United Kingdom / Great Britain

* Roger Ailes hires Hulk Hogan and Melania Trump lawyer Charles Harder for a possible suit against NY Mag. [Huffington Post]

* As expected, Haynes & Boone has merged with Curtis Davis Garrard [Texas Lawyer]

* Berkeley’s Sujit Choudhry still coming to work amid sexual harassment claims. [ABC 7]

* An update on the revenge porn law that’s seen over 200 prosecuted in England and Wales. [CNET]

* Avvo defends its fixed-fee legal services after a South Carolina ethics ruling dinged the practice. [Corporate Counsel]

* Sullivan & Cromwell tapped to make one lucky French fan base learn what it’s like to have Frank McCourt as an owner. [The Am Law Daily]

* Second Circuit throws procedural roadblocks in front of workers seeking back wages. Happy Labor Day! [Law360]

* We’re very sorry about this, reporters, but Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner Jeffrey E. Ostrow is not Ryan Lochte’s lawyer. Stop contacting him seeking comments about Lochte’s Olympic misdeeds. Get in touch with Jeffrey M. Ostrow of Kopelowitz Ostrow with your inquiries instead. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Per a new report, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico pulled off what Vice President Joe Biden did back in his law school days by allegedly plagiarizing about a third of his law school thesis, chalking it up to some “style errors.” We’ll have more on this later today. [New York Times]

* Transgender children, teenagers, and young adults returning to school will have one more thing to be anxious about now that an Obama administration policy that would have allowed them to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice has been blocked by a nationwide injunction. This issue may wind up before SCOTUS. [Reuters]

* As it turns out, it’s not just King & Wood Mallesons that’s been holding off on paying profit distributions to partners. London-based Ashurst has also forced partners to wait to receive their quarterly due, citing a double-digit percentage drop in annual revenue and profits per equity partner careening to an 11-year low. Ouch! [Law.com]

* Many first-year law students are kicking off their law school careers this week, and they seem to be very nervous. First things first: Calm down, and take a deep breath. Here are some tips and tricks to help you out as you try to adjust to your new lives in the hallowed halls of law schools across the country. 🙂 [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* Conservative legal scholars generally favor Clinton with the power to nominate jurists over Trump. Losers! Pathetic! [Huffington Post]

* After securing a law degree, a masters, and a PhD, this woman also became Great Britain’s most successful female Olympian. [Legal Cheek]

* A judge explains why she finds criminal court horrifying. [VICE]

* Litigate every week like it’s Shark Week. [Lowering the Bar]

* I never really thought about how I referred to law school professors, but this raises some interesting questions about the process. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Following up on the Supreme Court clerks of 2006. Of the four justices of the Supreme Court’s right-wing, how many female clerks can you spot? [Excess of Democracy]

* Wonder Woman’s immigration fraud. [Law and the Multiverse]

* Counterpunch reviews Len: A Lawyer In History (affiliate link) about the life and times of leftist criminal defense lawyer Leonard Weinglass. [Counterpunch]

* You know who no one talked about at that convention? Merrick Garland. Here’s a theory as to why… [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* Steven Avery is not pleased with Dean Strang and Jerry Buting and he’s got a handwritten screed about it. [USA Today]

* Law professor has bats in her belfry. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Jury nullification in the murder of Bruce Banner. [The Legal Geeks]

* Professor Orly Lobel on the prisoner’s dilemma of reporting sexual harassment. [Fortune]

* This is how easily a Supreme Court vacancy is handled in a civilized country. [Legal Cheek]

* French court says Lockout was plagiarized from Escape From New York. I thought it was a little suspicious that Lockout followed the adventures of Lizard Flissken. [io9]

* What is the proper choice of law for space crimes? Um, pretty sure it’s Judge Dredd, but you write up your little piece anyway. [Seeker]

* Becoming addicted to Biglaw power. [Law and More]

* Volkswagen settlement clears first hurdle. [San Francisco Chronicle]

* The top 50 litigation firms. Well, this is arguable. [Law360]

* Law firm sues 20-year-old who wrote up her experience on Facebook. [Houston Press]

* Cooley nabs MoFo’s patent team. [The Recorder]

* Having solved every other problem, Alabama has a “cursive writing” law. [ABC3340]

* The number of women making partner suffers a decline in the U.K. [Legal Week]

* Libyan fund trying to pry money off Goldman Sachs. I’m sure this’ll end well. [Reuters]

* Some Biglaw firms, like Orrick, are now going to help young associates by making monthly contributions to their student loan payments. At $100 a month for 18 months, it’s not a very large contribution, but it’s something. We’ll have more on this debt repayment plan later. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Uh-oh… If you thought law firms were going to be alright in Brexit’s wake, you may want to think again. Berwin Leighton Palmer — a firm that almost merged with Greenberg Traurig — has frozen raises and bonuses until November, citing “political and financial uncertainty in the UK.” [Reuters]

* As part of Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s study-abroad program, Justice Clarence Thomas (who was filling in for the late Justice Antonin Scalia) was in Nice, France, last week teaching students about constitutional law. He left the city before the deadly terror attack during the Bastille Day parade. No law students were hurt. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Prior to accepting his position as Donald Trump’s running mate on the Republican ticket, and even prior to becoming the governor of Indiana, Mike Pence had a very short-lived career as a lawyer at a small firm. He worked there for only two years before deciding to pursue a career in politics and radio programming. [Big Law Business]

* “Our clients have been under siege the last eight years by the federal government in terms of policies toward corporate America.” Cleveland firms like Jones Day and Squire Patton are pulling out all the stops to host ritzy, invitation-only, business-oriented panel discussions during the Republican National Convention. [Crain’s Cleveland Business]

* 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]

* In case you haven’t been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that have recently raised salaries: Thompson & Knight, Chapman & Cutler, Sterne Kessler, Edelson, and BakerHostetler. If you’re ever worried that 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]

* Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit, who is known well for his longtime feud with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, isn’t going to let a little thing like death keep him from lobbing “posthumous swipe[s]” at the deceased jurist. Constitutional historian David Bernstein was quick to call Judge Posner’s comments “revolting.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* “The ruling deals a crushing blow to this most recent wave of state efforts to shut off access to abortion though hyper-regulation.” The Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health could open doors to challenges to other laws concerning restrictions on abortions — or inspire narrowly tailored anti-abortion legislation. [New York Times]

* “[O]ur concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.” In case you were too caught up with the abortion-rights decision, SCOTUS also tossed former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s conviction. [NPR]

* The aftermath of the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum has left law firms in Great Britain scrambling to provide answers to questions about legal uncertainties. From Baker & McKenzie to Allen & Overy to Clifford Chance, several Biglaw firms are trying to assist their clients with webinars, white papers, and 24-hour hotlines. [ABA Journal]

* Tony Villegas was convicted of the murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, a former partner at Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s firm. Villegas blamed Lewis for the breakup of his marriage thanks to her friendship with his ex-wife, who once served as the Rothstein firm’s chief operating officer. Villegas was sentenced to life in prison. [Sun-Sentinel]

* On the subject of raises, yesterday we heard — a mixed bag of news — from Linklaters (technically the night before), Barack Ferrazzano, Chadbourne & Parke, Pryor Cashman, Tensegrity, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, and Reed Smith. [Above the Law / 2016 Salary Increase]

* If you’re an associate serving in your firm’s London office, I sure as hell hope you’re getting paid in dollars. [BBC]

* UK legal experts explain why this vote isn’t legally binding. [Legal Cheek]

* On the other hand, could this be a boon for lawyers? [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* Who’s on first in front of Second. [Law360]

* Dentons global government sector co-chair leaves for boutique. As you’re statutorily obligated to say to every Biglaw lawyer moving to a small firm: “you’re not going to have the same support services… are you ready for that?” [The Am Law Daily]

* Penn State’s former general counsel testified that at least he understood that the school needed to report Jerry Sandusky back in 2001 and told the school as much. Which is impressive, since he told the New York Times in 2011 that he’d never even heard of any allegations against Sandusky. [Fox News]

* Former law firm executive sentenced to prison. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

* A deep look at the horrific side of criminal justice: a long-form account of four months as a private prison guard. Think of it as “Orange Is The New Black” without having to listen to Piper prattle on. [Mother Jones]

* Only two firms issued raises yesterday. Congrats to associates at Alston & Bird and K&L Gates. [Above the Law / 2016 Salary Increase]

* A profile of James Hamilton of Morgan Lewis whom Hillary Clinton recruited to find her running mate. As the story notes, he led the searches that picked Joe Lieberman and John Edwards so… yeah. [Washingtonian]

* Concerns over the looming Brexit vote leads UK attorneys to register in Ireland in big numbers. So much for St. Patrick driving all the snakes out. [Law360]

* Judge sentences elderly woman to prison who billed the government millions in hospice care for people who weren’t dying. In a way, aren’t we all always in the process of dying? [Courthouse News Service]

* The Eleventh Circuit will hear arguments over Florida’s “Docs vs. Glocks” law in an en banc hearing later today. Expected to rule that it’s the coolest name for a law. [CBS Miami]

* A look at the wild events sponsored by D.C. summer associate programs. [National Law Journal]