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Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.06.16

* Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has already attacked a federal judge due to his "Mexican heritage," and now he's speaking out about judges' religious beliefs. Trump apparently thinks Muslim judges would be biased against him due to his plans to ban Muslim immigrants. [New York Times] * Reviled pharma bro Martin Shkreli finds himself on the wrong side of the law, again: He -- along with his ex-attorney, Evan Greebel (formerly of Kaye Scholer) -- has been accused of scheming to defraud potential investors of Retrophin, the drug company Shkreli founded in 2011. [Associated Press] * Ouch! Last week, Norton Rose stole an entire practice group from Sidley Austin. The 17-member public finance group, including six partners, will move to San Francisco, marking the firm's entrance into the Northern California market. [Big Law Business] * Dean Phyliss Craig-Taylor of North Carolina Central University School of Law has been appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Congratulations! [News & Observer] * A suit filed against Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby that accused her of firing prosecutors due to their political associations has been dismissed. According to Judge J. Frederick Motz (D. Md.), prosecutors can be fired for political reasons. [Baltimore Sun]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.03.16

* A ray of light for Madonna as the Ninth Circuit hands her a victory in a long-running copyright infringement case, creating a circuit split in the process. [Billboard] * The New York Court of Appeals overturns the $17.2 million award Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder earlier won against Cadwalader at summary judgment. Life's hard for billionaires who beg regular people pay their bills for them. [Law360] * Kirkland & Ellis plays hardball with departing partner, forcing him to repay a $120K bonus before walking out the door. [Legal Week] * This is why we can't have nice things. Literally. Intellectual property concerns threaten customizable goods. [Corporate Counsel] * Texas AG Ken Paxton's still gonna have to face those criminal fraud charges. [Courthouse News Service] * Industry groups come out of the woodwork to challenge a Department of Labor rule requiring retirement advisors to act in the best interest of their customers. Crocodile tears abound as the groups claim they agree with the sentiment of the rule but just want the SEC to write it -- knowing full well that the SEC isn't going to write it. [Wall Street Journal] * Add ABA President Paulette Brown to the list of people outraged that Donald Trump is criticizing a federal judge for, among other things, being of Mexican descent. [Law360] * Irell gets sneaky in this copyright win over pre-1972 songs. [Litigation Daily]

By Joe Patrice
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]

By Staci Zaretsky