Sentencing
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2nd Circuit, ACLU, Biglaw, China, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Prisons, Religion, Sentencing Law, Solo Practitioners, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Student Loans, Weddings
Morning Docket: 12.05.12
* Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the fairest firm of them all? According to the 2012 Acritas Brand Index survey, the current leader of the Global 100 is the most powerful Biglaw brand for the fifth year in a row. [American Lawyer]
* But that might not last for long, considering the dilemma Baker & McKenzie is facing when it comes to joining the Shanghai Bar Association in China. The firm is one of the first to indicate that it’ll take the plunge. [Wall Street Journal]
* Thanks to the Second Circuit, Rajat Gupta will be a free man on bail pending the appeal of his insider trading conviction. We wonder what Benula Bensam would have to say about this new twist. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Jason Smiekel, the lawyer who pleaded guilty in a murder-for-hire plot involving a former client, was sentenced to eight and a half years in federal prison. The things men will do for HHHBs. [Chicago Tribune]
* Student loan payments: coming to a paycheck deduction near you! Congress is considering an overhaul of the country’s student debt collection practices, and Rep. Tom Petri has some interesting ideas. [Bloomberg]
* The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is the latest school to hop aboard the solo practice incubator train, but graduates will have to rent their office space from the school. Nice. /sarcasm [National Law Journal]
* “We didn’t file this complaint lightly.” Sorry, Judge Norman, but as it turns out, you can’t just sentence a teenager to attend church for 10 years as a condition of parole without pissing off the ACLU. [Tulsa World]
* When your alterations cost more than your wedding gown, it’s pretty much a given that you’ll have some problems — ones worth suing over, if you’re a true bridezilla (like moi). [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
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Biglaw, Crime, Prisons, Sentencing Law
Law Firm Associates and Federal Prisoners: A Comparative Analysis
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Barack Obama, Biglaw, In-House Counsel, King & Spalding, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Sentencing Law, Willkie Farr
Morning Docket: 11.08.12
* Now that Barack Obama has secured his seat as a two-term president, in-house counsel in the financial sector can kiss their dreams of Dodd-Frank being repealed goodbye. Here are some issues to think about in light of its new footing. [Corporate Counsel]
* “We’re in the early innings of adjusting what value means.” And these days, it looks like “value” is synonymous with “making less money.” Given the results of this third quarter analysis, it’s quite clear that flat is still the new up for Biglaw. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Blow my whistle, baby? A DLA Piper partner filed a $4M suit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on claims he was maliciously prosecuted as revenge for whistleblowing. [Daily Business Review]
* After being arrested on domestic violence charges, it seems that Steven Guynn of King & Spalding has left the firm. He doesn’t need to sweat his unemployment, because his house is for sale for $3.3M. [Am Law Daily]
* From Biglaw to Midlaw: Morrison Cohen, a midsize firm, managed to poach a partner from Willkie Farr. But how? Apparently this guy was no longer interested in billing “$900-plus” per hour. [New York Law Journal]
* Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be present at Jared Lee Loughner’s sentencing hearing today, though it is unknown if she herself will speak. His expected sentence is life without parole. [ABC News]
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Drinking, Football, Kids, Sentencing Law, Twittering
Jerry Sandusky's Lawyer Has A Late-Night Heart-to-Heart with Several Penn State Students -- Over Beer and Taco Bell
How did Jerry Sandusky's attorney spend the night before his client's sentencing? Out drinking with Penn State students, of course. -
Crime, Gay, Hotties, Law Schools, Money, Rape, Sentencing Law, Vanderbilt, White-Collar Crime
Having a Gay Old Time: Couple Sentenced for Massive Theft from Vanderbilt Law (and Statutory Rape)
A former administrator at Vanderbilt Law School just got a hefty sentence after pleading guilty to theft and statutory rape. His boyfriend got sentenced too. How much time did they get, and what are some of the salacious allegations? -
Football, Kids, Reader Polls, Sentencing Law, State Judges
Jerry Sandusky Receives His Sentence -- What'll It Be?
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced today. How much prison time did he get? -
Affirmative Action, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Football, Job Searches, Kids, Law Professors, Law Schools, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Morning Docket, Prostitution, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Sex, Sex Scandals, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 10.09.12
* “I don’t think that we even need to have a race box on the application.” Abigail Fisher is getting even more time in the spotlight thanks to this media interview, which is sure to be the first of many. [New York Times]
* “[T]hey didn’t do anything wrong civilly — and they certainly didn’t do anything wrong criminally.” Tell that to the prosecutors who are looking into the circumstances of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s epic fail. [Wall Street Journal]
* Lateral hiring in midsize/regional firms seems to be up for those with “real-world experience,” but the starting salaries aren’t anything to write home about — they’re still on the “low” side. [Connecticut Law Tribune]
* Jerry Sandusky’s sentencing hearing is today, and in addition to the tape he already released, he’s planning to read a statement before he receives what’s likely to be a life sentence. WE ARE… kind of tired of hearing about his supposed innocence. [CNN]
* “There are fewer interviews and fewer schools interviewing.” This week, would-be law profs who attend the AALS “meat market” will get a taste of what recent graduates have been experiencing. [National Law Journal]
* Sarah Jones, aka “The Dirty Bengals Cheerleader,” reached a plea agreement in her sexual misconduct case. She won’t get jail time, but she wants to go to law school. Same difference, amirite? [Washington Post]
* Alicia Guastaferro, the pageant princess-cum-alleged prostitute, will plead not guilty later this week. If Wife Swap had a “Where Are They Now” edition, this girl would assure good ratings. [Democrat and Chronicle]
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Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Toobin, John Roberts, Lawyerly Lairs, Layoffs, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants, Sentencing Law, Staff Layoffs, Supreme Court, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Videos, YouTube
Non-Sequiturs: 10.08.12
* In light of Chief Justice Roberts’s historic vote to uphold Obamacare, should we expect JGR to be more liberal going forward? According to Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Oath (affiliate link), “Do not expect a new John Roberts. Expect the conservative he has always been.” [Talking Points Memo via How Appealing] * Law firm staff layoffs: they’re not just an American thing. Slaughter and May is dropping the ax on 28 secretaries. [Roll On Friday] * “[A]ny robot or high school graduate can calculate numbers in a matrix to arrive at the highest possible sentence. But it takes a Judge — a man or woman tempered by experience in life and law — to properly judge another human being’s transgressions.” [Justice Building Blog] * Professor Dershowitz’s $4 million Cambridge mansion? Robert Wenzel is not impressed: “if I lived in that house, I would want to attack Iran and most of the rest of the world, also.” [Economic Policy Journal] * A man sues a strip club, alleging that a stripper ruptured his bladder when she slid down a pole and onto his abdomen. Ouch. [Legally Weird / Findlaw] * Still on the subject of Torts, two attractive blonde sisters walk into a bar — and discuss who can be held liable if a man suffers a heart attack during a threesome. Video after the jump…. - Sponsored
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Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Books, Clarence Thomas, Department of Justice, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Football, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, Religion, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 09.18.12
* “We’re all from the Ivy League. That seems to be more relevant than what faith we are.” SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas really knows how to make Article III Groupie’s heart sing. [New York Times]
* Dewey know why this failed firm’s bankruptcy team is cutting special deals with the former D&Lers who worked on the sale of the Dodgers? Like all things Biglaw, it all circles back to money. [WSJ Law Blog]
* What in William Baer’s past might lead the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a closed meeting on his candidacy to lead the DOJ’s Antitrust Division? [Blog of Legal Times]
* In a heartwarming pro bono project, Proskauer Rose will be representing NYC in its attempts to evict an elderly newsstand operator from his kiosk in Greenwich Village. It really brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it? [New York Post]
* Jerry Sandusky will be sentenced on October 9, and prosecutors are asking that he be classified as a sexually violent predator. Boy, that’ll be a fun title to have while he’s in jail for the rest of his life. [Bloomberg]
* “[A]t present, the large majority of law graduates — perhaps 80 percent — end up worse off after going to law school that they were before they enrolled.” Paul Campos is so cheerful in his book. [National Law Journal]
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Football, Kids, Quote of the Day, Sentencing Law, Sports
Quote of the Day: A Football Fate Worse Than Death
Are the sanctions against Penn State worse than the NCAA death penalty? -
Asians, Crime, Death Penalty, Drugs, Sentencing Law
Singapore To 'Relax' Death Penalty Standards, But Death Might Be Preferable To Singapore's Version of Humane Treatment
Singapore's definition of "relaxed" punishment is still pretty intense... -
Crime, Sentencing Law, Suicide, Wall Street
Yale Law Grad Takes Poison Pill, Effectively
Wall Street banker and Yale Law grad convicted of arson, and then takes matters into his own hands... -
Barack Obama, Constitutional Law, Election 2012, Election Law, Health Care / Medicine, Immigration, Politics, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court
While We're Waiting For Obamacare, It's All About The Dissents
When justices stop being polite... and start getting REAL.
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Benchslaps, Constitutional Law, Election 2012, Election Law, Health Care / Medicine, Immigration, Politics, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Thomas Goldstein
What Happened at the Supreme Court Today?
What went down at the U.S. Supreme Court this morning? Still no Obamacare ruling, but there were a few other interesting decisions.... -
Bernie Madoff, Crime, Sentencing Law, Wall Street, White-Collar Crime
Sir Allen Stanford, Sentenced
How much of a sentence did Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford get? Was it bigger than Bernie Madoff's? -
Crime, Gay, New Jersey, Sentencing Law
Dharun Ravi Sentenced
Dharun Ravi just got sentenced. What did he get? -
California, Crime, Death Penalty, Reader Polls, Sentencing Law
Debating the Death Penalty -- From Both Sides Now
Two men who helped pass the death penalty bill in California 30 years ago have completely changed their minds. Why? -
Basketball, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Gambling, Gambling / Gaming, John Edwards, Law Schools, Layoffs, Lunacy, Morning Docket, Murder, Sentencing Law, Trials
Morning Docket: 03.16.12
* While “Dewey remains a great firm with terrific lawyers” for the time being, check back in after five percent of the firm’s attorneys have been laid off. Then tell us how great and terrific things are, we dare you. [DealBook / New York Times]
* The University of St. Thomas School of Law really “take[s] data accuracy very seriously.” That’s why the employed at graduation rate the school reported to U.S. News was off by 47.7%, right? [National Law Journal]
* John Edwards has a judge’s permission to use Rielle Hunter’s lawyers at his campaign finance trial. Mmm, there’s nothing like getting some legal sloppy seconds from your former mistress. [Bloomberg]
* After two days of deliberations, jurors in the Dharun Ravi privacy trial still haven’t reached a verdict. Just think, if he had taken the plea, he wouldn’t be worrying as much about deportation right now. [New York Post]
* If Hemy Neuman’s delusions about Olivia Newton-John were about getting physical, instead of getting murderous, maybe he wouldn’t have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [CNN]
* It’s the most wonderful time of the year: March Madness! Are NCAA bracket pools legal in your office? It depends. Either way, all I know is that I’ll be betting on Lehigh. Go Mountain Hawks! [Businessweek]
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Biglaw, Gay Marriage, Holland & Knight, Law Schools, Morning Docket, NALP, New Jersey, Sentencing Law, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Morning Docket: 02.17.12
* Chris Christie, you’re making me ashamed to be a Jersey girl. Please allow our state be known for something besides the disgrace that is the Jersey Shore. Just sign the damn bill. [New York Times] * A Biglaw firm that’s got some Seoul: Clifford Chance is the first firm from the United Kingdom — […]
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Constitutional Law, Contracts, Fabulosity, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Fashion Victims Unit, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Police, Securities Law, Wall Street
Morning Docket: 02.14.12
* A bill to legalize gay marriage in New Jersey has passed in the state Senate. If this passes in the state Assembly, will Chris Christie put the kibosh on it? Someone better make him a faaabulous offer he can’t refuse. [Wall Street Journal] * They might not be the most stylish bunch, but without […]