Securities and Exchange Commission
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.12.16
* Howrey doing with all those profit clawbacks for unfinished business? The bankruptcy trustee for this defunct firm filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit to determine whether his method of collecting cash for the insolvent firm’s estate was legal, and in an amicus brief, the ABA has sided with the law firms being bilked for funds, saying such efforts must be nixed. [ABA Journal]
* The Tenth Circuit dismissed a challenge to Utah’s ban on polygamy that was brought by TLC’s “Sister Wives” family, saying they didn’t have standing to sue as they were no longer subject to a credible threat of prosecution. This will probably add fuel to the rumors that the show is on the verge of cancellation before Season 7. [WSJ Law Blog]
* The SEC has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in connection to a stock scam involving tech company Servergy. Paxton allegedly assisted the company with raising investor funds, but never disclosed his commissions. With three pending criminal indictments and a bar complaint, this guy is batting 1000. [Dallas Morning News]
* Reclaim Harvard Law protestors who have been occupying the school’s student center claim that they found a voice-activated recording device in “Belinda Hall,” and have interpreted this as an “intentional effort to surveil [their] movement.” If your goal was to get people to listen to your message, consider this an achievement unlocked. [Observer]
* If you’re uncertain about your law school decision, you can certainly put down multiple seat deposits, but we’re not sure why you would want to. By all means, start your legal education by putting yourself into debt — you’ll be off to a great start for the six figures of loans you’ll have accumulated by graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
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Securities and Exchange Commission
Party-Poopers Over At SEC Are Still Insisting That You Cannot Really Expense 'Making It Rain On Strippers'
It really seems like the pharma industry is working pretty hard these days to take over from hedge funds as the poorest behaved big-money business sector. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.15.16
* The Harvard Corporation agreed with the recommendation of Harvard Law’s faculty committee to scrap the official crest based on the sygil of a slaveowner. Will this address every instance of institutional racism? No. But that’s a pretty stupid reason to stick to a drawing. [Boston.com]
* Good news for Steven Rattner: The SEC says the former Quadrangle chief can be an investment banker again! Will this interrupt his present career repeating Obama administration talking points on Morning Joe? [Law 360]
* U.S. Biglaw offices in London have caught up to their U.K. peers in revenues and profits. When reached for comment, London Mayor Boris Johnson found some way to make this all the EU’s fault. [Legal Week]
* Sullivan & Cromwell buys up its office building, making it one of the larger landlords in lower Manhattan. [The Am Law Daily]
* What worries Trust & Estate partners? Mostly that there aren’t yet enough idle rich to keep the industry afloat now that everyone else moved online to write their wills. [Forbes]
* Microsoft will have to reboot its GC position with Horacio Gutierrez moving to Spotify next month. [Corporate Counsel]
* Congratulations to Camille Nelson, who will take up the deanship of American University Law School. [National Law Journal]
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Benchslaps, Legal Ethics
Lawyer Threatens Federal Receiver, Earns One-Way Trip To Sanctiontown
Judge says this lawyer employed "baseless, inappropriate, and extortionate threats" in pursuing his claim. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.19.16
* According to Harry Reid, Obama should have a Supreme Court nominee within the next three weeks. As everyone knows, the senior Senator from Las Vegas sets the official line on these things. [Huffington Post]
* Cravath people bitching about their jobs is now the leading cause of insider trading. [Law360]
* Students using the moniker of “Reclaim Harvard Law School” have occupied the student center to protest the school’s continued use of the family crest of a slave trader and the lack of faculty diversity. I’d be sympathetic, but it was Harvard’s terrible diversity policy that brought some of my favorite professors to NYU Law so it worked out pretty well for me. [Daily Princetonian]
* Sir Nigel Knowles is stepping down as the global co-chair of DLA Piper. I would say it’s time to relax and take a cruise, but that sounds like work for DLA Piper people. [Am Law Daily]
* The ABA has pulled out of its joint venture with Rocket Lawyer to provide a cheap initial consult service. [Am Law Daily]
* Hey, hey, hey. Lawyer claims that Bill Cosby comes off as a bully for suing his accuser. [Associated Press via Trib Live]
* The ACLU is challenging a Kansas voter suppression law requiring proof of citizenship. Seems like now is a good time to bring that case. [New York Times]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.11.16
* The 5 questions employers shouldn’t ask in job interviews. “Does this look infected?” inexplicably fails to make the list. [Law360]
* Cleveland is suing Tamir Rice’s family for not paying for the ambulance that picked him up after he got gunned down by police. In the contest for “Worst Place In America,” Cleveland just keeps racking up points. [Slate]
* Mark Cuban continues harassing the SEC with amicus filings over their haphazard enforcement antics. Being rich and a little bit obnoxious finally serves a public purpose. [Litigation Daily]
* Ikea has lost the trademark in its own name in Indonesia. This seems as good an opportunity as any to link to this video. [Coconuts Jakarta]
* Department of Justice sues Ferguson for years of pervasive racial discrimination. This comes after the city rejected a negotiated deal, because whenever the federal government has you dead to rights you should absolutely piss all over the deal they offer. [Huffington Post]
* NASA employees barred from writing “Jesus” in newsletter. Some are calling this a religious freedom issue, but that’s ridiculous — this is a scientific credibility issue. You’re NASA! You’ve been up there and know he’s not hanging around on a cloud. [Corporate Counsel]
* Sanctioned former Mintz Levin associate brings defamation claims against newspapers. [The Am Law Daily]
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Securities and Exchange Commission
Tough Talk And Fuzzy Math: The SEC Enforcement Division Isn't Even Trying
The SEC is bringing record-breaking numbers of enforcement actions. Or are they? -
Securities and Exchange Commission, Technology
Microsoft And The SEC Put Time In A Bottle
If the SEC thinks it was sending a message to investment firms to make cybersecurity prevention a priority, it needs to put bite in its rule enforcement and mete out heftier fines. -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.08.16
* Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling for a constitutional convention to add 9 new amendments to the constitution in the name of state rights. Texas, you’re drunk, go home. [Dallas Morning News]
* Clients are now demanding to text their lawyers. This is the official end of free time. [Daily Lawyer Tips]
* Constructing the history of black pain. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* The SEC has announced sanctions against Steven Cohen — he’ll be barred from managing hedge funds for two years. [Dealbreaker]
* Dealing with ambiguity in bankruptcy law when it comes to liability payments. [Law and More]
* A sandwich? You just committed armed robbery for a crappy sandwich? Bad decision, dude. [Legal Juice]
* A great podcast previewing the trial of the Winter Soldier. [The Legal Geeks]
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Biglaw, Crime, White-Collar Crime
5 Things You Need To Know About Biglaw Partner Evan Greebel's Arrest
What must you know about Evan Greebel, and the case against him, to be an up-to-date guest at your next holiday cocktail hour? -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.27.15
Ed. note: We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. As we mentioned before Thanksgiving, we’ll be on a reduced publication schedule today.
* Randall Kennedy, one of the African-American Harvard Law School professors whose portraits got marked with black tape, shares HLS alum Elie Mystal’s reaction to the incident: he is unimpressed. [New York Times]
* In other Harvard Law news, an HLS librarian got arrested after police claim he tried to arrange a sexual meet-up with a deputy posing as an underage girl in Colorado (site of a librarians’ conference). [Boston Globe]
* Former Supreme Court clerk Brianne Gorod argues that SCOTUS can and should decide Texas’s challenge to President Obama’s executive action on immigration this Term (i.e., before the 2016 election). [Constitutional Accountability Center via How Appealing]
* Ohio State law student Madison Gesiotto is not happy with how administrators responded when one of her conservative columns prompted a threat from a fellow student. [Washington Times]
* The SEC just dropped its civil insider trading case against former SAC Capital Advisors LP portfolio manager Michael Steinberg. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Let’s rank the top 10 women Supreme Court justices! Oh wait, there are only four…. [National Law Journal]
* Linda Greenhouse offers her reflections on “Sex After 50” (at SCOTUS). [New York Times via How Appealing]
* The father of Paul Walker is suing Porsche for negligence and wrongful death over the 2013 car crash that killed Walker, of “Fast and Furious” fame. [AP via WSJ Law Blog]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.18.15
* Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the lateral raids of lawyers from competing law firms. Wilson Elser just poached 11 litigators from Lewis Brisbois, including the firm’s regional managing partner, who now holds the same title at his new firm. Ride ’em, cowboy! [Houston Business Journal]
* “I think almost 50 years of paying for those crimes is enough.” Winston Moseley, the man convicted of killing Kitty Genovese in an infamous case that came to define the meaning of bystander apathy, was recently denied parole for the eighteenth time. [AP]
* We love an underdog story: On the topic of lateral moves, it seems like Greenberg Traurig has a habit of “cherry picking” top talent from higher-ranked law firms like Davis Polk, White & Case, and McDermott Will & Emery. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
* When it comes to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s in-house judges, Chairman Mary Jo White says that while its court system could be “modernize[d],” it’s still a fair process — for the SEC. The house usually wins in these proceedings. [WSJ Law Blog]
* How old is too old to be a judge? Pennsylvania voters are going to be asked this question next year when a referendum on a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution to raise the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75 hits the ballot box. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
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Biglaw, Events, Securities and Exchange Commission, Securities Law, Sponsored Content
The Proposed SEC Clawback Rule: A Photo Essay
Thanks to everyone who made our panel discussion last week such a success! -
Biglaw, Events, Securities and Exchange Commission, Securities Law, Sponsored Content
Is The Proposed SEC Clawback Rule A Mistake? Some Expert Perspectives
What should lawyers tell their clients about the SEC's proposed clawback rule? -
Federal Government, Job Searches, Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Attorneys Offices
8 Tips For Getting Into -- And Out Of -- A Job As A Federal Government Lawyer
Here's some helpful advice for lawyers interested in working as AUSAs or at the SEC. -
Events, Securities Law
Join Us To Hear Experts Discuss A Big Potential Change In Securities Law
Is the proposed SEC clawback rule a mistake? -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.22.15
* Brush that dirt off your shoulder: Jay-Z may have 99 problems, but this copyright lawsuit about his song “Big Pimpin'” is no longer one of them. The suit filed against the rap mogul in 2007 was dismissed on standing grounds, but the plaintiff says he plans to appeal. [Los Angeles Times]
* When it comes to the death penalty, Justice Antonin Scalia says that it “wouldn’t surprise [him]” if the Supreme Court were to strike it down as unconstitutional. It seems that a capital punishment case could become the next SCOTUS blockbuster. [CBS Minnesota]
* No one is a fan of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s in-house court system, and legislation to give financial defendants the right to opt out will be introduced in Congress later this week. Would you rather face trial before a federal judge or jury? [WSJ Law Blog]
* Earlier this week, a state-court judge brought a live grenade to the courthouse, but only because he wanted to have it properly disposed of by police. The jurist currently remains unidentified, which is a good thing, because this is pretty embarrassing. [CBS Los Angeles]
* Jurors in New York are paid $40 per day for their service, so you may be wondering how the confused members of the jury in the Dewey & LeBoeuf (mis)trial were able to survive on only $2,920 after five months spent in the courtroom. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.30.15
* Is there a pattern of dishonesty in the Orange County, CA District Attorney’s office? [New York Times]
* Does a lack of SEC enforcement on clawback rules actually create a perverse incentive to manipulate earnings? [MarketWatch]
* Shocking news: Men admire their own work more than women do. I know that sentence is full of gender norms, but sometimes it is what it is. [TaxProf Blog]
* Is it ever okay for Biglaw associates to have privacy in the office? [What About Paris?]
* What you need to know right now in the world of legal tech. [CodeX]
* Thinking of using Google AdWords for your firm? Careful if you’re bidding on opposing counsel’s name, it could land you in ethical hot water. [Legal Profession Blog]
* What are the biggest threats for your corporate data? [Bloomberg BNA]