Morning Docket

* Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings will continue today, and we imagine that when his rulings are discussed, he’ll be pummeled on own “frozen trucker” case — but his involves a killer whale. [National Law Journal]

* Special counsel Robert Mueller says he’ll accept written answers from President Donald Trump on questions related to whether his campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. As for the obstruction question, it seems like Mueller still wants an interview. [New York Times]

* The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached settlements totaling about $216,815 with the former leaders of failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf. Of course, that’s nowhere near multimillion-dollar fraud that’s been alleged, but at this point, Dewey even care anymore? [American Lawyer]

* According to the American Bar Association, Florida Coastal Law, the last InfiLaw school left standing, is still out of compliance with accreditation standards. Coastal is already suing the ABA, so this latest decision is sure to inspire some additional filings from the school. [ABA Journal]

* North Dakota Law has welcomed more than two dozen students who fled from beleaguered Arizona Summit Law with open arms. Why have so many Summit students flocked to Roughrider Country? All of their credits will be accepted there, which is a pretty good reason. [Bismarck Tribune]

* Colin Kaepernick’s lawsuit against the NFL alleging collusion between NFL teams will be allowed to go forward, at least to a full hearing. [Slate]

* A former NBC exec says the network threatened to smear Ronan Farrow if he kept investigating Harvey Weinstein. [Daily Beast]

* Proskauer settles lawsuit over the work the firm did for convicted Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford… to the tune of $63 million. [New York Law Journal]

* A Mueller bombshell to drop by 5pm today? We’ll be watching. [Mediaite]

* Inside the fight to deregulate the U.K. legal market. [The Financial Times]

* Microsoft is doubling down in making sure its outside law firms (and other suppliers) provide paid parental leave for their employees. [Corporate Counsel]

* Bank of America is facing backlash after freezing accounts of people they suspect as being non-U.S. citizens. [Huffington Post]

* Trump Tweets out his demand that Chief Justice Roberts crack down on Judge Collyer for not using the FISA court to undermine the Russia probe. Did Trump do misspell Judge Collyer’s name in the process? Oh you know by now that of course he did. [Reuters via Huffington Post]

* No sooner did a jury actually convict a cop of killing an unarmed black teen, did they turn around and sentence him to less than even the defense attorneys dreamed of. [Courthouse News Service]

* The SEC fined Moody’s over poor controls, which seems about a decade too late, but whatever. [Corporate Counsel]

* Is Rudy Giuliani using his relationship to the president to further his lobbying career? That would be really shocking for someone involved with this administration! [National Law Journal]

* Eighth Circuit approves corporate discrimination efforts. [The Recorder]

* FIFA convict compared to John McCain… I guess because they’ll both be spending time in captivity? [NY Post]

* Clifford Chance slapped with fine for discriminating against non-U.S. citizens. You can take the firm out of Rogers & Wells, but you can’t take the Rogers & Wells out of the firm. Seriously though, this was just a misunderstanding of ITAR regulations. [Law360]

* Trump’s now claiming that Stormy Daniels is impinging on his right to free speech because weaponizing that right’s worked so well so far, why not extend it to this? [NBC]

* In the same breath, we’re now talking about censoring Google to “own the libs.” [Recorder]

* And the First Amendment now protects sharing food with homeless people, because apparently we needed a rule to cover being a decent human being.

* Don McGahn may be on the way out after spilling the beans to Mueller. Trump insists on Twitted that McGahn is not a “rat” like John Dean, but just as this whole administration is “Nixon, but dumber” McGahn probably didn’t realize what he was doing while he did it. [Business Insider]

* People are up in arms over Lanny Davis being an anonymous source for CNN, but really what was CNN supposed to do? They couldn’t say, “Davis refused to comment on the record” because that would prove he was the anonymous source. It’s where dumb journalism rules hang people up because the right answer would be to make no mention at all of Davis, but journos feel they have to indicate that they tried to talk to principal figures in any given story. Anyway, Glenn Greenwald has thoughts on this and he used to be a real journalist before he went batshit crazy. [GQ]

* California ends money bail! California, man. They’re ahead on everything. Getting rid of bail, legal weed, regretting Reagan…. [Washington Post]

* One of the actions Trump is “most proud of” is one he never accomplished. Sounds about right. [Axios]

* Vermont changes its laws in bid to become a blockchain hub because it’s all about bad ideas. [VT Digger]

* Which Biglaw firm orchestrated the biggest turnaround in associate satisfaction this year? [American Lawyer]

* Evidence nerds can rejoice! The upcoming Manafort trial will have a lot to talk about on that front. [National Law Journal]

* Despite some talk from proponents, re-erecting UNC’s recently toppled Confederate statue isn’t required by law. Just a staunch commitment to white supremacy. [News & Observer]

* A consideration of bail alternatives. [Courthouse News Service]

* GCs from some of the biggest companies in the world share what they want out of outside counsel. [Law.com]

* A quick chat with Marriott’s general counsel. If you read it, you get 10000 Marriott points. OK, you don’t really but that would be a good promotion. [Law360]

* Ken Starr has a new workplace to disgrace! [Law.com]

* One of the lawyers who spoke at a recent Nazi rally has been disbarred. [Daily Beast]

* Verizon is now apologizing for its decision to throttle the data of firefighters battling Western blazes, claiming it should not have throttled their data. The company should be apologizing for having a system that automatically artificially caps data in an effort to bleed money out of consumers, but they’re not going to be doing that. [Courthouse News Service]

* A collection of legal remembrances of John McCain. Eric Holder appears to leave out the whole “McCain fought against Martin Luther King Day” part in his reverential message. [National Law Journal]

* Former critic named UVA’s top lawyer. [Corporate Counsel]

* Wait, there are helicopter parents in law school? Cut the f**king cord, people. [Legal Talk Network]

* The U.S. government’s criminal jurisdiction still requires at least some tie to the United States. [Law360]

* Jeff Sessions assures people that the Justice Department won’t be intimidated by the administration. Trump responds with intimidation effort, blasting Justice for not doing enough about the “other side” and then just lists a bunch of Republicans he doesn’t like. [CNN]

* The White House is crowing over an unsealed Starr investigation report that “fully exonerates” Brett Kavanaugh… as a media leak. The collective delusion over there that being a leak is the worst possible sin, and not, you know sexual harassment issues, continues to astound. [National Law Journal]

* The Trump administration continues its efforts to raise taxes on Americans who didn’t vote for him. [Law360]

* After Debevoise offered a comically cozy report to help Ohio State keep winning football games, it’s worth remembering the school still has another internal investigation going on into sexual abuse claims against the wrestling staff. [Corporate Counsel]

* The Texas lateral market is making a whole lot of money. [Texas Lawyer]

* K&L Gates gets the go ahead on Singapore merger. [International]

* Ady Barkan, an ALS patient who has become an activist for patients, announced a campaign to raise money for Susan Collins’s next opponent if she supports the Kavanaugh nomination. Over the course of 3 days, he’s raised over $130K. [Crowdpac]

* RelativityOne announces Allen & Overy to its list of clients. [PR Newswire]

* Michael Cohen says he doesn’t want a pardon, but he may not have a choice. [National Law Journal]

* Now we’re going to have a needless semantic fight over the phrase “unindicted co-conspirator” because lawyers can’t help themselves. [Law360]

* How to make the most money as a general counsel. [Corporate Counsel]

* Paul Manafort wants the court to seal some portions of the transcript which doesn’t sound suspicious at all. [Courthouse News Service]

* If it feels like there’s been a lot of law firm mergers lately, that’s because there’s been a lot of law firm mergers lately. [American Lawyer]

* Eighth Circuit pick rejects Judge Kopf’s recent broadside against women seeking meaningful sexual harassment reform. [National Law Journal]

* Georgia State offensive lineman is also going to law school. [AJC]

* Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws when he made payments to women “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office … for the principal purpose of influencing the election.” In response, Rudy Giuliani, who apparently prefers to look at the bright side of things and because the truth isn’t the truth, said, “There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen.” [New York Times]

* Oopsie… Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife were indicted by a federal grand jury on 60 counts on charges related to the misuse of more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses (like family vacations and school tuition) and then trying to conceal it by filing false campaign finance records. [USA Today]

* Venable is merging with New York IP firm Fitzpatrick Cella, and the deal is expected to close on November 1. The combined firm will have 800 lawyers, a major presence in the Big Apple, and revenue that’s expected to top $620 million. [American Lawyer]

* We know that law school enrollment is up, but at some law schools, it’s really up. Several schools have seen their first-year enrollments climb by double-digit percentages, which is a welcome change for some schools. [Law.com]

* Speaking of law schools, if you’re trying to get into an elite school, then your GPA obviously needs to be really high. But how high are we talking here? All of the top 10 schools have median GPAs of 3.7 or higher. Good luck out there! [U.S. News]

* Michael Cohen is talking to John Dean because 2018 is the new 1973. [WTOP]

* Shocking no one, John Dowd doesn’t understand basic laws. [Washington Post]

* Andrew Cuomo signed a bill cracking down on bad prosecutors. He’s been in office for 7 years but he finally got around to this because Cynthia Nixon said something about criminal justice reform. [Law360]

* UNC students toppled a confederate statute because the school wasn’t doing anything about it. [Huffington Post]

* Will elite Biglaw firms suffer from mid-tier competition? Probably not, but maybe. [American Lawyer]

* Microsoft identifies more Russian hacking efforts because Microsoft is our default government now. [Courthouse News Service]

* Georgia is trying to kill kids. [AJC]

* FIFA fired its lawyer so if you want a job facilitating international graft on an epic scale, here’s your chance. [NY Times]

* It turns out that Don McGahn, the White House counsel, has been cooperating “extensively” with Robert Mueller’s obstruction investigation. He’s apparently been sharing “detailed accounts” for his own legal security because he thought President Trump might be trying to set him as the fall guy. [New York Times]

* Judge T.S. Ellis says that he’s received threats while overseeing Paul Manafort’s trial and that he is now under the protection of U.S. Marshals. He’s refused to release the names of the jurors out of a genuine concern for their safety. [USA Today]

* Federal prosecutors are reportedly preparing charges related to bank and tax fraud for Michael Cohen. He allegedly misrepresented his assets to obtain loans and failed to properly report income from his taxi medallions. Yikes! [CNN]

* Speaking of Cohen, Bracewell partner Barbara Jones has concluded her privilege review of the more than 3.2 million documents seized from Michael Cohen, and found that about 7,150 were actually privileged — a fraction of what was taken, and a fraction of what Cohen’s legal team claimed was privileged. [New York Law Journal]

* “I will regret every day of my life, the day I met Martin Shkreli.” Despite his lawyers’ request for no jail time, Evan Greebel, the former Biglaw partner who once worked with the pharma bro, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. [American Lawyer]

* Esperanza Franco, a 2015 graduate of Penn Law’s LL.M. program and 2017 graduate of Arizona’s J.D. program, has been defending immigrants from deportation, but she may soon face deportation herself thanks to a series of visa errors. You can donate here to help her stay in the country. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* In response to President Trump’s “relentless assault” against the press, more than 300 newspapers published editorials denouncing his attacks and defending the freedom of the press. In response, Trump said he wants “true” freedom of the press, but without the “FAKE NEWS.” Come on, even the Supreme Court wants the press to remain free. [National Law Journal]

* Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster, the publishers of Omarosa Manigault Newman’s White House memoir, are hitting back hard against President Trump’s attempts to silence her and stop its publication. this letter from Davis Wright Tremaine partner Elizabeth McNamara is freakin’ fantastic. [Deadline]

* According to prosecutors, an argument over family financial matters is allegedly what caused John Gately III to fatally shoot his brother-in-law, Mayer Brown partner Stephen Shapiro. The Supreme Court star reportedly died in an attempt to protect his wife. Gately has been denied bond and plans to plead not guilty. [American Lawyer]

* ICYMI, two judges were just confirmed to the Fourth Circuit by margins we haven’t seen in a while. Meet Julius Richardson, a federal prosecutor who once worked at Kellogg Huber (81-8), and Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a former Nelson Mullins partner who’s been a a federal judge for six months (62-28). [Courthouse News]

* Law firm merger mania: Stinson Leonard Street will be merging with IP boutique Senniger Powers to add some extra oomph to the firm’s “market-leading IP services.” The merger is expected to close on October 1, bringing Stinson Leonard’s total headcount to almost 500 attorneys. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

* Trinity Western University wants to open a law school so badly that the administration is now willing to drop the “community covenant” that would have forbidden gay students from having sex. That rule will now be optional for the student body at the Christian school. Would you want to enroll? [StarMetro Vancouver]

* Charges filed in the murder of Stephen Shapiro against the victim’s brother-in-law. [American Lawyer]

* Over in the Sixth Circuit, Judge Amul Thapar launched his latest bid to be the Federalist Society’s next favorite son by taking the Supreme Court’s intellectually bankrupt Epic opinion and saying, “what if it didn’t go far enough?”[National Law Journal]

* As sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic Church continue to mount, Andrew Cuomo asks the state to expand the deadline to bring claims to the age of 50. Like every other Cuomo move, I assume this comes because Cynthia Nixon wanted it moved to 49. [New York Law Journal]

* Lawsuits focus on want ads specifically targeted to young demographics on social media. That certainly sounds like age discrimination, but with this judiciary, I’m sure it’s a violation of the employers’ Free Speech rights to engage in fair hiring practices. [NPR]

* “According to the massive DOJ settlement, RBS didn’t just commit fraud—its employees also chatted about it via email and text.” Ladies and gentlemen, the people we entrust with our economic well-being! [Corporate Counsel]

* Evan Greebel tried to get out of his conviction. He failed. [Law360]

* Masterpiece Cakeshop is back, explaining why they shouldn’t have to serve trans people now. [Courthouse News Service]

* Oh, and obviously Trump is going to fight the Mueller subpoena because telling the truth is hard and creating a constitutional crisis is easy. [Washington Post]

* Paul Manafort’s attorneys rested their case without calling a single witness or putting their client on the stand. Why’s that? “[H]e and his legal team believe that the government has not met its burden of proof.” Best of luck with that. [ABC News]

* White House staffers are reportedly “[t]errified, [a]bsolutely terrified” about what might be revealed in the conversations Omarosa Manigault Newman secretly taped. Hmm, what could they possibly be so scared about? [Politico]

* You may be wondering how Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, is funding his legal defense. Apparently he could use some more cash, because he just put his new apartment up for rent for $25K a month. [Real Deal]

* Guess which law school has abandoned its students while it appeals the ABA’s decision to pull its accreditation? That would be Arizona Summit, which recently sprang the news on its remaining students that no fall classes will be held. [Law.com]

* Kei Komuro, who is engaged to Princess Mako of Japan, started at Fordham Law School this week, where he was greeted by journalists and papparazi as he attempted to go to the first day of orientation. Welcome to America! [Japan Times]

* Prosecution rests in Paul Manafort trial after deciding the jury didn’t even need to hear about the Fabregé egg bedazzled White Rhino skin robe. [WSJ]

* Now we enter the ridiculous world of musing about whether or not it was legal for Omarosa to tape her own firing. Which was held in the Situation Room. Which doesn’t sound like a clumsy setup at all. [The Guardian]

* “Will AI-Powered Law Enfrocement Force Us To Rewrite Our Laws?” Well, decades of empirical evidence of limited efficacy and systemic discriminatory application haven’t done it, so why would AI? [Forbes]

* Law firm figures out how to make Trump’s tax laws work for them proving once again that if you set your mind to it, anyone can outsmart this administration. [American Lawyer]

* The ban-the-box movement to keep employers from amplifying the debilitating effects of the criminal justice system by effectively barring ex-convicts from reentering the workforce, has now taken hold in 31 states. [Corporate Counsel]

* It’s telling that “Trump cabinet official accused of violating ethics rules is so passé it’s below the fold. [CNN]

* Hawaii has dropped its fight over the Trump Muslim Ban after the Supreme Court handed down its persuasive “there are 5 of us and only 4 of you” ruling. [US News]

* Confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh will begin on September 4, which means that Justice Brett Kavanaugh will likely be ready and raring to go for October Term 2018. [Politico]

* If and when Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, he’ll be able to fulfill his hoop dreams at “the highest court in the land.” Unfortunately, as his fellow players and coaches have confirmed, white men judges can’t jump. [Wall Street Journal]

* In the meantime, liberal activists seem to be struggling in their attempts to rally the troops to convince Republican senators (like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Dean Heller) to vote “no” on Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS nomination. [New York Times]

* Remember when Rudy Giuliani spoke to George Stephanopoulos about President Trump’s conversation with James Comey on Michael Flynn? Giuliani doesn’t. In fact, he’s now saying Trump’s conversation with Comey never took place. [CNN]

* Partner Connie Bertram has settled her $50 million gender discrimination suit against Proskauer Rose. Details on their agreement aren’t available, but let’s hope that the labor and employment leader is getting what she’s due. [American Lawyer]

* If you want to attend the Manafort trial but have no idea what to do with your electronics, the Cafe Gallery deli across the street from the courthouse will hold onto everything for you for just $2 per item. [Washington Business Journal]

* As they say, you can’t buy class, but you can insure against it. There’s actually a thing called disgrace insurance for celebrities behaving badly. [Law.com]

* Barbara Jones has completed her privilege review of the Michael Cohen materials. In a shock to absolutely no one, only about half of the material designated as privileged was really privileged. [Courthouse News Service]

* Michael Avenatti is really considering a presidential run and is making the requisite Iowa tour to prove it. [Bloomberg]

* With E&Y getting into the legal game, will the clients follow. [Corporate Counsel]

* Checking in on Christopher Garvey’s retaliation case against Morgan Stanley. [National Law Journal]

* Get ready for litigation! California has a law requiring pharmaceutical companies provide advanced notice before jacking up prices. Eli Lilly has decided to just spike the price on insulin with no warning anyway. [LA Times]

* The Keystone Kops that are Trump’s legal team have rejected Mueller’s interview request and posed a counteroffer to answer only questions about the weather. [ABA Journal]

* If you’re getting tired of hearing that the Big 4 will soon come in and crush the rest of the legal landscape… well, too bad, because here’s the latest ominous development. [ALM Legal Intelligence]

* Rep. Chris Collins will continue to seek re-election after getting indicted. He must have some hot inside info on his re-election chances. [NBC]

* New York issues a wage base for Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share drivers. And then promptly squanders that good deed by putting a cap on licenses, artificially jacking up the price. [Law360]

* TIL there’s a Mexican condom cartel. Now all I can think about is a show like Queen of the South… but for condoms. [Corporate Counsel]

* Alex Jones’s lawyer is looking to dox the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook because everyone involved with Alex Jones is an inhuman monster. [The Hill]

* The law requiring drivers to only use the left lane to pass is “routinely ignored by drivers” This story should read “routinely ignored by bad drivers.” [KRISTV]

* Among all of his other legal worries, Michael Cohen is now under investigation for tax fraud. This guy just can’t catch a break. [Wall Street Journal]

* You may remember the “frozen trucker” case that Justice Neil Gorsuch was plagued by during his confirmation hearings. As it turns out, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has his own “frozen trucker” case, but his involves a woman who was drowned by a killer whale at SeaWorld. Stay tuned for questions about that. [Slate]

* You may want to lateral to another firm in a hot market like Texas, but bless your heart, that doesn’t mean your current firm is going to just let you do it. More and more firms — like Weil Gotshal, Baker Botts — have been enforcing their contractual “hold” provisions and delaying lateral moves. [Texas Lawyer]

* Let’s face it: if you’re applying to law schools, you’re not going to be able to get in to all of them. Figure out which ones are your safety schools ASAP. [U.S. News]

* Angelina Jolie has accused Brad Pitt of neglecting his child support obligations in a new court filing, claiming that the actor hasn’t made any “meaningful” payments in the year and a half since Jolie filed for divorce. [NBC News]

* You know your client sucks when…: This weekend, President Trump admitted on Twitter that his eldest son’s 2016 Trump Tower meeting was held to “get information on an opponent,” not to discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children,” as he’d dictated in his son’s earlier account. His lawyer, Jay Sekulow, then had to walk back a statement he’d made earlier to get in line with Trump’s comments, because “over time facts develop.” [Daily Beast]

* A federal judge has ruled for the second time that the Trump administration’s decision to end the DACA program was unlawful, referring to the DHS’s reasoning as “a hodgepodge of illogical or post hoc policy assertions.” Not only that, but the judge ordered that DACA be restored. Ouch. [National Law Journal]

* In other immigration news, a federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s request that the ACLU locate deported parents for reunification with their children, noting that “for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration.” [USA Today]

* Dean Elizabeth Magill of Stanford Law School will be leaving her job at the end of the upcoming academic year to become the provost of the University of Virginia. Stanford will begin the search for her replacement in September. [The Recorder]

* After news of the class of 2017’s success in the job market comes last month’s loss of 2,100 jobs in the legal sector. Sorry ‘bout that, class of 2018. For those not entering Biglaw, you better hope those were all administrative jobs. [American Lawyer]