State Attorneys General

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.15.16

* The Supreme Court takes on an issue of major importance to the patent bar (and the Eastern District of Texas): where can an infringement suit be filed? [How Appealing] * And SCOTUS also grants cert to a case raising the scope of what prosecutors must disclose to the defense under Brady v. Maryland and a case about a criminal lawyer's erroneous advice to his client about immigration consequences of a guilty plea. [New York Times via How Appealing] * Sheriff of Wall Street Preet Bharara loses another deputy to private practice: Katherine Goldstein, head of the S.D.N.Y.'s securities-fraud unit, will join several of her former colleagues -- Adam Fee, Antonia Apps and George Canellos -- at Milbank Tweed. [WSJ Law Blog] * President-elect Donald Trump won't take office for a few weeks, but he's already inspiring new law school courses. [National Law Journal] * And Trump might also trigger new lawsuits from state attorneys general seeking to rein in his administration. [New York Times] * As for existing litigation between Trump and celebrity chefs José Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian, both the real estate tycoon and his adversaries are repped by big Biglaw names: Seyfarth Shaw and Steptoe & Johnson. [BuzzFeed] * Speaking of Seyfarth, it's the firm representing ExxonMobil in litigation alleging anti-gay discrimination in its hiring practices -- litigation that continues even as CEO Rex Tillerson prepares to leave the company to head the Trump State Department. [Washington Blade]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.17.16

* "There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done in off years. That’s not in the constitutional text." Angering armchair constitutional scholars, President Obama vowed to appoint someone to replace Justice Scalia following his death, despite the fact that it's an election year. [New York Times] * "My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas." The fact that Justice Scalia was found dead with a pillow over his head has made conspiracy theorists come out in droves. Some are "stunned" that an autopsy wasn't performed on the late justice. [Daily Intelligencer / New York Magazine] * Dickstein Shapiro partners were informed via letter that they'd face "the almost certain loss of all firm capital." For some equity partners, that's more than $1 million -- and the letter wasn't even signed "sincerely." How rude! [National Law Journal via ABA Journal] * Justice Scalia's passing could have an impact on the anti-marijuana legalization suit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado. The Court was supposed to discuss it this week, but the justices may not want to overpack their bowls, so to speak. [Guardian] * Troubled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not be seeking reelection after her term expires in January 2017. With her license to practice law suspended and criminal charges pending, we'll see if she's even able to make it that far. [WSJ Law Blog] * Vigilante justice on the internet swift: Despite Google listing the firm as "permanently closed" and its brutal one-star Yelp rating, "Making a Murderer" prosecutor Ken Kratz assured reporters his law firm was still open, contrary to appearances. [Post-Crescent] * Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former U.N. Secretary General, RIP. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.25.15

* Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit completely obliterated a Wisconsin law that required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Posner said any health benefits conferred by the law were "nonexistent." [Reuters] * Judge Richard Sullivan (S.D.N.Y.) wasn't a fan of the Bank of China essentially telling Gucci to "suck it up" when it came to "ridiculous" delays in providing counterfeiters' records, so he held the bank in contempt and is considering assessing millions of dollars in fines. [WSJ Law Blog] * A Pennsylvania attorney activist who launched the "Kane is not Able" campaign has asked the state's highest court to provide clarification on how AG Kathleen Kane should delegate her duties considering the fact she has a suspended law license. [PennLive.com] * A proposed class-action suit has been filed against fashion company Kate Spade over its alleged "imaginary discount prices." If this goes the way of the $4.88M Michael Kors settlement over the same issue, then Kate Spade could be in trouble. [Consumerist] * "Talk about being uprooted!" Vendors who sell wares outside of Brooklyn Law are pissed about the school's plans to install planters on the sidewalks around the building, thereby kicking the vendors not to the curb, but out onto the street. [Brooklyn Paper]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.16.15

* DraftKings and FanDuel aren't going to take a knee and allow New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to rip away their gamblers clients. Both daily fantasy sites have refused to stop conducting business in New York, and have instead filed suit against Schneiderman with some hefty Biglaw backing. [WSJ Law Blog] * During a recent speaking engagement at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Justice Antonin Scalia explained why he writes such scathingly quotable dissents: "I’m writing dissents mainly for you guys—for law students. I know it will be in the casebooks." [University of St. Thomas NewsRoom] * SCOTUS granted cert in a challenge to Texas abortion laws, and some wonder how this decision will affect other states' laws. If the justices don't think these restrictions represent an undue burden, then women may as well hang up their ovaries and go home. [Reuters] * We'll have to rely on old faithful, Justice RBG, to raise the torch for women. She recently sat down for tea with Gloria Steinem to discuss women's rights. "Ruth is better at getting along with people with whom we profoundly disagree," says Steinem. [New York Times] * The "least sexy" part of a merger? If you want to know what took the Dentons / Dacheng merger so long to be formalized, Dentons CEO Elliott Portnoy says it had to do with website, logo, communications, and marketing issues. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.13.15

* Steven Metro, an ex-managing clerk at Simpson Thacher who was accused of passing insider info about mergers and other business transactions to his law school buddy in a $5.6 million insider trading scheme, has pleaded guilty. He faces up to 20 years in prison. [Reuters] * Remember Keila Ravelo, the Willkie Farr partner who allegedly stole millions from that firm and her prior firm, Hunton & Williams? It turns out her involvement in the $5.7 billion MasterCard/Visa antitrust settlement could ultimately become its kiss of death. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Chief Judge Morrison England (E.D. Cal.) says he and his colleagues are incredibly overworked, sometimes putting in more than 80 hours per week. It's too bad it doesn't make a difference -- the court is at a "crisis point" in its backlog of cases. [WSJ Law Blog] * Last summer, a federal judge ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional in California because an appeals process with the "slight possibility of death" was cruel and unusual. Here's a real shocker: the Ninth Circuit overturned the decision. [New York Times] * Embattled Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is well past the point of having 99 problems, but there's no end in sight. Former prosecutors have filed suit against her, alleging she retaliated against them for exposing her alleged criminal misdeeds. [Tribune-Review]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.04.15

* Fans of this man's dopey mugshot grin will be sad if they're deprived of another jailhouse picture, but lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton want their client's securities fraud indictment to be tossed over what they claim was a faulty grand jury investigation. [Reuters] * Friday is apparently "Love Your Lawyer Day," and the ABA recently passed a resolution to commemorate this special day every year. Biglaw firms can show their love for lawyers by announcing bigger, better bonuses! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Alabama thinks the legal fees and costs that are being requested by attorneys in the state's landmark same-sex marriage decision are "entirely excessive" and should be "cut dramatically." It's not like these lawyers had to "reinvent the wheel" or anything. [AL.com] * "I may be known in tiny corners of the tubes of the Internet, but I am not well-known to the American public generally." One-issue Democratic candidate Professor Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law School is dropping out of the presidential race. [Boston Globe] * It's high time you joined the green rush, lawyers: although Ohioans voted against legalizing marijuana yesterday, more and more states are adding ballot measures for the legalization of marijuana or medical marijuana to be voted on in 2016. [Washington Post] * “I’m glad Houston led tonight to end this constant political-correctness attack." In other election news, voters in Texas repealed an LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance that would've prevented bias related to several important areas in life. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.02.15

* Not everyone can lead a glamorous life before going to law school. Take, for example, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. After graduating from college, she traveled to Alaska where she gutted fish with some "gentlemen from Japan." Eww, that sounds... slimy. [JD Journal] * Law schools have been forced to hike up a rocky road in terms of admissions for quite some time, but admissions officers recently decided to put on their rose-colored glasses. Everything will be okay next year! Things are looking up! [Inside Counsel] * Corrales Municipal Judge Luis Quintana of New Mexico may have been disbarred, but he has no plans to resign from his position on the bench; after all, municipal judges in his state don't have to be lawyers. How terribly convenient for him. [Albuquerque Journal] * Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is now facing additional charges -- including a new perjury charge -- related to her grand jury testimony. She better find a way to blame this on her evil twin, because this doesn't look good. [Times-Tribune] * Warren Watson, a man who was convicted of robbing, raping, and murdering 66-year-old attorney Claudia Miller in her office in 2013, was recently sentenced to life in prison, plus 334 years on top of that for all of his dastardly deeds. [Denver Post]

By Staci Zaretsky