Legal Ethics

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  • Morning Docket: 01.06.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.06.17

    * What’s it like to be the “tweetingest judge in America”? Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court tells us what it’s like to live a week in his life in this endearing column. From letting us know where he spends much of his time (the local Chick-fil-A) to revealing the reason he Tweets so much (to get reelected) to describing his love for his children, Justice Willett is a true gem of the judiciary. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Judge Timothy Parker of the Carroll County District Court in Arkansas has resigned from his post and agreed to never serve as a judge again to avoid being charged with ethical misconduct. Judge Parker was accused of arranging for defendants’ pretrial releases in exchange for sexual favors, but says he never contested the allegations on the record because he has kids and “[didn’t] want them exposed to that kind of crap.” [AP]

    * The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has threatened to file suit against the National Park Service for “stonewalling and refusing to release permits that are vitally needed by organizers in order to plan and execute peaceful, lawful free-speech activities” — that is, protests and rallies — of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Only three groups out of 26 have received permits, and the inauguration is in two weeks’ time. [Reuters]

    * “While it is encouraging to see small gains in most areas this year, the incredibly slow pace of change continues to be discouraging.” The most recent National Association for Law Placement report has revealed that as usual, women and minorities are just barely making progress at the nation’s largest law firms when it comes to their representation as a whole and their presence in firm partnerships. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Per Altman Weil’s latest report on law firm mergers, there were six fewer mergers in 2016 than in 2015. Although just 85 deals were announced last year compared to 91 in 2015, they were “better” than those announced in years prior, and in fact, some of the biggest names in Biglaw agreed to combine, including the Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill merger and the Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer merger. [Big Law Business]

  • Morning Docket: 12.19.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.19.16

    * Uh-oh! What’s going on at Kirkland & Ellis? Sources say that the firm recently changed its framework for allocating equity partner profits, making deep cuts to some partners’ shares. Litigation partners were reportedly hit so hard by these changes that multiple sources called the situation a “bloodbath.” We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]

    * Talk about a money shot: Attorneys Paul Hansmeier and John Steele, formerly of Prenda Law, have been charged in a “massive extortion scheme” after allegedly uploading porn videos they produced themselves to file-sharing websites so they could then sue those who downloaded the films for copyright violations. [NBC News]

    * Kerrie Campbell, the Chadbourne & Parke partner who sued her firm for $100 million over allegations of gender discrimination, has asked a court to dismiss C & P’s counterclaim, referring to the claims therein as “in terrorem tactic” to silence other women at the firm and elsewhere who have similar bias claims. [Big Law Business]

    * Here’s a question that far too many law school deans were faced with this fall: “What’s the best way to share a school’s bad bar exam results?” Some chose to be blunt and others chose to be empathetic, but at the end of the day, the news is devastating to recent graduates, so there’s only so much one can really do to soften the blow. [ABA Journal]

    * Charleston church gunman Dylann Roof was convicted on federal hate crime charges and is now awaiting the punishment phase of his trial. In case you didn’t know, he’s also waiting to stand trial on state murder charges, which means he’s the first person in the modern era to face the possibility of federal and state death penalty sentences. [Reuters]