Suicide

When you're an addicted lawyer, emotional vulnerability is a good thing in taking that first step to get help.

You don't need to kill yourself. There are people out there who want to help you.

Remember that you are loved, so please reach out if you need assistance, before it's too late.

* In case you haven’t been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that recently raised salaries: Kilpatrick Townsend, Sutherland, Norton Rose Fulbright, Morgan Lewis (additional details), Troutman Sanders. If you’re worried you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, you can check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

* “The plan was always to retire after this summer, retirement just came a little sooner than I’d hoped.” Olympic gold medalist Shannon Vreeland isn’t going to the Rio Olympics this summer; instead, she’ll be swimming in the completely the uncharted waters of law school at Vanderbilt. Will she be the new Aquagirl? [SwimSwam]

* Worried about Brexit? So are clients who have hired Mischon de Reya lawyers to make sure the British government doesn’t try to leave the EU without consulting parliament. “Everyone in Britain needs the government to apply the correct constitutional process and allow parliament to fulfill its democratic duty,” says a firm partner. [Bloomberg]

* Judge Richard Posner would like to sincerely apologize for saying that the Constitution isn’t worth the time judges have spent studying it. What he really meant to say was that he thinks the Constitution is so vague that judges are simply “do[ing] the best they can” to make the 17th century document applicable to our modern world. [WSJ Law Blog]

* “I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you’re ready, you just need to do it! You can’t think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t.” Michelle Carter, the Massachusetts teen who walked her boyfriend through his suicide via text, will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter. [AP]

* So, you’ve found a new job. Yay! You give your boss your two-week notice and your current job comes back with a counter offer. Should you take it? [Manila Recruitment]

* Evaluating the impact of the ghosts of decisions past on this term’s Supreme Court. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Law school applications are down, but medical school applications are up. A look at the trends that have created this phenomenon. [Law School Cafe]

* Are Justices Alito and Thomas in denial? [Slate]

* If a student commits suicide after being bullied, is the school liable? [Litigation Daily]

* Interesting podcast about what it is really like to be a criminal defense attorney. [LST Radio]

The news isn't good for lawyers: as many as one out of every three of us is a problem drinker, and one out of every four of us has some form of depression, stress, or anxiety.

He had been at the helm of the firm since 2006.

* When Virginia Law Weekly and the Virginia Law Review played their annual football game in 1970, then-Professor Antonin Scalia served as the referee. At the end of one play — that ended in a momentum-changing interception — Scalia overturned the result with a critical “too many men on the field” call. If anyone knew the importance of a recount, it was Justice Scalia. [More Us (UVA Law Library)]

* More fallout on the propriety of Justice Scalia’s trip to Cibolo Creek Ranch as a guest of John Poindexter — who had business before the Court last year. Was that ethical? Well, always remember that in the sober world of judicial ethics, the Sigma Nu kegger. [National Law Journal]

* Speaking of Justice Scalia, with a political fight set to embroil the Court, perhaps Chief Justice Roberts should take a lesson from Chief Justice Hughes. [Maryland Appellate Blog]

* Former Scalia clerks describe their experiences working for the late justice. First up, conservative Justice Joan L. Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court. [New York Times]

* And Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown partner Tara Kole on the unique challenges and rewards of serving as Scalia’s “liberal clerk.” [Washington Post]

* Looking to the next Supreme Court appointment, these charts really drive home President Obama’s commitment to opening the federal judiciary to lawyers, judges, and professors traditionally locked out of the “old boys’ club.” [Wonkblog / Washington Post]

* Did a lawyer just commit suicide by police? Over a $16,000 debt? That’s all? [Jane Genova]

This was not his first experience with allegations of ethical improprieties and attorney misconduct.

Traffic stops are among the most common encounters with law enforcement that most Americans will have; if the average citizen has no clue what her rights or duties are during these encounters, then we’re doing it wrong.

What can we do to assist lawyers in managing their anxiety and depression, and help them feel less suicidal?

Tragedy can breed bad legal theories.

It seems some students at NYU Law are mad about the decorations at the annual Fall Ball.

People heading to work in Washington, D.C. around 13th St. NW and G might have seen a gruesome sight. A man plunged from a building and died in the street. The incident happened at 8:15 in the morning, and police quickly blocked off the area. Authorities suspect suicide. Commenters on Reddit and the Washington Post […]

How much time could he serve in prison for his crimes?

* More cease-and-desist action from the world of Donald Trump. It seems he’s gone and pissed off Aerosmith. [Fortune]

* First-person accounts of providing abortions on the cusp of Roe v. Wade. [New York Magazine]

* This is the exact opposite of how a school district should handle teacher molestation cases, though I can see it playing well in law school fact patterns in the near future. [The Atlantic]

* Kansas Secretary of State to begin his prosecution of voter fraud cases, after first being given authority to do so earlier this year. [Talking Point Memo]

* These are now skills lawyers need: the ability to sell, sell, sell. [Law and More]

* A change.org petition to prevent gun suicides. [change.org]

* Practical advice (in podcast form) for making your law practice lean. [Law Reboot]

* While we’re loath to continue giving this woman airtime, it turns out that infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis’s law firm, Liberty Counsel, was recently declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This fits the overall narrative here quite nicely, don’t you think? [Salon]

* After 12 days of deliberation, the jury in the criminal trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s former execs has shown no signs of reaching a verdict, but instead, signs of exhaustion. In fact, one juror needed medical attention because she deliberated too hard. [Am Law Daily]

* This seems to be a common phrase lately: law firm mergers are breaking records again. Altman Weil says more firms announced mergers in the first three quarters of 2015 than in the first three quarters of any year in almost a decade. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* “I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death.” Thanks to Governor Jerry Brown, California is now the fifth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The End of Life Option Act will take effect sometime in 2016. [Los Angeles Times]

* If you’re an undergraduate student who’s planning to go to law school, then you better be building relevant lawyering skills. Master the art of bullsh*tting before you graduate and you’ll be ahead of the game. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

Is it appropriate for bar admission character and fitness review to delve into a candidate's mental health history?

* A former DJ is suing Taylor Swift because he claims that he lost his job after he was falsely accused of grabbing the singer’s ass. When contacted for comment, Swift said, “I’ve got a blank motion to dismiss, baby, and I’ll write your name.” [Associated Press]

* BakerHostetler’s partners unanimously agreed to do away with its two-tiered partnership structure. We would’ve been shocked the firm was going to kick its nonequity partner title to the curb, but we broke the news on it last month. [Am Law Daily]

* Albany Law’s new dean thinks she may have a solution to the school’s enrollment problem, which is down by 38 percent since 2010. She wants to hire more professors, even though the school’s existing professors aren’t exactly pleased. [Albany Business Review]

* California’s legislature approved a landmark bill that will permit physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. If Governor Jerry Brown refuses to sign the “death with dignity” law, supporters will likely bring it to a ballot referendum. [New York Times]

* A Brooklyn bride alleges in a recently filed lawsuit that she’s still waiting for her wedding pictures… more than two years after her wedding took place. She’s clearly not a bridezilla, because if she were, a lawsuit wouldn’t have even been necessary. [New York Post]

* “We saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and she just blew that tunnel up.” Massachusetts teen Michelle Carter was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend after she texted him numerous times, encouraging him to kill himself. If you haven’t seen them, her messages are chilling. [Associated Press]

* “If you are a lawyer thinking about having sex with your client, you better think first.” Go ahead, argue that your client’s 30-day suspension from practice was “just” because the woman kept coming back for more. Maybe your judge won’t be as sarcastic. [Knoxville News Sentinel]

* If you’re starting law school, you probably haven’t heard about the biggest law firm bankruptcy in history, and you likely don’t know what the Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal trial is about. Here’s a listicle of reasons to doubt the prosecution’s case. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Biglaw firms are rethinking their office space at the same time as they’re building up their posh amenities. At the end of the day, associates may be forced to move to cubicles, but it’s all for the clients’ benefit, so hooray for them. *golf claps* [Commercial Observer]

* Our congratulations go out to Alicia Ouellette, Albany Law School’s newest president and dean. We’re certainly hopeful that she’ll be able to handle the tenuous employment situation with the school’s tenured faculty better than her predecessor did. [Times Union]