Massachusetts

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 up a 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]

By Staci Zaretsky
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]

By Staci Zaretsky
Bankruptcy

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]

By Staci Zaretsky
Dorsey & Whitney

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]

By Staci Zaretsky