Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.19.25

* Trump orders looser restrictions on marijuana... immediately after passing harsher new laws on hemp. Certainly no dementia at work here. [Law360]

* Lawyer for the Joint Chiefs advised that officers should retire rather than follow unlawful order. No word on whether he consulted the Pentagon's new AI for that answer. [CNN]

* KPop Demon Hunters explain how to study for the bar exam. [ABA Journal]

* ROF's year in review. [Roll on Friday]

* The future of the AAA is in AI. So... a fourth A. [Legaltech News]

* ADF moves to spread its assault on rights to the rest of the world. [Guardian]

* Jeanine Pirro's office has seen criminal complaint dismissals rise to 21 percent from -- checks notes -- 0.5 percent. Amazing work all around! [Reuters]

Morning Docket: 12.18.25

* As Trump administration braces for loss in tariff case, it's time to take stock of how unbelievably bad this administration is at "lawyering." [Politico]

* United Airlines pilots claim company lost their 401(k) funds like they were luggage. [Corporate Counsel]

* Delaware replaced Trump's cosplaying US Attorney without drama... yet. [WHYY]

* "If AI is coming for junior lawyers’ jobs, why does their pay keep going up?" Occam's Razor remains undefeated as folks realize AI is not remotely capable of replacing junior lawyers. [Financial Times]

* Lawyer finds new career as foodfluencer. [Legal Cheek]

* Warner rejects Paramount bid as inferior. [Law360]

* Practice management software market is growing like crazy. [Yahoo Finance]

Morning Docket: 12.17.25

* Minority law school enrollment declines at most schools. [NY Times]

* Lawmakers noticing that Brad Bondi's clients keep getting good deals from the DOJ. [Punchbowl News]

* Lawyers fined for hallucinations in OnlyFans case in quintessential 2025 story. [ABA Journal]

* The cure for AI hallucinations may be dusting off your cross-examination skills. [JD Supra]

* DOJ trying to push Maurene Comey case to Merit Board. [New York Law Journal]

* Company publicly trying to abandon its former name files trademark suit against new company trying to use the name. [Law360]

* Supreme Court Shameless Audition Update: Judge Thapar pens gratuitous separate opinion in gun case arguing that the Constitution doesn't apply to immigrants. [Reuters]

* Harvard morgue manager sentenced to 8 years. This case has gone on forever... the legal fees must have cost him an arm and a leg. [WCVB]

Morning Docket: 12.16.25

* Paul Weiss is in the newly released Epstein files to perfectly round out the firm's year in the news. [American Lawyer] [American Lawyer]

* Roomba falls helplessly down the staircase that is Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [Law360]

* Lawsuit alleges that former DLA Piper partner sexually harassed and assaulted an associate. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Consistency is the hobgoblin of good faith actors: Trump administration takes California to court over mid-decade redistricting. [Courthouse News Service]

* State bars struggling to keep up with AI. [ABA Journal]

* Donald Trump suing BBC for $10 billion because it sounds like an appropriately Bond villain figure. [Reuters]

* Ukrainian lawyer fighting for return of children kidnapped by Russia. [The Guardian]

Morning Docket: 12.15.25

* Lawyer demands IRS recognize pets as dependents. [Forbes]

* How many laws does Santa Clause break in one night. [Legal Cheek]

* Supreme Court lays groundwork for "except for agencies that effect our personal wealth" exception to the novel theory they expounded in the FTC oral argument. The "pets as dependents" argument seems positively well-founded by comparison. [Reuters]

* National Trust sues over Trump's ballroom plans. [Law360]

* Deregulaion reaching pre-Depression status. [National Law Journal]

* Law professor sues Boeing alleging toxic fumes inhaled during flight. [ABA Journal]

* Australia faces first legal challenge to law banning children under 16 from social media. [NPR]

Morning Docket: 12.12.25

* DOJ flops in third effort to properly indict Tish James. Only two more and the DOJ gets a free sandwich! (A ham sandwich... obviously)[National Law Journal]

* Winston & Strawn talking merger with Taylor Wessing. [Law.com International]

* Court orders release of Abrego Garcia with blistering opinion noting, among other things, that the supposed 2019 removal order that this is all about... never existed! [NBC News]

* Lawyer hospitalized after being bodyslammed at courthouse. Don't these people realize only ICE is allowed to arbitrarily beat people in courthouses? [ABA Journal]

* Trump issues executive order banning state AI regulation. Remember when these cared about states' rights? [CNBC]

* The president also pardoned Tina Peters, who was convicted of state crimes rendering the pardon entirely useless. [The Hill]

* David Lat talks about data centers from the perspective of Biglaw lawyers working on the deals and -- hopefully -- getting paid before the bubble bursts. [Original Jurisdiction]

* "Lawyer serves up ‘council estate dinner’ of chicken dippers and Sunny D." Look, it could be worse... it could've been the purple stuff. [Roll on Friday]

Morning Docket: 12.11.25

* Citi preaches positive outlook for law firms next year. In fairness, bankruptcy work still counts as demand. [Yahoo Finance]

* Law firms sprucing up their offices to sweeten deal of calling everyone back in. [American Lawyer]

* Lawsuit seeks to block Trump from plastering his face on national park passes like he's Stalin or something. [Law360]

* Trial set to begin for Wisconsin judge charged with obstructing immigration officials by not letting them commandeer her courtroom. [ABC News]

* Ethics expert says senior DOJ leadership declaring "war" on judges is not good for the rule of law. [New York Law Journal]

* Paralegal for prosecutors who snuck a look at her boyfriend's case file receives suspended sentence. [Legal Cheek]

* Legal tech year in review. A lot has happened... but mostly AI. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 12.10.25

* Sullivan & Cromwell argues that Trump's state criminal charges -- over behavior he undertook when he wasn't president -- belongs in federal court because jurors heard testimony about his attempts to cover up the crimes as president. [New York Law Journal]

* Big sanction for Goldberg Segalla over AI use in Chicago Housing case. [Chicago Sun-Times]

* ICE's secret weapon? Databases of often anonymous and unsupported "gang" traits cited to keep people indefinitely detained. [Balls and Strikes]

* Trump's proposed executive order to regulate AI will "face legal hurdles," which is the nice way of noting that this is not how executive orders work. [The Hill]

* Lawsuit alleges Chipotle bowl delivered by DoorDash had a rodent in it. DoorDash immediately regrets not inventing rodent surcharge for the extra. [Law360]

* Department of Justice says evidentiary order is blocking their effort to reindict James Comey as opposed to the fact that it's all clearly time-barred. [ABA Journal]

* Tax prosecutions fall precipitously. [Reuters]

* Supreme Court wants to know JD Vance's political plans so they can bolt some kind of standing on his effort to erase campaign finance reforms. [Supreme Court Brief]

Morning Docket: 12.09.25

* There are officially more lawyers than ever. [Law.com]

* Supreme Court describes a century of precedent as a "dried husk." [Law360]

* St. Thomas Law is once again in communion with the ABA accreditation church. [ABA Journal]

* Reinstatement of white nationalist law student on hold. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* King & Wood Mallesons breaking up. [Law.com International]

* State takes aim at Kalshi, a site that describes itself as merely participating in the "sports prediction" market, which the rest of the world calls "gambling." [Reuters]

* Terry Rozier pleads not guilty to in sports betting investigation... sorry, in sports prediction investigation. [ESPN]

Morning Docket: 12.08.25

* Inside the Bernstein Litowitz drama following Musk case. [Financial Times]

* Supreme Court set to hear argument on executing Humphrey's Executor. [NPR]

* SMU Dedman plans to depart historic area of campus they told everyone they intended to renovate. [Daily Campus]

* Federal judges did not commit ethics violations by reversing retirement plans in light of Trump election. [Reuters]

* Juror accuses fellow juror of "threats, bullying, assault." Why yes, this is in Florida, why do you ask? [Daily Business Review]

* Supreme Court tees up a decision on the merits in Trump's claim that he's erased birthright citizenship from the Constitution. [Law360]

* Jenner & Block call folks back to the office. [American Lawyer]

* Examining Justice Kagan's dissent from the majority's "Texas can do a little racial gerrymandering as a treat" order. [One First]

Morning Docket: 12.05.25

* Supreme Court majority -- without justification -- allows Texas to gerrymander its maps. Now the work begins for the justices to figure out some way to simultaneously claim California's maps aren't legal. [NBC News]

* Justice Department's attempt to re-indict NY AG Letitia James fails as grand jury looks at evidence and says what all the career prosecutors did: "nah." [Law360]

* First court appearance today for man accused of planting pipe bombs before January 6 riot. How long until Trump pardons him? [Reuters]

* Apple poaches Meta's top lawyer. [Bloomberg]

* Netflix announces bid to buy Warner and HBO. From an antitrust perspective, this is troubling. From an entertainment perspective, it's exciting that Netflix might put the worst managed media company in history out of its current leadership misery. [CNN]

* Barrister who wrote novel about shady, rule-breaking lawyer... disbarred. [Roll on Friday]

* Ghislaine Maxwell says releasing the Epstein files could jeopardize her appeal. There's a lot of chatter about Trump pardoning Maxwell, but keeping her locked up in appeals might be the only thing protecting him at this point. [Sky News]

* AI begins to reshape Biglaw training. [American Lawyer]

Morning Docket: 12.04.25

* Should lawyers take a civility oath to cut down on bad behavior? Please stop laughing. [Reuters]

* Republicans launch bid to end dual citizenship. [Newsweek]

* Taking the temperature of London Biglaw associates. Unlike all most temperatures from London, this doesn't require a calculator to convert into something comprehensible. [Law.com International]

* Harvey raises more money. [NY Times]

* Another CEO scammer pardoned by the pro-CEO scammer administration. [Law360]

* Catching up with attorney after Jeopardy! appearance. [Law.com]

* Latest legal thesaurus is out. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 12.03.25

* Elite law firms are doing all the heavy lifting among the Am Law 50. [American Lawyer]

* Trump administration continues firing immigration judges en masse. [Reuters]

* Reviewing Biglaw cafeteria options. In the UK, but still. [Legal Cheek]

* Law professors' divorce gets USC Law sued. [ABA Journal]

* It's Tech vs. Media as amici line up in the ROSS and Westlaw copyright battle. [Legaltech News]

* A new documentary chronicles what it's like to argue before the Supreme Court. [Bloomberg Law News via YouTube]

* Daniel Richman looking to block DOJ from digging into materials seized years ago. [CBS News]

* Law firm referred to DOJ over misconduct allegations. [Law360]

Morning Docket: 12.02.25

* Meta learns that you can't just block your former friend's deposition testimony. [Law360]

* DOJ considering new Comey indictment even though it would be -- to quote Talladega Nights -- "completely illegaI and in no way will count." [Reuters]

* Immigration judge sues Pam Bondi and the DOJ for wrongful termination. [National Law Journal]

* Revisiting Dudley & Stephens. [ABA Journal]

* Supreme Court hears bid to hold internet provider liable for user conduct. [Courthouse News Service]

* Former Cooley lawyer launches AI-driven startup. [Business Insider]

Morning Docket: 12.01.25

* Judge suspended after being charged with the unlawful arrest of delivery driver leaving packages in the courthouse. [ABA Journal]

* Alabama teenager draws election map approved by court over expert options. [The Guardian]

* "Law Firms’ Zeal for Realization Undermines Client Relationships," writes client. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Now that Lindsey Halligan is officially recognized as illegally squatting in her U.S. Attorney role, why haven't the district's judges picked a successor yet? [National Law Journal]

* RealPage claims it's a First Amendment violation for the state of New York to make it illegal to serve as a price fixing facilitator. [Law360]

* Amazon wins injunction blocking state labor law aimed at reclaiming labor law now that the federal government has abandoned the space. [Reuters]

* Congratulations to Cooley Law School for getting off of probation. [Law.com]