UC Hastings Law

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.24.15

    * It’s a Christmas miracle! It may still be too early to tell, but it’s beginning to look a lot like there’s going to be an increase in law school applicants. Per LSAC, almost 3 percent more people have applied to law schools than last year at this time. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * This is why more firms don’t hold IPOs: Slater & Gordon, the first firm to go public, may face two shareholder class-action suits — one for allegedly misleading investors and the other for its terrible performance on the market. [Guardian]

    * As 2015 draws to a close, it’s very obvious that Dentons had a “transformative” year as it gobbled up law firms left and right, and 2016 will be no different. The firm has its eyes set on Japan, Korea, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Africa. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * A Bahamian hacker almost released a celebrity sex tape, naughty photos, and television and movie scripts for an obscene price, but not to worry, because U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (S.D.N.Y.) was busy saving the world, one sex tape at a time. [New York Times]

    * UC Hastings College of Law has appointed an acting chancellor and dean in Frank Wu’s wake. Let’s welcome David L. Faigman to the world of law school administration. Hopefully he can ease the school out of its current bar exam passage funk. [UC Hastings]

    * Joe Jamail, richest lawyer in America, King of Torts and depos, RIP. [New York Times]

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  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.29.15

    * An interview with Judge Paul Cassell, the former jurist representing the woman accusing Professor Alan Dershowitz. Will this be the face of Dershowitz's reversal of fortune? (See what I did there?) [The Careerist] * Indiana is making moves to end litigation financing. If you want to see a naked attempt by deep pockets to influence the law, read this story. Or, you know, any story about lobbying ever. [LFC 360] * For people who kvetched that their precious feelings get hurt when Staci writes about sexism in the legal industry, it may warm your hearts to learn that, according to a UC Hastings Law study, STEM careers are just as bad. Yay? [Mashable] * Oh and finance is the same way. [Law and More] * Elementary school conducting poop inspections. Holy s**t. [Huffington Post] * Anti-vaccination parents have brought measles roaring back to ruin Disneyland vacations. Is it time to start suing them for turning their kids into plague vectors? [Forbes] * SpaceX drops its lawsuit against the Air Force. [Slate] * If you're interested in Sports Law, Penn Law is hosting a symposium on February 13. Get your tickets at this link. [Penn Law Sports Law Symposium] * Practice alert: The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution has issued a new set of rules. For any general counsel out there plagued with cross-border business-to-business disputes, check them out. [What About Clients?] * Our friend Sidney Powell's book, Licensed to Lie (affiliate link), earned a starring role at the Loretta Lynch confirmation hearings. Check out the questioning below. [YouTube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uoOH_qh7U&feature=youtu.be
  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 01.28.15

    * SWAT team called in to break up a poker game between a bunch of rich people. The militarization of the police seems like it’s going great. [Washington Post]

    * The SPLC is lodging an ethics complaint against Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore after he explained that he intends to defy federal law. He’s such a delight. [WAAY TV]

    * Rutgers-Camden’s student evaluation controversy unfortunately fits right into the grand scheme of legal industry misogyny. [Salon]

    * South Carolina has finally vacated the convictions of the Friendship Nine — protesters busted for sitting at the diner counter who pioneered the “jail, no bail” strategy that dominated the 60s civil rights movement. It only took 54 years. [Huffington Post]

    * Another day, another embarrassing development for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell. This time it’s former Senator Ben Nelson who Obamacare challengers cite for their claim that the Senate never intended subsidies to go to states without their own exchanges. Well, Senator Nelson wrote his own brief blowing this theory out of the water. This is basically SCOTUS’s version of the Marshall McLuhan scene. [Washington Post]

    * A list of upcoming books about the Supreme Court. [SCOTUSBlog]

    * An enterprising law office discovered that the courts in Oklahoma publish social security numbers all the time. [Wirth Law Office]

    * D.C. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett talks clerking diversity. [National Law Journal]

    * UC Hastings Law student Hali Ford is competing on the 30th season of Survivor. Her interview video is below. [TV Grapevine]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ydBekmEOw

  • Document Review, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Movies, Non-Sequiturs, Police, SCOTUS, Suicide, Supreme Court

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.21.14

    * That didn’t take long. John Oliver’s Supreme Court dogs have already been used to recreate Hobby Lobby. The entire Hobby Lobby argument. [Above the Law] * Squire Patton Boggs is representing the pharmaceutical company promoting Ebola drugs. Or, as CNN would put it, EVERYONE AT SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS HAS EBOLA!!!! [Law and More] * China Central Television advises citizens not to name themselves “Lawyer.” Good advice. [CCTV News] * Slate posits that appealing gay marriage decisions to the Supreme Court may violate Rule 11. They’re wrong, but that’s what they’re positing. [Slate] * Dr. Ruth is incredibly impressive. Next time you complain about the job market, try moving somewhere with no understanding of the language and getting your own TV show. [What About Clients?] * Documentary about eDiscovery going on a six-city tour. This way other people can understand how much it sucks to do document review. [Bloomberg BNA] * UC Hastings students are protesting their own graduation. [Change.org] * Judges are an autocratic lot, and as long as we inflate the criminal justice system, many of them will be subpar and autocratic, which is an unfortunate combination. [Katz Justice] * A man arrested for a carjacking and shooting up an apartment last week is — per our sources — a law student at Florida Coastal. Probably testing out the Crim issue spotter. [News4Jax] * Are lawyers the new dentists? Or something like that. [TaxProf Blog] * Man attempting suicide by cop told detectives he’d wanted to be killed and was disappointed in the officers’ marksmanship. [Seattle Times]
  • Football, Law Professors, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Student Loans, Trademarks

    Non-Sequiturs: 09.10.14

    * Because it’s been such a long time since the NFL has had a scandal, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is accused of sexual assault in a new suit. The Cowboys claim the suit is nothing but a money grab. No one knows a money grab like a franchise owner milking a new stadium partially financed by taxpayers. [USAToday] * Dean Frank Wu explains why Hastings will survive the end of law schools. [SF Weekly] * A pair of IP litigators, James W. Dabney and Stephen S. Rabinowitz, have jumped from Fried Frank to Hughes Hubbard. Will others be following Dabney & Rabinowitz out of Fried Frank? [Hughes Hubbard] * “Lawyer’s ‘Torture Porn’ Past Pops Up in Pa. Governor’s Race.” OK, let’s see what you’ve got here. [Greedy Associates / FindLaw] * An interesting breakdown of the legal scholars with the widest network of co-authors. Think of these as the most promiscuous scholars around. Actually, no. Don’t think that. [Ryan Whalen] * Etsy sides with the USPTO and bans sales of anything branded “Redskins” on its platform. I’m not sure how smart this is since the economic teeth of the USPTO decision was to allow sites like Etsy to sell massive quantities of otherwise trademark-infringing stuff until Washington relented and opted for a new trademark-protectable name. [Etsy] * Don’t throw peanut butter in my neighborhood (though I don’t understand the blotter… there’s no Bodega at that location). [Legal Juice] * Lest you think law school is reasonably priced: “New IBR and PSLF provide benefits large enough that high earnings still result in nearly $100,000 in loan forgiveness for typical levels of debt for law school graduates. A lawyer earning at the 50th percentile with that debt level stands to have $147,282 forgiven, which is more than he borrowed…” [New America Education Policy Program] * Keeping in touch with your inner child to relate to witnesses as humans. [Katz Justice] * Closing out this football-heavy NS, friend of the blog Mitchell Epner discusses why Roger Goodell won’t (and shouldn’t) survive the fallout of the Ray Rice scandal. Check out the video after the jump… [CNBC]

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