Legal Fees

* Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is trying to raise funds to pay for his legal bills thanks to the numerous investigations into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia. His legal tab could range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to about $1 million. Someone, anyone, please tell this man to set up a GoFundMe account. [Bloomberg Politics]

* Earlier this week, Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was in favor of completely reinstating President Trump’s travel ban from six majority Muslim countries, regaled a group of newly naturalized citizens with his thoughts on the importance of tolerating different viewpoints during “polarizing” times, even if it’s difficult to do. We are living in very strange times. [Associated Press]

* The law school brain drain continues to wreak havoc, with a 45 percent drop in applicants with LSAT scores of 160 or above over the past six years. How in the world can law schools convince these people to apply? Eleven leaders offered their (painfully obvious) ideas, with many of them saying tuition costs must be lowered in light of the state of the weak job market. Gee, ya think? [Law.com]

* According to a study released by Yale Law School and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Asian Americans may be the fastest growing minority population in the legal profession, but they seem to have hit a “legal glass ceiling” when it comes to attaining leadership positions in private practice, academia, and public service. We may have more on this. [Washington Post]

* “I hope to see you and your four children homeless. I will do whatever I can to assure this.” Martin Shkreli is such a peach. A letter the pharma bro allegedly sent to a former employee’s wife was entered into evidence earlier this week during testimony on the manipulation of Retrophin, one of the eight fraud charges Shkreli is currently facing at trial. [DealBook / New York Times]

* “The ballot-selfie prohibition is like ‘burn[ing down] the house to roast the pig.'” Just in time for Election 2016, the First Circuit has struck down New Hampshire’s ballot selfie ban as unconstitutional, citing the fact that it curtailed voters’ free speech, and on top of that, the state was unable to identify any complaints of vote buying or intimidation. [POLITICO]

* Suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who instructed probate judges to adhere to the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, even after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling, says the ethics charges he faces are “ridiculous” since he never “encourage[d] anyone to defy a federal court or state court order.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* Wiley Rein lost two practice group leaders to DLA Piper this week. The firm, known for its media, telecom, government contracts, and IP practices, no longer has partners in charge of its telecom group or its wireless group, but it claims these departures were anticipated, and the practice groups were merged ahead of time. [Big Law Business]

* Cha-ching! The Caesars bankruptcy is ending, which means the “fee frenzy” for lawyers who were working on the case is about to dry up as well. Nine law firms have been involved in the case since the company first filed for bankruptcy in January 2015, and hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees have already been assessed. [Am Law Daily]

* Many jurisdictions adopted the Uniform Bar Exam for the July 2016 administration of the bar exam, and it seems like it may have had the opposite effect on test-takers than what was intended. Graduates of this law school saw their bar exam passage rate drop by 13 percent since last year. We’ll have more on this later today. [Albequerque Journal]

* Martin Shkreli’s hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has been rescheduled due to this weekend’s blizzard. This will give the reviled pharma bro even more time to brush up on constitutional law. [CBS News]

* Uh-oh! Thanks to some “cash flow issues” — like partners not being paid on time — King & Wood Mallesons is currently in the process of raising capital and will be conducting a review of its overall financial structure. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* Cert denied! The justices of the Supreme Court may have bought these lawyers’ arguments and struck down a crucial part of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County case, but they’re certainly not buying their request for $2 million in legal fees. [Reuters]

* A hate crime without a resolution? Police are closing their investigation into the defacement of black professors’ portraits at Harvard Law without having found a perp. Maybe they decided to take Elie Mystal’s advice not to feed the trolls. [Boston.com]

* Florida State settled a lawsuit filed by Erica Kinsman, a former student who claimed Jameis Winston raped her, for $900K, but the school claims $700K of that amount will go to her legal team. Her lawyers, however, would politely beg to differ. [USA Today]

* It’s the Miss Universe pageant lawsuit you’ve all been waiting for: attorneys at a Colombian law firm say they will be filing suit due to Miss Colombia’s crowning and de-crowning, noting “the crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us.” [WGNO]

* The Federal Circuit handed down a major ruling yesterday, saying that the government can no longer bar the registration of offensive trademarks due to restrictions on free speech. This will likely be appealed to SCOTUS, but the Redskins must be pretty pumped. [Reuters]

* In an effort to avoid another Kim Davis fiasco (and to protect clerks’ religious beliefs), Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin has signed an executive order directing that his state prepare new marriage licenses without the names of county clerks. [Associated Press]

* Lil Wayne may be a “motherf**kin’ cash money millionaire,” but he reportedly can’t spare the cash to pay his attorneys’ fees. This marks the second time in recent months that he’s been sued for allegedly failing to pay his lawyers what they’re owed. [SPIN]

* Lakeisha Holloway, the woman accused of using her car to mow down and kill a pedestrian and injure many others on the Las Vegas Strip, has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. [NBC News]

* Will it ever be easier to meet the challenge of proving you’ve got an undue hardship so you can discharge your law school student loan debts in bankruptcy? Your fate may rest in the hands of this indebted Florida Coastal Law grad and his petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court. [US Law Week Blog / Bloomberg]

* Hate crimes still happen, even at this prestigious law school: Amid increased racial turbulence on campus, the Harvard University Police Department is now investigating the defacing of black law professors’ portraits as a hate crime. [ABC News]

* UVA Law recently joined the minority of law schools that have women serving as dean. Pop your collars with pride, because legal historian Risa Goluboff will take over as the school’s first female dean this July. Congratulations! [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

* Gordon Rees has settled its lawsuit against Alex Rodriguez over the baseball player’s outstanding legal bills, totaling more than $380,000. The terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but we have a feeling that the firm hit it out of the park. [NBC New York]

* Try before you buy or a bid to increase tourism? Alaska is making bold moves now that it’s legalized marijuana for recreational use. It’ll be the first state to allow the social use of the drug “in public,” i.e., inside pot dispensaries that have yet to open. [Cannabist]