Law Schools

NALP is a quasi-governing body that oversees legal recruiting from both the law school and Biglaw perspective.

* Rudy Giuliani is reportedly in talks with Robert Mueller over a Trump interview again. Because whenever you have a loose cannon for a client it’s important to get them talking to federal investigators as soon as possible. [CBS News]

* A quick primer on today’s Michael Cohen hearing. [Courthouse News Service]

* Looks like Geoffrey Berman gets to stay on the job at the SDNY. A little-known quirk of the system is that an interim U.S. Attorney, like Berman, can only stay in that role for 120 days and if the White House fails to confirm someone to the role by then, the district court gets to choose who will act as the U.S. Attorney. Judge McMahon says they’ll choose Berman. It’s an anticlimactic conclusion for those of us hoping the judges would put Preet back on the job. [Law360]

* Charlotte Law may be gone, but it has managed to live on as a whistleblower suit, though that may be coming to an end soon and Staci Zaretsky and Kathryn Rubino are partially to blame according to the judge’s opinion. [Daily Business Review]

* The Cosby jury asked the judge to explain the legal definition of consent. How was that not a jury instruction? [Vulture]

* Sally Yates, who lost her job over Trump’s original Muslim ban, offers her take on the latest version. [PBS Newshour]

* That story making the rounds about the golf course that called the cops on black golfers for golfing too slow? Well, one of those golfers is a lawyer. [Legal Intelligencer]

It is important to consider other professionals in order to contextualize the student debt burdens attorneys face.

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* The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on the Trump travel ban case. What’s at stake here, aside from the high court potentially allowing the travel ban to become permanent? The legacy of the Roberts Court also hangs in the balance. A decision upholding the ban could very well be the next Dred Scott, Plessy, or Korematsu, and forever marring this Court’s record. [Take Care]

* Is AG Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the investigation into Michael Cohen, or isn’t he? According to the DOJ, Sessions isn’t involved in any investigations “related in any way to the campaigns for president,” but according to news sources, he hasn’t decided to recuse himself from the Cohen probe quite yet. [Politico; Bloomberg]

* Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia has ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to end the DACA program was “arbitrary and capricious” and “virtually unexplained,” and therefore “unlawful.” Judge Bates ordered that the government must not only continue DACA, but accept new applicants. He stayed his ruling for 90 days to give DHS a chance to explain itself. [Washington Post]

* Kyle Duncan, President Trump’s fifteenth federal appeals court nominee who’s known for litigating disputes involving voter ID requirements, same-sex marriage bans, transgender bathroom access, and the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, was very narrowly confirmed to the Fifth Circuit. [Big Law Business]

* According to the Harvard Law Women’s Law Association, there’s a glass ceiling at the school. The faculty is “overwhelmingly male,” and the administration is “turning a blind eye” to the success of women once they’re enrolled. Something has to change so women can achieve as much success as their male classmates. [Harvard Law Record]

The school dropped its Royall Crest as an unnecessary vestige of a racist past. But the school can't quite figure out what to do without a coat-of-arms because pretentiousness is a hell of a thing.

What is your law school doing to encourage diversity on its law review?

* The long, drawn out saga of the “Monkey Selfie” case has crossed another milestone with the Ninth Circuit ruling that the monkey can’t sue for copyright violations. Reached for comment, the monkey’s attorney expressed disappointment in the decision and hurled feces. [Courthouse News Service]

* Jones Day loses more partners to the lateral market. We assume they saw the Above the Law Law Firm Rankings and decided they had to get out. [American Lawyer]

* Colorado passes “secret prisons” reform bill… in secret. Hurray irony! [9News]

* Kimberly Yuracko named the new dean of Northwestern Law. [Northwestern University NewsCenter]

* Good news for DLA Piper: the Second Circuit upholds their malpractice victory. [Law360]

* K&L Gates adds firepower in Asia. That should serve them well until Trump hears a scary Pokemon Go story on Fox and cuts off all trade to Japan. [International]

* Checking in on the finale of the Global Legal Hackathon. So if you got a suspicious request for money from your practice management software the other day, it was probably hacked. [Legaltech News]

No matter what type of legal job you're looking for, the odds are stacked against you.

This sounds awful.

Is there any transgression serious enough to get someone fired anymore?

With hard work, dedication, practice, time, effort, and a little bit of luck, you'll be able to pass the bar exam.

* Because there is never a moment without drama in this administration, AG Jeff Sessions has told White House counsel Don McGahn that he’s probably going to have to quit if President Trump fires Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. [Washington Post]

* Meanwhile, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short says the president “has no intention of firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller.” Hmm… we’ll just wait right here until those firings don’t happen. *insert Jeopardy music here* [CBS News]

* “[T]here is no human being, on the planet, with more knowledge about federal criminal law than Michael Dreeben, and no one with more expertise than him.” Meet Michael Dreeben, special counsel Robert Mueller’s Supreme Court closer. He’s argued more than 100 SCOTUS cases, and is a force to be reckoned with. [ABC News]

* Hiring for the law school class of 2017 is “up,” with 75.3 percent of graduates employed in full-time, long-term jobs that require law degrees or are considered “JD advantage” positions — but you probably shouldn’t get too excited about that. The only reason the percentage of those employed is higher this year is because the class was 6 percent smaller. In reality, entry-level hiring has decreased. [ABA Journal]

* Which Biglaw firm did Wells Fargo turn to ahead of being hit with record fines that turned into a $1B settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? That would be Sullivan & Cromwell, which “always [tries] to play absolutely straight with the regulators.” [American Lawyer]

* Riley Safer, a spinoff of Schiff Hardin, just elected its first managing partner, and she may be the first black woman to lead a national law firm. Congratulations to Patricia Brown Holmes as she leads the legal profession in the future. [American Lawyer]

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Wendi Adelson 'had nothing to do with this tragic event,' he claims.

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Efforts are underway to radically change America's student loan regime. Are you ready?

This is really not very good...

Never fear, Above the Law is on the case for you.

It's almost like they don't even understand what they're being asked.