Russia

* Lifestyles of the Rich and the Armed — they’ve got mansions and you ought not rob them. [Daily Caller]

* Colorado Governor pardons a grip of folks convicted of weed possession. We should have legalized and decrim’d blunts years ago, but a start is a start. [The Denver Post]

* US-Russia relations may sour if Biden keeps up the Ukraine-based sanctioning. I was expecting chilly weather from the end of December, not the threat of a cold war! [Business Insider]

* Tesla issued a vehicle recall due to camera and trunk issues. I wonder: Do the cars have to be recharged upon return? [The Guardian]

* Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court says smelling weed isn’t enough for cops to search your car. Jury might still be out on a pair of furry dice dangling from your rearview though. [Pittsburgh City Paper]

The budding international space rivalry isn’t without its thorns.

Sometimes, being an American feels like living in season two of Game of Thrones, when all the Qartheen are blathering on about Qarth being 'the greatest city that ever was or will be.'

It's hard to believe any firm would think this was acceptable.

The Trump Family is determined to prevent Congress from knowing more about its debt than they do.

I mean, you should watch for the lulz because there won't be anything else of value.

* Impeachment proceedings are “possibly coming”: It’s got a little less oomph than the Game of Thrones tagline that the president is a fan of commandeering, but House Democrats are working on it in the wake of the Mueller report’s findings. [NBC News]

* Per Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, there’s “nothing wrong with taking information from Russians.” And besides which, “Who says it’s even illegal?” But would he have done the same when he was running for president? “I probably wouldn’t. I wasn’t asked.” Good to know. Thanks for clarifying, Mr. Mayor. [Washington Post]

* “Why in the world would you want to put your enemy on the payroll?” Donald Trump is so pissed off at “real lawyer” and former White House counsel Don McGahn that Jones Day will be kicked off campaign work that could have been worth millions. [POLITICO]

* According to the latest data from the American Bar Association, the bar pass rate for first-time exam takers in 2018 was 74.82 percent, down from 77.34 percent in 2017. Hopefully things will get better in 2019. [ABA Journal]

* Less is now more when it comes to Supreme Court briefs. Thanks to a new rules change, appellate advocates will only have 13,000 words to work with, down from 15,000. [National Law Journal]

The Mueller report treats Trump and his family with kid gloves.

It doesn't seem smart to fine and jail people for doing something that would actually improve your country's competitiveness.

* In this bombshell report, it was revealed that almost immediately after President Trump fired former FBI director James Comey, the agency launched a criminal and counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was working on Russia’s behalf. No collusion? [New York Times]

* “They’re not God, after all. They could be wrong.” Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani says the president’s legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller’s report before anyone else gets to read it, including members of Congress. [The Hill]

* Uh-oh… The longer the government shutdown continues, the longer certain practice areas are going to be in limbo. In fact, law firms “might see a dip [in billable hours] in the first quarter, depending on how much longer this goes on.” [American Lawyer]

* “If a school can’t get enough of its students to have a high enough pass rate, then there’s a problem.” The ABA is again pushing for a 75 percent bar pass rate within two years of graduation for a school to retain its accreditation. [Wall Street Journal]

* Joshua Davis, the lawyer who sued Ticketmaster over tickets he purchased to see “Hamilton” on the wrong day due to a tech glitch, got a quick settlement out of the ticket broker — and now he won’t miss his shot to see the show. [Texas Lawyer]

* Patricia Wald, the first woman appointed to the D.C. Circuit, RIP. [Washington Post]

I believe we have to start referring to the Second Amendment as the Вторая Поправка.

Cyrillic doesn't do AI any favors.

A little birdie tells me this is possible.

* You know your client sucks when…: This weekend, President Trump admitted on Twitter that his eldest son’s 2016 Trump Tower meeting was held to “get information on an opponent,” not to discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children,” as he’d dictated in his son’s earlier account. His lawyer, Jay Sekulow, then had to walk back a statement he’d made earlier to get in line with Trump’s comments, because “over time facts develop.” [Daily Beast]

* A federal judge has ruled for the second time that the Trump administration’s decision to end the DACA program was unlawful, referring to the DHS’s reasoning as “a hodgepodge of illogical or post hoc policy assertions.” Not only that, but the judge ordered that DACA be restored. Ouch. [National Law Journal]

* In other immigration news, a federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s request that the ACLU locate deported parents for reunification with their children, noting that “for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration.” [USA Today]

* Dean Elizabeth Magill of Stanford Law School will be leaving her job at the end of the upcoming academic year to become the provost of the University of Virginia. Stanford will begin the search for her replacement in September. [The Recorder]

* After news of the class of 2017’s success in the job market comes last month’s loss of 2,100 jobs in the legal sector. Sorry ‘bout that, class of 2018. For those not entering Biglaw, you better hope those were all administrative jobs. [American Lawyer]

* According to President Trump’s lawyers in a confidential memo sent to special counsel Robert Mueller, the President can’t obstruct justice because the Constitution allows him to “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.” Tell that to Bill Clinton. [New York Times]

* President Trump was complaining via tweet about the costs of the special counsel’s “Russian Hoax Investigation” this weekend, but as it turns out, the costs of the President’s trips to Mar-a-Lago dwarf the costs of Mueller’s legal bills, so there’s that. [The Hill]

* Speaking of the Russia investigation, despite numerous past denials, Trump’s lawyers also admitted in that confidential memo that the President “dictated” his Donald Trump Jr.’s statement on his 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians where he reportedly hoped to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. [Slate]

* Rudy Giuliani says that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for President Trump to testify before Mueller because “our recollection keeps changing.” That’s an eloquent way of saying that they’re having trouble keeping their fibs in line. [CNN]

* The latest U.S. jobs report was just peachy, but the story for lawyers was a little less rosy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal profession lost about 200 jobs last month, and about 1,000 jobs since last May. [American Lawyer]

You're not surprised, are you?

The firm won't confirm the circumstances surrounding his departure.

* According to White House counsel Don McGahn in comments made at CPAC, President Trump has picked judicial nominees “he can relate to.” Hmm, so maybe that’s why he chose people like leading legal luminaries Brett Talley, Jeff Mateer, and Judge John Bush. [National Law Journal]

* Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his onetime aide, Rick Gates, face tax and bank fraud charges in a new 32-count indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election interference investigation. Do ya feel like taking a plea and cooperating now? [Bloomberg]

* Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted by a grand jury on a Class D felony charge of invasion of privacy after allegedly tying up a woman he had an affair with, taking a nude picture of her, and threatening to release it. He doesn’t intend to resign and called the Circuit Attorney on the case a “reckless liberal prosecutor.” [USA Today]

* Look out, Biglaw, because the Big Four are coming for you. Accounting firm PwC, which already has more than 1,000 legal contractors, is planning to expand its Flexible Legal Resources offering into global markets. [American Lawyer]

* A Reed Smith partner’s widow has asked the Seventh Circuit to uphold a $3 million jury verdict against GlaxoSmithKline for its failure to warn about an alleged risk of suicidal behavior on Paxil’s labeling. Her late husband took his own life days after starting a generic version of the antidepressant drug. [Big Law Business]

* In case you missed it, Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times has noticed a trend when it comes to Chief Justice Roberts and who he’s been aligning himself with at the Supreme Court. He may not yet be a moderate, but he seems to be shying away from “the reliably right-wing triumvirate” of Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch. [New York Times]

* “The document speaks for itself.” All three of former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates’s lawyers are withdrawing as counsel, and will only explain why in documents filed under seal. Only his Biglaw attorney who is known for his plea deals remains. Gates is under indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. [POLITICO]

* According to the latest year-end report from the Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, law firm revenue and profits were up in 2017, and demand had increased for legal services. As usual, the most profitable firms at the top of the market outperformed their smaller counterparts. [American Lawyer]

* Trump administration policies having to do with immigration, specifically the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, may force many Biglaw firms to move to their practices to the cloud sooner than they would have liked. In times of “political uncertainty” like these, Biglaw can’t rely on “offshore labor arbitrage” for IT outsourcing. [TechTarget]

* The GC of the American Red Cross has resigned following the publication of a report that he praised a former colleague who was the subject of an internal investigation and pushed out of the organization for alleged instances sexual misconduct. [Corporate Counsel]

* Disgusting: A Georgia lawyer who asked a witness to recant an eyewitness account of her son’s molestation has politely gave up his license to practice law after pleading guilty to felony witness tampering and attempting to suborn perjury. [Big Law Business]

He just won't be able to do it.