Law Clerks

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.02.16

* Not only has the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Rhonda Crawford, the former law clerk who was fired from her position and later indicted after she allegedly impersonated a judge while running unopposed for an elected position as a judge, can't take office if she wins the election, but the court has also suspended her from practicing law until further notice. A date for her trial has not yet been set. [Associated Press] * Some law schools are still falling short when it comes to being truthful about their graduates' employment outcomes. During a recent audit of of 10 randomly selected law schools' jobs data, half of them missed compliance benchmarks for documentation that was supposed to be kept on file. On the bright side, none of the errors seemed to be instances of "gross misreporting" or "attempts to manipulate." [Inside Higher Ed] * "Will Brad Smith feel he can get a fair shake in front of the Washington Supreme Court? If the answer is no, then did he create the situation is a fair question." Not only have Microsoft's co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen contributed to political action committees to oust Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles Wiggins, but the company's chief legal officer has joined in the fun now, too. [Big Law Business] * Bill Cosby's lawyers are trying to prevent jurors from hearing incriminating deposition testimony the comedian gave in 2005 in a civil suit related to sexual assault allegations made by Andrea Constand. They claim that a former prosecutor promised never to bring their client to trial over those allegations: "This was a sitting district attorney saying, 'I'm not going to prosecute your client, ever.'" Do you think they'll be successful? [Reuters] * "We feel betrayed in a lot of ways, because we were promised. We were promised that the school would be open, we were promised we would have a place to learn, and that was all yanked away from us." Indiana Tech Law School students are speaking out in the wake of their dreams being crushed by the school's sudden closure, and they are not happy about it -- especially those of them with outstanding education loans. [WFYI]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.21.16

* Rhonda Crawford, the Illinois law clerk who allegedly posed as a judge and was running unopposed for her own judgeship, was indicted for her judicial impersonation. Crawford does not intend to drop out of the race for a seat on the bench, despite the state bar ethics commission seeking to suspend her license to practice. [Chicago Tribune] * London firms CMS and Olswang are merging with international firm Nabarro for a three-way combination that's set to close in May 2017 and operate under the name CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, but rumor has it an American firm wants to get in on the action. Will Hunton & Williams join in for four-way fun? [The Lawyer] * "[M]aybe Republicans can stop with the 60-something repeal votes they've taken ... and just work with the next president to smooth out the kinks." President Obama hopes that maybe when his second term in the White House is over, his signature healthcare law can be fixed. He doesn't even care if they change its name to "Reagancare." [Reuters] * "The panic is starting to set in. Those who have a lot of interests at stake need to do work now." Lawyers across the pond are poised for a profitable 2017 thanks to people scrambling for legal advice following Brexit, but those billables won't last forever; after all, lawyers aren't "immune to a broader economic slowdown." [Big Law Business] * More law schools are partially or completely covering bar exam preparation costs for their students, but with pass rates plummeting across the nation, you must be curious if this trend has had any positive effect. It worked for Loyola New Orleans and Southern University, whose pass rates for first-timers increased quite a bit. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky