Rape

* The statute of limitations giveth, and the statute of limitations taketh away. Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to charge Bill Cosby in a case where a woman claimed that the comedian raped her in 1965 when she was 17 years old. [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times]

* Apparently sick and tired of people continuing to just waive in, the D.C. Court of Appeals is considering allowing third-year law students to take the D.C. bar up to 190 days before they even graduate, making it the most permissive early bar program in the country. [Blog of Legal Times]

* This is apparently the new way for law firms of all sizes to survive and thrive: Per Altman Weil, 2015 was yet another record year for law firm mergers and acquisitions, with 91 announced over the course of the year. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Congratulations to Elizabeth “Betty” Temple, the first woman to serve as chair and CEO of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. She joins about two handfuls of other women who are leading some of the country’s largest law firms. You go, girl! [WSJ Law Blog]

* “The food-borne illness costs extra. Is that okay?” Thanks to numerous food scares and an outbreak of norovirus, Chipotle now finds itself at the center of a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the Central District of California and the FDA. [AP]

There are a lot of problems with the way America handles rape crimes. Having a statute of limitations isn't one of them.

Bill Cosby just needed to skate for two more days.

* Yup, this is STILL happening — rape victims being charged for he cost of their rape kits. [Slate]

* What happens to a university when its law school keeps dragging it down? [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Here come the legal scholars defending the constitutionality of Donald Trump’s dumb ideas. [NBC News]

* Are you going to get work dumped on you right before the holidays? You are going to get work dumped on you right before the holidays. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* NYU is getting a new president — and a $1.1 million renovation to the president’s penthouse. [New York Times]

* NYPD officer is charged for arresting a man that tried to film him. [Gawker]

* Being convicted of a felony hasn’t made Dinesh D’Souza love Obama more. [Wonkette]

* The stigma of mental health issues when you are a lawyer. [Law and More]

* Bill Cosby files suit against 7 women who accused him of sexual assault, because accusers say the darnedest things. [BBC News]

* NY to 193!!! If you’re a state judge. Maybe. [NY Daily News]

* Bowe Bergdahl faces court-martial for desertion. It’s like Saving Private Ryan meets Earnest Goes To Fort Leavenworth. [NY Times]

* Jury convicts the Bryan Cave attorney accused of fraud in an effort to take over Maxim magazine. [NY Post]

* A Missouri lawmaker proposes a bill to strip athletes of scholarships if they refuse to play because one possible scrap of power for black people hasn’t been regulated yet. [Huffington Post]

* Rather than accept the $200 million judgment against Andrews Kurth, a Texas judge orders the parties back to mediation. [Law360]

* Putin signs law allowing Russia to overturn international human rights decisions in a move that, frankly, I’m surprised wasn’t taken years ago. [Reuters]

For the college-age male accused of sexual assault, it’s “guilty until proven innocent,” where the blameless are sacrificed at the ideological altar of radical feminism.

* For the horde! If you thought Dentons was done gobbling up law firms to create its international legion of lawyers, then you were dead wrong. The firm will likely merge with 500-lawyer Australian firm Gadens and 200-lawyer Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson in 2016. [Reuters]

* Thanks to this ruling, lawyers for model Janice Dickinson may depose Bill Cosby in the defamation case she filed against him after he denied raping her. Cosby’s former lawyer, Martin Singer, who the comedian recently dumped for Quinn Emanuel, may be deposed as well. [Los Angeles Times]

* If daylight saving time has been messing with your head, you’ll feel better to know that even the Supreme Court was having trouble with the time. Both clocks in the SCOTUS courtroom were hours behind thanks to an electrical malfunction. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Law school graduates have been having a rough time when it comes to bar passage in recent years, but Biglaw firms likely have nothing to worry about — in fact, many partners didn’t even know a problem like this was happening. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* “[T]he Harvard crest . . . should be a source of shame for the whole school.” According to a student movement at Harvard Law that’s been dubbed “Royall Must Fall,” the school was endowed by a “brutal” slaveowner and yet still bears his family’s seal. [Harvard Crimson]

Clerks behaving badly.

At least rape culture has gotten a little better.

* Not everyone can lead a glamorous life before going to law school. Take, for example, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. After graduating from college, she traveled to Alaska where she gutted fish with some “gentlemen from Japan.” Eww, that sounds… slimy. [JD Journal]

* Law schools have been forced to hike up a rocky road in terms of admissions for quite some time, but admissions officers recently decided to put on their rose-colored glasses. Everything will be okay next year! Things are looking up! [Inside Counsel]

* Corrales Municipal Judge Luis Quintana of New Mexico may have been disbarred, but he has no plans to resign from his position on the bench; after all, municipal judges in his state don’t have to be lawyers. How terribly convenient for him. [Albuquerque Journal]

* Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is now facing additional charges — including a new perjury charge — related to her grand jury testimony. She better find a way to blame this on her evil twin, because this doesn’t look good. [Times-Tribune]

* Warren Watson, a man who was convicted of robbing, raping, and murdering 66-year-old attorney Claudia Miller in her office in 2013, was recently sentenced to life in prison, plus 334 years on top of that for all of his dastardly deeds. [Denver Post]

When is a crime so serious that in spite of political expediency and local customs, it's time to upbraid your allies and force some change?

A panel of legal academics debate whether or sexual assault cases should be limited to courts, or if academic institutions should be allowed to provide limited redress pursuant to Title IX.

* With the Dewey trial wrapping up, a look back at the history of firm honchos earning jail time. [Law360]

* Slick video explaining the everything wrong the way law schools market themselves to students. [Business Insider]

* K&L Gates loses more partners. This time McDermott picks up the spoils. But don’t cry for K&L, they nabbed a huge get off Paul Hastings. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Remember when Sony got hacked? It unveiled some fun stuff, like how the new movie Concussion changed its plot around to avoid offending the NFL. [ABA Journal]

* As college football prepares to kick off tonight, Baylor has hired Pepper Hamilton to look into how the school handles sexual violence allegations in light of the rape conviction of former player Sam Ukwuachu. [Dallas Morning News]

* Here’s one of the dumbest arguments ever: Larry Lessig is liberal. About 47 years ago, unchecked campaign spending marginally helped a liberal (he did ultimately lose the nomination… and Nixon became president). Therefore, Larry Lessig shouldn’t be against money in politics. Signed, the former Executive Director of the Club for Growth. [The Daily Caller]

* Meanwhile, the GOP runs into the downside of Citizens United: arming a terrible candidate with so much money he won’t drop out. [Slate]

* Good news if you’ve made it to midlevel associate — survey says you’re happier than ever. [American Lawyer]

* Amal Clooney lost a case in Egypt, her client was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced to prison for their coverage of the 2013 uprising. Clooney warned the sentence sends a “dangerous message.” [People]

* More and more Pennsylvania firms are getting on-board with the $160k pay scale. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Chalk another victory up for the Amazing Schneiderman — that’s New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. This time, retail giant Gap Inc. has fallen in line. [Fashionista]

* A happy ending for David Powers, whose admission to St. John’s Law was revoked after officials there found out about a drug conviction. He’s starting at Pace Law today. [New York Times]

* When a client announces a new general counsel, law firms should consider that a wake-up call — or get fired. [Corporate Counsel]

* In truly horrific news, two Indian sisters were sentenced to be gang raped as punishment for their brother eloping with a woman of a different caste. The (hopefully) good news is the women have appealed to the Indian Supreme Court for protection. [Jezebel]

* What do in-house counsel need to know about the recent NLRB decision expanding the concept of joint-employers? [Law360]

* Should town clerks opposed to gay marriage be required to issue licenses to all couples? The Sixth Circuit says…. [How Appealing]

* John H. Ray III, the African American ex-associate at Ropes & Gray who claimed the elite firm discriminated against him, loses in court again, this time before the First Circuit. [National Law Journal]

* Vester Lee Flanagan aka Bryce Williams, the Virginia television broadcaster who killed two colleagues on-air before killing himself, was also no stranger to the legal system: he filed multiple lawsuits alleging racial discrimination. [New York Times]

* Why are in-house lawyers more likely than their non-attorney corporate colleagues to fall for phishing emails? [ABA Journal]

* Dewey know when the prosecution will rest in this seemingly endless trial? Probably today. [Wall Street Journal]

* State judges get nasty with each other in Oregon. [Oregonian]

* Federal judges around the country are advocating for a second look at how defendants get sentenced. [New York Times]

* The Dilly in Philly: Paul Clement v. Ted Olson. [Am Law Litigation Daily]

* A T14 law graduate turned “traveling artist” gets charged with criminal sexual assault in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune]

* Speaking of sexual assault laws, Emily Bazelon explains how the St. Paul’s Rape Case shows why these laws must change. [New York Times]

* Update: convicted Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes didn’t get just a life sentence, but 12 life sentences — plus 3,318 years on top of that. [CNN]

* Linda Hirshman, author of the forthcoming book Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (affiliate link), explains how Justices O’Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor brought wisdom to SCOTUS (but where’s the love for Justice Kagan?). [Slate via How Appealing]

* Tough legal questions that need to be answered: What to do when you inherit a school bus full of guns? [Adequate Man]

* Do you know when to quit Biglaw? If you’re miserable, when should you start the search for your next career? [Corporette]

* When it is Justice v. Football on college campuses, justice usually loses — a look at Baylor’s investigation of Sam Ukwuachu. [Deadspin]

* Finally, a job that makes Biglaw look appealing. [Careerist]

* A Biglaw firm doing parental leave right. [Talentkeepers]

* What is real? Can it be the essence of a character distilled? [What About Paris]

* Toddlers’ favorite lawyer makes a late night appearance [YouTube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAPCz6_8nuE

* Talk about Texas justice: After an elderly couple called animal control on a family with four dogs and caused them to be assessed a $121 fine, the dog-owning family posted this eloquently worded sign on their lawn. [San Francisco Chronicle]

* Chicago Blawkhawks hockey player Patrick Kane has been accused of rape, so naturally, his lawyer took to Facebook to defend his client in a hat trick of idiocy by engaging with bloggers, commenters, and witnesses, as one does. [CBS Chicago]

* Just when you thought you’d memorized all of the hearsay exceptions, the judiciary says it’s thinking of tossing one out. It may be popular on the bar exam, but it’s time to say goodbye to the otherwise rarely used ancient documents rule. [National Law Journal]

* British firms are borrowing “record sums” to fund expansion, and many have increased associate pay to compete with the U.S. firms with higher pay scales across the pond. Perhaps Biglaw firms ought to consider spreading the wealth over here. [Financial Times]

* After having served 10 months in prison for killing his girlfriend, a law school graduate turned model, Oscar Pistorius is ready to move on to “mansion arrest” for the remainder of his sentence. Man, it must be nice to be a wealthy convict in South Africa. [Reuters]

Even after the Rolling Stone debacle, many dubious beliefs persist about women who allege that they have been sexually assaulted, the men those women accuse, and how the media reports on it.

* Donald Trump’s lawyer responds to the flap over his spousal rape comments. Sort of. Not really. [Funny or Die]

* Does the Supreme Court need an ethics code? And yes, yes it does. [The Faculty Lounge]

* James Woods is suing a Twitter troll for claiming the actor is a “cocaine addict.” They probably just misspelled “hypersensitive blowhard.” [Gawker]

* In baseball, does the “tie go to the runner”? Are you sure? [PrawfsBlawg]

* Tom Brady provides that rare opportunity for sports fans to care about forum selection clauses. But the best part of this story is the comment: “Out of habit, the NRA filed an amicus brief on behalf of the NFL when they heard ‘Clinton’ & ‘Brady’ in the same sentence.” It’s refreshing when commenters are funny. [Deadspin]

* Keeping up with Supreme Court is hard. Even the Fifth Circuit struggles with it (though they’ve since seen the error of their ways). [Huffington Post]

* If you think academia can be a cushy job, you should see what retiring from academia looks like? [TaxProf Blog]

* Can you quit your job without another one lined up? Leigh Abramson has thoughts. [CNN Money]

* A comprehensive snapshot of the business record of the Roberts Court. [Constitutional Accountability Center]

Trump's attorney won't let the FACTS or the LAW get in the way of his defense of the boss man.