Weil Gotshal

* “Voters deserve to know that personal priorities will never take precedence over the national interest.” Thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s unwillingness to release his tax returns, a New York lawmaker has introduced the Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public (TRUMP) Act, which would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to disclose their income tax returns going back five years to appear on the ballot in New York. [Big Law Business]

* In what’s being considered a blow to college athletes, the Seventh Circuit has ruled that they are not employees deserving of a minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Fortunately, there may be a bright spot of hope in a concurring opinion because it shows that “[t]he nature of the relationship between kids who play FBS football and their schools, leagues and the NCAA … is a business relationship.” [Huffington Post]

* Weil Gotshal snagged a prominent antitrust partner from Simpson Thacher, and it just so happens that he’s already great friends with the attorney with whom he’ll work alongside of as co-head of the firm’s antitrust practice. Congrats to Kevin J. Arquit (and to Steven A. Newborn, who’ll be reunited with a friend). [DealBook / New York Times]

* President-elect Trump may turn to another prosecutor turned Biglaw partner to lead the SEC following the departure of Chairwoman Mary Jo White. It looks like Debra Wong Yang, chair Gibson Dunn’s crisis management practice, may become Wall Street’s “top cop” under the Trump administration. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

* If you thought that the American Bar Association had learned its lesson after the closure of Indiana Tech Law, then you thought wrong, because the ABA has granted the UMass Law School full accreditation. Feast your eyes upon these glorious bar exam passage statistics from the last two July administrations of the test. [Lowell Sun]

* According to a statement released by the RIAA, hundreds of musicians and songwriters — like Katy Perry, for example — have called on Congress to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Safe-harbor clauses are absolutely killing the artists’ bottom line, and something must be done. [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]

* “[M]any law firms have had breaches, which they’ve kept quiet.” Following the news that Cravath and Weil Gotshal had been victims of data breaches, Edelson, a plaintiff’s side firm, announced it would be filing class-action suits against 15 major Biglaw firms with cybersecurity problems. We can’t wait to find out which ones will be on the receiving end of these complaints. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Being the world’s first publicly traded law firm has turned out to be quite the debacle for Slater & Gordon. First, the Australian firm announced market losses of about $740 million, citing “underperformance in U.K. operations,” and now its general counsel has decided to throw in the towel after only two months on the job. Ouch. [Am Law Daily]

* “I have lost my faith in the potential for the Law School or its curriculum to put out people who care deeply about things.” Members of Harassment/Assault Law-School Team, a student group that advocates for sexual assault victims, aren’t impressed with Harvard Law’s inaction on educating students about sexual assault. [Harvard Crimson]

* How can we guarantee educators are being honest about graduates’ job prospects? Based on the results of the Corinthian Colleges fiasco and the Alaburda v. TJSL trial, it seems like “[s]trict disclosure rules for all schools would be better than lawsuits and government aid as a way to ensure educator honesty.” [DealBook / New York Times]

Ed. note: In honor of Presidents’ Day, Above the Law will not be publishing on Monday. We hope everyone is able to enjoy a nice, long weekend! See you online on Tuesday.

* What kind of constitution would the Rebels have written after overthrowing the Emperor? Let’s take this all the way: what pseudonym would Jar Jar use in writing the Galactic Federalist Papers? [Business of Law Blog]

* Did the recent “Madoff” miniseries really have to fixate so much on his Judaism? Sure, it was part of his identity, but didn’t it kind of cross over into Shylock territory? [St. Louis Jewish Light]

* The prosecution is starting to lay out the details in the case against Sunderland soccer player Adam Johnson for his relationship with a 15-year-old fan. [Screamer]

* Reflecting on Chief Judge Judith Kaye’s legacy of trial court reform. [Cityland]

* Judge Sylvania Woods would be rolling over in his grave if he knew about the child porn scandal going on at his namesake school. [Katz Justice]

* Weil Gotshal Chairman Barry Wolf better get used to being on the other side of the table — he’s subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit over a condo dispute. [Dan Abrams]

* “An Administrative Law Fairy Tale.” [Library of Law and Liberty]

* This is what happens when an NYC lawyer hangs out with the Marines and Navy for four days. [U.S. Naval Institute]

* You think you’re a ruthless lawyer? You aren’t ruthless unless you’re Sun Tzu ruthless. [Law and Disorder]

* Here’s an optimistic take on the future of Biglaw. [CodeX]

* David Schwimmer playing the late attorney and father of a reality TV dynasty Robert Kardashian not doing it for you? Don’t worry, Yeezy’s got your back… literally. [People]

* It’s almost Halloween, so members of the legal profession had to have expected some spooky legal proceedings to occur this week. It seems that Lori Sforza, a witch priestess from Salem, has been granted a protective order against a well-known warlock. [Associated Press]

* Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders would like to remove marijuana from the list of dangerous controlled substances that are regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which would free up states to legalize it on their own terms. Stoners are really feeling the “Bern” now, in more ways than one. [Washington Post]

* Four federal lawyers spent weeks nailing down the legalities behind the killing of Osama bin Laden, and they weren’t allowed to ask Attorney General Eric Holder for help for fear of leaks to the press. They even had to do the legal research themselves! [New York Times]

* According to a new report by the National Association of Women Lawyers, there’s been no “appreciable progress” made for women in the nation’s largest law firms since at least 2006. This is extremely disheartening. Please do better, Biglaw. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* You know Walgreens is buying Rite Aid for $9.4B, but you might not have known which law firms were prescribing advice in the mega pharmacy merger. Skadden, Jones Day, Simpson Thacher, and Weil Gotshal got billable scripts. [DealBook / New York Times]

* ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams is suing his neighbors over his lawyerly lair — and one of the defendants is a Biglaw partner at a top firm. Expect more on this later. [New York Post]

* Speaking of Biglaw, a familiar tale of financial performance: gross revenue at Am Law 100 firms grew by 4 percent in the first half of 2015, but driven by rate increases rather than demand growth. [American Lawyer]

* If you want the Supreme Court to hear your case, try to steer your cert petition clear of the “long conference,” known as the place “where petitions go to die.” [New York Times]

* Speaking of SCOTUS, the Court won’t come to the rescue of the Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — time to issue those licenses or quit, Kim Davis. [How Appealing]

* But the justices did come to the (temporary) rescue of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, allowing him to remain free until SCOTUS acts on his petition for certiorari. [SCOTUSblog via How Appealing]

* Are criticisms of the S.E.C.’s administrative-law procedures correct? Here’s a study from Professor David Zaring. [New York Times]

* The Show-Me State leads when it comes to showing defendants to their deaths: Missouri has displaced Texas as the “epicenter of the American death penalty.” [The Marshall Project]

* Speaking of capital punishment, I predicted that these particular Ninth Circuit judges wouldn’t be too sympathetic to this challenge to the death penalty — and based on yesterday’s oral argument, it seems I was right. [How Appealing]

* Oh Texas. Judge gets in trouble for posting about an ongoing trial on Facebook, violating HER OWN RULE about posting about an ongoing trial on Facebook. [Texas Lawyer]

* Head of the Georgia state judicial ethics committee resigns after billing questions arise. [Daily Report]

* Ach nein! Orrick closes two German offices. [Am Law]

* Yup, if you graduated law school (even from a great school like Columbia) in 2010, you are well and truly screwed. [NY Times]

* Get ready for the gay marriage oral arguments with a fascinating history of codified homophobia in public service. [WaPo]

* Irony alert: Judge’s son got a DUI when he was driving recklessly in front of — yup, you guessed it — the courthouse. [Times Free Press]

* NY State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman comes out in favor of decriminalization of seven “broken windows” offenses that account for ~42% of NYPD summonses. [NY Daily News]

* RIP Harvey Miller, 82, Weil Gotshal bankruptcy partner passed away after a fight with ALS. [NYLJ]

* Dentons is on the verge of finalizing a mega-merger that would make the combined firm the largest in the world, beating out even Biglaw behemoth Baker & McKenzie. Which law firm is Dentons wooing this time? [Wall Street Journal]

* “We say law school is expensive, but it’s not expensive for everybody.” People who do poorly on the LSAT finance their classmates’ schooling, and thanks to this chart, now we know what the cost of a low LSAT score really is. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

* Senate hearings for Loretta Lynch are scheduled to begin next week, but thus far, she’s only received eight letters in support of her nomination for AG. Eric Holder, who is apparently far cooler than she is, received tons of ’em. Aww. [National Law Journal]

* The next edition of the Am Law 100 will soon be released, but until then, Am Law is sating our desire for rankings with little tidbits of interesting information. This just in: Apparently Weil Gotshal posted a major, double-digit increase in PPP. [Am Law Daily]

* Nixon Peabody has had the urge to merge for quite some time, and now the firm has finally found a willing partner. If everything works out, the firm will gobble up Ungaretti & Harris, and everyone will be a winner! [Crain’s Chicago Business]

* “There is a large overhang of unemployed law graduates looking for jobs. Whether employers will hire them over 2015 grads is hard to predict.” Which is the lesser of two evils: dumber law grads or law grads with huge résumé gaps? [CBS News]

* Weil Gotshal is tired of winnowing its workers, so this time around, the firm is relinquishing some of its real estate. The firm will have the same address as usual, but its space will be smaller — 20 percent smaller. [WSJ Law Blog]

* It’s not just leaders of Biglaw firms who are looking to downsize. Leaders of midsize firms are trying to do the same thing, but with their management responsibilities instead of their people. Charming. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

* Lawyers are typically stereotyped by the uninformed as being some of the richest people in America. As luck would have it, some lawyers are the richest people in America. Which ones? We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]

* “If I could redo a year ago, I would still go. Just because I know that [law school] still opens doors.” We’ve got a correction: Silly 2L, Columbia Law — not law school in general — still opens doors. [USA Today]

* Tracy Morgan has spoken out for the first time since his tragic accident this summer, but only after Wal-Mart blamed him for getting hurt in the first place. It’s a rollback on pure class. [New York Daily News]