Reality TV

Goldman Sachs

Non-Sequiturs: 04.17.12

* Apparently, it is illegal to father a second illegitimate child in Mississippi. I guess the first one is a freebie or a Mulligan, or whatever. If for some reason I ever have a personal need to know this tidbit, please shoot me in the face immediately. [Legal Juice] * A class-action lawsuit will be filed tomorrow against the producers of The Bachelor, alleging race discrimination. I’m more concerned about the show’s overall crimes against good taste. (Zing!) [Legal Blog Watch] * Just like a certain Biglaw firm, Goldman Sachs is dealing with a large number of partner defections. Goldman has a pretty good PR spin though: jumping ship is actually a sign of loyalty to the company. Right, just like the crew of the Titanic. [Dealbreaker] * Today is #EqualPayDay. If you’re like me and didn’t know what that means, all you need to know is that the fairer sex is still not paid as much as big dumb oafs like myself. If you want to do something to fix this, Ms. JD has some ideas. [Ms. JD] * Bigotry and prejudice are never okay. UNLESS you want to hate on a new-ish (yet exceedingly popular) religion that is also conveniently in opposition to your liberal political motives. In that case, right this way, sir… [Instapundit] * If you don’t pay your taxes, the government wants to be able to take away your passport. So, hypothetically, if I were planning to flee the U.S. for, say, Spain, to avoid paying my taxes… I should leave, well, now. Umm, IwillseeyoulaterIhavetorunOKbye. [The Atlantic]

By Christopher Danzig
Kids

Mother of ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ Star Sues for Millions After Daughter Is ‘Sexualized’ on the Web

In late 2011, television viewers expressed outrage over the pageant industry's tendency to sexualize children. After all, with mothers dressing their daughters like surgically-enhanced country singers, fake breasts and all, or hookers with hearts of gold, how could viewers be anything but horrified? In all honesty, some of these little girls look like complete prosti-tots. This backdrop brings us to today's Lawsuit of the Day, where the mother of one of these tiara-toting toddlers alleges that a well-known celebrity gossip site had a hand in scandalizing her daughter....

By Staci Zaretsky
Celebrities

Quote of the Day: Please Stick to Sex Tapes

What reputation? She doesn’t have one. — Legal analyst Joey Jackson, commenting on allegations made in Kim Kardashian’s lawsuit against The Gap. The reality television star claims that an Old Navy commercial featuring a look-alike actress damaged her reputation to the tune of $15-20 million. (A clip of the commercial in question, after the jump.)

By Staci Zaretsky
Fame Brief

Fame Brief: Illinois 2L Is Kicked Off the Bachelor, Pranked By Classmates

Still reeling from the producers’ decision to include one Latino contestant four seasons ago, The Bachelor franchise is back in Narnia this season with another all-white cast. Available for fake engagement this season is a sexy, seasoned, Biglaw attorney. Just kidding! Erika Uhlig, 23, is a completely average looking 2L at the University of Illinois College of Law. To precisely no one's shock, a law school classmate of Erika's reports that “she’s a bitch"....

By Marin
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 11.28.11

* With AT&T’s T-Mobile deal falling apart, in-house lawyer Wayne Watts could be heard singing, “it’s my merger and I’ll cry if I want to,” before more whining to the FCC. [DealBook / New York Times] * Build us a border fence, and then get the f**k over it. Arizona lawmakers are soliciting the public […]

By Staci Zaretsky
Jersey Shore

Vinny From Jersey Shore Now Lecturing Columbia Students

Giving a platform to an anti-semitic global strongman is less damaging to your reputation than allowing a cast member from Jersey Shore to address your students. Vinny Guadagnino, the "smart one" from the Jersey Shore who occasionally talks about going to law school, was actually a guest speaker in front of college students at a Columbia University class....

By Elie Mystal
5th Circuit

Morning Docket: 11.02.11

* “Rising tuition. Misleading employment statistics. Inadequate skills training.” So what are legal educators doing about it? Blogging, of course. [Law School Review] * Trendspotting: cute judges on the federal bench? The Senate has confirmed Loyola Law professor Stephen Higginson for a seat on the Fifth Circuit. [National Law Journal] * People in New Jersey […]

By Staci Zaretsky
Fashion

A Crime of Fashion: When Law Students Dress Like Hookers

One of our tipsters alerted us to an episode of TLC's What Not to Wear -- the world's greatest guilty pleasure television show -- that we seem to have missed when it aired last year. The show featured a 2L from a southern law school, but this girl dressed more like a prostitute facing arraignment (sorry, Reema) than the lawyer representing her. So who is she, was she hot, what law school did she attend, and were Stacy and Clinton able to change this girl from a hooker to a looker?

By Staci Zaretsky
California

Who Uses An AOL Email To Cast A Lawyer Reality Show?

For the sake of Bravo, of reality television, of the legal profession in general, Elie hopes this Craigslist ad is fake. Because if it's not, that means that Bravo is putting together a pilot for some kind of Beverly Hills-based, female-lawyer reality show, and the network is casting it on Craigslist through somebody who so has his finger on the pulse of whatever that he's still using an AOL email address. Hey, calm down L.A. ladies, he'll give you the damn email address in two seconds....

By Elie Mystal
Fame Brief

Fame Brief: Survivor of the Fittest at Harvard Law School

Hopefully the next edition of What Can You Do With a Law Degree? has not gone to press yet, because there is a thriving new category of jobs a JD gets you these days: reality show contestant. See? Law school is good for something. Joining the entire pantheon of lawyer-turned-reality luminaries is John Cochran, a 24-year-old Harvard Law School student who appears as a member of the "Savaii" tribe on this season's Survivor: South Pacific....

By Marin