Texas

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.02.17

* Remember when Trump recaptured the news cycle from the string of blunders and Russian scandals that rocked his first month? That seems like just yesterday.... [Washington Post] * What happens to lawyers after they publicly demean themselves appear on The Bachelor? [The Ringer] * After a massive scandal, Wells Fargo is slashing executive pay in the name of accountability. Well, by "slashing," they mean "the people who failed to pick up the fraud will still make millions," but it's the tokenistic thought that counts. [Corporate Counsel] * JP Morgan replaced 360,000 hours of annual legal work with a robot that does the work in seconds. That sounds impressive, but when you control for Biglaw hour padding the software really replaced about 20 minutes of work. [Bloomberg Markets] * Yahoo's GC resigned over their cybersecurity kerfuffle. Most Americans greet the news by wondering, "wait, Yahoo is still around?" [NY Times] * Salary increases may be nice, but it just intensifies senior skepticism over what young associates really bring to the table. [Law360] * Gibson Dunn building its Houston office on with Latham laterals. [Texas Lawyer] * Even with revenue down, Bryan Cave manages to get PPP up. [Am Law Daily]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 03.01.17

* To answer the question posed in Morning Docket today... no. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Miguel Estrada will not be the next Solicitor General. [Law.com] * Elena Kagan is finally getting some meme love. [Huffington Post] * The Texas Supreme Court is hearing arguments about rolling back spousal benefits for same-sex couples. No, you didn't imagine Obergefell in a fever dream, it's just Texas. [Slate] * Can legal remedies be effective against age discrimination? Or will that take too long? [Law and More] * RIP Barbara Lundergan the first woman to be partner at Seyfarth Shaw. [Crain's Business] * How does Neil Gorsuch fare on the issue of abortion? [Constitutional Accountability Center] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyYk6WbFfU&feature=youtu.be

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.28.17

* The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has extended a deadline to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request asking who the director of the agency is. That's all they want. And the PTO asked for more time to respond! The absurdity of this reminds me of Apocalypse Now. [IP Watchdog] * You've heard about Justice Ginsburg's workout regimen. Well, Politico sent a reporter to do it and... it nearly broke him. [Politico] * Divorce judge sued for allegedly spitting on a former Mintz Levin attorney. The New York legal community keeping it classy. [Law360] * In totally unsurprising move, guy who thought the KKK was cool until he found out they smoked pot withdraws the government's objection to Texas efforts to suppress minority voting. [NY Times] * More law firms are changing their partner compensation models to create an even more competitive environment. There's no way this can backfire and create a woefully dysfunctional partnership. Nope. [Law.com] * The Jeffrey Wertkin case puts a spotlight on the whole whistle-blower unit. [Bloomberg] * Winston & Strawn are going after laterals pretty hard. [Am Law Daily] * Now might be a good time to make a donation to legal aid. [Litigation Daily]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.07.17

* Judge William C. Canby Jr, Judge Michelle T. Friedland, and Judge Richard R. Clifton will hear tonight's oral argument on Trump's travel ban. Or should we say they're the "so-called judges" who will hear tonight's argument. [CNN] * Weil Gotshal announces significant gains in both revenues and profits. No associates were mangled in the making of this news. [Am Law Daily] * Former Bio-Rad GC Sanford Wadler wins big in his whistleblower retaliation case. Bio-Rad has attempted to cast him as a jerk who yelled at his underlings, but the jury realized that just made him "a lawyer" and not a justification to terminate him. [Corporate Counsel] * Vizio settled with the FTC over turning all of their customers into unwitting "Nielsen Families." But you should still be worried about that toaster that's been spying on you. [Litigation Daily] * Dewey still even care about this case? [Law360] * Gibson Dunn opens a Houston office because oil and gas are still big business. [Texas Lawyer] * You may have seen the viral post about a subway car full of New Yorkers who go to work scrubbing swastika graffiti off the walls. The man who started the effort was Wilson Elser associate Gregory Locke. [Am Law Daily]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 01.04.17

* Texas is real pissed they can't execute anyone. [BuzzFeed] * I feel justified about posting this because the appeal involves Holland & Knight, but really it is an excellent story about the human cost of America's longest war and you should read it. [New York Times] * Do you think the Supreme Court should release audio on the same day oral arguments take place? Then sign here. [Fix the Court] * Yeah, I'd wanna settle this case quick if I were the McKinney, Texas, Police Department. [Slate] * 2017 is shaping up to be the NRA's wet dream. [Salon] * Judge is super concerned about the Constitution once corporate profits are on the line. [Reuters] * What's publishing like after tenure? [TaxProf Blog]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.16.16

* Are conservative partners giving smaller bonuses to female associates? Per the results of a recent study, political ideology impacts how partners allocate discretionary income to associates based on gender. If you thought this couldn't happen in Biglaw since bonuses are largely lockstep by class year, think again. The firm studied has 1,000+ lawyers. We'll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily] * "We’ve got one of the country’s finest jurists, who I happened to have nominated to the Supreme Court and who’s going to continue to serve our country with distinction as the chief judge on the D.C. circuit, Merrick Garland is here." President Obama hasn't withdrawn his SCOTUS nomination, but his White House Hanukkah party introduction of the jurist indicates he's all but given up on Garland's confirmation. [Washington Post] * "Just because you didn’t go to law school doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have more time to bond with a new child." Lowenstein Sandler has adopted a gender-neutral family leave policy that's being offered to all of the firm's employees -- not just its lawyers. Congrats to the firm on taking an important leap towards parental equality. [Big Law Business] * According to the latest ABA data, first-year law school enrollment has increased for the first time since 2010. Don't get too excited over this news, because only 36 more 1Ls were enrolled in law school in 2016 compared to 2015, and one of the schools with the largest enrollment increase (Indiana Tech) is closing for good. [National Law Journal] * "Once again, public schools have decided that their commitment to diversity does not extend to Christians." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going to war over a religious Charlie Brown Christmas poster that was banned from a local middle school. AG Paxton has filed suit, but some say he did so as a distraction from his own indictment. [Reuters]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.13.16

* What happens when a Biglaw associate at a prestigious firm is allegedly injured so badly in the D.C. subway that he's prevented from working as an associate at that firm? He files a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Washington Metro Transit Authority, obviously. We'll have more on this later. [Big Law Business] * A federal judge has dismissed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's bid for a recount in Pennsylvania as absurd, writing in a 31-page opinion that her theory of the hacking of the state's electronic voting machines "borders on the irrational." Ouch. [Reuters] * Justice Stephen Breyer continued his assault against capital punishment this week, dissenting from his Supreme Court colleagues' decision not to hear a death row inmate's case. In that dissent, he didn't discuss the evidence against the inmate, but rather, he discussed the evidence against the death penalty in America. [New York Times] * Abortion-rights activists from the Center for Reproductive Rights have sought an injunction against the implementation of a controversial Texas regulation that would require the burial or cremation of fetal remains because it "imposes a funeral ritual on women who have … an abortion." As if HB 2 wasn't bad enough... [WSJ Law Blog] * School-by-school results from the July 2016 administration of the California bar exam have finally been released (albeit not publicly, until now), and considering that the overall pass rate was the lowest it's been in 32 years, law schools did not fare well. Which did the best, and which did the worst? We'll have more on this later. [The Recorder]

By Staci Zaretsky