War on Terror
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American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Bernie Madoff, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Federal Government, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law Professors, Law Schools, Lunacy, Money, Morning Docket, Small Law Firms, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 08.12.13
* Dewey know which Biglaw firms and ex-partners were sued by the failed firm’s bankruptcy estate? Sadly, they must all be asking, “Howrey going to survive now that Allan Diamond is on the case?” [Am Law Daily]
* You’d probably love to work as an associate on a 9-5 schedule with billable requirements so low you’d get canned anywhere else. There’s just one catch: You’d have a “proportionately lower salary.” [Daily Report]
* “Law professors and law deans are paid too much,” so the ABA is reducing tenure requirements for law school accreditation, which will make it easier for them to be laid off. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* The ABA also decided to cut law schools some slack in terms of graduates’ employment data, and it’s likely due to the U.S. News rankings reckoning. Say hello to the 10-months-after graduation jobs statistic. [National Law Journal]
* Following the Windsor ruling, the Social Security Administration is paying claims for married gay couples living in states where same-sex marriage is recognized. As for the rest, better luck next time. [BuzzFeed]
* Would-be senator Cory Booker has taken annual payouts from his former firm, Trenk DiPasquale, since he left. You may remember that firm’s name from the C&D letter seen around the world. [New York Post]
* Author John Grisham was so pissed his books were banned at Guantánamo Bay that he took up the cause of prisoners wrongfully accused, detained for years, and released without apology. [New York Times]
* Almost as if to add insult to injury, Bernie Madoff was allegedly involved in a love triangle with one of his employees who’s about to go to trial. Apparently having dirty money is a desirable trait in a man. [Reuters]
* Amanda Bynes is still in the psych ward on a 5150, and her mother was granted a temporary conservatorship over her cray cray kid’s financial affairs. Way to follow in Britney Spears’s footsteps. [CNN]
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Bar Exams, Bernie Madoff, Biglaw, California, D.C. Circuit, Immigration, Money, Morning Docket, Murder, New Jersey, Pictures, Pro Bono, Senate Judiciary Committee, Trials, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 05.22.13
* A bipartisan immigration reform bill made its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee and will head to the Senate floor. Of course, the amendments in support of gay marriage didn’t make it in, but that may be moot soon anyway. [CNN]
* IRS official Lois Lerner may not be very “good at math,” but at least she seems to know the basic principles of constitutional law. She’ll invoke her Fifth Amendment rights before the House Oversight Committee today. [Politico]
* The D.C. Circuit ruled that the top secret Osama bin Laden death photos will remain top secret, but the internet’s desperate cries of “pics or it didn’t happen” will live on in our hearts. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Attention naysayers: it may be time to face the music. According to the latest Altman Weil survey, most law firm leaders think all of these fun recession-driven changes are here to stay. [Am Law Daily]
* Twenty-two law firms are banding together to fight against fraudulent financial products on a worldwide scale. It’s too bad this legal alliance didn’t exist before the Bernie Madoff scandal. [New York Times]
* It looks like New Jersey may soon be hopping aboard the pro bono work before bar admission train. You better hope you get your clinic placements in order, people. [New Jersey Law Journal (sub. req.)]
* The results for the February 2013 bar exam in California are out, and they’re frightening. It’s time to try that acting thing again, because only 41 percent of all test takers passed the exam. [The Recorder]
* Jodi Arias is now begging jurors to allow her to live out the rest of her days in prison. She wants to contribute to society by painting, recycling, and… not slashing additional throats. Lovely. [Fox News]
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9/11, Barack Obama, Bloomberg, Books, Guantanamo Bay, Military / Military Law, Politics, Trials, Videos, War on Terror
Is It Time To Close Guantanamo Bay?
One retired admiral thinks so, and a new book by a Wall Street Journal reporter provides supporting evidence. -
Constitutional Law, Crime, War on Terror
The Lawyers Representing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Thank God for public defenders... -
Food, Insurance, War on Terror
Produce Giant Told 'You Can't Accidentally Hire a Terrorist'
You run a major produce company and you look at your books and realize, "Oops, I've accidentally funneled millions of dollars to terrorist groups." What can you do when you get sued? Don't turn to your insurance carrier.... -
2nd Circuit, Abortion, Bar Exams, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Books, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Holland & Knight, Job Searches, Joe Biden, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Parties, Politics, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Student Loans, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 01.22.13
* “Given health care, I don’t care if he speaks in tongues.” Chief Justice John Roberts botched Barack Obama’s presidential oath at his first inauguration, but this time he managed to get it right. [New York Times]
* What was more important to Justice Sonia Sotomayor than swearing in Joe Biden as VP at noon on Sunday? Signing books at Barnes & Noble in New York City. Not-so wise Latina. [Los Angeles Times]
* D.C. Biglaw firms — like Holland & Knight, Covington, K&L Gates, and Jones Day — allowed others to bask in their prestige at their swanky inauguration parties. [Capital Business / Washington Post]
* It’s been 40 years since SCOTUS made its ruling in Roe v. Wade, and this is what we’ve got to show for it: a deep moral divide over women being able to do what they want with their own bodies. [Huffington Post]
* The latest weapon in the fight against terrorism is the legal system. The Second Circuit recently issued a major blow to those seeking to finance militant attacks in secret. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* “Firms don’t just hire a body anymore.” The 2012 BLS jobs data is in, and if you thought employment in the legal sector was going to magically bounce back to pre-recession levels, you were delusional. [Am Law Daily]
* Three months have come and gone since Hurricane Sandy rocked law firm life as we know it in Manhattan, but firms like Fragomen and Gordon & Rees are still stuck in temporary offices. [New York Law Journal]
* This seems like it may be too good to be true, but it looks like New York’s chief judge may be on board to grant law students bar eligibility after the completion of only two years of law school. [National Law Journal]
* Law professors may soon be in for a nasty surprise when it comes to their salaries if their schools follow Vermont Law’s lead and remove them as salaried employees, paying only on a part-time basis. [Valley News]
* Resorting to a life of crime in order to pay off your law school debt is never a good thing — unless you’re doing it while waring a Bucky Badger hat. We’ll probably have more on this later. [Wisconsin State Journal]
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Airplanes / Aviation, Holidays and Seasons, Traffic Accidents, Travel / Vacation, War on Terror
Has The TSA Won?
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Crime, Election 2012, Military / Military Law, Politics, Violence, War on Terror
Is Peeing On Somebody A War Crime?
Is peeing on somebody's dead body a war crime? The video of those American Marines urinating on dead Afghan bodies is so disturbing that it somehow demands a legal response. Aside from whatever punishment the United States Marine Corps wants to impose on these guys, there isn't a whole lot the international community can do to punish them. Unless we want to call urinating on somebody a "war crime." But is punishing some jackasses worth diluting the term? -
9/11, Ben Wittes, Conferences / Symposia, Federalist Society, Pornography, Quote of the Day, Tobacco / Smoking, War on Terror
Quote of the Day: Dangerous Addictions
When you stop smoking, the cigarettes don’t get together to figure out how to kill you anyway. — Benjamin Wittes, on a panel at the National Lawyers Convention of the Federalist Society, responding to the observation that smoking and traffic accidents cause more deaths in a year than 9/11. (Julian Sanchez discusses what the web […] -
Books, Crime, Election 2012, John Paul Stevens, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Paul Bergrin, Politics, Trials, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 10.10.11
Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), we’ll be on a reduced publication schedule today. We’ll be back in full force tomorrow. * If you are curious about that legal memo justifying the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, Charlie Savage describes its contents in this very interesting NYT piece. [New York Times] * […]
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Barack Obama, Department of Justice, Election 2012, John Yoo, Politics, War on Terror
'Secret' Memo of Law Makes Obama's DOJ Look Like John McCain Won The 2008 Election
Many of you have been following the story of Anwar al-Awlaki. He's the American-born radical cleric who was targeted and killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Many have questioned Obama's authority to assassinate an American without due process of the law. Today's news is that President Obama did seek and receive legal justification for this strike from the Department of Justice. But you won't get to see it. That's because the DOJ issued Obama a secret memo that purportedly explains why Obama is allowed to kill Americans now.... -
9/11, Brown Rudnick, War on Terror
And Then It Was 9/12
This weekend, we (and every other media outlet) ran our solemn 9/11 remembrance post. In any event, yesterday was the predictable day where the media took a closer look at the aftermath of 9/11. And by "closer look," we mean "report on everything that's gone horribly wrong since 9/11." Elie Mystal has got a really heartwarming story from a law firm that he wants to share before he "takes a closer look" at the week after 9/11....
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9/11, Violence, War on Terror
Remembering 9/11: Open Thread
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Throughout today, people have been looking back and reflecting on the tragic events of 9/11, as well as remembering and praying for the thousands who perished on that day. Scanning the Twitter and Facebook feeds of my friends, I’ve seen competing impulses. Most people’s posts […] -
9th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Benchslaps, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, John Ashcroft, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Quote of the Day: Well, cherries are delicious....
The [Ninth Circuit] seems to have cherry-picked the aspects of our opinions that gave colorable support to the proposition that the un-constitutionality of the action here was clearly established. Qualified immunity gives government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions. When properly applied, it protects ‘all but the plainly […] -
Deaths, Federal Judges, Military / Military Law, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Quote of the Day: Something (Some) Conservatives and JPS Can Agree Upon
I have not the slightest doubt that it was entirely appropriate for U.S. forces to [take out Osama bin Laden]…. I must say I was proud of the SEALs. — Justice John Paul Stevens, in remarks made yesterday at a dinner in Chicago. (Recall that Justice Stevens served in the Navy during World War II.) -
9/11, Politics, War on Terror
Want Osama Pictures? Better Ask A Lawyer.
Everybody has an opinion on whether or not the Obama administration should release kill shots of Osama bin Laden. It’s a tough question. And there are intelligent ways to disagree with the president’s opinion (see Jon Stewart’s impassioned plea). Or you could just call the president a pussy accuse the president of “pussyfooting” on Twitter, […] -
Eric Holder, Football, Health Care / Medicine, Morning Docket, Paul Clement, Sports, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 05.05.11
* DOMA dude Paul Clement filed his first brief as lead counsel for 26 states seeking to nullify Obamacare. In a land of socialist, freeloading, hippie queers, one man stands alone. [Atlanta Journal Constitution] * Actually, that’s not true — The Cooch has Clement’s back (twhs), Tweeting all the misspelled and hilarious punchlines that are […]
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Department of Justice, John Yoo, Politics, Quote of the Day, Torture, War on Terror
Quotes of the Day: Did 'Torture' Contribute to the Finding of Osama Bin Laden?
Imagine what would have happened if the Obama administration had been running things immediately following 9/11. After their “arrest,” we would have read [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] and [Abu Faraj al-Libi] their Miranda rights, provided them legal counsel, sent them to the U.S. for detention, and granted them all the rights provided a U.S. citizen in […] -
9/11, Crime, Deaths, Pakistan, Politics, Trials, Violence, War on Terror
No Trial For Osama Bin Laden A Gift For All Americans
As you might have heard, United States special forces killed Osama Bin Laden. Let’s take a moment to be happy about that, but also to remember Bin Laden’s many, many victims. Thank God he was killed, not “captured.” If he had been captured, there would have been some kind of trial. Some kind of fake, […]