Texas
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Biglaw
Biglaw Partner Gives Eyewitness Account Of Terrifying Courthouse Shooting
The gunman was killed by law enforcement, and no other serious injuries were reported. -
Family Law
2 States Pass Laws To Reduce Doctor Creepiness
In case you were thinking about pursuing a new legal specialty, fertility fraud may be the new hot area! - Sponsored
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Biglaw
Biglaw Partner Goes Public In Lawsuit Over Alleged Rape
She says the Biglaw firm has been supportive of her as she deals with the aftermath of the assault.
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Family Law
Intense And Dramatic Testimony Propels Texas Fertility Fraud Bill Forward
This woman's sad story may provide the blueprint for change throughout the country. -
Crime
Public Corruption Sting Leads To Arrest Of Two Lawyers
The bribery scheme allegedly went on for eight years. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.03.19
* President Trump doesn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report being released to Congress and the public anymore, which is strange since it was a “complete and total exoneration.” [POLITICO]
* Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee seem to be divided over how quickly they want to subpoena the full Mueller report from Attorney General William Barr. Either way, a vote will take place sometime today. [Washington Post]
* Law firm merger activity has been really strong during the first quarter of 2019, with 27 firms combining thus far. Right now, this is on track with last year’s record-setting merger mania, when 106 firms officially tied the knot. [Big Law Business]
* New York real estate lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey, who once told a tenant he “should commit suicide,” has been suspended for four months after reportedly running into an arbitration hearing and swearing at a witness. [New York Law Journal]
* According to a report from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, lawyers once connected to Wynn Resorts — including two former GCs — allegedly helped conceal sexual assault and misconduct claims against Steven Wynn, the casino’s founder. [Corporate Counsel]
* Oopsie! As an FYI, in Texas, it’s completely possible to accidentally resign from your position as a judge. Don’t make the same mistake as this poor jurist. [Reuters]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs: 03.03.19
* Several weeks after its release, Over My Dead Body, Wondery’s new podcast exploring the Dan Markel case, continues to top the podcast charts — and creators Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson have some thoughts on why the case has seized the public imagination. [Inside Edition]
* The Keith Tharpe case, far from representing an isolated injustice, reflects and embodies the racist roots of the death penalty in America, according to Stephen Cooper. [CounterPunch]
* The fight against racism in the justice system has been going on (and will continue) for many years — and as Texas lawyer John Browning has discovered, trailblazing African American attorneys were fighting to integrate the bar of the Lone Star State as early as the 1800s. [Texas Lawyer]
* I’ve previously argued against treating blue slips as senatorial vetoes of judicial nominees, based on their consequences for the federal judiciary — and as Thomas Jipping points out, history supports treating blue slips as a senatorial courtesy, nothing more. [Bench Memos / National Review]
* Don’t be fooled by the high level of unanimity in the Supreme Court’s first few decisions of the Term; greater disagreement lurks in the “shadow docket,” as Adam Feldman explains. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* The compromise appropriations bill that saved us from another government shutdown could also advance the Trump Administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers from Central America — which Stewart Baker believes “may offer a better solution to the immigration crisis than the construction of a few miles of new wall.” [Lawfare via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Actor James Woods is out of the woods in a defamation lawsuit arising out of an erroneous tweet of his, thanks to this interesting ruling by the Sixth Circuit. [How Appealing]
* Jean O’Grady is excited about Panoramic, the latest offering from Thomson Reuters, which transforms “the ambitious idea of merging workflow and billing into an actual product.” [Dewey B Strategic]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.20.19
* Hail Mary pass interference? President Donald Trump reportedly asked then-acting AG Matthew Whitaker if U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman (S.D.N.Y.) — a “perceived loyalist” — could be put in charge of the Michael Cohen probe even though he’d already recused himself. [New York Times]
* Chief Justice John Roberts once again sided with the Supreme Court’s liberals in refusing to agree with a Texas court’s decision to execute a death row inmate with intellectual disabilities, writing that the lower court’s review of the case “did not pass muster under this court’s analysis last time,” and “[i]t still doesn’t.” Justice Samuel Alito dissented, and was obviously joined by the high court’s conservatives. [Washington Post]
* Emoji are popping up more and more in court cases, and courts still don’t know what to do with them — which is a shame, because “[j]udges need to be aware of the importance of the emojis to the overall communication when we run into … odd evidentiary issues.” [The Verge]
* This Fox Rothschild partner is facing sanctions over missed deadlines in several cases for his client, porn producer Strike 3 Holdings. He’s repped the “copyright troll” in about 2,500 infringement cases since 2017. [American Lawyer]
* If you’re interested in investing in the future of law, alternative legal services provider Axiom will be going public and has applied for an IPO. The number of shares up for grabs and their price range is still undecided. [ALM International]
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Biglaw
Top 5 Reasons To Move To A Law Firm In Texas
The Texas legal market is flourishing, with available positions for associates of all practices and seniority levels. -
Biglaw
Biglaw Partner Files $20 Million Lawsuit Over Alleged Rape
The plaintiff is described as a partner in the Houston office of a large international law firm who has practiced for 12 years. -
Courts
Legal Commentators Nearly Pull A Muscle Condemning Judge's Affordable Care Act Decision
How many ways can you say stupid? -
Biglaw
Biglaw Firm Wastes No Time Kissing Up To New Democrat Judges In Texas
This is the kind of Biglaw service clients are paying for. -
Courts
Texas Judge Loses Election, Decides To 'Wholesale' Release Defendants
This is an interesting take on the sore loser trope.
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
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Government
If Texas Is The New Bellwether For The Nation, Millennial And Minority Attorneys Have Plenty Of Reason To Remain Optimistic
Even after some emotional losses nationwide, the blue wave’s crest was able to topple the wall of incessant gerrymandering. -
Courts
Judge Sues Judge Over Totally Adolescent Social Media Spat
Maybe this isn't the best case for the credibility of the family court system... -
Courts
Texas's Fetal Burial Law Is Struck Down For Now, I Guess
Enjoy these kind of rational court decisions while they last. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.06.18
* Could this be the year that law firms break out of their cycle of tepid growth? [American Lawyer]
* In ordinary times, Roy Moore’s laughable lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen would be bigger news. We do not live in ordinary times. [Law360]
* One would have thought “independence” would be “having a lifetime job with no oversight and an impossibly onerous removal process.” But, “independence” really means “only answering hypotheticals that don’t raise potentially serious questions about a guy’s fig leaf of a judicial philosophy.” This is why it’s so important to be a textualist! [Courthouse News Service]
* It makes for a nice, vapid buzzword, but there actually is an “I” in “Team of Nine.” [National Law Journal]
* A federal judge has banned the Texas “bury your zygote” law. Don’t worry Texas, your boy Brett’s will make sure you don’t have to worry about this ever again. [NPR]
* Shocking no one, lawyers think Brexit was a bad idea. [Legalweek]
* Oh, and we’re going to “open up libel laws” now. [CBS]
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Law Schools
This Law School Knows: Once A Texan, Always A Texan
These law school grads are happy right where they are. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.08.18
* Among all of his other legal worries, Michael Cohen is now under investigation for tax fraud. This guy just can’t catch a break. [Wall Street Journal]
* You may remember the “frozen trucker” case that Justice Neil Gorsuch was plagued by during his confirmation hearings. As it turns out, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has his own “frozen trucker” case, but his involves a woman who was drowned by a killer whale at SeaWorld. Stay tuned for questions about that. [Slate]
* You may want to lateral to another firm in a hot market like Texas, but bless your heart, that doesn’t mean your current firm is going to just let you do it. More and more firms — like Weil Gotshal, Baker Botts — have been enforcing their contractual “hold” provisions and delaying lateral moves. [Texas Lawyer]
* Let’s face it: if you’re applying to law schools, you’re not going to be able to get in to all of them. Figure out which ones are your safety schools ASAP. [U.S. News]
* Angelina Jolie has accused Brad Pitt of neglecting his child support obligations in a new court filing, claiming that the actor hasn’t made any “meaningful” payments in the year and a half since Jolie filed for divorce. [NBC News]
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