Sixth Circuit

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  • Morning Docket: 09.16.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.16.16

    * Former Berkeley Law dean Sujit Choudhry is suing the school, claiming that Berkeley discriminated against him by punishing him more harshly for alleged sexual harassment compared to white professors. [Law.com]

    * The family of Sandra Bland settles its lawsuit over her death for $1.9 million. [New York Times]

    * The Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc (and rather splintered), rules that the mental-health ban on gun ownership could violate the Second Amendment. [How Appealing]

    * Congratulations to Miami corporate partner Ira Coleman, who will replace Peter John Sacripanti and Jeffrey E. Stone as chair of McDermott Will & Emery in January. [Big Law Business]

    * Ashurst remains in a tailspin, with five partners (including two office heads) leaving in the span of 24 hours. [Ashurst]

    * In other U.K. law firm news, Freshfields is replacing “Dear Sirs” with gender-neutral salutations in all communications and legal documents. [The Lawyer via Big Law Business]

    * More exciting news for Bancroft: recognition for its pro bono work, which partners pledge will continue after they move over to Kirkland. [Law360]

    * Paging parents who left Davis Polk to raise their kids: here’s a program to bring you back into Biglaw. [Law.com via ABA Journal]

  • Morning Docket: 08.22.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 08.22.16

    * “You’re going to make a federal case out of this – a dispute between two sorority sisters?” A fight between two sorority sisters recently landed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, but it turns out the suit was dropped quicker than a misbehaving pledge. We’ll have more on this later today. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

    * “Generally, it is God who decides whether presidents get Supreme Court appointments.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be the oldest member of SCOTUS, but that doesn’t mean she’s preparing to step down, even if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. She’s already hired clerks for the October 2017 term. [Washington Post]

    * The Eastern District of Michigan has ruled that in cases of employment discrimination, religious rights trump transgender rights. The ACLU says this case has set a “dangerous precedent,” in that it has “exempted [a business that was “not a particularly religious operation”] from civil rights law with regard to transgender people.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * The ABA has closed a probe regarding allegations of religious discrimination (i.e., expulsion of students who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and bans of sexual activity between students of the same sex) that were said to have occurred at BYU Law School. The school is said to have changed its honor code. [ABA Journal]

    * Infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has lucked out thanks to some actions taken by the Sixth Circuit. A new state law removed the names of clerks from marriage licenses, thus enabling the appeals court to refuse her claims, allowing a judge to toss a suit she was facing over her unwillingness to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. [WSAZ]

  • Morning Docket: 06.02.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.02.16

    * A judge has ruled that Andrew Schmuhl, the attorney accused of torturing and nearly killing the managing partner of the law firm his wife was fired from, will not be allowed to use an involuntary intoxication defense at trial. We may have more on this later today. [Washington Post]

    * Congratulations to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg! A newly discovered species of praying mantis with a decorative neck plate, the Ilomantis ginsburgae, has been named after Her Honor thanks to her “commitment to women’s rights and gender equality… and her appreciation of the jabot.” This is an honor that is truly fitting for the Notorious R.B.G. [New York Magazine]

    * Partners continue to head for the exits at Kenyon & Kenyon. This time, the chair of the IP firm’s life sciences and chemical prosecution practice fled for Fox Rothschild, and he took two others with him. What’s going on as this firm, and did they decide finally decide to officially pull the plug on the summer program? Let us know. [Big Law Business]

    * “There’s absolutely no showing of any federal violation. The citizens of California are smart enough to know what their rights are.” Sorry, Bernie bros, but because unaffiliated voters’ rights haven’t been harmed, voter registration will not be reopened ahead of next week’s primary in the Golden State. Best of luck in the polls. [Los Angeles Times]

    * People are still raging against this JOP: The Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a group of defense lawyers 150 strong, have filed an ethics complaint against Judge Conrad Hafen, saying he showed a “complete disregard for the law” when he handcuffed a public defender as she tried to represent her client. [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

    * Boyce Martin Jr., chief judge emeritus of the Sixth Circuit, RIP. [Courier-Journal]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 02.09.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 02.09.16

    * That hashtag you’re using might just be a registered trademark, but that doesn’t mean it should be. [Buzzfeed]

    * Yale Law students filed a class action representing people held in quarantine for 21 days amid fear of the Ebola virus. [Hartford Courant]

    * The Sixth Circuit holds 10 weeks of constant video surveillance from a public road does not constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. You know if you just assume you are always being watched, none of this really bothers you. [Volokh Conspiracy]

    * Understanding the rapid fire world of SnapChat is essential if you don’t want to get left behind in the dustbin of history. [Associate’s Mind]

    * Tackling the thorny issue of access to justice, in law school and after. [Reboot Your Law Practice]

    * The ABA House of Delegates joins the call for cameras in the Supreme Court. What do they have against puppies? [Fix the Court]

    * When we say, “life without parole,” what do we really mean? [The New Yorker]