New Orleans Saints

* A Florida woman who has a law degree but never passed the bar has been charged with stealing the identity of an admitted attorney. This was funny in My Cousin Vinny but not in real life. [Tampa Bay Times]

* Sarah Palin said she first learned of her husband’s divorce plans in an email from his attorney. Jeeze, that’s cold. [San Francisco Chronicle]

* A U.S. service member is challenging a ban on active military personnel suing their doctors for malpractice. [NBC News]

* The Louisiana Supreme Court has refused to revive a lawsuit against the NFL regarding a missed call at a Saints game. Hope the plaintiff is not a sore loser. [ESPN]

* Massachusetts lawmakers are considering whether to make coerced suicide a crime after the suicide of Conrad Roy III at the encouragement of his girlfriend. [CNN]

* A Nevada attorney has been disbarred for letting clients use her cellphone during jailhouse consultations. Seems harsh — prisoners use cellphones in Orange is the New Black all the time… [Bloomberg Law]

* According to a new report, “personal attacks and language that politicizes or otherwise casts doubt on the judicial branch as a whole has the potential to cause significant damage to our democracy.” Thanks, Trump. [Big Law Business]

* Why are there so few minority law clerks?
California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu and Federal Judicial Center director Jeremy Fogel are trying to solve this “mystery” in conjunction with the ABA. [National Law Journal]

* A former IRS staffer has pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing Michael Cohen’s confidential financial information and distributing it to Michael Avenatti, who once represented Stormy Daniels. He faces up to five years in prison and up to $250K in fines. [New York Post]

* With hundreds of flights canceled, Hong Kong’s airport had been at a complete standstill due to protestors clashing with police until this Biglaw firm managed to intervene. Be sure to thank Hogan Lovells for getting an injunction on airport protests. [American Lawyer]

* In case you’ve been wondering about what bar pass rates and law school debt have looked like for the past decade or so, you can see it in some stunning graphics right here. [Law.com]

* Thanks to the Lousiana Supreme Court, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell won’t have to testify just yet in the Rams-Saints NFC Championship game lawsuit. Everything is on pause while the state’s high court decides whether the case should be allowed to continue at all. [NBC Sports]

* California just enacted a law that will require Donald Trump to release his tax returns if he wants to get on the state’s primary ballot next year. Get ready for a tweetstorm about this one. [Los Angeles Times]

* Not only is LeClairRyan facing a gender discrimination case amid its uncertain future, but the firm is also facing a lawsuit over allegedly unpaid rent to the tune of $348K+ at one of its offices. [American Lawyer]

* In case you missed it, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and three game officials are going to be deposed over the “stupid blown call” during the Saints-Rams game that allowed the Rams to proceed to the Super Bowl. [Sports Illustrated]

* Good news for Biglaw legal ops professionals: The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, an organization designed for in-house legal ops employees, has now opened its membership to those who are working at law firms. [Big Law Business]

* Guess what? There’s something to look forward to after this torture. As the saying goes, “you can do anything with a law degree,” but if you pass the bar exam this week, you’ll probably be able to practice law in one of these exciting jobs. [U.S. News]

* “The bottom line is … I’m the 800-pound-gorilla that you want to settle with.” By the way, if you weren’t sure, Howrey’s trustee Allan Diamond wasn’t kidding about suing the firm’s former partners. “Either we’re going to cut deals, or I’m suing you.” [Am Law Daily]

* It takes two to do the partnership tango: in the expansion of its Financial Institutions Group, Goodwin Procter picked up Brynn Peltz, an attorney with more than 20 years’ experience, and an ex-partner at Latham and Clifford Chance. [Fort Mill Times]

* Hello, predictive coding! Goodbye, jobs! Not only can computers do the work of lawyers on the cheap, but they can do it more intelligently, too. Get ready to welcome our new digital overlords. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]

* Another day, another op-ed article about the law school crisis in the pages of the New York Times. But at least this one is about something most can support: changing the third year of law school. [New York Times]

* As it turns out, with 82 applications for the program’s first five spots, there’s actually a demand for Yale Law’s Ph.D. in Law. So much for this being “[t]he worst idea in the history of legal education.” [National Law Journal]

* Linebacker Jonathan Vilma’s defamation suit against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in connection with Bountygate was dismissed. Wonder when Goodell will suspend Vilma for thinking he could win. [Bloomberg]

* Francis Lorson, former chief deputy clerk of the Supreme Court, RIP. [Blog of Legal Times]