Labor / Employment

In 2015, diversity and inclusion were quite the buzzwords in the tech and legal industries; in 2016, can diversity and inclusion initiatives have a real, significant impact on the data in our profession?

Having a rough day at the office and need to blow off a little steam about your clients? Ask a colleague to meet you in the nearest restroom.

If you only read one obvious sanctions motion in the making today, make it this one. This lawyer doesn't care much for his opponent's case and he's going to explain exactly where he's going to stick parts of his anatomy into them if they continue this lawsuit.

Judge Berman's decision is up for review. Will the judges default to his judgment or the weight of Supreme Court precedent.

Making an entry level employee sign a noncompete is just wrong.

Legislators should think carefully about the possible unintended consequences of laws they pass, according to columnist Mark Herrmann, and legislatures should act quickly to amend laws that may, instead of fixing social ills, actually compound them.

* Has the dearth of law school applicants finally pinched Harvard Law? [Bloomberg Business]

* Meanwhile, New York Law School is doing just fine… thanks to its savvy real estate moves. [Crain’s New York Business]

* Amal Clooney sighting in D.C. [Washington Post]

* For those keeping score, only Scalia, Thomas, and Alito skipped the State of the Union last night, which was not really surprising. [CBS News]

* Former Cravath attorney Robert Miranne talks about the movie “Joy,” chronicling the life and times of his mother, Joy Mangano. [The Am Law Daily]

* In July, China arrested Wang Yu, a top women’s rights lawyer for creating a disturbance. They got around to notifying her mother of this… on Monday. In fairness, they’ve really been swamped over there with the sabotaging the global economy thing. [Reuters]

* FLSA class actions expected to hit record high this year. “I keep waiting — because I’ve been studying it for 15 years — for the number of wage-and-hour lawsuits to crest or go down” said Seyfarth’s Gerald Maatman Jr. And I keep waiting for companies to dutifully pay employees the money they actually owe them, yet here we are. [Law 360]

Did you think USC's football coach was going to lose a multimillion dollar job without a fight?

* Supreme Court hears argument about chicks and removing clothes for money, and it’s a lot less interesting than that sounds. [Law360]

* Congratulations to Cristina Carvalho, the next managing partner of Arent Fox. [National Law Journal]

* Federal government pushes “poor people aren’t real people” mantra a tad further: proposes rule banning smoking in your own home if you live in public housing. [New York Times]

* The next time you think we have a do-nothing Congress, note that they’ve just passed a law to divvy up asteroids for mining! They’re really hard at work on the pressing issues of today. [KING5]

* Chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board pulled out of the investigation into Justice Michael Eakin’s troubling emails after someone pointed out that he played a lead role in the justice’s 2011 re-election campaign. Wha? How did anyone think this was OK? I repeat: What the hell is wrong with Pennsylvania’s justice system? [York Daily Record]

* Checking in on Braeden Anderson, the Seton Hall basketball player balancing an NCAA season with his 1L year. [The Setonian]

* “Facebook Sees 23% Spike In Law Enforcement Requests For Data.” JackBootThug37 Likes This. [TechCrunch]

* Ted Cruz says there should be 700 miles of double fencing along the border. I’d welcome anything to keep dirty Canadians from coming down and running for president. [Real Clear Politics]

* Good news, everyone! Legally Blonde 3 is supposedly in the works, and Reese Witherspoon says that the movie may involve Elle Woods becoming a Supreme Court justice or some kind of an elected official. It’s really too bad that SCOTUS robes aren’t pink. [Washington Post]

* Biglaw firms aren’t the only ones that are downsizing when it comes to their headcount. Case in point, Lear Corporation’s in-house legal department has dropped from 20 attorneys to 11, but its GC Terry Larking says it’s working for the company. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Cornell Law School will be teaming up with Cornell Tech to launch a new LL.M. degree in law, technology, and entrepreneurship. Like most LL.M. degrees, we imagine that it will cost a pretty penny, but that its overall value on the market will be low. [Cornell Chronicle]

* “Do we really need to protect people from trying to achieve their dreams?” Professor Noah Feldman of Harvard Law thinks we shouldn’t coddle law school applicants who are unlikely to pass a bar or try to “save” them from a lifetime of debt. [Bloomberg View]

* She shoots, she scores? An ex-cheerleader filed suit against the Milwaukee Bucks under the Fair Labor Standards Act because she alleges she was paid less than minimum wage to cheer for the team. The suit is the first of its kind filed against an NBA team. [ABC News]

* 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]

* Jurors in the criminal trial for former leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf have reviewed evidence for a full week already, and will return to court today for their eighth day of deliberations. At least the defendants will be able to keep killing time on Candy Crush. [WSJ Law Blog]

* A federal judge denied the UFC’s motion to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit that was filed against it by current and former fighters over the organization’s monopolization of the MMA industry. It’s time to bring in an armbar submission artist to stop the UFC for good. [ESPN]

* “I don’t want to leave my successor a dirty barn.” Hot on the heels of his surprise resignation, House Speaker John Boehner has vowed to avoid a government shutdown and pass some legislation before his time is up. Well, it’s good to have goals. [Reuters]

* Volkswagen can expect nothing less than a “tsunami” of lawsuits and legal proceedings thanks to its emissions scandal. On the bright side, Kirkland & Ellis is going to be able to reap the rewards of thousands of billable hours. [Chicago Tribune; Automotive News]

* TV staffers who worked on “The Following” and “The Blacklist” filed suit against production companies Warner Brothers, NBC, and Sony, alleging they were forced to work 24 hours straight — and pee in bottles — without being paid overtime. [New York Post]

Judge Posner and Judge Hamilton tag team a litigator given an impossible task.

There is a big difference between a goal and quota.

* A new paper by Professors Josh Blackman and Howard Wasserman on the process of marriage equality. For those of you who get really excited over civil procedure. [SSRN]

* Fresh off the threat of Supreme Court sanctions, partner Howard Shipley, formerly of Foley & Lardner, has landed at Gordon & Rees. Good fit… there’s no way he’ll embarrass that firm. [Gordon & Rees]

* We had some fun at the expense of a very predictable Norwegian prison escape the other day, but it’s worth recognizing an outlier for what it is — here’s a detailed look at Norway’s usually successful prison system. [New York Times]

* With public defenders like these… An interpreter employed by the public defenders’ office scammed immigrants seeking bribes with promises to pull strings to avoid deportation. [Times-Picayune]

* Is “Office Temperature-Gate” worthy of a Title VII claim? [Adjunct Law Prof Blog]

* A guy sat in prison for over 3 months after he completed his sentence because the system is as awful as it is incompetent. [Mother Jones]

* If you’re looking for CLE and have tickets to New York Comic Con on Thursday, October 8, then here’s the panel for you. [NY Comic Con]

* Most employers in New York City can no longer check credit history in making employment decisions. Time to hit up Saks for that shopping spree. [DLA Piper]

The parties have written the final chapter is this long-running saga.

* TSA officials in Houston are checking hundreds of sorority girl bags because the convention book — that all of them have — keeps raising red flags. Now, Underhill thinks TSA should have figured this out and stopped checking. But that’s just what those girls from ΙΣΙΣ are banking on. [Lowering the Bar]

* Don’t recommend people on the grounds that they “don’t have enemies.” It’s not a compliment unless you immediately follow it with, “… anymore.” [What About Clients?]

* The ABA tries to make it harder to game the U.S. News rankings. That doesn’t sit right with law schools. [TaxProf Blog]

* The tech industry doesn’t understand labor law. Which is weird, because you can Google that s**t. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Venable not liable for alleged puffery. The firm is just glad it can go back to being the greatest lawyers on the face of the Earth. [The Blog of the Legal Times]

* The intellectual property concerns of cosplay. Remember if you get sued, the people dressed like Daredevil and She-Hulk aren’t actually able to help you. [IP Watchdog]

* Elie discusses the Samuel DuBose killing and Pell grants. [Legal Broadcast Network via YouTube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5IFKRZoT6g

* With the accusations mounting, and the stunning New York Magazine cover feature 35 women alleging Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them, the comedian’s legal team is changing tactics. [CNN]

* Does ideology play a role in conferring honorary degrees? One conservative law professor says yes. [National Law Journal]

* Ever wonder why there are so many iconic movie roles that are lawyers? [ABA Journal]

* Citizens United actually loses a legal battle, this time courtesy of New York’s own Amazing Schneiderman. [Wall Street Journal]

* Need more evidence that campaign finance laws are a joke? [Huffington Post]

* China’s first lawsuit over pollution is a go. [Jurist]

* What will the long term impact be of legally classifying Uber drivers as employees? [Law.com]