterday to talk about his impending Supreme Court nomination, and the Republicans present held steady in their adamant refusal to hold hearings or vote on any of his prospective candidates. After all, President Trump's 2017 nominee will obviously be a far greater choice. [The Hill] * "They're just normal people. They weren't always judges." Being a federal judge with a lifetime appointment may be a "surprisingly monastic existence" at times, but the fact of the matter is that our Supreme Court justices are really just like us. Off the bench, some of them are social butterflies, and others are complete hermits. [Washington Post] * According to a recent study on federal law clerks, "judges appointed by Republicans are more likely to hire clerks who come from the left-side of the ideological spectrum," but that's likely because the pickings are slim when it comes to conservative clerks. Top law school grads tend to lean liberal, so the applicant pool is a bit skewed. [WSJ Law Blog] * K&L Gates is leaking partners, practice leaders, and executive committee members like a sieve once again, but Peter Kalis, the firm's usually outspoken chairman, hasn't said a peep about the departures yet. What's going on at the firm? If you have any information, please feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477). [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.21.15

* Somewhere in Florida, Casey Anthony can rest a little easier knowing that Zenaida Gonzalez, the woman she falsely implicated in the kidnapping and death of her already deceased child, just had her defamation suit thrown out. [WKMG] * Better late than never? The Judicial Conference finally decided impeachment is warranted for Judge Mark E. Fuller, who recently resigned from his position on the Middle District of Alabama's bench in the wake of his "reprehensible" domestic violence scandal last summer. [WSJ Law Blog] * In case you were wondering which Biglaw firms were reaping financial rewards in the race to represent clients in space, Squire Patton Boggs and K&L Gates have both performed at least six figures of work from their mission control centers. [Am Law Daily] * Thomas Rubino, a paralegal at Manhattan firm Paris & Chaikin, allegedly forged the names of 76 judges on fake orders to make his life easier at work. Now that he's facing 234 counts of forgery, something tells us his life is going to be more difficult. [New York Post] * Lindsay Lohan's defamation case against Fox News over comments made on The Sean Hannity Show that she did coke with her mother was dismissed because as Justice Wright noted, "truth is a defense." He clearly didn't think LiLo's claims were fetch. [MSN News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.03.15

* With the Dewey trial wrapping up, a look back at the history of firm honchos earning jail time. [Law360] * Slick video explaining the everything wrong the way law schools market themselves to students. [Business Insider] * K&L Gates loses more partners. This time McDermott picks up the spoils. But don't cry for K&L, they nabbed a huge get off Paul Hastings. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Remember when Sony got hacked? It unveiled some fun stuff, like how the new movie Concussion changed its plot around to avoid offending the NFL. [ABA Journal] * As college football prepares to kick off tonight, Baylor has hired Pepper Hamilton to look into how the school handles sexual violence allegations in light of the rape conviction of former player Sam Ukwuachu. [Dallas Morning News] * Here's one of the dumbest arguments ever: Larry Lessig is liberal. About 47 years ago, unchecked campaign spending marginally helped a liberal (he did ultimately lose the nomination... and Nixon became president). Therefore, Larry Lessig shouldn't be against money in politics. Signed, the former Executive Director of the Club for Growth. [The Daily Caller] * Meanwhile, the GOP runs into the downside of Citizens United: arming a terrible candidate with so much money he won't drop out. [Slate]

By Joe Patrice