Matt Levine
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 05.30.17
* Harvard law students go all out in everything they do — and lying is no exception. [New Yorker]
* If you’re looking to purchase ancillary legal services (e.g., business or litigation support), check out the Buying Legal Guide, just launched today by the Buying Legal Council and Legal.io. [Buying Legal Guide]
* Joshua Matz explains how and when the Supreme Court might review the Trump travel ban (aka “Muslim ban”). [Take Care via How Appealing]
* Speaking of the courts, here’s Professor Carl Tobias’s advice to President Donald Trump on how to fill those 100+ vacancies in the federal judiciary. [Washington and Lee Law Review Online]
* Why is flying such a miserable experience? Blame not just the lawyers but also the index funds, as Matt Levine explains. [Bloomberg View]
* A prominent professor sues Columbia Law School, alleging age discrimination. [TaxProf Blog]
* Professor Eugene Volokh explains the First Amendment to government officials: “no, the government may not deny permits for speech because it views the speech as promoting ‘bigotry or hatred.'” [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]
* Additional thoughts on what TC Heartland means for venue in patent cases, from IP columnist Gaston Kroub. [On the Docket / George Washington Law Review]
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Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms
Think Like A Pilgrim: Striking The Right Balance Of Legalese In Client Communications
Take a lesson from the Pilgrims and the spirit of Thanksgiving for better client communications all year long. - Sponsored
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Zach Warren from the Thomson Reuters Institute discusses the potential and the pitfalls. -
Biglaw, Lateral Moves, Partner Issues
A Deeper Dive Into Scott Barshay's Move From Cravath To Paul Weiss
How major a move is this, and how much might he make at his new firm?
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Biglaw, Conferences / Symposia, Technology
5 Insights On Representing The Banking Industry, From Rodge Cohen Of Sullivan & Cromwell
A leading lawyer to the financial services industry, H. Rodgin Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell, shares some of his wisdom. -
Election Law, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Sports, Supreme Court, Wall Street
Non-Sequiturs: 10.03.14
* Apparently, heckling Carmelo Anthony can cost you your job. [Dealbreaker] * There’s nothing the Supreme Court can do to stop cops who want to take a long time to release you from a stop, even if the Court wants to. [Simple Justice] * I think we should just ask John Roberts to tell every state precisely how they are allowed to discriminate against black voters and be done with it. Just tell us the rules so we can start the GOTV campaigns. [Election Law Blog] * Former Manhattan Assemblywoman Gabriela Rosa gets a year in jail for purchasing a sham marriage to gain citizenship. The “for citizenship” part is what got her, because lots of politicians are in sham marriages. [Journal News] * Judge Frank Easterbrook thinks that the new proposed length limit for appellate briefs is too short. Verbose litigators everywhere, rejoice. [How Appealing] * I thought “spoofing” was bad for the market, but Matt Levine says cracking down on spoofing “helps” high-frequency traders, who I also think are bad for the market. You know why I’m not an SEC lawyer? Prosecuting people based on them being “bad” becomes untenable when everybody involved is rich. [Bloomberg View] -
2nd Circuit, Billable Hours, Blog Wars, Blogging, Books, Citigroup, Holidays and Seasons, Judge of the Day, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Securities Law, Sex, Sex Scandals, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Wall Street
Non-Sequiturs: 03.29.13
* To those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter! Welcome the holiday by voting in the ABA Journal’s fifth annual “Peeps in Law” contest. [ABA Journal] * If law firm brackets aren’t your thing, check out Professor Kyle Graham’s brackets for (1) law school classes and (2) law blogs. I’m thankful for ATL’s #1 seed but terrified by who we’re up against (because they’ve ripped me a new one before). [noncuratlex] * Sorry, Judge Steiner, you wuz robbed; you should have been our Judge of the Day. It’s tough to top “allegations of a sexual quid pro quo with a female lawyer and the eye-opening confiscation of carpet from [chambers] for forensic analysis.” [OC Weekly] William Shatner * “William Shatner’s Seductive Powers Don’t Create a Fiduciary Duty.” Robyn Hagan Cain explains why. [U.S. Second Circuit / FindLaw] * Citi settles securities cases for $730 million. Matt Levine is not impressed. [Dealbreaker] * And Ted Frank is incensed by Bernstein Litowitz’s nine-figure fee request. [Point of Law] * If you’re already depressed by public ignorance about the Supreme Court, don’t look at the responses to question 9 of this opinion poll. [Penn Schoen Berland] * Steven Harper — author of a new (and very good) book about the legal profession, The Lawyer Bubble (affiliate link) — offers thoughts on the billable hour in the wake of the DLA Piper overbilling allegations. [New York Times] -
DealBreaker, Insider Trading, Securities and Exchange Commission
Even So, Mark Cuban Is Probably Glad He Got Rid Of His Mamma.com Stock
To get a sense of how old and long-drawn-out the SEC’s insider trading lawsuit against Mark Cuban is, consider this: the company in which he allegedly insider traded was Mamma.com. The .com was right there in the name. Future generations — hell, present generations — will indiscriminately add “.com” to the end of words to […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Benchslaps, Department of Justice, Free Speech, Movies, Non-Sequiturs, Pro Bono, Romance and Dating, Sam Sparks
Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.11
* Some thoughts from our colleague Matt Levine on the Justice Department’s opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. [Dealbreaker] * Judge Sam Sparks (W.D. Tex.), king of the benchslap — yes, we already covered his latest handiwork, so no need to email the “kindergarten party” order to us again — has blocked key parts of the […] - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Craigslist, Food, Law Professors, Law Schools, Securities and Exchange Commission, Sex Scandals, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 08.12.11
* The Kardashians may be “America’s rightful overlords,” as Marin so memorably put it, but even they must respect intellectual-property laws. [Fashionista] * Congratulations to the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 (class of 2011). Perhaps you know some of the inductees? [National LGBT Bar Association] * In less cheerful LGBT news… another day, another Republican […] -
Blogging, Career Alternatives, DealBreaker, Goldman Sachs
Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Seriously Guys, This Blogging Thing Might Have Legs
If you are lawyer who is looking for a career change, you really might want to give blogging a try. You won’t make as much money as you would in a Biglaw job. You probably won’t make as much as you would working for a well-respected small law firm. But money isn’t everything. Take it […]