Sexual Harassment

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.31.18

* Children's lawsuit over climate change moves forward. [Courthouse News Service] * If you're an armed terrorist organization, AstraZeneca may be able to help. [Corporate Counsel] * In "dog bites man" news, profitable partners accused of sexual harassment can easily get new jobs. [Wall Street Journal] * "We'll Get You And Mangle You" takes on new meaning as Weil holds attorney to a six month waiting period before he can lateral to Kirkland. [American Lawyer] * Maybe cyberinsurance isn't really insurance at all. [Slate] * North Carolina awards man $8.8 million because his wife doesn't love him anymore. Apparently being a loser can be profitable. [KCRA] * Cleary's in-house outsourcing company slapped with another sexual harassment suit. [Law360] * A conversation with Michele Coleman Mayes, general counsel for the New York Public Library and former GC at Allstate and at Pitney Bowes about the persistent bias against black women lawyers. [Law.com]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.25.18

* Lanny Davis, lawyer to Michael Cohen, was instrumental in leaking the Trump/McDougal tape to CNN last night. It's now official: Cohen has turned on Donald Trump. Listen to it here. [CNN] * Michael Avenatti, lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels, says he's interested in discussing a settlement with Michael Cohen about his client's "hush agreement" to keep quiet about her 2006 affair with Trump. Avenatti says a meeting was scheduled, then canceled by Cohen's other lawyer, and now they're calling each other liars. This is all par for the course. [CNN] * A split three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Second Amendment allows the open carrying of guns in public. This comes two years after the court ruled that the Second Amendment did not allow the concealed carrying of guns in public. You can expect this to be appealed to the Ninth Circuit en banc. [Associated Press] * Dentons has come out swinging with denials against a sexual harassment case that was filed by a business development specialist last month, claiming that not only is the suit without merit, but that it also "misappropriates" the #MeToo movement. We'll have more on thisinteresting development later today. [American Lawyer] * If you live in a two-lawyer household, should you be sharing client secrets? The Ohio Supreme Court is about to answer that question for us, since there's apparently no case on the books about anything remotely like this. [Big Law Business] * If you're thinking about applying to law school ahead of a career in politics, then you may have to work a little harder to -- wait, nevermind, you can go to pretty much any law school since having a J.D. seems to be the gateway to government. [U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.16.18

* A White House spokeswoman claims that Judge Brett Kavanaugh "had never heard any allegations of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment" made against Judge Alex Kozinski prior to last year when everyone else found out, and an extern who worked in Kozinski's chambers while Kavanaugh clerked is backing him up. [Washington Times] * The art of the deal don't: United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May says that President Trump told her she should sue the European Union instead of negotiating when it comes to Brexit options. There's no real cause of action, so she says that won't be happening -- not like that's something that has ever stopped Trump before. [Vox] * President Trump leaned heavily on Biglaw partners for his latest nominations to the federal judicary. Perkins Coie, K&L Gates, and Barnes & Thornburg could soon see representation on the Ninth Circuit, the Western District of Washington, the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Northern District of Indiana. [The Recorder] * After months of debate, a panel has finally recommended that Florida State rename the law school building via legislative action. It currently recognizes former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice B.K. Roberts., a " staunch segregationist" who once tried to deny a black student's admission to U. Florida's law school. [Tallahassee Democrat] * "For better or worse, I have become an agent for hope for those that are opposing this president." Michael Avenatti is famous for being President Trump's biggest critic, but he's "using that platform for good." In addition to Stormy Daniels, he now represents parents whose children were separated from them at the border. [AP]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.11.18

* "We never once saw him take a shortcut, treat a case as unimportant, or search for an easy answer." According to 34 of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's former clerks, the man is apparently not just a judge, but also a saint, and they wanted the Senate Judiciary Committee to know all of the details. [National Law Journal] * Nice guys get confirmed fast? More on Judge Kavanaugh's sainthood. The man coaches not one, but two girls' basketball teams, he's a superb "carpool dad," and he takes a family friend's daughter whose father died to the school’s annual father-daughter dance each and every year. He's just so nice! [Washington Post] * Damn, it's not just Arizona Summit's graduates who can't practice law in Arizona. Three lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis -- including Paul Clement, Viet Dinh, and Christopher Bartolomucci -- were booted from the school's case against the ABA for failing to comply with out-of-state attorney admission procedures. [Law360] * Acording to the Boston Larger Law Firm Managing Partner Group, "much work needs to be done" when it comes to attorneys who have experienced inappropriate sexual behavior at work. Per a recent study, 60 percent of respondents had either received messages of a personal or sexual nature, been touched inappropriately, or witnessed a coworker being touched inappropriately. [Boston Business Journal] * Lawyerly Lairs: Convicted Murderer Edition. The 80-acre ranch of Claud "Tex" McIver, the former Fisher Phillips partner who shot his wife in the back, is now on the auction block, and there's a dispute over who will receive the proceeds. [Daily Report]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.12.18

* Proskauer tells the EEOC that there's nothing "sinister" about employers demanding that sexual harassment victims sign away their legal rights to be railroaded through employer-chosen kangaroo courts and then forcibly silenced. Welcome to 2018. [National Law Journal] * In emoluments news, Judge Peter Messitte asked the Justice Department if, based on their chosen defense, "Wouldn't that be bribery?" which he seemed to think would be a bad thing as if the Supreme Court hadn't legalized bribery in McDonnell. [US News] * Chris Christie is starting his own law firm and somehow Rudy Giuliani has already managed to lie about that. [NJ.com] * Betsy DeVos succeeded in keeping fraud victims indebted to the government. She was also ordered to stop pursuing collection actions against the victims, but she still gets to destroy their credit ratings, which is still a great day for kleptocracy. [Courthouse News Service] * Nelson Mullins merging with Broad and Cassel as part of the growing trend of super-regional firms designed to keep the Am Law elite at bay. [Daily Report] * In a lesson on putting carts ahead of horses, the former general counsel for Portland, Oregon's public school district was just admitted to the bar... after the state bar lodged ethics violations against him for serving in that role without a law license in the state. [Portland Tribune]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.06.18

* Simpson Thacher isn't increasing associate salaries to the $190K scale (yet), but it is partnering with Columbia Business School to launch a new associate training program. We bet your incoming associates are "STBReady" ... for higher salaries. Click here to see all the firms that have raised salaries thus far . [New York Law Journal] * President Trump is appealing the decision that says he can't block people on Twitter based on their political views to the Second Circuit (because of course he is). He already had to unblock the seven plaintiffs in the case, and he likely wasn't very happy about it because of glorious follow-up tweets like this. [BuzzFeed] * After reportedly being rejected by several candidates for the associate attorney general position -- one that would oversee the Mueller investigation if Rod Rosenstein were to suddenly depart -- the Trump Administration is giving up on trying to fill the job for the moment, and focusing on other vacancies. [Wall Street Journal] * In the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, the federal judiciary's working group on sexual harassment has released 24 recommendations, specifying three areas that need change to make circuit courts an "exemplary workplace." [Big Law Business] * The American Bar Association wants out of this whistleblower suit, ASAP. ABA officials claim that former Charlotte Law professor Barbara Bernier only added the law school regulatory group to her suit against the defunct law school and its owner, InfiLaw, as a "last-ditch effort" to keep her action kicking in court. [Law.com]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.05.18

* "It was a mistake. I swear to God," remarks Giuliani outlining the excuse for conflicting testimony that works like a charm for every other criminal defendant. [CNN] * Law professors point out that Trump's lawyers are bad at their jobs, which isn't news but will somehow dominate the news cycle and still not sway anyone who isn't already on board with these facts. [Politico] * Judge Aaron Perksy -- who sentenced rapist Brock Turner to a mere six months -- may get recalled today. So it's a good time to remind everyone of this older post laying out exactly how dangerous and misguided this is. Persky may deserve to lose his job in due course... but embracing the recall mechanism for judges who hand down lenient sentences is a one-way road to needless mass incarceration, usually with a heavy dose of racial bias. [Slate] * Liverpool player injured in nasty tackle has achieved immortality as the subject of a law school exam question. [BBC] * The NFL may have a new problem with its disastrous anthem policy -- it violates multiple state constitutions... in states with perennial playoff teams too. [Slate] * Despite the death of the prime suspect, Arizona law firms went ahead and beefed up security in the wake of the recent paralegal murders. [AZ Central] * The GOP tax bill accidentally put a tax on victims of sexual abuse because that's what happens when you railroad a bill through both chambers in the middle of the night with a bunch of hand-written amendments in the margins. [Bloomberg] * Sex workers are taking action against SESTA/FOSTA, the ill-conceived anti-human trafficking law that really just puts legitimate sex workers in danger -- almost like that was the politicians' plan all along. [Gizmodo]

By Joe Patrice