New York

* According to a labor relations suit filed in 2012, Donald Trump allegedly wanted to fire female employees of Trump National Golf Club in California, who he didn’t think were pretty enough. The suit was settled without any admission of wrongdoing. [Los Angeles Times]

* Biglaw mega-merger alert: Word on the street is that London-based firms CMS and Olswang will join with international firm Nabarro for a three-way merger that would create a combined entity with more than 3,000 lawyers. If the merger were to go through, the firm would have more than $1.5 billion in revenue. [LegalWeek]

* According to the results of this survey, corporate counsel don’t think too highly of millennials when it comes to loyalty. Almost 70 percent of baby boomers and Gen Xers thought millennial lawyers in their legal departments would leave in less than five years, potentially causing “major problem[s]” in terms of turnover rates. [WSJ Law Blog]

* How many women serve as lead counsel in New York state and federal courts and in mediation and arbitration? That’s what a new study being conducted by the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section hopes to find out, because “[o]nce you have a diagnosis, you can get to a solution.” [New York Law Journal]

* “Something is going wrong at this bank, and you are the head of it. You should be fired.” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf may be forfeiting $41 million in pay, but lawmakers were still pretty darn upset with him when he testified before the House Financial Services Committee at a hearing yesterday. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Phil C. Neal, former dean of University of Chicago Law School, RIP. [UChicago News]

* Florida AG Pam Bondi admits she took donation money from Donald Trump when she was toying with an investigation of Trump University, but says she has no regrets about keeping the cash. “If I had returned it, you would have reported ‘Bondi accepted a bribe, got caught and returned it.” [AP]

* Could President Barack Obama sue Donald Trump over the “birther” conspiracy? If so, what would be his cause of action? He could potentially file suit for defamation, but as a public figure, he’d have an uphill battle proving actual malice and damages. [Big Law Business]

* Ahmad Rahami, the man accused of Saturday’s bombings in New York and New Jersey, has been federally charged with use of a weapon of mass destruction, bombing, destruction of property, and use of a destructive device. His bail has been set at $5.2 million. There’s been no word yet as to whether he has hired an attorney. [CNN]

* According to Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District of New York, bitcoins are, in fact, money — at least under this federal anti-money laundering statute. If you think “funds” are “pecuniary resources… generally accepted as a medium of exchange or a means of payment,” you better believe bitcoins are a form of money. [WSJ Law Blog]

* “We think that they are attempting to use civil discovery to get around the limits on criminal discovery in the criminal case.” According to Gloria Allred, the civil sexual abuse case her client has filed against Bill Cosby in California is going to be put on the back burner for a time into his criminal charges can be more fully litigated. [Reuters]

* Singer Kesha has dropped her lawsuit in California against producer Dr. Luke, but will continue her appeal in New York. She says she dropped the suit because she’s “focused on getting back to work,” but Dr. Luke’s lawyer says it’s because she has “no chance of winning.” Ouch, that’s got to sting. [People]

* Get off my lawn, you damn kids! A New Jersey personal injury attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit against Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, for the “unlawful and wrongful” invasion of his property. It seems that in the rush to catch ’em all, people have been gathering outside of his home, knocking on his door, and asking to enter his backyard. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Following up on his tentative oral ruling, Juge Gonzalo P. Curiel has ruled that a Trump University fraud case filed against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may proceed to trial, but he refused to release Trump’s videotaped deposition. We suppose that the transcript will have to be good enough. [New York Times]

* “These are things that don’t just affect one job; it keeps women’s wages down over their entire lifetime.” Thanks to a new law geared toward closing the gender wage gap, in Massachusetts, it is now illegal for employers to ask about applicants’ salary history before offering them jobs. This goes into effect in 2018. [DealBook / New York Times]

* “We are confidently looking to the future.” Following a series of “regrettable departures” and a capital call that successfully raised about $18.4 million from the firm’s existing partners, it looks like the “modernization” and restructuring of the King & Wood Mallesons partnership is finally going to be drawing to a close. [Big Law Business]

* Jenner & Block has teamed up with the University of Chicago Law School to create a Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic, with the goal of “educat[ing] and train[ing] the next generation of extraordinary appellate advocates and continu[ing] the tradition of helping clients hanks their most important litigation problems.” Congratulations! [ABA Journal]

* Still wondering why we got rid of the comments? Here’s David Lat’s in-depth look at the issue. (Spoiler alert: it’s because they were terrible.) [Washington Post]

* Is this the reason more attorneys aren’t seeking help for the addiction issues they face? [Law and More]

* Kansas may be hurting after a disastrous series of tax cuts, but that hasn’t stopped the politicians there. [Slate]

* How Bill Clinton’s crime bill shaped twenty years of activism. [Pacific Standard Magazine]

* Yes, it has become painfully clear that the New York electoral system is in need of reform. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* You think you know Harriet Tubman, but really, you have no idea. [Wonkblog]

* David Lat chats with Mirriam Seddiq, host of the “Not Guilty No Way” podcast, about legal blogging, perceptions of women lawyers, and his former boss, Chris Christie. [Not Guilty No Way via Soundcloud]

* “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.” New York Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich dismissed part of singer Kesha’s claims against producer Dr. Luke because the pop star’s allegations of rape and abuse were time barred and happened outside the state. Tick tock on the clock for a similar suit she filed in California. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has scheduled an appointment to meet with Judge Merrick Garland for breakfast next Tuesday, despite his opposition to President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Senator Grassley’s courteous refusal to perform his job presumably pairs well with eggs and bacon. [Quad-City Times]

* The Department of Justice has filed suit against Halliburton and Baker Hughes, seeking to block the oil-field services companies’ pending merger. According to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, completion of the deal would “eliminate vital competition, skew energy markets, and harm American consumers.” [DealBook / New York Times]

* Panama papers law firm Mossack Fonseca seems to have pulled off the perfect magic trick. Shortly after the firm’s exploits in hiding client assets in offshore accounts were revealed via hack, its U.S. operations all but disappeared. The firm’s website has now been scrubbed completely clean of any connection to its Miami office. [USA Today]

* Bart Williams, a top partner at Munger Tolles — a firm that’s been likened to the Wachtell of the West — will be leaving the place where he’s called home for 21 years to become the co-chair of Proskauer Rose’s Los Angeles litigation department. This is a real coup for Proskauer, since partners rarely leave Munger. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN THIS JURY’S PUNITIVE DAMAGES AWARD RUNS WILD ON YOU?!? Gawker was hit with an additional $25M in punitive damages yesterday in Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit, on top of the $115M award the jury had already slapped the media company with last week. That loud typing sound you hear is the appeals being furiously written. [Reuters]

* They were gonna grant you leave to file, but then they got high? The Supreme Court has puff, puff, passed on the opportunity to hear a challenge posed by Nebraska and Oklahoma to Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented, contending that the case fell within the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction. [NPR]

* This took longer than the iOS 9 download: Hot on the heels of the announcement of new Apple products, we got the news that the tech giant and its rival, Samsung, will face off next term before SCOTUS in a patent case that’s been going on since the iPhone 4 was still considered the latest and greatest in smartphone technology. [WSJ Law Blog]

* “Once you start seeing leading law firms offering this, it’s going to become more prevalent and pretty rapidly, because it’s going to be required to compete.” Lawyers with law school debt will probably jump at the chance for their firms to pitch in to repay their loans, but don’t forget, all of that assistance will be taxable as income. [U.S. News]

* “My job is to enforce the law, and starting today, DraftKings and FanDuel will abide by it.” In a settlement reached with New York AG Eric Schneiderman, the sports betting daily fantasy sites will cease operations in the state, and in exchange, the AG will hold off on additional litigation that could force them to pay restitution to their losers. [ESPN]

* President Obama will announce his pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia later this morning. Which member of the D.C. Circuit will he choose, Judge Sri Srinivasan or Judge Merrick Garland? America will find out at 11 a.m., and then the real political circus of trying to get a confirmation hearing will begin. [New York Times]

* “Republicans know they can’t get away with complete and total obstruction, so they may try to set up a double standard.” Senate Republicans have refused to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but it looks like more than 30 other federal judicial nominees may have been caught in the political fray. [AP]

* After having a district court judge’s deferred compensation remedy slapped down by the Ninth Circuit, lawyers in the O’Bannon NCAA student-athlete pay case have asked the Supreme Court to grant certiorari. The lawyers involved “[feel] so strongly in the principles involved” that they don’t care if they lose their fees and costs. [USA Today]

* A small victory for a washed-up Mean Girl? Lindsay Lohan has never really had much success when it comes to suing others on the basis of likeness appropriation, but a New York judge has refused to dismiss her case against Rockstar Games over a look-alike character in Grand Theft Auto V. You go, girl! [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]

* Per Lex Machina, after a slow 2014, patent litigation rose by 14.7 percent in 2015. What’s troubling to some lawyers, though, is that all of the action has migrated to Texas courts: “Why should this little corner that’s not particularly a hotbed of innovation have such an important role to play in patent law?” [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Talent agency Rebel Entertainment Partners is suing CBS, the TV station that airs “Judge Judy,” because it claims Judge Judy is taking in such a high salary that the network has been unable to dole out its contractually obligated payments. Although she’s not named in the suit, Judge Judy, full of sarcasm, says this is “hilarious.” [Variety]