University of Pennsylvania Law School

* Everyone in the Trump administration who is in some way related to the Russia probe has now lawyered up with outside counsel, including the attorney general. AG Jeff Sessions is being represented by Chuck Cooper, a longtime champion of conservative causes. If you recall, Cooper also prepped Sessions for his confirmation hearing. [USA Today]

* Let’s not go crazy: Earlier this week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and outside counsel Keker & Van Nest were denied certiorari on the Lenz v. Universal Music case — perhaps better known as the “dancing baby” case. Thanks to the SCOTUS decision, or lack thereof, we’ll not know “whether or not the DMCA includes meaningful protections for online fair uses” anytime soon. [Law.com]

* Judge Gonzalo Curiel will not make a Trump University settlement objector post a $146,888 bond to pursue an appeal. Sherri Simpson, a Florida bankruptcy lawyer, paid $19,000 for Trump U. seminars and mentorship, but now she wants out so she can sue the president over the alleged fraud. [POLITICO]

* Concerned Veterans for America, a political action committee that’s funded by the Koch brothers, is running an ad in support of a Penn Law Professor Stephanos Bibas’s nomination to the Third Circuit. “Generally a candidate would have to be pretty inflammatory or at risk to justify this kind of spending,” said election law attorney Adam Bonin. [Legal Intelligencer via ABA Journal]

* UNC Law’s budget has officially been cut by the state Senate, but it’s not as bad as the $4 million budget buster that was previously proposed. The law school will have to do without $500K in state appropriations if the legislature approves the move. Yes, that’s the sound of your tuition going up. [News & Observer]

* Grammy-winning musician John Legend will be joining the advisory board of the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice. Not to worry, because the Center’s director says the decision to add the singer to the board was actually “a substantive thing,” not “just a celebrity thing.” [Law.com]

* In response to its abysmal performance on Florida’s February 2017 administration of the bar exam (only 25 percent of those who took the exam passed), Florida Coastal School of Law will not only be changing its curriculum and teaching methods, but it’ll also be raising its admissions standards… starting this fall. What in the world took so long? [Jackson Daily Record]

* According to court records, Judge Patricia Minaldi of the Western District of Louisiana was ordered by the chief judge of the Fifth Circuit to undergo at least 90 days of substance abuse treatment because her alcoholism was so severe that one of her judicial colleagues believed she could no longer take care of herself. [Associated Press]

* Canada is taking steps to legalize recreational marijuana across the country. If this new legislation passes, possession of small amounts of pot will be legal throughout the Great White North as of July 18, 2018. This could understandably create some confusion at the border, so we may need to build another wall. Notify the president ASAP. [USA Today]

* Kevin Jones, head of the China labor and employment practice at Faegre Baker Daniels, always wanted to run a marathon and always wanted to visit North Korea, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone by running the Pyongyang Marathon. He finished the 26-mile race in 4 hours and 21 minutes. Congratulations! [WSJ Law Blog]

* What rights do you have to strike on International Women’s Day? [NY Mag]

* Amazon drops its objections to the Echo warrant, meaning if you own an Echo (or any of its ilk), you now have a wiretap in your house. Congratulations. [Corporate Counsel]

* Blank Rome boosts profit 22 percent. Associates looking at their below market paychecks must feel super psyched about that. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Judge Posner is just comparing everything to cats now and that’s perfectly fine. [Law.com]

* Looks like the NCAA and power conferences are going to shell out millions in settlement cash to former athletes in financial aid collusion case, which they’ll make back several times over by the end of the month. [Courthouse News Service]

* Penn accepts big gift from Charles Koch to work on criminal justice research, presumably an extension of his support for indigent legal services, but we can’t rule out a plan to make convicts fight to the death for sport. [Law.com]

* Just your standard slave labor case in 2017. [Law360]

* Lynne Stewart has passed away at 77. [New York Times]

* This would-be POTUS can’t jump? Ted Ruger, Penn Law’s new dean, used to hang out with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz during law school, and he’d “like to think that [their] legal skills far exceeded [their] mediocre basketball skills.” [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Why do we still need law schools considering the crisis in the legal academy? Please allow Noah Feldman of Harvard Law — an unbiased law professor — to explain why “law school is absolutely essential — not for lawyers with clients, but for our society as a whole.” [Bloomberg View]

* Apparently there’s some major drama going down with regard to which attorneys will argue the same-sex marriage cases before the Supreme Court. It seems that no one wants to give up their 15 minutes of fame before the high court. Sigh. [National Law Journal]

* These days, law schools are looking at more than their applicants’ GPAs and LSAT scores. Prospective law students now need to be “well-rounded and involved.” For what it’s worth, not minding going into debt is a helpful trait, too. [Omaha World-Herald]

* Another day, another gender bias lawsuit in Silicon Valley: This time around, Tina Huang, a female software engineer who used to work for Twitter, is alleging that the company’s secret promotion process bypasses women and favors men. [CNET]

* “Let’s face it: There are some people here that will not vote for her unless she says what they want her to say, that the president committed an illegal act by these [immigration] executive orders.” Loretta Lynch is having a tough time making Republican friends. [The Hill]

* Some new details have been released on the investigation into DLA Piper associate David Messerschmitt’s death. Per police records, he was stabbed in the back, and was found in his hotel room with “lubricant and condom” and an “enema.” We’ll have more on this development later today. [Legal Times]

* The rankings are coming! THE RANKINGS ARE COMING! Rankings guru Bob Morse, the man who holds law school deans’ jobs in his hands, says the 2016 U.S. News Law School Rankings will be out on March 10. [Morse Code / U.S. News & World Report]

* A patent lawyer with Asperger’s syndrome is suing Patterson & Sheridan for discrimination. In his suit, he claims that a prominent partner was allowed to continually harass him in a purported quest to drive him out. Ah, law firm life. [The Recorder]

* The case against the ex-leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf hinges on the testimony of the failed firm’s former employees. Defense attorneys, of course, are trying to get things barred from admission — including one defendant’s link to a mob member. [New York Law Journal]

* “We’re still in the same position we’ve been in. There’s progress, but things are moving at a snail’s pace.” As we mentioned earlier this week, according to NALP, the percentage of women associates in law firms is up… but not by much. [DealBook / New York Times]

* One of the best law schools in the country will have a brand new dean come this summer. Congratulations to Theodore Ruger, a longtime law professor who will assume the deanship at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in July. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Thanks to this Government Accountability Office ruling, the company that cleared NSA leaker Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis may lose a $210M contract. [Legal Times]

* After being acquitted on insider trading charges, Rengan Rajaratnam agreed to settle the civil suit filed against him for a cool $840K. At least he’s not in jail like his brother. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Those interested in going to law school may want to know that Philadelphia is purportedly home to some of the cheapest law schools in the country — not Penn Law, though, sorry ’bout that. [Main Street]

* Professors at WUSTL Law held a “teach-in” to discuss the Michael Brown police shooting case. According to them, the likelihood Darren Wilson will be federally charged is “slim to none.” [Student Life]

* Attack of the aggrieved ex: a man drove a burning pickup truck loaded with explosives into a law firm, destroying much of the building. He had apparently dated one of the firm’s former clients. [Virginian-Pilot]