New York
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.09.18
* No collusion! Michael Cohen’s shell company — the same one used to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels — received more than $1 million in payments from a company that’s been linked to a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin. The same oligarch was sanctioned by the Trump administration for election interference. Special counsel Robert Mueller is on it. [New York Times; CNN]
* If President Trump does sit down for an interview with the special counsel, he could make history if he decides to plead the Fifth Amendment. No American president has ever used the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination while still in office. [TIME]
* Is your law school following the new law clerk hiring plan? It better be, if your graduates want a chance to clerk with Justice Elena Kagan. The former law school dean says she’ll “take into account” in her own clerkship hiring whether law schools and lower court judges have complied with the plan. [National Law Journal]
* A former professor and an alumnus from Charlotte Law School have added the American Bar Association to their suit against the defunct for-profit school, claiming in an amended complaint that the ABA negligently certified the school and “failed to act as a reasonable accreditor” — which makes sense. [Law360 (sub. req.)]
* A 15-member panel comprised of Florida State University faculty, staff, students, and alumni want the name of their law school building to be changed. It’s currently named after former Florida Chief Justice B.K. Roberts, who worked to keep the University of Florida’s law school segregated. [News 4 JAX]
* Sorry, Tommy and Kiko, but you’re going to have to stay in your cages. The New York Court of Appeals refused to hear a habeus appeal on behalf of the chimpanzees, allowing a ruling that they are not legal persons and therefore have no legal rights to stand. At least the concurring opinion was a little less dour. [Reuters]
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Law Schools
Uh-Oh... New York Bar Exam Results Are Out, And They're Not So Great
What on earth happened during February's exam? - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.28.18
* Is the Supreme Court about to take a right turn? With lengthy delays in issuing opinions and apparent infighting that’s leaked onto the bench during oral arguments, pundits think that the high court may soon become as “politically fractured as the rest of Washington.” [CNN]
* Speaking of SCOTUS, the justices spent an hour debating whether they should abandon the longstanding rule in Marks, which guides whose holding controls when the decision is split. [National Law Journal]
* New York, California, and several other states will sue to prevent the U.S. government from asking about citizenship status in the 2020 census whether people are citizens, contending that such a question could stop immigrants from participating and skew the makeup of Congress. [Reuters]
* Uber will pay $10 million to settle a discrimination class-action that was brought on behalf of hundreds of women and minority software engineers. [The Recorder]
* Remember the little boy who was decapitated while riding the world’s tallest water slide in 2016? The co-owner of the waterpark where it happened was arrested earlier this week and charged with second-degree murder. [New York Times]
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Biglaw
Book Of Business: A New Podcast From Above The Law
If you're interested in the world of Biglaw, this is the podcast for you. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.17.18
* The Trump administration is planning to ask the Supreme Court for assistance in dismantling DACA. That is, because “[i]t defies both law and common sense” that a “single district court in San Francisco” has halted the Trump’s plans, the Supreme Court must intervene. [Washington Post]
* Unlike the vast majority of law review articles, here’s one you may actually care about: According to the Harvard Law Review, Trump’s tweets aren’t law. We’re thrilled to report this isn’t fake news. [National Law Journal]
* Some law schools are moving full steam ahead in their quest to accept the GRE over the LSAT for admissions purposes, but not this one. Marquette is going to sit around and wait for the ABA to make a decision before it does anything. [Marquette Wire]
* Twenty-two state attorneys general have filed suit against the FCC in an effort to stop the repeal of net neutrality rules. Cross your fingers that something good happens here before your bill for internet access goes up. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* Facing a $4.4 billion budget deficit, Governor Andrew Cuomo wants New York to pay for a study to see what the health, economic, and criminal justice impacts of legalizing recreational marijuana would be in the state. [New York Law Journal]
* Yesterday, New Jersey lawmakers unanimously voted to approve former Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal’s nomination to be state attorney general. Grewal is the first Sikh attorney general in U.S. history. Congratulations! [NJ.com]
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Health Care / Medicine
Fertility Clinics, Beware Of Your Flawed Eggs
Clinics should test their donated genetic material, or, at a minimum, be clear with patients what testing they are or are not doing. -
Law Schools
A Breakdown Of New York Bar Exam Results By Law School (July 2017)
Which law schools’ pass rates climbed, and which law schools sank like stones? -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 11.17.17
* The Federalist Society is proposing a court-packing scheme because that’s what the Founders would have, you know, never wanted. [Think Progress]
* A deep dive into Justice Kennedy’s likely role in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* New York may not be having a constitutional convention, but that’s not going to stop the state’s chief judge from reforming its “byzantine” court system. [New York Law Journal]
* Frugal or a failure to launch? You be the judge. [Corporette]
* One of the finest sentences of the week: “a free-speech advisory group at Ohio University ‘discussed the critical importance of transparency’ — and then unanimously voted to close its meetings to the public.” [Chronicle of Higher Ed]
* There really is nothing like Above the Law out there. [Law and More]
* Savoring the small moments that bring joy to a lawyer. We all need to find what keeps us happy and grounded. For me, it’s Trent Garmon’s writing. [Joy in the Law]
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Gay, Justice
Two Leading Lawyers Who Are Making A Difference
Congratulations to Lisa Linsky and Bernadette Harrigan on this well-deserved recognition! -
Bar Exams, Law Schools
The New York Bar Exam Results Are Out! (July 2017)
How did test-takers fare on this summer's exam? -
Legal Ethics
New York State Bar Association Sides Against Consumers On Access to Legal Services
What does the NYSBA find so wrong with Avvo's access to legal services program? -
Federal Judges, Politics
The Art Of The Possible: New York Nominees For Federal Judgeships And Prosecutor Posts
The Trump administration shows a willingness to compromise on nominees. -
Litigators, Women's Issues
Women Continue To Be Shut Out As Lead Counsel
Women's voices are seldom heard in New York courts.
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Conferences / Symposia, Technology
Overlap In August: ABA Annual Meeting And ILTACON
You're sure to meet terrific and passionate lawyers and other legal professionals at these events. -
Litigation Finance, Litigators
The Best And Worst States For Litigation Finance (Part II)
And the most attractive states for investing in litigation are.... -
Books, Crime, Free Speech
Crime That Might Pay
How do you balance the First Amendment right of free speech with the societal imperative to punish people for crime? -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 05.31.17
* What you can learn from Tiger Woods’s DUI arrest. [Versus Texas]
* Are we in the new age of monopolies? [Salon]
* This is reading an awful lot into unanimous Supreme Court decisions. [Washington Post]
* New York isn’t the liberal utopia you might think it is. [Jezebel]
* The election law gap between red states and blue states. [Election Law Blog]
* In NYC? Then join WNYC’s All Things Considered host Jami Floyd for a conversation about Loving v. Virginia on June 12th. [The Greene Space]
* Call off the lawyers. [Law and More]
* What’s the opposite of banning something? [Huffington Post]
* Theorizing over Jared Kushner’s motivation. [Slate]
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Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
Nevada: Go For The Gambling, Stay For The Surrogacy Parental Rights
Good news out of Nevada for surrogacy supporters. -
Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate
Lawyerly Lairs: A Tax Lawyer's (Upper) West Side Story
The brutal Manhattan real estate market is the great leveler.