Settlements
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Antitrust, Department of Justice, Federal Judges, Quote of the Day, Technology
Quote of the Day: These Have Got to Be the Most Literary Case Files Ever
Poet Emily Dickinson makes an extended appearance in a major court ruling -- a ruling about books, of course. -
Antonin Scalia, Books, Cozen O'Connor, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Supreme Court, Technology
Morning Docket: 09.05.12
* When in doubt, seek divine guidance and bet it all on black. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is going to be visiting Las Vegas this week, where he will attend a Red Mass and then head for the Strip. [Reno Gazette-Journal]
* After being limited on page length, a licensing expert opted to file a five-page cartoon brief in the Apple e-book case. This dude can retire, because he’s achieved legal baller status. [Bloomberg]
* James Hayes’s lawsuit over ICE’s alleged federal “frat house” has been sent to mediation for a possible settlement — but in real Greek life, he likely would’ve been peer pressured to de-pledge. [Washington Post]
* Bull’s-eye! Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack has recused himself from a personal injury case where he was alleged to have called a Cozen O’Connor partner a “piece of sh*t.” [New York Law Journal]
* The case of the missing asterisk: an Ohio Court of Appeals candidate was fined for wearing judge’s robes in her campaign flyers because she failed to indicate her judicial status or lack thereof. [National Law Journal]
* How much does it cost to cover up and then begrudgingly deal with a child sex abuse scandal? The tab thus far for Penn State University is about $17M — $4M of which went to legal services and defense. [CBS News]
* Despite Villanova Law’s admissions scandal, the dean reports that the school has admitted its “highest-quality” class ever. You know it’s hard to believe anything you say about your data, right? [Philadelphia Inquirer]
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Art, Celebrities, Death Penalty, Election 2012, Election Law, Job Searches, Law Schools, Military / Military Law, Morning Docket, Police, Politics, SCOTUS, STDs, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 09.04.12
* Want to know what they call the Supreme Court attorney who deals with requests for stays of execution? The death clerk. Paging John Grisham, because this guy’s nickname would make a great book title. [New York Times]
* “If you’re going to sue, it’s better to sue earlier rather than later.” Probably why battleground states like Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are in a tizzy over their election laws. [Washington Post]
* WikiLeaks or it didn’t happen: Bradley Manning’s lawyer has demanded that seven years be cut from his client’s prospective sentence due to allegations of improper treatment while in military custody. [The Guardian]
* Michigan Law’s Sarah Zearfoss, she of Wolverine Scholars fame, finds media coverage about the awful job market for recent law grads “really frustrating.” Try being unemployed. [Crain’s Detroit Business (reg. req.)]
* Kris Humphries is being sued for allegedly giving a girl herpes. But alas, the plaintiff seems to have no idea who actually gave her the herp — four John Doe defendants are identified in the complaint, too. [Star Tribune]
* “Given the police idiocy, one wonders where the boobs really are.” A nude model who was arrested during a body-painting exhibition in Times Square won a $15K false-arrest settlement from the cops. [New York Post]
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Citigroup, Crime, In-House Counsel, Lawyer Advertising, Money, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.30.12
* ‘Unprecedented’ cheating at Harvard. Nice to know that Ted Kennedy’s spirit is alive and well in Cambridge. [Harvard Crimson] * Court accidentally posts secret settlement. That’ll teach these courts from keeping secrets. [Boston Globe] * Here is an appropriate response to a law firm brochure. [Lawprofblawg] * Former News of the World lawyer arrested. […] -
California, Facebook, Federal Judges, Plaintiffs Firms, Privacy, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Technology
I Don't Think Class Action Settlement Means What You Think It Means
Why did a federal judge say a recent Facebook settlement agreement may have been "plucked out of thin air"? -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Dissolution, Money, Partner Issues, Partner Profits
Dewey Have Data on How Much Partners Got Paid? Yes -- Thanks to the Partner Contribution Plan
Here are spreadsheets showing how much Dewey's 109 most highly compensated partners earned in 2011 and 2012, along with how much they are being asked to contribute in "clawbacks" under the "Partnership Contribution Plan." Enjoy! -
Disability Law, Fat People, Labor / Employment, Texas
You Can Be Fired for Being Too Fat, But You Might Collect a Fat Settlement Check, Too
Can you be fired for being too fat? Check out this portly person's settlement check.... -
Barack Obama, Celebrities, Department of Justice, Divorce Train Wrecks, Drugs, Gambling, Gambling / Gaming, Health Care / Medicine, John Roberts, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Supreme Court, Twittering
Morning Docket: 07.03.12
* Obama’s win for health care reform didn’t result in a polling bump for him, but it did result in an even higher disapproval rating for SCOTUS, at least as far as Republicans are concerned… [POLITCO; CBS News]
* … which may be why Chief Justice John Roberts escaped to “an impregnable island fortress” to avoid the Right’s fury, criticism, and scorn as soon as he could after the ACA opinion dropped. [New York Times]
* “[W]e have learned from the mistakes that were made.” That lesson only cost a few billion dollars. GlaxoSmithKline will pay $3B in the largest health-care fraud settlement in U.S. history. [Wall Street Journal]
* After losing a bid to quash a subpoena, Twitter has to turn over info about an #OWS protester’s tweets. OMG, please respond to that thing in 140 characters or less. [Bloomberg]
* Unlike most recent law school grads, Yale Law’s Vanessa Selbst hasn’t been hedging her bets in bar prep classes. Instead, she went all in, played her cards right, and won $244K at the World Series of Poker. [ESPN]
* Divorce really does bring out the best in people. Alec Baldwin says that if given the chance, he would murder his ex-wife Kim Basinger’s lawyer “with a baseball bat.” Gee, tell us how you really feel. [New York Post]
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1st Circuit, Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Copyright, Defamation, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, Gay, Google / Search Engines, Job Searches, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Masturbation, Milberg Weiss, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Video games
Morning Docket: 06.01.12
* Dewey retired partners with unfunded pensions get a seat at the table for this bankruptcy circus? Yeah, but only because the U.S. Trustee did something unheard of and appointed a committee of former partners as creditors. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Yesterday was definitely a great day to be gay on the east coast. In addition to the First Circuit’s DOMA decision, a New York appellate court ruled that being called gay is no longer defamatory per se. [New York Law Journal]
* Milberg is the latest firm to dump Paul Ceglia of Facebook lawsuit fame, but Dean Boland, his other lawyer, says the Biglaw firm just “serve[d] as a distraction.” Somebody please give this man a dislike button. [Buffalo News]
* Humblebrag of the day by Judge Alsup of Oracle v. Google fame: he’s written lines of code “a hundred times before.” He also squashed Oracle’s API copyright infringement claims like bugs. [Courthouse News Service]
* Remember Kimberly Ireland, the Kansas attorney who falsely accused Judge Kevin Moriarty of waxing his gavel beneath the bench? She got a retroactive two-year suspension. [ABA Journal via Legal Profession Blog]
* Elizabeth Warren has confirmed that she told Harvard Law and Penn Law that she was a Native American, but only after she had been hired. She didn’t get any action of the affirmative variety, no sir. [Associated Press]
* Recent law school graduates are a little more desperate than we thought they were. At least 32 people have already applied for that BC Law job advertising a salary below minimum wage. [Boston Business Journal]
* Activision settled a lawsuit with two Call of Duty developers, but isn’t worried about an effect on its financials due to a strong third quarter performance. And you can thank your damn Elite packages for that. [PCMag]
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Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, John Edwards, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Shoes, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court, Tax Law, Trials, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 05.18.12
* Rob me once, shame on you; rob me twice, shame on me? Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed for a second time, but this time as the victim of a burglary on May 4. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Dewey know when this ship is finally going to capsize (so we can stop making these puns)? Two of D&L’s Hong Kong partners have decided to defect to DLA Piper, and more may be joining them soon. [Asian Lawyer]
* He might’ve been a “bad husband,” but that doesn’t mean he’s guilty. The jury in John Edwards’s campaign finance trial will begin deliberating today. Let’s see if they convict him of being more than an adulterer. [CNN]
* After his citizenship stunt, Eduardo Saverin can look forward to being defriended by the United States — not like that’s a bad thing, because to be honest, the movie version of him is much cuter. [New York Daily News]
* And this is why lawyers shouldn’t try to be funny. Safeway’s General Counsel, Robert Gordon, is being branded a sexist for telling a recycled joke about pigs and D.C.’s most powerful women. [Corporate Counsel]
* A three month suspension has been recommended for a former Treasury Department attorney who attempted to steal ties from Nordstrom. What, he couldn’t spring for a Neiman’s run? [National Law Journal]
* If you bought those stupid ass Skechers Shape-Up shoes in the hope that your booty would look like Kim Kardashian’s, you can get a piece of the $40M settlement. Not bitter, not at all. [Los Angeles Times]
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Boutique Law Firms, Litigators, Money, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Leaving Stones Unturned
Winning is never free, and winning without regard to cost is not really winning. One of the most difficult aspects faced by smaller firms handling smaller matters is deciding which stones to leave unturned. -
6th Circuit, Biglaw, Defamation, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Television, Tobacco / Smoking
Morning Docket: 03.20.12
* It’s time for the Supreme Court to sound off on the battle over women’s wombs, and you know it’s bad when even a sitting justice calls it “a mess.” Can a child conceived after a parent’s death receive survivor benefits? [CNN]
* Disgusting health warning pictures on cigarette packaging and advertising: now constitutional according to the Sixth Circuit. Maybe this will inspire people to quit a habit that’s almost equally as disgusting. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* When Biglaw is involved, so is big money. Say “aloha” to the largest personal injury settlement in Hawaii’s history. The state will pay $15.4M over the hiking death of Gibson Dunn partner Elizabeth Brem. [Am Law Daily]
* A lawsuit filed against fashionista Alexander Wang over his alleged “sweatshop” has been discontinued, and not because there isn’t a case, but because the lawyers on either side have major beef. [New York Magazine]
* The Better Business Bureau has moved to dismiss a Florida law firm’s suit over its “F” grade. Because sometimes the truth hurts, but that doesn’t mean you can sue over it if you don’t like it. [Orlando Sentinel]
* The biggest bimbo from Wisteria Lane gets screwed again, but this time in court. A mistrial has been declared in Nicollette Sheridan’s lawsuit against the producers of “Desperate Housewives.” [Reuters]
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Baseball, Bernie Madoff, Quote of the Day, Sports
Quote of the Day: Mets Settle Lawsuit But Still Must Live in Queens
What you do in mediation is recite the realities. You don’t have to be brilliant. It’s called common sense.
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2nd Circuit, Benchslaps, Citigroup, Federal Judges, Jed Rakoff, Quote of the Day, Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street
Benchslap of the Day: Second Circuit Rebukes Rakoff
What did the Second Circuit have to say about Judge Jed Rakoff's rejection of the SEC's settlement with Citigroup? Let's say they're not huge fans of his legal analysis. -
Bloomberg, Job Searches, Law Schools
Twenty Additional Law School Class Action Suits Are in the Works; Is Your School One of Them?
David Anziska vowed to make 2012 the "year of law school litigation." Anziska told us that Team Strauss/Anziska's strategy going forward would be to sue as many law schools as possible in the first half of 2012. How's that working out for them? Anziska recently sat down with Bloomberg Law for an on-air interview where he revealed some noteworthy information about the next wave of law school lawsuits. The most relevant piece of information? Twenty more law school class action suits are coming down the pipeline. Which schools will be named as defendants? -
Banking Law, Money, Quote of the Day, Real Estate
Quote of the Day: So We Need Lawyers to Torture People Now
If you don’t have a lawyer, it is hard to really put their feet to the fire and make sure the banks have every ‘t’ crossed and ‘i’ dotted… We are going to make sure funding for those legal services is restored. — New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, discussing the implications of a […] -
Crowell & Moring, Fashion, Football, Jeannie Suk, Money, Morning Docket, Rape, Shoes, Trademarks
Morning Docket: 01.23.12
* Representative Gabrielle Giffords will be resigning from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting her, is still way too loony to stand trial. [CNN] * Because of this huge law firm, Dotcom’s bubble has officially burst. Hogan Lovells partner Robert S. Bennett has withdrawn from the […]
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8th Circuit, Art, California, Copyright, Law School Deans, Morning Docket, Small Law Firms, Twittering
Morning Docket: 12.29.11
* Here’s a nice round-up of some of the most controversial laws that will be enacted in 2012. Looks like California is going to have some fabulously multicultural litigation. [Associated Press] * What do you get when you cross an artist with a penchant for Rastafarians with the son of a Boies Schiller name partner? […]
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Attorney Misconduct, Drinking, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Prostitution, Sentencing Law
Morning Docket: 12.02.11
* Three days after arguing that an alleged Sandusky victim’s lawsuit lacked any factual basis, Second Mile decided to settle. Better strike while the iron is hot (and the wallet is open), lawyers. [Bloomberg] * So much for that “real shot,” huh? After a failed bid for bail, Galleon Group’s Raj Rajaratnam will begin serving […]
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Election 2012, Politics, Quote of the Day, Sexual Harassment
Quote of the Day: Ah, Semantics
I didn’t change my story. I simply got the wording right. — Republican Herman Cain, Election 2012 hopeful, contesting the claim that he has flip-flopped on his accounts of striking an “agreement” versus negotiating a “settlement” with regard to his late-nineties National Restaurant Association sexual harassment scandal.