Criminally Yours: Obama’s Pardons Are A Band-Aid On The Problem, But At Least A Start
Obama's week of initiatives with regard to drug sentencing is a great start, much awaited and much needed, but it's a drop in the bucket.
Kozinski On Juries, Sentencing, and Justice
Judge Kozinski has some ideas for fixing our criminal justice system.
Schenck Price Competes Smarter With Lexis+ With Protégé
LexisNexis sat down with John Ursin, Managing Partner at Schenck Price, to learn how the firm is using legal AI to strengthen client service and daily legal work.
Non-Sequiturs: 06.17.15
* With student loan forgiveness earning public approval, the other shoe had to drop. Critics campaigning that any escape is "welfare." If you were grasping for the proper pejorative it's "Homecoming Queen." [Concurring Opinions] * Hot mic alert! Lawyer broadcasts during recess that prosecutor is "in my pocket." Only to the extent the prosecutor is now up your ass. [ABA Journal] * Maybe there's hope for sentencing reform: 130 former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials sign a letter advocating for the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015. The key is "former." I'll bet while they were running for office harsh sentencing was a-OK. [Sentencing Law and Policy] * Using the show Serial to teach good brief writing. [Legal Writing Pro] * Had you considered the marriage equality dimensions of Kerry v. Din? Me neither. But Professor Dorf did. [Verdict] * Law schools are increasingly hiring deans from within. Just another way of keeping Elie out of that dean's job he wants so badly. [The Faculty Lounge] * What to do when hiring a contract attorney? Hm. Look for fear and desperation? Oh... oh, you're being serious about ethics and stuff. [Daily Report] * The best description of the conservative argument in King: "the card says 'Moops.'" [Lawyers, Guns & Money] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia02fGpUQfU
Haller Jackson, Former Federal Law Clerk, Pleads Guilty To A Sex Offense
What drove him into this situation, and what will happen to him next?
Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.15
* The New Jersey legislature is considering a law decriminalizing slingshots. Finally, New Jersey's leaders looked at a map and realized the word "Philadelphia" looks suspiciously like "Philistines." [NJ.com] * The case for drone-based graffiti. People have complained of drones invading the privacy of innocents for a while now and nothing's happened. Now that drones can deface corporate property, what do you bet regulation comes fast and furious. [The Legal Artist] * Over a quarter of Harvard Law grads don't practice law. [Tax Prof Blog] * Sentencing reform may be coming, but that's not going to keep private prison companies from raking in the cash. [Sentencing Law and Policy] * Professor Campos on the role of government subsidies on the rising cost of higher education. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * As a follow-up, here are even more tips for 0Ls researching law schools. [Law and More] * A legal analysis of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Apparently creating a genocidal death machine is not frowned upon as much in the Marvel Universe as it might be here. [Law and the Multiverse]
Morning Docket: 04.14.15
* Georgetown Law is teaming up with DLA Piper and Arent Fox to open a low bono law firm. The firm will provide two things for those in need: affordable legal services and jobs to bolster GULC's employment stats. [Am Law Daily] * Michigan Law will provide summer funding for all of its 1Ls for law-related internships -- but there's a catch. The cash is a loan, and students may have to pay it back if they earn Biglaw money the following summer. [Michigan Law] * Judge Jed Rakoff sounded off on the judicary's problem with mass incarceration at a recent conference at Harvard Law, calling for his colleagues and bar associations across the nation to take a stand for the accused with a gentler justice system. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * “It’s positive news. I think it indicates there’s some slight opening of financial services to marijuana-related businesses." Some banks have finally decided to provide services to weedpreneurs, but others are leaving marijuana moguls high and dry. [WSJ Law Blog] * "Students should seriously consider going to law school in a state where they plan to practice law." Unless you like wasting your time, you'd do well to listen to this advice, even if you're going to a school with national name recognition. [U.S. News & World Report]
AI Is Reshaping Legal Practice—But Tools Aren’t The Real Differentiator.
Explore the mindset, cultural shifts, and training strategies that define the AI‑savvy lawyer, revealing why human judgment, standardized competence, and integrated learning—not technology alone—will shape the future of the profession.
Breaking: Jodi Arias Gets Sentenced
What could be the final chapter in the Jodi Arias story has finally been written.
Morning Docket: 02.18.15
* Could it be? Did Justice Clarence Thomas ask a question during oral arguments at SCOTUS? No, but he did ask a question at Yale Law during a presentation, noting that he doesn't ask "irrelevant, useless questions" at the high court. [Legal Times] * Per NALP, gains were made by women and minorities in law firms for the first time in years, but be careful, because Jim Leipold is watching you: "Individual law firms should not be allowed to hide behind the national figures." [National Law Journal] * Meet Judge Robert C. Brack of the District Court of New Mexico, who recently earned quite the accolade. Judge Brack has sentenced more defendants than any other federal judge in the past five years. He won't be celebrating his achievement. [WSJ Law Blog] * This Georgetown Law professor, who happens to be the cofounder of one of the country's largest litigation finance firms, wants to see a law firm IPO, but others wonder if lawyers would be able to ethically practice while reporting to shareholders. [Washington Post] * A Chadbourne & Park employee has been banned from ever working for another law firm again following his theft of $15,360 from C&P's coffers. Not to worry, no client money was pilfered from the firm -- the cash was taken from an open office account. [Am Law Daily] * If you haven't heard, David Lat wrote a book called Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), and "[w]riting the novel was almost therapeutic for [him] in a way" -- he's "kind of over" the fact that his résumé doesn't include a SCOTUS clerkship. [Chicago Daily Law Bulletin] * Martha Africa, name partner of Major Lindsey & Africa, RIP. [San Francisco Chronicle]
Can You Be Prosecuted For Sharing A Link? The Troubling Case Of Barrett Brown
The prosecution of a prominent activist and journalist raises very real and serious First Amendment concerns.
Non-Sequiturs: 01.14.15
* Judge really, really works hard to make classic rock references in this opinion. Guess he Can't Get Enough of his Rock 'n Roll Fantasy. [South Florida Lawyers] * Trouble in paradise? Well, no. But trouble in D.C.: American University law professor accuses George Washington Law of predatory poaching. [TaxProf Blog] * America should offer a $200 tax credit for political contributions. As always, you can buy more tax loopholes with higher contributions. [Los Angeles Times] * Baby justices are hatching from their eggs. [The Onion] * New York City Council member is looking to cap Uber's surge pricing at 2x. Or, you know, people could use the function on the app that tells you how much you're going to be charged. [Gawker] * Continuing analysis of the California Bar Exam results. In case you were wondering how the correspondence and distance learning schools performed. [Bar Exam Stats] * The Supreme Court hands down an interesting sentencing law opinion today. Finally, I got a FantasySCOTUS prediction (mostly) right! [Sentencing Law and Policy] * If lowly work were considered cool, we wouldn't have all those annoying stereotypes sitting next to us. [Law and More]
Opus 2 Steps Up Its AI Game With Acquisition Of A Legal Tech Startup
With the addition of Uncover’s technology, the litigation software is delivering rapid innovation.
Overpunishment, Rationality, And Rakoff
A look at one federal judge's proposal to reform the criminal justice system and the responses it has generated.
Morning Docket: 12.22.14
* Florida Judge Cynthia Imperato was "devastated" after a jury found her guilty of DUI and reckless driving charges, but we imagine the judge may be more devastated by the fact that she's a sitting judge who's been sentenced to 20 days of house arrest. [Florida Sun Sentinel] * David Schwimmer, best known for his role as Ross on Friends, has been cast as lawyer Robert Kardashian in an O.J. Simpson true crime television miniseries. He surely knows it'll take a lot of "unagi" to play the role just right. [Rolling Stone] * If you have to debt finance your J.D., you're going to in for a rude awakening when you graduate and the loans start coming due. FYI, "lot[s] of graduates [are] buried in private student loan debt with not enough income to repay it." [Forbes] * The parents of James Holmes, who's better known as the alleged shooter in the Aurora movie theater massacre, have begged for him to be spared the death penalty ahead of his trial, but prosecutors say that in this case, "justice is death." [Denver Post] * When it comes to Russia, "[a] lot of firms are thinking about pulling out.” That's what she would've said if she were a managing partner. Biglaw firms that have been rocked by the ruble's ruin are telling lawyers to leave before they're laid off. [Am Law Daily] * Binder & Binder, the National Social Security Disability Advocates® whose late-night TV commercials you've grown to love, has filed for bankruptcy. The firm's headcount will likely drop by more than half because of this. Yikes! [WSJ Law Blog]
Morning Docket: 11.07.14
* As mentioned earlier, the Sixth Circuit upheld same-sex marriage bans in four states. Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey’s dissent is a very fun read because it’s dripping with sarcasm. [WSJ Law Blog] * Sentencing has been delayed for Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s friends during the pendency of the Yates case at SCOTUS. Like a grouper, a backpack may not be a “tangible object.” [National Law Journal] * Bingham McCutchen and Edwards Wildman Palmer are planning to shed lawyers and staff members in anticipation of their proposed mergers with Morgan Lewis and Locke Lord. Ouch. [Am Law Daily] * Weekend reading? ATL’s managing editor, David Lat, reviews Blindfolds Off (affiliate link), an interesting collection of interviews with judges about how they decide their toughest cases. [Wall Street Journal] * Everyone, please stop what you’re doing. Jeffrey Toobin has discovered that law schools are in trouble, and he’s on the case. You can read more information about this new phenomenon here. [The New Yorker] * Adam Tang, the man who drove a 26-mile loop around Manhattan in 24 minutes, was convicted of reckless driving without being present. Check out the video of his crazy drive, after the jump. [ABA Journal]
Morning Docket: 10.31.14
* Many lawyers may think that Biglaw is in recovery what with its record gross revenues and profits, but if you adjust the numbers for inflation, the overall picture looks pretty grim. Reality certainly does bite, folks. [American Lawyer] * Please pay up and shut up: Alas, seven partners who sought to dismiss the clawback suits filed against them by failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s bankruptcy liquidation trustee were denied in court this week. [WSJ Law Blog] * Thomas Jefferson School of Law restructured its debt to avoid default, and now its dean has announced he doesn’t think the school’s enrollment will ever return to its former glory. Aww. [National Law Journal] * Warren Gladders, the WUSTL Law grad turned bank robber, received 45 years in jail for his getaway shootout with the cops. It’ll run consecutively with his 24-year robbery sentence. [St. Louis Post Dispatch] * The judge overseeing the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial made the unusual decision to bar the public from watching the testimony of the defense’s first witness. We’re now awaiting Nancy Grace’s anuerysm. [AP]
Morning Docket: 10.21.14
* When asked what his favorite SCOTUS decision was during his POTUS tenure, Obama said it was the high court’s cert denials on the gay marriage cases. Well played, sir. [Wall Street Journal] * “Leverage has started to shift away from law firms.” Despite the fact that their headcounts are rising, Biglaw firms are downsizing office space as rents keep climbing higher. [Am Law Daily] * Schools are trying to slap lipstick on the pig that legal education has become amid an “anemic job market.” We bet your law school has some shiny new innovations too. [News Observer] * Citing the fact that “the courts do not exist to win popularity contests,” a judge sentenced Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison. Serious question: Will he be allowed to bring his prosthetic legs? [New York Times] * Nancy Grace and her friends have pitchforks at the ready because Jodi Arias’s penalty phase retrial begins today, and another jury will decide if she deserves to die for murdering her boyfriend. [Reuters]