SCOTUS
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Courts
Republicans Take 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do' Approach To Hypothetical Supreme Court Vacancy
The GOP really wants another Supreme Court seat to fill this year. -
Courts, Supreme Court
Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: A Term Like No Other
Feast your eyes on the complete roster of Supreme Court law clerks for October Term 2020. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Intellectual Property
When Generic Isn't Generic: Why The Booking.com SCOTUS Ruling Is Not That Big A Deal
Where evidence shows that the consuming public identifies a descriptive trademark with the trademark owner, it is likely worthy of federal trademark registration.
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Courts
Happy Birthday Sonia Sotomayor, The Real Liberal Queen Of The Court
We see who is really holding down the Court. -
Government
Congratulations To The 2020 Bristow Fellows
Plus the 10 most recent classes of Bristow Fellows, and the law schools and lower-court clerkships from whence they came. -
Courts, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court's Successful New Approach To Oral Argument
Let's hope that SCOTUS sticks with these reforms post-pandemic. -
Courts
Because Of Coronavirus, The Supreme Court Is Taking A Break From Tradition
Just another way life has changed under COVID-19. -
Courts
Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Complete Clerk Roster For October Term 2019
Which law schools and lower-court judges produced the most SCOTUS clerks for this Term? - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Courts
4 Pointers For Professional Success -- From Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Justice Sotomayor, author of a bestselling new children's book, has words of wisdom for adults as well. -
Courts
Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Return Of The Tiger Cub
Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of Amy ‘Tiger Mother’ Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, will clerk at the Supreme Court this coming Term -- along with these other impressive young legal minds. -
Courts
The Supreme Court’s New Rule Ensures Public Trust In Law Enforcement Will Further Erode
The Court’s head-in-the-sand approach to compelling evidence of police misconduct that is increasingly being documented by audio and video recordings is inevitably going to degrade the public’s view of the integrity of the Court and law enforcement. -
Courts
Pete Buttigieg's Court-Reform Plan Is Exciting, Unconstitutional, And A Bit Naive
I like it though -- at least he's trying. -
Government
Congratulations To The 2019 Bristow Fellows
This time around, there's an interesting little twist.
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
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Courts
An Insider's Perspective On President Trump's Transformation Of The Federal Judiciary
Mike Davis, former Chief Nominations Counsel to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, played a key role in the confirmation process. -
Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 04.28.19
* Adam Feldman poses — and answers — an interesting question: are particular justices more or less partial to certain lawyers’ or law firms’ positions? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Speaking of the federal judiciary, Carrie Severino offers this helpful scorecard of President Donald Trump’s track record on judicial appointments — which underscores, as she notes, the importance of the 2020 elections. [Bench Memos / National Review]
* And speaking of President Trump, Joshua Matz and Laurence Tribe have this excellent explanation of why the Supreme Court does not have a role in adjudicating impeachments. [Take Care]
* In the wake of the Mueller Report, Ilya Somin pushes back against conventional wisdom and takes this position: “Not all foreign interference in elections is unjustified. Far from it, in fact.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Fair use in the copyright context is an infamously amorphous concept — so the Fourth Circuit’s recent ruling in Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions deserves your attention. [All Rights Reserved]
* Congratulations to Westlaw Edge, voted the “best new analytics product” by the readers of Dewey B Strategic. [Dewey B Strategic]
* And congrats to Kira Systems on being picked by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as its AI solution for “high-volume workstreams” across the firm. [Artificial Lawyer]
* If you’re a libertarian-leaning lawyer with two to six years of experience under your belt, check out these great employment opportunities over at IJ. [Institute for Justice via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 04.21.19
* What’s the future of Elizabeth Prelogar, the beauty queen turned Harvard Law School grad turned Supreme Court clerk turned Team Mueller member? Not clear, except that it’s blindingly bright. [Ozy]
* How often do you see this? A federal judge praises counsel — specifically, J. Christian Adams of the Election Law Center, Douglas R. Cox of Gibson Dunn, Michael E. Rosman of the Center for Individual Rights, and local counsel Mun Su Park — for their “conscientious billing practices.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Another Lawyerly Lair of Jonathan Schiller, of Boies Schiller Flexner fame: a stunning modern retreat on Martha’s Vineyard, designed by his son, architect Aaron Schiller (whose firm also did the new BSF offices in Hudson Yards). [Martha’s Vineyard]
* Amicus brief of the month: a compelling — and, sadly, entertaining (see the Appendix) — analysis of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s utterly incoherent approach to supposedly “immoral or scandalous” trademarks, filed by William Jay and Goodwin Procter on behalf of law professors Barton Beebe and Jeanne Fromer. [Supreme Court of the United States]
* Here’s a clear and concise explanation of the “Rule of 80,” taking “senior status” as a federal judge, and what this all means for the ideological balance of the judiciary, courtesy of Ed Whelan. [Bench Memos / National Review]
* How should we think about President Donald Trump’s branding of the press as “the enemy of the people”? Negatively, to be sure — but let’s also keep in mind that the media is not a monolith, as First Amendment lawyer Charles Glasser helpfully reminds us. [Daily Caller]
* Stephen Cooper survived a stabbing — then went on to defend violent criminals for many years as a federal public defender. [Alabama Political Reporter]
* Cooper argues that we need to be less punitive and more thoughtful in our treatment of offenders — and Joel Cohen seems to agree, defending an unusual but wise sentence recently handed down by Judge Valerie Caproni (S.D.N.Y.). [New York Law Journal]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 04.14.19
* “How Tough-on-Crime Prosecutors Contribute to Mass Incarceration.” My review of Emily Bazelon’s new book, Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (affiliate link). [New York Times Book Review]
* When it comes to prosecutors, as former prosecutor Joel Cohen explains, it’s all about discretion. [New York Law Journal]
* Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.) defends Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s exercise of her prosecutorial discretion — and argues that Thomas Turco’s criticisms of Rollins are unfair. [Boston Globe]
* Another ex-prosecutor, Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro, is representing tennis star Naomi Osaka in the “repugnant” lawsuit filed against her by her former coach. [Tennis365]
* Former federal prosecutors, many of them now partners at Biglaw firms, represent more than half of the defense lawyers in Operation Varsity Blues, aka the college admissions scandal. [Big Law Business]
* High-stakes litigation is just one of many factors contributing to Biglaw’s robust profit margin these days — hovering around 40 percent, its highest value in almost 30 years, according to Madhav Srinivasan of Hunton Andrews Kurth. [Law.com]
* Ronald Collins interviews Joan Biskupic about her latest judicial biography, The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts (affiliate link). [SCOTUSblog]
* And speaking of SCOTUS, Will Baude believes that the death penalty “is justifiable and constitutional” — but argues that the Court has not acquitted itself well in its recent handling of capital cases. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
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Courts
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Nephew Talks 'On The Basis Of Sex,' And Why His Aunt Isn't A 'Superhero'
Screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman says his aunt is 'just a nice woman who's super smart and works incredibly hard.' -
Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 04.07.19
* Where does Justice Brett Kavanaugh fit along the ideological spectrum at the Supreme Court? Adam Feldman evaluates the evidence thus far. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Speaking of SCOTUS, Frank Pasquale takes Neal Devins and Lawrence Baum’s new book, The Company They Keep: How Partisan Divisions Came to the Supreme Court (affiliate link), as a jumping-off point for exploring the political polarization of SCOTUS. [Balkinization]
* Texas v. Azar, the Obamacare case now pending before the Fifth Circuit, makes for unusual alliances — how often do you see Jonathan Adler, Nick Bagley, Abbe Gluck, and Ilya Somin on the same amicus brief? [Take Care]
* David Bernstein offers some thoughtful reflections — with which I happen to agree — on how some conservatives responded to the nominations of Neomi Rao and Jessie Liu. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Joel Cohen has a question about Robert Mueller: “What did he know, and when did he know it?” [The Hill]
* And Cohen also has this interesting interview with Justice David Wecht of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, about an important (and disturbing) subject: the recent rise in anti-Semitism, in America and abroad. [Tablet]
* If you share my interest in litigation finance, then you might be interested in this great new resource: a comprehensive digital library of documents relating to the litigation-funding industry. [Litigation Finance Journal]
* What trends and technology will shape the future of the legal profession? Jean O’Grady discusses highlights from a new report by Wolters Kluwer. [Dewey B Strategic]
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Courts
Donald Trump Already Has Plans For Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court Seat
Trump seems desperate to replace RBG.