Massachusetts
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.03.16
* Singer Kesha has dropped her lawsuit in California against producer Dr. Luke, but will continue her appeal in New York. She says she dropped the suit because she’s “focused on getting back to work,” but Dr. Luke’s lawyer says it’s because she has “no chance of winning.” Ouch, that’s got to sting. [People]
* Get off my lawn, you damn kids! A New Jersey personal injury attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit against Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, for the “unlawful and wrongful” invasion of his property. It seems that in the rush to catch ’em all, people have been gathering outside of his home, knocking on his door, and asking to enter his backyard. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Following up on his tentative oral ruling, Juge Gonzalo P. Curiel has ruled that a Trump University fraud case filed against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may proceed to trial, but he refused to release Trump’s videotaped deposition. We suppose that the transcript will have to be good enough. [New York Times]
* “These are things that don’t just affect one job; it keeps women’s wages down over their entire lifetime.” Thanks to a new law geared toward closing the gender wage gap, in Massachusetts, it is now illegal for employers to ask about applicants’ salary history before offering them jobs. This goes into effect in 2018. [DealBook / New York Times]
* “We are confidently looking to the future.” Following a series of “regrettable departures” and a capital call that successfully raised about $18.4 million from the firm’s existing partners, it looks like the “modernization” and restructuring of the King & Wood Mallesons partnership is finally going to be drawing to a close. [Big Law Business]
* Jenner & Block has teamed up with the University of Chicago Law School to create a Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic, with the goal of “educat[ing] and train[ing] the next generation of extraordinary appellate advocates and continu[ing] the tradition of helping clients hanks their most important litigation problems.” Congratulations! [ABA Journal]
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Bar Exams
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I'm so glad I never have to take the bar exam again. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.28.16
* Kimberly Kitchen, the woman who was parading around and pretending to be a lawyer for a decade before she was caught in the act, was recently convicted of forgery, unauthorized practice of law, and felony records tampering. On the bright side, at least she doesn’t have six figures worth of law school debt to worry about right now. [WSJ Law Blog]
* President Obama published an op-ed in praise of SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland on AL.com, pleading with Alabamians to let their senators know that it’s their duty to give Scalia’s would-be replacement a hearing and a vote, lest we “jeopardize our system of justice, hurt our democracy, and betray the vision of our founding.” [AL.com]
* Who is the real Merrick Garland? Not only does he have a “résumé that makes you want to cry,” but he’s also a pretty endearing gent. He used to want to be a doctor, he loves singing show tunes, and he was once so nervous when officiating a wedding that he began the ceremony before the bride even walked down the aisle. [New York Times]
* “We are heartened by this development and look forward to the Committee making this request directly … as is standard practice.” Republicans may be willing to accept Merrick Garland’s nominee questionnaire, but the White House has yet to receive one from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley or Senator Patrick Leahy. [BuzzFeed]
* Judge Pamela A.M. Campbell, who presided over Hulk Hogan v. Gawker, has had more decisions reversed on appeal than any other judge in her county, but “a judge who’s not afraid to make a decision and a not afraid to be reversed, is quite naturally going to be reversed more, and that doesn’t mean the judge is not a good judge.” [Tampa Bay Times]
* A judge has ruled that Ropes & Gray, the firm that once represented ex-New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez, must turn over the murder convict’s cellphone to his new attorneys so they can analyze it for his defense in the double murder case he’s being prosecuted for by the Suffolk County DA’s Office in Massachusetts. [Boston Herald]
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Crime, Nude Dancing
How Can You Get A Case Continued When Your Client Is Half-Naked?
Res ipsa loquitur, Your Honor. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.15.15
* “We’re going to the Jersey Shore, bitch!” This probably isn’t the kind of marketing that Jackson Lewis had in mind when the firm announced it was going to be opening an office north of Seaside Heights. Associates, you better get ready for some very serious GTB (gym, tan, billable hours). [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
* Kim Davis may be back to work at the Rowan County Clerk’s Office in Kentucky, but that doesn’t mean she’s done with her fight to not do her job. She’ll be suing Gov. Steve Beshear for failing to provide her with a religious accommodation. [Talking Points Memo]
* Some progress has been made in the infamous “dancing baby” case thanks to a recent Ninth Circuit decision. As it turns out, “copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech.” Prince would’ve wanted it this way. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Public interest problems: When you work in Biglaw, performing a high number of pro bono hours may keep you from “doing the amount or quality of billable that it takes to advance in the firm, because there’s only 24 hours in the day.” [Crain’s Chicago Business]
* Necrophilia is apparently still legal in several of our fine states, but a lawmaker in Massachusetts is trying to get a law on the books that would make sex with the dead illegal. It’s already illegal for Massholes to have sex with animals, so it’s only fair. [Metro]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.17.15
* A ballsy decision dripping with prestige? It seems that a few too many students at Yale Law School requested access to their student admissions evaluation records under FERPA, so instead of handing them over, Yale deleted them. [New Republic]
* Here’s some good news for women attorneys visiting clients in Massachusetts jails: you’ll no longer be forced to lift up your shirt and shake out your bra if your underwire makes the metal detector go off. Instead, you’ll get
felt upa pat down. [Boston Globe]* According to early data culled for the Am Law 100 rankings, from revenue to profits per partner to revenue per lawyer, Winston & Strawn posted record financial results in 2014. Perhaps the days of no-offers and layoffs are long gone for this firm. [Am Law Daily]
* Just because more people took the LSAT in February, it doesn’t mean that the law school crisis is over. It does, however, mean that law school administrators may soon be wishcasting the year-over-year growth of their first-year classes. [National Law Journal]
* Rahul Gupta, the graduate student who used the tried and true “my girlfriend did it” defense during his trial for the fatal stabbing of a Georgetown Law student, was convicted on first-degree murder charges yesterday. He’ll be sentenced on April 16. [WJLA]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.14.15
* In May 2014, we told our readers about the sad state of financial affairs for assistant district attorneys in Massachusetts — they make less money than courthouse janitors. Now is the state finally being encouraged to do something about it. [Boston Globe]
* The University of Maine School of Law is one of 74 law schools to drop its application fee in the hope of enticing more students to apply. Do these schools legitimately believe it’s the fee that’s keeping students away? [Bangor Daily News]
* Partners at Bingham McCutchen, the latest Biglaw firm to flop, claim they knew that the end was near about one year ago, when their managing partner informed them that the firm would “active[ly] wait” for money to appear. Yeah… [American Lawyer]
* The fraud trial for former members of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s top brass was pushed back to April because Joel Sanders hired a new defense attorney. Apparently he had some “irreconcilable differences” with his former counsel. [New York Law Journal]
* The California Commission on Access to Justice plans to launch a legal incubator program. This will help low-income individuals in need of legal services, and the low-income law grads struggling to put their degrees to work. [National Law Journal]
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Shoes, State Judges
Cool Judge Accepts New Nikes As Bail For Broke Dude
Is this the first time a judge has accepted a pair of sneakers as bail? - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Foreclosure Law Firm Facing Eviction From Office Because Karma Is A Bitch
We've got another foreclosure mill for you to point and laugh at. -
Biglaw, Litigators, Partner Issues
Biglaw Firm Could Get Hit With Discovery-Related Sanctions
Which Biglaw firm might get hit with sanctions, and why? -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Document Review, LSAT, Lunacy, Money, Morning Docket, State Judges
Morning Docket: 05.13.14
* Lawyers for Jones Day got a light spanking in court after sending out some of Detroit’s confidential negotiation documents to its creditors. Quick, blame the doc reviewers. Oh wait, you already did. Nice work. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Cynthia Brim, the judge declared “legally insane” who collected a $182K salary for months without working, was booted from the Illinois bench. She’s the first member of the state judiciary to be removed in a decade. [Chicago Tribune]
* Massachusetts is instituting a $30,000 pay hike for state judges which will prime the pump for pension bumps and retirements. For the love of God, think of the poor ADAs next time, Massholes. [Boston Globe]
* The power of diagramming compels you! If you’re studying for the LSAT, here are tricks you can use when trying to exorcise the demons from the logic games section. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
* Prosecutors want Oscar Pistorius to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in order to urge the court to consider an insanity defense, even though Bladerunner’s legal team doesn’t intend to mount one. [CNN]
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Courthouses, Job Searches, Money, Student Loans
In What State Do Courthouse Janitors Make More Money Than Prosecutors?
Which state is allowing entry-level government attorneys to live in squalor? -
Abortion, Free Speech, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Women's Issues
An Intimate Conversation From 35 Feet: A Misguided Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Law
The Massachusetts abortion clinic buffer zone law being considered by SCOTUS violates the First Amendment -- and also does the exact opposite of what most of us would hope.
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Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Perverts, Privacy, Quote of the Day
Man Claims First Amendment Right To Take Pornographic 'Upskirt' Pictures
Do you have a Constitutional right to be a pervert? This man's attorney thinks so. -
Bar Exams, Religion, Screw-Ups
Massachusetts Bar Changes Rules After Ridiculous Mid-Exam Religious Dustup
What is the state doing about its archaic test-taking rules regarding religious headwear? -
Bar Exams, Religion, Women's Issues
Muslim Woman Harassed Over Religious Headwear While Taking Bar Exam
Why on earth did a proctor interrupt a test taker during the bar exam with absurdity like this? -
Biglaw, Crime, Football, Murder, O.J. Simpson, Sports
Law and Order Foxborough: Cue Music, Lights Up On The Ropes & Gray Bike Messenger
What did Ropes & Gray say to Aaron Hernandez? -
BU Law, Career Center, Career Files, Law Schools, Law Students, Pre-Law
Which Is the Most Wicked Awesome Law School in Boston?
How do law students in the Boston area rate their schools in terms of academics, career counseling, social life, and other important areas? -
Dorsey & Whitney, Election Law, Job Searches, John Roberts, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Patents, Sandra Day O'Connor, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 03.04.13
* “Do you know which state has the worst ratio of white voter turnout to African American voter turnout? Massachusetts.” Sorry, Chief Justice Roberts, but the Bay State’s top elections official begs to differ with your assessment. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* This retired SCOTUS justice — the first woman to ever serve on the nation’s highest court — now refers to herself as “an unemployed cowgirl.” We wonder what Justice Scalia will refer to himself as in interviews after he retires. [Sacramento Bee]
* Mayer Brown wasn’t the only Biglaw firm that had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. Dorsey & Whitney’s 2012 revenue was also at a six-year low, but firm leaders think they can turn it around. [Star Tribune]
* Billion-dollar patent verdicts, so hot right now: 2012 was a “banner year” for for Biglaw firms representing winning clients, with K&L Gates leading the pack for the highest monetary award. [National Law Journal]
* “I wouldn’t want to be coming out of law school now.” Oh my God, you guys, the legal job market is still really tough for brand-spanking new law grads. This is new information that no one’s heard before. [Buffalo News]
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Biglaw, Crime, Drinking, Kids, Parties, Partner Issues
Biglaw Partner Accused Of Being Too Cool To Her Daughter On New Year's Eve
Apparently, our government would much rather have teens getting liquored up in alleys and driving home rather than experiencing a safe party at home.