Ninth Circuit
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9th Circuit, Federal Judges
A Leading Light Of The Federal Judiciary Will Take Senior Status By Year's End
An influential jurist is stepping away from the fray. -
9th Circuit, Federal Judges, Politics
Is The 'Nutty Ninth' Circuit Coming To Its Senses?
Is the court that conservatives love to hate turning a corner? - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
9th Circuit, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Federal Judges
In The Ninth Circuit, Nobody Can Hear You Scream
Footnote. Of. The week!
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Drugs, Marijuana
ICYMI: Ninth Circuit Rules DOJ Can't Stub Out Medical Marijuana Businesses
The ruling hows that even our country's highest courts will not just rubber stamp everything the federal government does against cannabis. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.17.16
* Ding ding ding, we have a winner: with a bid of $135 million, Univision has prevailed in the auction to buy Gawker Media’s assets (held at the offices of Gawker’s bankruptcy counsel, Ropes & Gray). [Politico]
* The Ninth Circuit rules that the feds can’t spend money to prosecute people whose actions comply with state medical marijuana laws. [How Appealing]
* Protip for millennial law students: don’t call your law professor by her first name. [WSJ Law Blog]
* “Is $88,500 Salary Too Much for a Deputy General Counsel?” (Hint: no.) [Big Law Business]
* Is it time to rethink antitrust enforcement, especially when it comes to Big Tech? [DealBook / New York Times]
* Judge Timothy Dooley has been censured by the Alaska Supreme Court for his rude remarks in open court. [Alaska Dispatch News]
* Hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen can’t trade in CFTC-regulated commodities markets until 2018, as part of a settlement with the commission. [Bloomberg]
* Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two men accused of killing law professor Dan Markel, isn’t getting bond just yet. [Tallahassee Democrat; WCTV]
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9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Litigators
Is The 'Kozinski Solution' To The Problem Of Overlong Briefs Gaining Traction?
Could this become a trend in the federal appellate courts? -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.10.16
* “NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Dem Senate candidate and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland: Scalia’s death ‘happened at a good time.'” [Instapundit]
* A Skull and Bones society for top NYC law firms? Professor Rick Swedloff discusses a secretive group whose membership includes some of Biglaw’s biggest names. [SSRN]
* A notable new petition (filed by Professor Orin Kerr and Marcia Hofmann) in a high-profile appeal about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* Donald Trump’s infamous “Second Amendment” quip is protected by the First Amendment — but just barely, according to Professor Noah Feldman. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]
* Jury consultant Roy Futterman of DOAR wonders: is concern about prejudicing jurors actually driving them to using the internet for decision-making? [Big Law Business]
* Could the ABA someday lose its power to accredit law schools? Steven J. Harper thinks its day of reckoning is coming closer. [The Belly of the Beast]
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9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Litigators
Judge Kozinski Won't Read Your 'Fat' Or 'Chubby' Brief
Protip: when in the Ninth Circuit, avoid filing an overlength brief at all costs. - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
9th Circuit, Federal Judges
This Federal Judge Just Loves Nerding Out
Judge Owens agrees this is the law, but that doesn't mean he thinks it should be the law. -
Alex Kozinski, Benchslaps, Prisons, Religion
Benchslaps All Around: Watch Out For Those Wiccans
Did a Wiccan prisoner cast a spell on the Ninth Circuit? -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.13.16
* “Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one.” The House was successful in its suit over the improper funding of an Obamacare subsidy program, but this victory may serve as a setback to those who have come to rely upon it. You can expect the Obama administration to appeal. [POLITICO]
* The Ninth Circuit will allow attorneys who secured a victory in the Stetson BARBRI antitrust case to get a second chance to score the nearly $2M in attorneys fees they originally requested before Judge Manuel Real shot them down. Due to his prior “erroneous findings and conclusions,” the Ninth Circuit has essentially removed Judge Real from the case. [Courthouse News Service]
* “People are turned off on legal education because of a lack of suitable paying jobs.” Even while facing a dearth of applicants, Minnesota Law has decided to scale back on the size of its first-year class — taking in less of the tuition income that it needs to survive — in order to preserve its standing as a top law school. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Former partners of the dearly departed Dickstein Shapiro will no longer have to worry about that $8.4 million sublease lawsuit filed by Sullivan & Worcester after they left the firm’s New York office to lateral en masse to Blank Rome. Both sides have amicably resolved their dispute, but we wonder how much it cost to do so. [Big Law Business]
* A grand jury has upgraded the charges against Ryan Petersen, the man alleged to have shot 23-year-old law firm clerk Chase Passauer to death in his office chair. Peterson had been charged with second-degree murder in Passauer’s death, but now faces a charge of premeditated first-degree murder for the commission of the crime. [Star Tribune]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.12.16
* Howrey doing with all those profit clawbacks for unfinished business? The bankruptcy trustee for this defunct firm filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit to determine whether his method of collecting cash for the insolvent firm’s estate was legal, and in an amicus brief, the ABA has sided with the law firms being bilked for funds, saying such efforts must be nixed. [ABA Journal]
* The Tenth Circuit dismissed a challenge to Utah’s ban on polygamy that was brought by TLC’s “Sister Wives” family, saying they didn’t have standing to sue as they were no longer subject to a credible threat of prosecution. This will probably add fuel to the rumors that the show is on the verge of cancellation before Season 7. [WSJ Law Blog]
* The SEC has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in connection to a stock scam involving tech company Servergy. Paxton allegedly assisted the company with raising investor funds, but never disclosed his commissions. With three pending criminal indictments and a bar complaint, this guy is batting 1000. [Dallas Morning News]
* Reclaim Harvard Law protestors who have been occupying the school’s student center claim that they found a voice-activated recording device in “Belinda Hall,” and have interpreted this as an “intentional effort to surveil [their] movement.” If your goal was to get people to listen to your message, consider this an achievement unlocked. [Observer]
* If you’re uncertain about your law school decision, you can certainly put down multiple seat deposits, but we’re not sure why you would want to. By all means, start your legal education by putting yourself into debt — you’ll be off to a great start for the six figures of loans you’ll have accumulated by graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
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Entertainment Law, Free Speech
The Three Stooges Stole My Life Story
How transformative does your screenplay have to be to use a person's life story without their permission? The Hurt Locker case provides an example. -
Benchslaps, Federal Judges
The Federal Judiciary's Most Benchslapped Judge Comes Back For More
This is what happens when a federal judge has a penchant for... unprofessional behavior. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.03.16
* Sorry, Berners, but you’ll have to start the revolution somewhere else: Students at Georgetown Law have been barred from campaigning for Bernie Sanders on campus because administrators say it would threaten the law school’s tax-exempt status. [Hit & Run / Reason]
* A group from Kasowitz Benson’s lucrative insurance recovery practice, including its leader, Robin Cohen, is leaving for McKool Smith, but name partner Marc Kasowitz doesn’t seem to mind one bit. He says it’ll help the firm out in the long run. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
* Obama is expected to nominate Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California, she of the Apple v. Samsung patent feud, to the Ninth Circuit. It’s too bad the likelihood of her getting through the Senate right now is “close to zero.” [San Jose Mercury News]
* Hole singer Courtney Love’s “Twibel” (Twitter plus libel) victory against her ex-lawyer in the first case to ever go to trial over a defamatory tweet was recently upheld by a California appellate court. Retweet and Like. [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]
* Mmm, cheese-product sticks! Fast-food conglomerate McDonald’s is facing a class-action suit over its sometimes cheeseless mozzarella sticks, with allegations that they’re not made with “100 percent real cheese” and “real mozzarella” as advertised. [Eater]
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Trivia Question of the Day
The Ninth Circuit Sure Has Changed A Lot
Lots has happened since the largest judicial circuit was created. -
9th Circuit, Federal Judges, Politics
Will We See A Return Of The Ninth Circuit Curse?
Will this latest effort to break up the Ninth Circuit get better traction than past attempts? -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.28.16
* How Planned Parenthood’s aggressive legal strategy launched them from the defensive to the offensive. [Reuters]
* David Boies just saved Natalie Portman’s ass. Yes, you read that correctly. [The Hollywood Reporter]
* Don’t be cute and try and violate a restraining order via Facebook. [Associate’s Mind
* Arizona wants out of the Ninth Circuit. Good luck with that. [AZ Governor]
* Not recommended judicial behavior: hanging a portrait of Adolf Hitler in the courthouse’s Hall Of Heroes. Looks like Oregon’s Judge Vance Day is learning that the hard way. [Raw Story]
* You can’t skirt defamation laws by complaining to a disciplinary committee — a doctor files a complaint against an attorney who blogged about him. [New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog]
* Writing fiction was “liberating” for this attorney. Check out the new crime novel, A Stirring in the North Fork (affiliate link), to see what he’s talking about. [Teamster Nation]
* Despite how sensationalized they can be, the insanity defense is really quite rare. [Huffington Post]
* Even if you aren’t rich, you still need a prenup. [My Bank Tracker]
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Benchslaps, Federal Government
Federal Judge Sides With Protesting Ranchers, Earns Massive Benchslap
The pet federal judge of the Oregon standoff yokels hit with a benchslap after making up law to suit their philosophy.