Vermont

* Rapper Lil Wayne is due to make his first court appearance related to a weapons bust that took place on a private plane last year. Wonder if the judge will call him “Lil Wayne” in court… [All Hip Hop]

* Home Depot has settled a multimillion-dollar class-action related to a data breach. [National Law Review]

* Facebook has finally been hit with long-anticipated antitrust litigation. [NPR]

* Hunter Biden is allegedly under investigation for tax issues. [Guardian]

* Vermont Law School is considering a move to Burlington, Vermont. Would be a good decision, Burlington is a nice town. [VT Digger]

* Three New Hampshire hospitals are suing Vermont over Medicaid reimbursements. Maybe they’ll accept payment in maple syrup… [Keene Sentinel]

* The Kansas Supreme Court has ordered a suspended attorney to serve a 30-day jail sentence for practicing law while his license was revoked. [Kansas City Star]

* The Justice Department is asking to defend President Trump in a defamation lawsuit over sexual assault allegations. [CNN]

* An Iowa lawyer has been suspended from practice for accepting a settlement offer that his client rejected. [Bloomberg Law]

* President Trump is expected to announce a new list of potential Supreme Court picks as soon as today. The former reality show host should know some interesting ways to make the announcement… [Guardian]

* A New Jersey judge has ordered a local gym to remain closed for the time being. Guess “gym, tan, laundry” is currently impossible in the Garden State. [NewJersey.com]

* The FBI is reportedly evaluating whether the the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery was a hate crime. [Seattle Times]

* President Trump has said that Jeff Sessions was not “mentally qualified” to be Attorney General. [Guardian]

* A Texas criminal defense lawyer has been arrested for trying to hire an undercover cop to commit murder. [Daily Mail]

* As many of us Empire State lawyers know from firsthand experience, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on everyone involved with the New York courts system. [Daily News]

* A Vermont attorney who pointed a gun at a store clerk due to social distancing restrictions has been suspended from practice. [CBS News]

* Mets pitcher Noah Syndergraard is being sued by his landlord for missing payments on his $27,000-a-month New York City duplex. Maybe Syndergraard qualifies for unemployment while the Mets aren’t playing, but don’t think it’ll cover his rent… [Yahoo News]

* Is SCOTUS walking back its landmark commitment to equal rights for the LGBTQ community? Considering what could happen in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case and the high court’s refusal to grant cert in Pidgeon, it seems like it. It’s not as if this hasn’t happened before. ::coughBrownvBoardcough:: [New Republic]

* A federal judge ruled that an American ISIS suspect who’s been detained as a “enemy combatant” in Iraq for the last three months is, in fact, entitled to a lawyer, and called the Trump administration’s quest to deny counsel in this case “both remarkable and troubling.” [New York Times]

* Everything really is bigger in Texas: According to the ABA, there are just 0.8 percent more first-year law students this year than last year, but entering classes at law schools in the Lone Star State were 4 percent larger than they were last year. Hopefully all these students will be able to lasso themselves jobs. [Texas Lawyer]

* Lawsuits have been rolling out ever since Apple admitted that it was slowing down iPhones with older batteries, and one of them was filed by two students who currently attend USC Law and hope to get the suit certified as a class-action. This is an absolutely awesome use of winter break. [RT]

* Which states are likely to legalize marijuana in the new year? Vermont, New Jersey, and Michigan may soon end their prohibitions on cannabis, either through legislative means or by puff-puff-passing a voter referendum. [Forbes]

* If you’re a journalist with three years of experience and cover the legal profession in your reporting, consider applying to be a fellow at Loyola Law School’s annual Journalist Law School. There is no cost to attend. The application deadline is February 9, 2018. [Journalist Law School]

* Judge Thomas Griesa, the Southern District of New York jurist who oversaw the Argentine debt battle in federal court, RIP. [New York Law Journal]

Tiny — and very blue — Vermont could be at the leading edge of the health reforms envisioned by the Trump administration and a Republican Congress.

* Many Biglaw firms have raised their salary scales, but that’s not all they’ve done in recent months to attract talent. Considering “the war for talent is intensifying,” firms are offering perks like generous parental leave and adoption assistance, student loan assistance, and lifestyle benefits. We may have more on this later today. [Big Law Business]

* A former deputy prosecutor in Vermont alleges she was paid less than a man working in the same position. She claims that a male attorney who was hired after she was earned a salary that was 26 percent higher than her own, despite the fact that they “performed equal work that required equal skill, effort, and responsibility.” [Burlington Free Press]

* The bulk of insider trading cases used to be handled by the SEC through civil suits, but now the DOJ has muscled in on the action with criminal prosecutions. What’s the difference between a case that merits a civil suit and a case that results in criminal charges? That’s what attorneys are trying to figure out. [DealBook / New York Times]

* “I think there’s a deep skepticism about the value of these programs.” Looking for a law degree as a professional that won’t set you back too far in terms of cost? Try a master’s of jurisprudence on for size. It’s considered law school for non-lawyers, and it might make actual lawyers question the validity of the degree in the first place. Hmm… [Marketplace]

* If you’re a prospective law student working on an application, it may be wise to try to incorporate a summer internship into your personal statement if it helped shape your desire to pursue a career in law, but remember, “there’s no magic internship that’s going to get someone admitted into law school.” [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* It looks like some pretty big changes are going to be coming down the pipeline at Washington & Lee University School of Law. From faculty and staff layoffs to payouts from its endowment, this generally doesn’t look pretty. We’ll have more on this news later today. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* The 87th Academy Awards ceremony is this weekend, and you know what that means: IP lawyers are doing their damndest to protect the Oscars brand. Can you imagine the sheer number of cease and desist letters that have been going out? [National Law Journal]

* Congratulations to Marci Eisenstein, who was recently elected to become the first woman to serve as managing partner of Schiff Hardin in the firm’s 150-year history. FYI, the firm’s most recent partner classes have been 2/3 women for the past three years. [Am Law Daily]

* New Jersey Governor and would-be Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie made five firms really happy in 2014 thanks to all of the legal work he handed to them. Gibson Dunn, for example, earned $7.9 million from the Bridgegate affair. [Courier-Post]

* Which state will be the next to legalize recreational marijuana? It may be Vermont, where Senate Bill 95 would allow those 21 and older to possess, use, and sell pot. Just think, you can save the environment and get high while you do it! [Huffington Post]

Is Vermont's new food labeling law a good idea? Conservative columnist Tamara Tabo has her doubts.

It's open season on patent trolls in Vermont.

Juror misconduct by internet can lead to mistrials, and it's becoming increasingly (and unfortunately) more common. Last month the Vermont Supreme Court overturned an unsettling child sexual abuse conviction because the juror conducted his own research about the Somali Bantu culture central to the parties in the case. What a mess…

Over the past few weeks, it seems Above the Law has unleashed a torrent of populist rage against law school career services’ departments posting crummy job opportunities. Yesterday, we heard about another unfortunate career services posting, this time from the Vermont Law School. What was almost more depressing than the job, though, is our tipster’s […]