Richard Posner

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 02.06.15

    * Records show that Case Western Law bought former dean Lawrence Mitchell’s house for $575,000. Was it still furnished with the Chinese silk sheets? [The Observer]

    * Judge Posner explains that ALJs are basically working a conveyor belt. To wit, here’s a visual representation of Social Security ALJs at work. [Valpo Law Blog]

    * Um, what’s the charge for “acting like you’re in Fast and Furious”? [Legal Juice]

    * Republicans making moves to stop net neutrality. Netflix needs to start showing more Bible documentaries to sap this movement’s political will. [Bloomberg Politics]

    * Professor Campos reviews a new paper on the future of higher education funding. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

    * The law dean at the University of New Brunswick is accused of “sexism, harassment, and, in one case, threats of violence by two of his former law school colleagues.” That’s some very un-Canadian behavior. But Levitt used to be the dean at Florida A&M, and that does sound like some very Floridian behavior. [CBC] UPDATE (2/23/16 12:57 p.m.): Checking back in on this story we have a LOT to add. Since we first linked to this, the CBC has had to retract its stories about Professor Levitt. It turns out he was not a party, witness or even deposed in the law suits even though CBC was giving off the impression that he was the central figure in criminal cases. It seems he wasn’t even a party to the civil cases when they were reporting that! CBC has had to report that Levitt was absolved or ‘cleared’ of any wrongdoing not once, but twice. The whole saga seems, from what we know today, to have been pretty egregious and raises troubling questions about race and media bias in Canada, as discussed in this piece about the matter.

    * How to make your shoes last longer. [Corporette]

    * Michael Cannon and Professor Jonathan Adler use some pretty compelling evidence in their amicus brief decrying King v. Burwell. Unfortunately, they kind of made up a quote. When the woman they quoted tries to clear the record, Cannon tells her he understands what she clearly said better than she did. In a sense this is a microcosm for the whole case. [Constitutional Accountability Center]

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  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 12.11.14

    * A registered sex offender wins the lottery. $3 million buys a lot of windowless vans. [Orlando Sentinel]

    * Judge to federal prosecutor: “You’re branded as a liar and you’ll remain a liar for the rest of your life.” [New York Observer]

    * A New York lawyer has been arrested and charged with running down 5 people in Herald Square. Alcohol and crack pipes are involved. And topless selfies. Look, you’re going to see more on this from Staci in the morning, so just sit tight. [Inquisitr]

    * If you want to live in a mansion, all you need to do is forge a few documents. [Gawker]

    * The Supreme Court of Canada says cops can search your phone when they arrest you. But only to check the Habs score. [Ars Technica]

    * Another installment of Posner on Posner. This time focusing on the First Amendment. [Concurring Opinions]

    * This week we learned there’s a thing called “rectal feeding.” Professor Michael Dorf on why it’s totally a war crime. [Dorf on Law]

    * How many law schools will close by 2020? [TaxProf Blog]

    * Want to be on the LSAC Board of Trustees? It’s not like they have any glaring problems that require a leadership change. [LSAC]

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  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.24.14

    * 2014 Moot Court rankings. Florida Coastal? Really? Good for them. [The National Jurist]

    * Young lawyers are making legal mobile apps. Great, now I’m going to start getting notifications about helping friends out with their LawVille game. [TaxProf Blog]

    * Judge sends motivational tweet, no big deal. No judge sends motivational tweet DURING A MURDER TRIAL, now there’s something! [Legal Cheek]

    * A number of law professors filed a brief supporting the NCAA in the Ed O’Bannon antitrust appeal. What do you know, there’s actually someone out there supporting the NCAA. [CBS Sports]

    * Cooley LLP is representing Immigration Judge Ashley Tabaddor in an interesting lawsuit against the DOJ. Judge Tabaddor is Iranian-American, and the DOJ ordered her off all cases involving Iranians based on her heritage. That… doesn’t sound right. [Cooley LLP]

    * Ron Collins kicks off a multi-part series on Judge Richard Posner. [Concurring Opinions]

    * English was William F. Buckley’s third language? Huh. Never knew that. [What About Clients?]

    * David and Elie appeared on Power Lunch today to discuss bonus season. Video below. [CNBC]

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  • 7th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Crime, Football, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, Richard Posner, Supreme Court, Technology

    Non-Sequiturs: 11.14.14

    * Morgan Lewis approves the Bingham deal, with 227 of the roughly 300 Bingham partners moving over as full partners. Morgan Lewis is calling it a “mass lateral move,” which is the nice way of telling the remaining 70+ partners (and whatever associates and staffers they don’t care to include) to enjoy early retirement. [American Lawyer; WSJ Law Blog]

    * A follow up report on the horrific story of the lawyers accused of stabbing a managing partner and his wife. [Washington Post]

    * Justice Scalia realizes that strict constructionists are just jerks. [The Onion]

    * When the title of the story uses the phrase “super-drunk judge”… [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

    * Judge Posner took a detour into Jewish theology, apparently based on scholarly research from “Google” and “Wikipedia.” In his defense though, he thought he was citing the well-known Hebrew texts of “Elgoog” and “Aidepikiw.” [The Jewish Daily Forward]

    * It may sound like a terrible horror movie, but “Darkhotel” is actually a campaign of cyberattacks against business executives logging in from their high-end hotels. [Internet, Information Technology & e-Discovery Blog]

    * Um, Florida State may care so much about their (number 3) football team they gloss over criminal activity. And this article is NOT about Jameis Winston. [New York Times]

    * Linda Greenhouse. Damn. “In decades of court-watching, I have struggled — sometimes it has seemed against all odds — to maintain the belief that the Supreme Court really is a court and not just a collection of politicians in robes. This past week, I’ve found myself struggling against the impulse to say two words: I surrender.” [New York Times]

    * If you’re in L.A. tonight, check out the 6th Annual Justice Jam, celebrating “A Tradition of Advocacy” at 5:30 p.m. at La Plaza De Cultura y Artes. The event benefits Community Lawyers, Inc., an organization working to promote access to affordable legal services for low- and moderate-income individuals. [Community Lawyers, Inc.]

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  • 3rd Circuit, 7th Circuit, Biglaw, Books, Deaths, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Partner Issues

    Morning Docket: 09.05.14

    * A unanimous Seventh Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Posner, just struck down Wisconsin and Indiana’s bans on same-sex marriage. The result isn’t surprising in light of the blistering benchslaps delivered by Judge Posner at oral argument, but the timing is faster than usual (for a federal appellate opinion in a high-profile case, not for the prolific Posner). [BuzzFeed]

    * Bad news for Cahill Gordon: the Third Circuit just revived a fraud case against the high-powered firm and one of its clients, a unit of BASF. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * And badder news for BP: a federal judge just concluded that the oil giant was grossly negligent in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [New York Times]

    * Freshfields gets fresh talent, adding former Wachtell partner Mitchell Presser and former Skadden partner James Douglas to its ranks. [American Lawyer]

    * The dean of Seton Hall Law, Patrick Hobbs, will step down from the deanship at the end of the current academic year. Congratulations to Dean Hobbs on a long and successful tenure. [South Orange Juice]

    * And congratulations to John Grisham and Jason Bailey, winners of, respectively, the 2014 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2014 ABA Journal/Ross Short Fiction Contest. [ABA Journal]

    * Brittany McGrath, Brooklyn Law class of 2014, RIP. [TaxProf Blog]

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