Skadden Arps

The lawyer turned media mogul diagnoses the nation's ills in his latest book.

How much is he giving up to take a job on the Seventh Circuit?

* What’s behind the Supreme Court’s sluggish pace, and does Justice Gorsuch have anything to do with it? Only 18 rulings have been sloooooowly handed down so far this Term, and the world is still waiting for decisions to be made in some of the high court’s most contentious cases. [Reuters]

* House Republicans are so pissed the DOJ failed to comply with a subpoena deadline to turn over more than a million documents related to investigations of Hillary Clinton’s emails, alleged FISA abuses, and Andrew McCabe’s firing that there’s a “growing consensus” Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein could be held in contempt of Congress — or even impeached. [Washington Examiner]

* There may be a law school brain drain when it comes to a lack of applications from students at top undergraduate institutions, but the Law School Admission Council is reporting that the number of applicants with LSAT scores of 160 or higher is up by 21 percent since last year. We’ll have more on this interesting news later. [Law.com]

* In case you missed it, with an average deal size was $3.7 billion and a market share of about 24 percent, Skadden came out on top of Bloomberg’s law firm league table for global M&A deal volume in 2018’s first quarter. Congratulations! [Big Law Business]

* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services industry added 400 jobs between February and March. The entire profession now ranges from 1.2 to 1.3 million jobs, down from pre-recession highs of 1.8 million jobs. Sorry, but after about a decade, it’s looking like those jobs may be lost forever. [American Lawyer]

He'll probably lose his license to practice law, too.

He's already lost his Biglaw career, isn't that punishment enough?

She was quite the trailblazing young woman.

Jones Day beat Skadden... again.

A fully paid, gender-neutral parental leave policy? No wonder associates are excited!

* According to a lawsuit filed against the NFL and the New England Patriots by Aaron Hernandez’s family, the former football player who was serving a life sentence for murder at the time of his death had a “severe case” of CTE. Jose Baez, the family’s attorney, said Hernandez had “the most severe case [researchers] had ever seen for someone of Aaron’s age.” [CBS Boston]

* A man after Trump’s own heart: During a recent speaking engagement, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained why he believes judges ought to be conservative on the bench, saying that “the job of the judge to apply it, not amend the law … even when he might well prefer a very different outcome.” Later, he said judges must stick to interpreting laws instead of rewriting them. [Associated Press]

* Uh-oh. Skadden is under fire for work the firm did for Paul Manafort five years ago. Apparently Manafort asked the firm to write a report justifying the jailing of a client’s political rival, and it’s coming back to haunt them. The DOJ wants the firm to hand over all documents having to do with the matter. [New York Times]

* After being fired by President Donald Trump for her refusal to defend the travel ban, former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates has found a new home, at least for this semester. Yates will serve as a Distinguished Lecturer from Government at Georgetown Law. Congratulations! [Law.com]

* In an effort to bring on-campus residential life back for law students — and thanks to alumni donations totaling $60 million — Yale Law is expanding its campus for the first time in almost 100 years. Construction on the new dorm is expected to be completed by the end of next summer. [Yale Daily News]

Logan Maley is a true inspiration for anyone looking to make a career transition.

What has your firm done to speak out against hate?

When offers are being handed out like candy, it changes your perspective.

Let this summer associate’s fate serve as a cautionary tale.

* According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judge Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to the Supreme Court at about 11:30 a.m. on the first day of the Senate’s nuclear winter. Now that we’re in the nuclear age, when it’s time for the next SCOTUS nominee’s confirmation hearings, Senator Orrin Hatch “expect[s] Armageddon.” [CNN]

* It’s been about a month since Preet Bharara was ousted from his position as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and he isn’t mincing his words when it comes to his firing, calling it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence” people associate with the Trump administration. [New York Times]

* Speaking of the Trump administration’s “helter-skelter incompetence,” Twitter has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to block an agency summons to reveal the identity of @ALT_uscis, an anonymous user who has used the social media platform to criticize the president’s immigration policies. [Reuters]

* According to the latest data from Bloomberg, Cleary Gottlieb handled the largest volume of M&A deals in 2017’s first quarter, with the firm involved in 22 deals worth more than $98 billion. Skadden Arps, Cravath, Kirkland & Ellis, and Slaughter and May fell in line behind Cleary, each surpassing $54 billion in deal volume. [Big Law Business]

* Welcome back, John White! Now that Mary Jo White has departed from her position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is back at Debevoise & Plimpton, her husband — who was the firm’s lone nonequity partner for four years — will return to the firm’s equity partnership, where he can enjoy all of the rain he makes. [Am Law Daily]

Eleven of them are men; the group could be more diverse.

Who's the new top dog in the world of Biglaw?

Though he's spent the better part of three decades in Biglaw, he does have relevant experience.

* “Judge Garland is respected on both sides of the aisle. That he did not even get so much as a hearing will be a stain on the legacy of the Republican Senate.” After languishing for a total of 293 days, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court officially expired yesterday at noon with the formal adjournment of the 114th Congress. [Wall Street Journal]

* Following eight years at the helm of one of the most prestigious schools in the county, Dean Martha Minow of Harvard Law will be stepping down from her position at the end of the academic year. Minow plans to return to teaching a full course load this summer, and according to inside sources at the school, a search for her successor will begin “soon.” We’ll have more on this news development later today. [Harvard Crimson]

* Judge William Pryor (11th Cir.) was named acting chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Pryor, who is under consideration to be President-elect Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, says he looks forward to “developing federal sentencing policies that further the goals of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.” [U.S. Sentencing Commission]

* President-elect Trump has chosen Skadden Arps partner Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer served as deputy U.S. trade representative in the Reagan administration, and Trump believes he “will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity.” [USA Today]

* As days go by without word of a resolution as to the school’s federal loan issues, lawsuits continue to pile up against the Charlotte Law. Students now claim the school has sentenced them “to years of indentured servitude” by saddling them “with crushing, non-dischargeable debt that will take literally decades to pay off.” [Charlotte Observer]

Congratulations to the winners of the Skadden Fellowships, and good luck to them as they start working next year at wonderful organizations around the country.

* Duncan Lloyd, the Philadelphia assistant city solicitor who spray-painted “F*ck Trump” on a building while wearing an ascot and holding a glass of wine, will be able to keep his job after completing 40 hours of community service. We’re sure many Americans feel that he has already completed his community service through his actions. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who took a leave of absence from Greenberg Traurig to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump through the end of the election, has removed his name from consideration for any position in President-elect Trump’s administration (but only after reportedly being offered three other positions that he didn’t want). He’ll now be returning to his law firm. [ABC News]

* The struggling European and Middle East arm of King & Wood Mallesons has received “a number of indicative purchase offers” from other law firms. Biglaw behemoth Dentons is rumored to be a potential merger partner for firm’s EUME branch, with DLA Piper and Greenberg Traurig ready to make lateral offers to partners. [Big Law Business]

* Just because your law school isn’t one of the best in the nation, it doesn’t mean that you can’t dream big. Case in point: The most recent winners of the prestigious Skadden public interest fellowships has been announced, and two of them will graduate from CUNY School of Law. We’ll have more on the new Skadden Fellows later. [Skadden]

* Dislike? A woman who wanted to serve her estranged husband with divorce papers via Facebook has been denied by a judge who noted that the social networking profile had been inactive for two-plus years, writing that to allow service would be “akin to the Court permitting service by nail and mail to a building that no longer exists.” [WSJ Law Blog]