Preet Bharara

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 05.03.16

* So you are a young Biglaw associate. You are miserable with your life and decide to get some therapy to deal -- how do you take the time to take care of yourself without appearing lazy at the firm? [Corporette] * The Biglaw v. Small Law showdown in... Little League. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog] * How can new law school grads navigate a changing career market? [Reboot Your Legal Practice] * Preet Bharara is bragging about putting Shelly Silver in jail for 12 years. [Twitter] * Is being a lawyer the most embarrassing profession? A new novel, The Neon Lawyer, suggests it just might be. [Guile is Good] * Even super lawyers can't stop bad press. [Law and More] * Is social media feeding the rash of graffiti in National Parks? [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.11.16

* Hooray, this study says it's a great time to be a lawyer! According to career website Glassdoor, lawyers are the second-highest paid professionals in the country, with a median base salary of $144,500. See, everybody, you'll be able to pay off your six-figure law school debt in no time! You're probably rich! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * John Oliver of "Last Week Tonight" trademarked the word "Drumpf" ahead of the humorous segment on his show, and he turned to Kenyon & Kenyon to get the job done. The comedian was apparently trying to keep it in the "Daily Show" family with his choice of legal representation -- as we've noted before, Kenyon's managing partner is Stephen Colbert's older brother. [Am Law Daily] * Here's a ranking that'll be useful for prospective law students and legal professionals who love being boastful: Which law schools have the highest percentage of graduates who pass the bar exam on the first try? You may legitimately be surprised by the placement of some of the law schools on this list. We'll have more on this later. [AL.com] * "The tone of the brief reads like an indictment." The Justice Department filed a pretty feisty response to Apple in its legal battle over the encryption of an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple's GC says the DOJ lawyers are now "so desperate" to get what they want that they've "thrown all decorum to the wind." [CNBC] * U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York will have to face a lawsuit filed by David Ganek of Level Global Investors, once a $4 billion hedge fund, over allegations that the federal prosecutor's office filed a misleading affidavit and fabricated evidence as part of an insider trading probe that resulted in the fund failing. [Newsday]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.23.16

* It's official: Justice Clarence Thomas hasn't asked a question during oral arguments at the Supreme Court in a decade. No other justice in history has ever done something like this, but Justice Thomas is "confident enough in his own skin not to care." [MSNBC] * Who would make a better SCOTUS justice, Judge Sri Srinivasan of the D.C. Circuit or U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara? President Obama may be wondering when deciding whether to appoint the high court's first Asian-American justice. [New York Daily News] * Judge H. Russel Holland was presiding over the DOJ's action against two allegedly discriminatory polygamous cities on the Utah-Arizona border when he was rushed away in an ambulance. He had a terrible case of bronchitis. Feel better, Your Honor! [AP] * Gowlings, Canada's second-largest firm, merged with UK-based Wragge Lawrence Graham to form an international firm with 1,400+ lawyers in 10 countries. Accept our cautionary congratulations, since layoffs usually follow mergers of this size. [Reuters] * Aww, how cute! After working as a fully integrated firm for almost two years, Squire Patton Boggs has announced its first-ever merger with another firm. Welcome San Francisco-based firm Carroll Burdick & McDonough to the party. [Plain Dealer] * Mayer Brown is relying on a lateral associate to help its Cuba practice shore up client relations on the island through all of her connections there, which have been described as "hot property." She even got her own press release. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 01.29.16

* Five years later, and one of them enrolled at Yale Law, the kids of Tiger Mom, Amy Chua, plan to raise their own children the same way. [Today] * Rome self-censors for a state visit from Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. How, exactly, was this a good idea? [Popehat] * Should the ABA change accreditation standards to prevent students with little chance of actually passing the bar examination from attending law school in the first place? [TaxProf Blog] * Missouri paid its executioners $250,000 in cash. That doesn't seem shady AT ALL. [BuzzFeed] * The whole Ammon Bundy debacle is teaching people damn the consequences. [Lawyers, Guns and Money] * If you need to scale a courthouse in order to get a selfie with lady liberty, just don't do it, you could wind up in jail. [KWTX] * What does Rudy Giuliani really think about Preet Bharara? Plus why he loves being a lawyer. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=9yGt3MF4Sn4

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.12.16

* Based on reading the oral-argument tea leaves, it sounds like the Supreme Court is about to school the teachers' unions (and public-sector unions more generally). [How Appealing] * Ring in the new year by making the register ring: a slew of Biglaw firms have secured (presumably lucrative) engagements working on the proposed $32 billion merger between drug makers Shire Plc and Baxalta Inc. [American Lawyer] * By a vote of 82-6, and after a wait of more than 400 days, the Senate just confirmed Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo to the Third Circuit, making him the first Hispanic federal judge from Pennsylvania to sit on that court. [Associated Press] * Good news for fantasy-sports fans: it's not (yet) "game over" for DraftKings and FanDuel, thanks to a stay issued by a New York appellate court. [Bloomberg News] * And bad news for student-loan-saddled law grads (like our own Shannon Achimalbe) who were hoping that SCOTUS might make it easier to discharge such debts through bankruptcy. [Wall Street Journal via ABA Journal] * Does Sean Penn face legal risk for his interview of El Chapo, the infamous Mexican drug lord? [ABA Journal] * A former federal prosecutor just secured a six-figure settlement and reinstatement from the Justice Department. [National Law Journal] * U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara -- who came so, so close to winning Lawyer of the Year honors -- announced that Governor Mario Cuomo is off the legal hook for his controversial shutdown of the Moreland Commission, a panel aimed at investigating public corruption. [Law360] * Avvo is starting to roll out a service featuring fixed-fee, limited-scope legal services through a network of attorneys (and Bob Ambrogi has the scoop). [Law Sites] * Professor Peter J. Henning explores the implications of the end of the government case against hedge fund magnate Steve Cohen. [DealBook / New York Times]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.24.15

* It's a Christmas miracle! It may still be too early to tell, but it's beginning to look a lot like there's going to be an increase in law school applicants. Per LSAC, almost 3 percent more people have applied to law schools than last year at this time. [WSJ Law Blog] * This is why more firms don't hold IPOs: Slater & Gordon, the first firm to go public, may face two shareholder class-action suits -- one for allegedly misleading investors and the other for its terrible performance on the market. [Guardian] * As 2015 draws to a close, it's very obvious that Dentons had a "transformative" year as it gobbled up law firms left and right, and 2016 will be no different. The firm has its eyes set on Japan, Korea, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Africa. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * A Bahamian hacker almost released a celebrity sex tape, naughty photos, and television and movie scripts for an obscene price, but not to worry, because U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (S.D.N.Y.) was busy saving the world, one sex tape at a time. [New York Times] * UC Hastings College of Law has appointed an acting chancellor and dean in Frank Wu's wake. Let's welcome David L. Faigman to the world of law school administration. Hopefully he can ease the school out of its current bar exam passage funk. [UC Hastings] * Joe Jamail, richest lawyer in America, King of Torts and depos, RIP. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 12.21.15

* Blame Kelly Drye for the lack of exotic snake regulations, because what could go wrong in an unregulated market for spitting cobras? [Slate] * New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is instating mass pardons for youthful offenders. [New York Times] * A Texas alumni group has apologized for calling Justice Scalia a racist. I guess scientists are made of sterner stuff. [Chronicle of Higher Education] * The founding fathers were better about defending the rights of Muslims than (some) modern Republicans. [Washington Post] * Preet Bharara's latest target -- the evils of auto-subscribing. [Law and More] * Ah, the Christmas season. That time of the year when customer service is paradoxically at its best and worst. [That's My Argument!] * The verdict against former White House counsel J. Michael Farren has been affirmed by the Connecticut Appellate Court. [Legal Profession Blog]

By Kathryn Rubino