Politics
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.20.16
* So much for Prof. Lawrence Lessig having flipped at least 20 Republican electors: Only two “faithless electors” from Texas refused to cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump, choosing John Kasich and Ron Paul instead. At the end of the day, more Democrats chose not to support their party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton. [The Hill]
* Sorry, but Chief Justice John Roberts won’t grant your emergency petition to force the Senate hold a confirmation vote on President Obama’s SCOTUS pick, Judge Merrick Garland (D.C. Cir.). Instead, Judge Garland will resume hearing cases on January 18, and President-elect Trump will make his nomination after his inauguration. [Reuters]
* With the new year almost upon us and 2017 financial forecasts being made for the largest firms in the country, the great salary increase of 2016 has come up again and again as a major cost suck for some Biglaw firms. How costly was it? According to Aric Press, “[t]his will cost the average Am Law 100 firm, with headcount at 930 lawyers, about $11.6 million a year, or $57,300 per equity partner.” [Big Law Business]
* Working Mother is surveying law firms to determine which ones offer the best environment for lawyers with kids. The publication will release a list of the 50 best firms, and the deadline for participation is February 10. Help your firm get recognized for something that could help steer the direction of an associate’s career. [ABA Journal]
* Are you running behind on purchasing your gifts this holiday season? Worry not, because thanks to the legalization of marijuana in these eight jurisdictions, you can give your friends and family the gift of ganja without being criminally prosecuted: Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, California, Maine, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. [INVERSE]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.19.16
* North Carolina’s governor-elect announced legislators will meet tomorrow to repeal their terrible bathroom law. [LawNewz]
* The first trailer for the legal television show The Good Fight, the CBS streaming spinoff of The Good Wife, is here, and piles on the sex. [Slate]
* Ohio elector resigns from the electoral college in order to keep her day job. [Election Law Blog]
* Women receive lower grades in large law school classes. [TaxProf Blog]
* A difficult, but important read: a letter from a woman to the man that raped her. [Huffington Post]
* Huma Abedin gets to be the scapegoat for some looking for a patsy for Hillary Clinton’s loss. [Law and More]
* Nearly a thousand lawyers, policy experts, and activists are expected to attend a “counter-inaugural” conference in D.C. on Jan 21-22, 2017, featuring speakers like Sam Munger (SiX), Tom Goldstein (co-founder of SCOTUSblog), Nan Aron (Alliance for Justice), Jonathan Lowy (Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). The conference will begin after the (free) Women’s March on Washington on Saturday morning. Learn more and register here. [Rise Above]
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Politics
4,000 Lawyers Sign Ultimately Useless Petition
Lawyers using their legendary letter-writing skills for good.
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.16.16
* I’ve had an interesting week. [Simple Justice]
* But at least I’m real. [Popehat]
* Next week will be an interesting week for the Electoral College. [Balkinization]
* Huma Abedin’s lawyers politely request that the FBI explain exactly how they screwed over America. [New York Daily News]
* I don’t really understand the Department of Justice “bid rigging” investigation into ad agencies. I don’t really understand why it’s important. But apparently some ad execs could go to jail behind this, so I understand that whatever is happening is pretty cool. [Business Insider]
* Ashley Madison agrees to a $1.6 million settlement with the FTC over its alleged failure to protect user data. That doesn’t seem like a lot to me. That seems like a “my wife saw my info on Ashley Madison and I had to sleep on the couch for a week” kind of penalty. Not a “my wife saw my info on Ashley Madison and now I live in my brother’s basement while the lawyers figure out how often I can still see my children” penalty. [ABA Journal]
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Bonuses, Politics, Women's Issues
Conservative Partners Give Female Associates Smaller Bonuses
This is really disheartening. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.16.16
* Are conservative partners giving smaller bonuses to female associates? Per the results of a recent study, political ideology impacts how partners allocate discretionary income to associates based on gender. If you thought this couldn’t happen in Biglaw since bonuses are largely lockstep by class year, think again. The firm studied has 1,000+ lawyers. We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]
* “We’ve got one of the country’s finest jurists, who I happened to have nominated to the Supreme Court and who’s going to continue to serve our country with distinction as the chief judge on the D.C. circuit, Merrick Garland is here.” President Obama hasn’t withdrawn his SCOTUS nomination, but his White House Hanukkah party introduction of the jurist indicates he’s all but given up on Garland’s confirmation. [Washington Post]
* “Just because you didn’t go to law school doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have more time to bond with a new child.” Lowenstein Sandler has adopted a gender-neutral family leave policy that’s being offered to all of the firm’s employees — not just its lawyers. Congrats to the firm on taking an important leap towards parental equality. [Big Law Business]
* According to the latest ABA data, first-year law school enrollment has increased for the first time since 2010. Don’t get too excited over this news, because only 36 more 1Ls were enrolled in law school in 2016 compared to 2015, and one of the schools with the largest enrollment increase (Indiana Tech) is closing for good. [National Law Journal]
* “Once again, public schools have decided that their commitment to diversity does not extend to Christians.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going to war over a religious Charlie Brown Christmas poster that was banned from a local middle school. AG Paxton has filed suit, but some say he did so as a distraction from his own indictment. [Reuters]
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Politics
It’s Time To Take Donald Trump Seriously
It is time to take Trump seriously and to support, shape, or oppose his policies in specific ways. -
Labor / Employment, On The Job
What President Trump Will Do To Employment Law Will Make You Dizzy
Employment law may undergo its biggest upheaval since the New Deal, according to new columnist Richard B. Cohen. - Sponsored
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General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Politics
Thanks For The Job Security, Mr. Trump
What does the election of Donald Trump mean for in-house lawyers? -
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Banking Law
Jose Canseco Sets Uncharacteristically Modest Goals For Fed Chairmanship
Fed Chair Jose Canseco does seem like the next logical step here. -
Law Schools, Politics
Follow-Up: Tiffany Trump Tours Another Top-Flight Law School
Tiffany Trump's law school search goes on...
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Labor / Employment, On The Job, Politics
Being An Employee In The Age Of Trump: A Guide To Keeping Your Head And Your Job In Times Of Transition
Pointers from employment lawyer Beth Robinson about working in government during an age of uncertainty. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.13.16
* What happens when a Biglaw associate at a prestigious firm is allegedly injured so badly in the D.C. subway that he’s prevented from working as an associate at that firm? He files a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Washington Metro Transit Authority, obviously. We’ll have more on this later. [Big Law Business]
* A federal judge has dismissed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s bid for a recount in Pennsylvania as absurd, writing in a 31-page opinion that her theory of the hacking of the state’s electronic voting machines “borders on the irrational.” Ouch. [Reuters]
* Justice Stephen Breyer continued his assault against capital punishment this week, dissenting from his Supreme Court colleagues’ decision not to hear a death row inmate’s case. In that dissent, he didn’t discuss the evidence against the inmate, but rather, he discussed the evidence against the death penalty in America. [New York Times]
* Abortion-rights activists from the Center for Reproductive Rights have sought an injunction against the implementation of a controversial Texas regulation that would require the burial or cremation of fetal remains because it “imposes a funeral ritual on women who have … an abortion.” As if HB 2 wasn’t bad enough… [WSJ Law Blog]
* School-by-school results from the July 2016 administration of the California bar exam have finally been released (albeit not publicly, until now), and considering that the overall pass rate was the lowest it’s been in 32 years, law schools did not fare well. Which did the best, and which did the worst? We’ll have more on this later. [The Recorder]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.12.16
* Duncan Lloyd, the Philadelphia assistant city solicitor who spray-painted “F*ck Trump” on a building while wearing an ascot and holding a glass of wine, will be able to keep his job after completing 40 hours of community service. We’re sure many Americans feel that he has already completed his community service through his actions. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who took a leave of absence from Greenberg Traurig to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump through the end of the election, has removed his name from consideration for any position in President-elect Trump’s administration (but only after reportedly being offered three other positions that he didn’t want). He’ll now be returning to his law firm. [ABC News]
* The struggling European and Middle East arm of King & Wood Mallesons has received “a number of indicative purchase offers” from other law firms. Biglaw behemoth Dentons is rumored to be a potential merger partner for firm’s EUME branch, with DLA Piper and Greenberg Traurig ready to make lateral offers to partners. [Big Law Business]
* Just because your law school isn’t one of the best in the nation, it doesn’t mean that you can’t dream big. Case in point: The most recent winners of the prestigious Skadden public interest fellowships has been announced, and two of them will graduate from CUNY School of Law. We’ll have more on the new Skadden Fellows later. [Skadden]
* Dislike? A woman who wanted to serve her estranged husband with divorce papers via Facebook has been denied by a judge who noted that the social networking profile had been inactive for two-plus years, writing that to allow service would be “akin to the Court permitting service by nail and mail to a building that no longer exists.” [WSJ Law Blog]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.09.16
* So far, Justice Breyer has had the most to say during oral arguments. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* The Sioux seem to have a temporary victory at Standing Rock, so what’s the next legal step? Holland & Knight’s James Meggesto weighs in. [Salon]
* Ohio GOP looks to strip Cleveland of power. [Slate]
* Did bad teaching prevent this guy from being a successful lawyer? [TaxLaw Prof]
* North Carolina courts are against expansion. [The News & Observer]
* Tales of ambition inside the Beltway. [Law and More]
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Public Interest, Technology
alt.legal: A Challenge For the Public Good
What can alt.legal companies do to advance the public interest and bridge the justice gap? -
Securities and Exchange Commission
President Trump Thinks SEC Chair May Be Perfect Reward For Chris Christie’s Lawyer
Defending Bridgegate to running the SEC is the power move of 2016.