Morning Docket

  • Morning Docket: 03.04.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.04.16

    * “I’d hope they’d see reason but I wouldn’t bet the family farm on it.” Senate Republicans may be stomping their feet about confirming one of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, but it may behoove them to do it now before Hillary Clinton takes office with a Democrat-controlled Senate. [Common Sense / New York Times]

    * Sincere congratulations to Damaris Hernández, who recently achieved a seemingly impossible feat at her Bigfirm. The 36-year-old attorney is the first Latina to become a partner at Cravath Swaine & Moore. She joins the 46 other Hispanic women who are partners at just a few of America’s largest law firms. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Lawmakers from the Garden State have demanded that Gibson Dunn and digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg repay $2.8 million in legal fees in the Bridgegate case, the bulk of which were e-discovery charges to the tune of $2.3 million. Welcome to the absurdity that is document review, New Jersey! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * It looks like Apple isn’t the only tech company that’s dueling with the DOJ right now. Since “[t]he interest in secrecy does not last forever,” Twitter is mounting a First Amendment case against the Feds over its ability to publicly release data that allegedly contains details related to the government’s terrorism investigations. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * The 10 customers who filed a class-action lawsuit against Subway over the sub shop’s less-than foot-long footlong sandwiches will only be able to afford 100 $5 footlongs each, because the lawyers on the case are walking away with $520,000 out of $525,000 settlement dollars — that’s 99 percent of the settlement. Fair? [Dayton Daily News]

  • Morning Docket: 03.03.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.03.16

    * Polsinelli has gutted Novak Druce by hiring away 44 lawyers from the firm in a mass lateral move, including two of its name partners. The suffering IP boutique will shutter its doors and wind down its legal practice for good. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * A source says that Judge Jane Kelly of the Eighth Circuit is being vetted as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. The Iowa judge could make Senate Republicans squirm since she was confirmed unanimously just three years ago. [New York Times]

    * “You’re making a commitment that has very little room for escape.” Kirkland & Ellis increased its notice period to 120 days, and partners are wondering whether other firms will follow suit and make it even harder for them to leave. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

    * SCOTUS watchers say the justices appeared “deeply divided” during oral arguments in the Whole Woman’s Health case, but some think Justice Kennedy may decide to punt it — perhaps giving time for Justice Scalia’s replacement to be confirmed. [USA Today]

    * Attention sports fans: The NFL’s Hail Mary appeal of the Deflategate case will be heard by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit today. At an estimated $20 million total, the legal bill on this action could be one for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Louisiana is a state with notoriously harsh punishments for marijuana-related crimes, but it may be considering legalizing weed for recreational use. Dealing drugs seems like it’d be a quick and easy way for the state to get out of its $850M debt. [Daily Beast]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.02.16

    * WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN HULKAMANIA SELECTS A JURY TO RUN WILD ON YOU?!?! Jury selection has started in Hulk Hogan’s $100M sex-tape case against Gawker. The trial begins next week, and if he wins, his 24-inch pythons could put the site out of business. [New York Post]

    * President Obama met with Senate leaders yesterday to talk about his impending Supreme Court nomination, and the Republicans present held steady in their adamant refusal to hold hearings or vote on any of his prospective candidates. After all, President Trump’s 2017 nominee will obviously be a far greater choice. [The Hill]

    * “They’re just normal people. They weren’t always judges.” Being a federal judge with a lifetime appointment may be a “surprisingly monastic existence” at times, but the fact of the matter is that our Supreme Court justices are really just like us. Off the bench, some of them are social butterflies, and others are complete hermits. [Washington Post]

    * According to a recent study on federal law clerks, “judges appointed by Republicans are more likely to hire clerks who come from the left-side of the ideological spectrum,” but that’s likely because the pickings are slim when it comes to conservative clerks. Top law school grads tend to lean liberal, so the applicant pool is a bit skewed. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * K&L Gates is leaking partners, practice leaders, and executive committee members like a sieve once again, but Peter Kalis, the firm’s usually outspoken chairman, hasn’t said a peep about the departures yet. What’s going on at the firm? If you have any information, please feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477). [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

  • Morning Docket: 03.01.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.01.16

    * Senior White House adviser Brian Deese has assembled a crack team to help President Obama choose a Supreme Court nominee who will be able to win confirmation before an angry Senate to replace Justice Scalia. Let’s see which way the 2009 Yale Law School graduate steers this important project. [Reuters]

    * Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is feeling the pain of being the world’s first publicly traded law firm after a $958.3 million first-half loss. The firm, which is now being referred to as a “corporate catastrophe,” hopes to lay out a restructuring plan in the next few months amid the likelihood of multiple shareholder suits. [Herald Sun]

    * Texas State District Judge Julie Kocurek returned to court this week after a shooter opened fire on her in November 2015 in what police are now calling an assassination attempt. She lost a finger during the shooting, but says she feels “very lucky that is all [she] lost.” Welcome back to the bench, Your Honor! [Austin American-Statesman]

    * Sorry, FBI, but a judge has ruled that Apple doesn’t have to help the security service unlock an alleged New York drug dealer’s iPhone. This isn’t binding precedent for the tech company’s San Bernardino case, but you can bet your ass its legal team will try to convince the judge handling the order at issue that it should be considered. [NBC News]

    * If you’ve been waitlisted at the lowest-ranked law school you applied to this admissions cycle, it doesn’t mean you’ll be rejected from every other school you applied to this admissions cycle — it just means you may have to work a little bit harder on all of your letters of continued interest. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

    * Law firms aren’t the only businesses that go through break-ups; the communications firms that represent these elite firms apparently have rocky relationships, too. Spencer Baretz and Cari Brunelle of Hellerman Baretz Communications have split to found their own firm, and they took the entire HBC team with them when they left. [Business Wire]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.29.16

    * It looks like SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein was onto something, because Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is reportedly being vetted to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. The D.D.C. judge once clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, and may wind up working alongside him on the high court as an associate justice (which could be a first). [National Law Journal]

    * Justice Scalia’s death quickly affected some SCOTUS litigants: Dow Chemical settled an antitrust class-action suit for $835M because “[g]rowing political uncertainties … and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class-action suits have changed Dow’s risk assessment of the situation.” [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * Abortion returns to the SCOTUS this week, and litigants are wondering which version of Justice Kennedy they’ll receive when a decision is made. If Gonzales v. Carhart Kennedy makes an appearance, states across the South in the Fifth Circuit could kiss abortion goodbye. Here’s hoping for Planned Parenthood v. Casey Kennedy. [MSNBC]

    * Student activists from Harvard Law and Brandeis University protested an awards ceremony where Dean Martha Minow was honored for “making a lasting contribution to racial, ethnic or religious relations.” The protestors felt the award’s timing was ironic considering the ongoing racial divisiveness at the law school. [Harvard Crimson]

    * Career alternatives for disbarred attorneys who “knowingly misappropriated client funds”: chief compliance officer of one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization? Ritu Singh is lucky compliance is so hot right now, because accusations of past financial crimes apparently aren’t dealbreakers in terms of hiring. [New York Post]

  • Morning Docket: 02.26.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.26.16

    * Given the unusually “circus-like atmosphere” surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation process, anyone who is nominated to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat must “have the backbone to take the risk of being out there in front of the recalcitrant Senate.” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval apparently didn’t have the testicular fortitude necessary for the challenging endeavor. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * President Obama nominated Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.), the queen of Silicon Valley tech-industry and patent litigation, to the Ninth Circuit. Consider what’s likely to be her difficult confirmation a preview to the politically divisive process of getting Justice Scalia’s replacement a meeting before the Senate. [San Jose Mercury News]

    * Of the current justices, Elena Kagan is the only one who has experienced the fallout of an eight-member Supreme Court. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall when there was an almost eight-month vacancy on the Court, and may have learned how to avoid 4-4 decisions from Chief Justice William Rehnquist. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * Apple wants to vacate an order compelling the tech giant to help the FBI unlock one of the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhones, noting “[i]f this order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent.” [The Hill]

    * Johnson & Johnson may have suffered a $72 million blow in its loss in a case alleging links between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that other plaintiffs will come away from their talc-cancer cases with windfalls quite as large. They’ll still have to convince a jury that J&J’s products caused their illness. [Reuters]

  • Morning Docket: 02.25.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.25.16

    * Democrats held a press conference demanding that Republicans do their job when it comes to filling Justice Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. My guess is a petition isn’t going to change anyone in the GOP’s mind on this one. [National Law Journal]

    * District Judge John Gleeson is stepping down from his position next month. He’ll be returning to private practice at… Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Virginia is considering legislation that would actually hid the names of all police officers. Less transparency for law enforcement? That is pretty much the exact opposite of what is needed. [Washington Post]

    * You know how the NFL has been in the news a bunch for a variety of legal issues? The newly for-profit organization is releasing their tax filings, and their legal expenses are detailed. Ouch. [American Lawyer]

    * Looks like attorneys formerly of Dickstein Shapiro are making themselves right at home at Blank Rome if their latest win for client Oshkosh Defense LLC is any indication. [Litigation Daily]

    * Take a look at the details of the sexual assault lawsuit from the 90s against Donald Trump. [Law Newz]

  • Morning Docket: 02.24.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.24.16

    * After being called to court by the judge on his bankruptcy case for flaunting cash on Instagram, 50 Cent posted a photo of himself in a room filled with money. When reached for comment, the allegedly bankrupt rapper had this to say: “I don’t know what you heard about me, but this judge will write a benchslap about me.” [New York Daily News]

    * Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have said that they will refuse to hold any hearings on a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia until the next President is sworn in on January 20, 2017. In fact, they won’t even give President Obama’s future appointee the courtesy of a meeting. Lovely. [WSJ Law Blog; New York Times]

    * According to a letter from Justice Scalia’s doctor, the late jurist suffered from a number of ailments that could have contributed to his sudden death, like coronary artery disease, obesity, and diabetes, just to name a few. Coupled with the fact that he was a smoker, all of his conditions were “quite dangerous.” Rest in peace, Your Honor. [Associated Press]

    * “If you look at the women-of-color research, the numbers are abysmal.” Minority women are disappearing from Biglaw firms, and research has shown that it may be due to the fact that they receive less compensation than men and white women, they’re denied access to assignments, and they receive fewer promotions. [ABA Journal]

    * Good riddance to bad rubbish: Robert Hosch Jr., the founder and former managing partner of Butler & Hosch — the large, Florida-based firm that seemingly collapsed overnight, leaving hundreds of legal professionals jobless and 60,000 foreclosure cases in limbo — has surrendered his license to practice law in Florida. [Orlando Sentinel]

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  • Morning Docket: 02.23.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.23.16

    * It’s official: Justice Clarence Thomas hasn’t asked a question during oral arguments at the Supreme Court in a decade. No other justice in history has ever done something like this, but Justice Thomas is “confident enough in his own skin not to care.” [MSNBC]

    * Who would make a better SCOTUS justice, Judge Sri Srinivasan of the D.C. Circuit or U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara? President Obama may be wondering when deciding whether to appoint the high court’s first Asian-American justice. [New York Daily News]

    * Judge H. Russel Holland was presiding over the DOJ’s action against two allegedly discriminatory polygamous cities on the Utah-Arizona border when he was rushed away in an ambulance. He had a terrible case of bronchitis. Feel better, Your Honor! [AP]

    * Gowlings, Canada’s second-largest firm, merged with UK-based Wragge Lawrence Graham to form an international firm with 1,400+ lawyers in 10 countries. Accept our cautionary congratulations, since layoffs usually follow mergers of this size. [Reuters]

    * Aww, how cute! After working as a fully integrated firm for almost two years, Squire Patton Boggs has announced its first-ever merger with another firm. Welcome San Francisco-based firm Carroll Burdick & McDonough to the party. [Plain Dealer]

    * Mayer Brown is relying on a lateral associate to help its Cuba practice shore up client relations on the island through all of her connections there, which have been described as “hot property.” She even got her own press release. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

  • Morning Docket: 02.22.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.22.16

    * If there was ever a time to breach a contract, it would be now. A judge ruled that singer Kesha won’t be able to escape from a six-album deal with Sony, despite the fact that her producer, Dr. Luke, is alleged to have psychologically abused her for a decade and raped her when she was an 18-year-old virgin. #FreeKesha [New York Daily News]

    * Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral offered DCers the chance to take a break from political wrangling, if only momentarily, to mourn a legend of the Supreme Court. It was “very non-Washington,” and he “would have loved it.” [Washington Post]

    * President Obama was spotted carrying a “thick binder filled with papers,” presumably briefing documents from his staff related to potential SCOTUS picks to replace the late Justice Scalia. You can likely expect an announcement in the next few weeks. [Reuters]

    * Dickstein Shapiro’s ex-chairman is blaming the media for his firm’s demise, saying that since July, many of its partners’ departures were “programmed” and had little to do with its performance. Don’t stop believin’, James Kelly. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * Judge Thomas Griesa plans to lift an injunction that was keeping Argentina from raising new capital. Holdouts on the country’s defaulted debt seem pissed about this decision, but it could eventually turn out well for them. [DealBook / New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 02.19.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.19.16

    * According to Harry Reid, Obama should have a Supreme Court nominee within the next three weeks. As everyone knows, the senior Senator from Las Vegas sets the official line on these things. [Huffington Post]

    * Cravath people bitching about their jobs is now the leading cause of insider trading. [Law360]

    * Students using the moniker of “Reclaim Harvard Law School” have occupied the student center to protest the school’s continued use of the family crest of a slave trader and the lack of faculty diversity. I’d be sympathetic, but it was Harvard’s terrible diversity policy that brought some of my favorite professors to NYU Law so it worked out pretty well for me. [Daily Princetonian]

    * Sir Nigel Knowles is stepping down as the global co-chair of DLA Piper. I would say it’s time to relax and take a cruise, but that sounds like work for DLA Piper people. [Am Law Daily]

    * The ABA has pulled out of its joint venture with Rocket Lawyer to provide a cheap initial consult service. [Am Law Daily]

    * Hey, hey, hey. Lawyer claims that Bill Cosby comes off as a bully for suing his accuser. [Associated Press via Trib Live]

    * The ACLU is challenging a Kansas voter suppression law requiring proof of citizenship. Seems like now is a good time to bring that case. [New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 02.18.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.18.16

    * How low can you go? For the first time in years, enrollment is up at Cooley Law — by three students. That’s the only thing the school will be able to brag about, because the average GPA and LSAT scores of its most recent entering class are the lowest the school has seen in at least a decade. Yikes. [Lansing State Journal]

    * President Obama has to make quite the decision when it comes to choosing who will be his next SCOTUS appointment. He already faces an uphill battle, so if he were to pick any these five candidates (even the one who was recently confirmed 97-0), it’d likely make things even harder than they already are. [The Fix / Washington Post]

    * “I’ll stay as long as necessary.” Activists from Reclaim Harvard Law are occupying a lounge to create a safe space for minorities, and they plan to remain there indefinitely. Armed with blow-up mattresses and blankets, they mean business. [Harvard Crimson]

    * Charlotte Law launched a compliance certificate program, and anyone who can pay can receive training. Since compliance is booming right now, as InfiLaw graduates, they’re better equipped than most for jobs that don’t require a law degree. [Charlotte Observer]

    * A New York judge who prosecuted drunk driving cases earlier in her career was arrested for allegedly driving drunk… while on the way to work to handle arraignments. It’s unlikely that she’ll return to the bench any time soon. [Democrat and Chronicle]

  • Morning Docket: 02.17.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.17.16

    * “There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done in off years. That’s not in the constitutional text.” Angering armchair constitutional scholars, President Obama vowed to appoint someone to replace Justice Scalia following his death, despite the fact that it’s an election year. [New York Times]

    * “My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas.” The fact that Justice Scalia was found dead with a pillow over his head has made conspiracy theorists come out in droves. Some are “stunned” that an autopsy wasn’t performed on the late justice. [Daily Intelligencer / New York Magazine]

    * Dickstein Shapiro partners were informed via letter that they’d face “the almost certain loss of all firm capital.” For some equity partners, that’s more than $1 million — and the letter wasn’t even signed “sincerely.” How rude! [National Law Journal via ABA Journal]

    * Justice Scalia’s passing could have an impact on the anti-marijuana legalization suit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado. The Court was supposed to discuss it this week, but the justices may not want to overpack their bowls, so to speak. [Guardian]

    * Troubled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not be seeking reelection after her term expires in January 2017. With her license to practice law suspended and criminal charges pending, we’ll see if she’s even able to make it that far. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Vigilante justice on the internet swift: Despite Google listing the firm as “permanently closed” and its brutal one-star Yelp rating, “Making a Murderer” prosecutor Ken Kratz assured reporters his law firm was still open, contrary to appearances. [Post-Crescent]

    * Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former U.N. Secretary General, RIP. [New York Times]

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  • Morning Docket: 02.16.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.16.16

    * Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death was memorialized on newspaper front pages across the country, with some publications scrambling to redo their Sunday editions to reflect the news. Here’s a look at how some papers handled the coverage. [New York Times]

    * Justice Scalia is said to have died of natural causes. Cinderela Guevara, the Texas judge who pronounced him dead by phone, only did so after she was assured “there were no signs of foul play.” An autopsy will not be performed. [Washington Post]

    * The outcomes of several major cases that are currently before the Supreme Court are likely to be affected by Justice Scalia’s unexpected death. SCOTUS watchers think this could be represent a victory for the Court’s four-justice liberal wing. [New York Times]

    * In case you didn’t take the time to research this over the long weekend, here are seven things you need to know about presidential appointments to the Supreme Court. Could the battle to replace Justice Scalia possibly lead to a record-breaking vacancy? [NPR]

    * Justice Scalia left behind a “fortune cookie” for President Obama in his same-sex marriage dissent when he criticized the incredibly homogeneous makeup of the current Supreme Court. Please give him what he wanted. Diversify SCOTUS. [New York Times]

    * Out of all of Justice Scalia’s Supreme Court colleagues, it may be fair to say that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will miss him most. Her relationship with her “best buddy” was incredibly unique, and most could only wish to have a friendship like theirs. [CNN]

    * As the longest-serving member of the current Supreme Court, Justice Scalia was revered for leaving a historic legacy on the bench. Here’s what 19 “top legal thinkers” had to say about his life and death. I was honored to be included. [POLITICO MAGAZINE]

    * Almost immediately after it was announced that Justice Scalia had died, some began dancing on his grave with hateful comments. You may not have agreed with his judicial ideologies, but it would be nice to show some respect for the dead. [Bloomberg View]

    * “It doesn’t matter if your résumé says ‘almost law clerk.’” What will happen to Justice Scalia’s clerks in the wake of his death? His current clerks will likely be alright as far as their jobs are concerned, but it seems future clerks may be out of luck. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • Morning Docket: 02.12.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.12.16

    * Riding high after his victory in New Hampshire, Donald Trump settled his $500 million lawsuit against Univision for the network dropping his beauty pageants. Ay dios mio, this must be some sort of a YUGE GRANDE ploy to win the Hispanic vote. [USA Today]

    * Dickstein Shapiro lawyers must be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Their mass lateral move to Blank Rome isn’t a merger, it’s an “asset acquisition.” You see that? You’re all “assets”! Remember that next time a partner makes you cry. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * The ABA is considering toughening bar passage requirements for law school accreditation. Under the plan, schools would have to prove that 75 percent of graduates who took an exam within two years of graduation passed. Good luck! [ABA Journal]

    * Uh-oh! Are partners at large law firms getting screwed? Biglaw firms are asking for bigger capital contributions (30-35 percent of earnings on average), and holding on to that money for longer periods of time when those partners leave. [Am Law Daily]

    * Minnesota Law has been hit pretty hard by the law school crisis, with losses expected to hit $16.1 million by 2018. When the school’s soon-to-be ex-Dean first started in 2008, “everything was good,” but now, it’s a huge sh*tshow. [Twin Cities Pioneer Press]

  • Morning Docket: 02.11.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.11.16

    * The 5 questions employers shouldn’t ask in job interviews. “Does this look infected?” inexplicably fails to make the list. [Law360]

    * Cleveland is suing Tamir Rice’s family for not paying for the ambulance that picked him up after he got gunned down by police. In the contest for “Worst Place In America,” Cleveland just keeps racking up points. [Slate]

    * Mark Cuban continues harassing the SEC with amicus filings over their haphazard enforcement antics. Being rich and a little bit obnoxious finally serves a public purpose. [Litigation Daily]

    * Ikea has lost the trademark in its own name in Indonesia. This seems as good an opportunity as any to link to this video. [Coconuts Jakarta]

    * Department of Justice sues Ferguson for years of pervasive racial discrimination. This comes after the city rejected a negotiated deal, because whenever the federal government has you dead to rights you should absolutely piss all over the deal they offer. [Huffington Post]

    * NASA employees barred from writing “Jesus” in newsletter. Some are calling this a religious freedom issue, but that’s ridiculous — this is a scientific credibility issue. You’re NASA! You’ve been up there and know he’s not hanging around on a cloud. [Corporate Counsel]

    * Sanctioned former Mintz Levin associate brings defamation claims against newspapers. [The Am Law Daily]

  • Morning Docket: 02.10.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.10.16

    * Uh-oh! Martin Shkreli may have gotten more than he bargained for when he bought the one and only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” An artist whose work appears on the album’s packaging has filed a copyright infringement suit against the smug pharma bro. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * A Texas ADA was arrested this weekend for DWI after crashing into a parked car. According to police, it appeared as if she was trying to leave the scene. She’s been a prosecutor for almost a year, and hasn’t been put on a leave of absence for her alleged transgressions (yet). [FOX 7 Austin]

    * “I don’t understand why donors should not donate money to the Law School because some moron, some racist decided to put black tape on some portraits.” Some alumni (not this guy) are uncertain if they’ll continue to donate to Harvard Law. [Harvard Crimson]

    * President Obama has proposed a cybersecurity plan that’ll cost $19+ billion. Americans will learn how to better secure their accounts to prevent illegal hacks. That’s a lot of cash to teach people not to use “123456” as their password. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * Have your birthday cake and eat it too, because the terms of Warner Music Group’s “Happy Birthday to You” settlement have been disclosed, and up to $14 million is up for grabs for those who’ve had to pay licensing fees to use it. [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times]

  • Morning Docket: 02.09.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.09.16

    * Demand for corporate work may be down, but that’s not stopping senior Biglaw partners from ramping up their hourly billing rates. Partners at some firms have rates that exceed $1,400 per hour. They’re not making it rain, they’re making it monsoon! [WSJ Law Blog]

    * No law license, no pretty huge problem: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s license to practice law is still suspended, so the state Senate has scheduled a historic vote for her removal. For her part, Kane, of course, thinks this is “unwarranted and unconstitutional.” [PennLive.com]

    * Herbert Sudfeld Jr., an ex-partner at Fox Rothschild, was convicted of insider trading. He’d apparently eavesdropped on discussions related to a firm merger client and purchased stock based on what he’d overheard. [Legal Intelligencer via ABA Journal]

    * Washington & Lee Law settled a suit filed by a former student who claimed he was dismissed as a result of a campus judicial proceeding because he was accused in a sexual assault case. The terms of the deal won’t be disclosed. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

    * When your firm’s founding partners have been disciplined by the state Supreme Court a few times too many, you should probably hurry up and change the firm’s name to something kooky like LawyerASAP to distract your existing clients. [Orlando Sentinel]

  • Morning Docket: 02.08.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.08.16

    * Remember Kent and Jill Easter, the married lawyers who planted bags of weed and pills in the car of Kelli Peters, a PTA volunteer at their son’s school? Kent’s law license was suspended, Jill was disbarred, they’re now divorced, and to top it all off, a jury recently awarded Peters $5.7M in her case against them. [Orange County Register]

    * The horror! The horror! Not only did Marco Rubio get his ass handed to him during this weekend’s Republican debate, but it turns out he’s accused of having been a law firm lobbyist for Florida firms Becker & Poliakoff and Broad and Cassel. [BuzzFeed News]

    * A proposed ABA resolution that local bar groups think has to do with non-lawyer ownership of law firms — they’re not entirely sure, of course — is making the hair stand up on the back of attorneys’ necks. What could possibly go wrong? [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Career alternatives for attorneys law school deans: David Yellen, dean of Loyola Law – Chicago for more than a decade (and former ATL columnist), will be leaving the law school game to assume the presidency at Marist College. [Poughkeepsie Journal]

    * Applications may be down at Yale Law School when compared to prior years, but administrators aren’t exactly concerned about it. Come on, get real: It’s Yale, and the law school “still [has] more qualified applicants than [it] can accept.” [Yale Daily News]

    * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal profession celebrated the New Year by shedding 1,400 jobs. Don’t worry, 2016 graduates, there’s still a chance the job market could improve, but we’ll have to wait it out. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * Miriam Cedarbaum, longtime federal judge of the S.D.N.Y., RIP. [New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 02.05.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.05.16

    * Today the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention held WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for more than three years, is being “arbitrarily detained” arguing he should be allowed freedom of movement without fear of being extradited to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning for a variety of charges including rape. Though the decision has no formal authority, but Assange, who has maintained his innocence on the Swedish charges, can at least claim a moral victory. That’s something at least. [Washington Post]

    * The Fourth Circuit found that Maryland’s gun law, passed in the wake of the horrific Newton shooting, should be reviewed under a strict scrutiny standard since it “significantly burdens the exercise of the right to arm oneself at home” and remanded the case back to the district court. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Uber had an actual victory amid all of its legal woes. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided against combining over a dozen employment cases into a MDL. [National Law Journal]

    * Meet the woman recently hired as the NFL’s senior vice president for investigations. Lisa Friel, formerly a New York prosecutor in the Sexual Victim’s Unit under District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, is charged with investigating all potential violations of the league’s personal conduct code. Hopefully she can bring some consistency to the process. [New York Times]

    * The human cost behind a life led in immigration limbo. No wonder last night’s Dem debate spent so much time talking about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. [CNN]