Law School Admissions

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]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 10.30.15

* Even Jordan Weissmann of Slate, who is relatively pro-law school, accepts that there are some people who shouldn't bother going. [Slate] * Yet another prosecutor with a temper: sorry he whipped out a gun at the office, but "Assistant Prosecutor Chris White is really [really, really] afraid of spiders." [Charleston Gazette-Mail] * Moot Court: the movie! Unleash your inner gunner and check out this documentary next month. [DOC NYC] * Roadkill: it's what's for dinner (and apparently there's no law or regulation against this). [Grub Street / New York Magazine] * Professor Michael Koehler on "The Uncomfortable Truths and Double Standards of Bribery Enforcement" (beyond the FCPA). [FCPA Professor] * Nationwide Layoff Watch: sports bloggers. Grantland, RIP. [Bloomberg] * ICYMI, here's your chance to be a D.C. judge (Superior Court, not D.D.C. or D.C. Cir.). [D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission] * Elsewhere in interesting employment opportunities, Practical Law / Thomson Reuters is looking for an experienced IP lawyer to join its Intellectual Property & Technology Service. [Glassdoor] * We wish all our readers a happy (and safe) Halloween -- and remind you to submit legally themed costumes in our annual competition. [Above the Law]

By David Lat