Sports

* Gawker asks judge to reduce or set aside the $140.1 million Hogan verdict. That’s nice to offer the judge avoid a humiliating reversal on appeal. And yet I’ve seen Wrestlemania, so expect the doomed judge to hit Nick Denton over the head with a chair while he isn’t looking before this gets better. [Capital New York]

* Ramon Fonseca assures the world that all of its operations were legal. Sure. I mean, cockfighting is still legal in Panama so this might not be the most ringing affirmation. [NBC News]

* The Stoli trademark battle may be headed to the Supreme Court. That’s absolut-ly crazy. [Law360]

* There’s an unauthorized Walking Dead theme restaurant out there in case you had a hankering for some possum and cheese whiz and there’s no Carl’s Jr. nearby. [Litigation Daily]

* Which Biglaw firms are making big bucks off baseball season? [The Am Law Daily]

* Eric Conn, dubbed “Mr. Social Security” arrested on federal charges that his immense success is due less to his legal acumen than “paying a doctor and a judge to rubber-stamp false disability claims using phony medical evidence.” Remember when he hired Miss Congeniality USA as a PR flack? Those were happier days. [ABC News]

* North Carolina releases its February bar exam results. So we know of at least 201 people who couldn’t let the championship game spoil their high. You may say, “well Duke students weren’t going to be devastated by the game.” Silly rabbit, Duke kids aren’t taking the February exam. [Bar Exam Stats]

Thinking of engaging in a little sports betting with your colleagues at your place of business/leaving evidence of said sports betting on property owned by that business? Don't.

* The essential questions every in-house counsel should ask before they pick a law firm. [Forbes]

* Donald Trump’s comments advocating punishment for women who have abortions have been turned into an attack ad. That didn’t take much time at all. [The Hill]

* Read up on the lawsuit filed by the US Women’s National Team filed against US Soccer alleging discriminatory wage practices. [Huffington Post]

* What are the best practices for answering emails when you are at home? [Corporette]

* Another reason to not have lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices. [Medium]

* Yup, this is real: Missouri lawmakers made quite the mistake. [Gawker]

* Are you preparing mentally for the possibility of a brokered convention? Then read up on the last person to emerge as the candidate from a brokered convention to win the presidency. [Slate]

If you're curious, here's something worth listening to.

Consider this an early salvo in the battle over NFL concussions.

The behind-the-scenes story of the star athlete's legal battle against the NYPD.

Why doesn’t the government ever come after the March Madness brackets?

* President Obama will announce his pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia later this morning. Which member of the D.C. Circuit will he choose, Judge Sri Srinivasan or Judge Merrick Garland? America will find out at 11 a.m., and then the real political circus of trying to get a confirmation hearing will begin. [New York Times]

* “Republicans know they can’t get away with complete and total obstruction, so they may try to set up a double standard.” Senate Republicans have refused to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but it looks like more than 30 other federal judicial nominees may have been caught in the political fray. [AP]

* After having a district court judge’s deferred compensation remedy slapped down by the Ninth Circuit, lawyers in the O’Bannon NCAA student-athlete pay case have asked the Supreme Court to grant certiorari. The lawyers involved “[feel] so strongly in the principles involved” that they don’t care if they lose their fees and costs. [USA Today]

* A small victory for a washed-up Mean Girl? Lindsay Lohan has never really had much success when it comes to suing others on the basis of likeness appropriation, but a New York judge has refused to dismiss her case against Rockstar Games over a look-alike character in Grand Theft Auto V. You go, girl! [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]

* Per Lex Machina, after a slow 2014, patent litigation rose by 14.7 percent in 2015. What’s troubling to some lawyers, though, is that all of the action has migrated to Texas courts: “Why should this little corner that’s not particularly a hotbed of innovation have such an important role to play in patent law?” [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Talent agency Rebel Entertainment Partners is suing CBS, the TV station that airs “Judge Judy,” because it claims Judge Judy is taking in such a high salary that the network has been unable to dole out its contractually obligated payments. Although she’s not named in the suit, Judge Judy, full of sarcasm, says this is “hilarious.” [Variety]

Judge Berman's decision is up for review. Will the judges default to his judgment or the weight of Supreme Court precedent.

This fan has some grievances with management and decided to share them during the big game.

Intellectual property law stupidity strikes again as the NFL fights to keep anyone from using the words "Super Bowl."

Until a governing body or a court of law determines how crowdfunding impacts amateurism, recruits should proceed cautiously.

Get your money before the payment processors disappear.

Len Elmore has had an enviable career.

Sports fans trying things that cannot possibly work.

St. Louis Rams fans use a lawsuit to strike back at the NFL.

Did this lawyer comply with the judge's amusing order?

How could the NFL screw this up? When you look at it, probably pretty easily.

Another state launches a broadside against daily fantasy sports.

* Has technology created a real-life Lord of the Flies? [Law and More]

* “The Love Song of J. Anthony Kennedy” — a SCOTUS-themed spoof on “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” I’m just happy we live in a world where these things exist. [Green Bag]

* Are you tired of all those pretentious hipsters who pretend that soccer (yes, asshole, we live in America and it’s called f*cking soccer here) is the only “real” sport? Yeah, so is the DOJ. [Sidebars]

* What’s the best way to deal with the dreaded performance review? [Corporette]

* SCOTUS is tiptoeing around race in this term’s voting rights case. [Talking Points Memo]