Wisconsin

  • Morning Docket: 11.28.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.28.16

    * “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” President-elect Donald Trump can’t keep himself away from his Twitter account thanks to the recount that’s going on, and now he seems to have accidentally called into question the legitimacy of the election in its entirety. Oopsie! [New York Times]

    * Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has jumped on Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s election recount bandwagon, but according to campaign general counsel Marc Elias, it’s only “to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.” Thus far, Wisconsin has already agreed to perform a recount. [CBS News]

    * Just like the president-elect who’s included him on his Supreme Court shortlist, Judge Raymond M. Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit seems to be incredibly blunt. The judge expects civility between parties in briefs, but is well known for his “caustic rebuke[s]” and “eviscerat[ing] [litigants] like first-day law student[s].” [Big Law Business]

    * Per recent TV ads, “Wells Fargo is making changes to make things right,” but only if those changes don’t involve public court records: Wells Fargo customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their names have filed a class-action suit, but the bank is trying to quash their claims by forcing plaintiffs into arbitration. [CNN Money]

    * “If you look at other parts of the state — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio — everybody has a law school.” But that doesn’t mean that everybody needs to have a law school. A dearth of potential applicants be damned, because lawmakers in the Texas Rio Grande Valley are going ahead with plans to establish a public law school in the area. [Valley Star]

  • Morning Docket: 11.17.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.17.16

    * Don’t say we didn’t tell you this, but according to the latest report from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, the great Biglaw salary increase of 2016 is now being cited as a strain on law firm profits. Expenses are now growing faster than revenues at many firms. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]

    * This is one promise that President-elect Trump is sticking to: Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, has confirmed that he will choose a Supreme Court nominee from the list(s) he released earlier this year: “You’ve seen the list of 21. The list has not changed.” You can see Trump’s shortlist(s) here and here. [Big Law Business]

    * “Every good person has an obligation to both to continue being heard and to continue doing the right thing. We can’t afford for a president to fail.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor has spoken out about the results of the presidential election, and she thinks that we must guide President-elect Trump to make the right decisions for the country. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has sanctioned not one, but two law schools for their lax admissions standards. Valparaiso Law has been publicly censured and Charlotte Law has been placed on probation. We’ll have more on this later today. [National Law Journal]

    * Judge William Duffin of the Eastern District of Wisconsin has denied a request made by state prosecutors to delay “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey’s release from prison. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says he will appeal Duffin’s ruling to the Seventh Circuit. Dassey is scheduled to be released on Friday. [Reuters]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 10.25.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.25.16

    * Judge Alex Kozinski’s acting career continues; check him out in Goliath, the new legal drama from Amazon. [Trial Insider]

    * Bizarre federal crimes. [Versus Texas]

    * If HRC is president, who might she nominate to the Supreme Court? [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * More Supreme Court BS from Chuck Grassley. [Huffington Post]

    * Hey, look! There’s some good news for women in Biglaw. [WILEF Tribune]

    * The Senate is bringing down the Supreme Court. Will the institution ever recover? [Slate]

    * More voting shenanigans in Wisconsin. [Salon]

  • Morning Docket: 09.12.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.12.16

    * “We believe the magistrate judge’s decision that Brendan Dassey’s confession was coerced by investigators, and that no reasonable court could have concluded otherwise, is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law.” Prosecutors in Wisconsin have appealed the overturned conviction of “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey. He’ll remain in prison pending the outcome of the appeal. [New York Times]

    * A Canadian judge is facing possible removal from the bench after asking this question to the accuser in a rape trial: “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” The judge also made other inappropriate remarks during the trial, and blames it on his failure to understand changes to the country’s sexual-assault laws. [ABC News]

    * Desperate times sometimes call for really desperate measures? California-based Prism Patents is cutting its executives’ compensation by two-thirds in an attempt to come up with some cash. Its general counsel’s salary fell from $240,000 to $90,000, and the company’s CEO now makes $12 (not a typo), down from $300,000. [Big Law Business]

    * The battle between Houston Law School and the Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas Law) rages on, and now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is involved. Thanks to a complaint lodged by U. Houston, the USPTO has suspended Houston College’s trademark application for its new name. [Houston Chronicle via TaxProf Blog]

    * It doesn’t matter if Romy and Michelle invented Post-It Notes or if serial inventor Alan Amron did, because your lawsuit against 3M is likely to be dismissed — especially if you’ve already settled a prior $400 million suit over the product’s inventorship for $12,000 and released the company from all of your future claims. [CBS Minnesota]

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  • Morning Docket: 05.26.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 05.26.16

    * David Mourey, the former assistant dean for bar preparation and academic success at Barry Law, was fired after students continued to fail the bar exam, but in a recently filed gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, he claims he was discriminated against because he was “singled out for discipline by an all-female management team.” We may have more on this later. [Orlando Sentinel]

    * Despite the wishes of the public and rumors of his firing in the face of the Baylor University coverup of reports of rape and sexual assault by football players, “Ken Starr is [still] president and chancellor of Baylor University.” According to a university spokeswoman, the school has not yet finished reviewing Pepper Hamilton’s report on the matter, but Baylor will likely make an announcement by June 3. [Associated Press]

    * “We are willing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to.” Eleven states have filed suit against the Obama Administration in an effort to get around its guidance on transgender rights for children in schools, calling the policy a “massive social experiment.” The states suing are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. [Reuters]

    * Sumner Redstone turns 93 years old tomorrow, and he’s been in and out of court for the past few months in a battle to prove he’s mentally competent. The salacious case filed by his former female companion may have been dismissed, but now he’s attempting to fend off claims from Viacom directors who were ousted from a trust that will control his media holdings if he dies or is found incompetent. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Now that the world knows that PayPal’s co-founder provided funding for Hulk Hogan’s invasion of privacy suit against Gawker, it’s time to take a look at the lawyer who’s been representing the wrestler. Charles Harder is no stranger to Hollywood cases, and may be a longtime fan of litigation finance since he “[tries] to win and do so in a way that’s cost effective for a client, so they don’t lose when they’re winning.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Since revenge litigation finance’s recent invention, what’s there to keep billionaires from destroying you with lawsuits? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not much, especially when “there is no obligation to disclose the litigation financing arrangements” that have been made. Ethical issues aside, we really hope the super-rich wield their new power to ruin lives through rented lawsuits carefully. [Fortune]

  • Morning Docket: 05.19.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 05.19.16

    * In case you’ve been wondering about what happened to Jill Easter, the lawyer who, along with her attorney husband, planted drugs on a former PTA president at her son’s school, we’ve got you covered. Easter, who has since changed her name to Ava Everheart, shared her trials and tribulations on the Dr. Phil show yesterday afternoon. We’ll have more on this later. [OC Register]

    * Wisconsin law grads don’t have to take the bar to be admitted to practice, so you have to do something heinous to be denied admission. All this guy did was inflate his GPA on a transcript, falsely claim to be on law review, and “forget” about some speeding tickets. The state Supreme Court granted him conditional admission anyway. [Journal Sentinel]

    * Being a member of the Supreme Court Bar is pretty awesome and comes with some prestigious perks. Not only do SCOTUS Bar members get an impressive-looking membership document, but they also get “preferred admission and seating at key Court arguments.” That’s not bad for the $200 price of lifetime admission. [Big Law Business]

    * Led by Alan Dershowitz, a slew of law professors are speaking out against the Department of Education to condemn actions that have led to the “pervasive and severe infringements” of students’ due-process and free-speech rights with regard to sexual harassment and misconduct complaints across college campuses. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Which law schools have enrolled the highest percentage of students from underrepresented minorities? At 10 legal institutions, minority enrollment exceeded 52 percent, which is a rarity in the stereotypically lily-white land of law schools. More law schools should strive to be as diverse as the those named in this ranking. [U.S. News]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 03.08.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 03.08.16

    * NYU Law’s Ricky Revesz writes about the tragic flaw in the Clean Air Act and its deadly consequences. [Not Your Grandfather’s Coal Plant]

    * Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley said some incredibly offensive sh*t in college that she now says she’s grown out of. [Gawker]

    * Way harsh: Florida paper refuses to endorse any Republican for president saying, “[T]he kind of person who should be running is not in the race.” [Sun-Sentinel]

    * Some concrete suggestions to improve the transparency of courts. The article is geared towards Maryland’s court system, but is a useful read for anyone who cares about justice. [Baltimore Sun]

    * Justice Scalia’s death is the end of the conservative era of the Supreme Court. [Slate]

    * A putative class action has been filed over the water crisis in Flint. You can’t say that was unexpected. [The Hill]

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  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.25.15

    * Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit completely obliterated a Wisconsin law that required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Posner said any health benefits conferred by the law were “nonexistent.” [Reuters]

    * Judge Richard Sullivan (S.D.N.Y.) wasn’t a fan of the Bank of China essentially telling Gucci to “suck it up” when it came to “ridiculous” delays in providing counterfeiters’ records, so he held the bank in contempt and is considering assessing millions of dollars in fines. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * A Pennsylvania attorney activist who launched the “Kane is not Able” campaign has asked the state’s highest court to provide clarification on how AG Kathleen Kane should delegate her duties considering the fact she has a suspended law license. [PennLive.com]

    * A proposed class-action suit has been filed against fashion company Kate Spade over its alleged “imaginary discount prices.” If this goes the way of the $4.88M Michael Kors settlement over the same issue, then Kate Spade could be in trouble. [Consumerist]

    * “Talk about being uprooted!” Vendors who sell wares outside of Brooklyn Law are pissed about the school’s plans to install planters on the sidewalks around the building, thereby kicking the vendors not to the curb, but out onto the street. [Brooklyn Paper]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.24.15

    * Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be in attendance during Pope Francis’s Congressional address. Here’s hoping a certain someone doesn’t nod off in the middle of it. [National Law Journal]

    * This courthouse clerk is accused of trying to go out with a little too much style after being fired from his job. He allegedly tossed thousands of pages of court documents in the garbage before leaving the building, and he now faces up to 10 years in prison. [Houston Chronicle]

    * Lawrence Mitchell, the former dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, was supposed to return to the school this year after taking a sabbatical. Instead, he resigned. When it comes to this creeper, maybe that’s a good thing. [Cleveland Scene]

    * Sorry to burst your bubble, law schools, but if you think spending millions to complete major building projects during a serious downturn in applicants will result in a “Field of Dreams” type of situation, you’re flat-out wrong. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * Good news, everyone! Thanks to this appeals court decision, registered sex offenders in Wisconsin will now be able to take pictures of children in public. Child predators have never, ever been so excited to assert their First Amendment rights. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.31.15

    * Reunited and it feels so good… to have more tuition money in our pockets: following more than 40 years apart, Rutgers-Camden Law and Rutgers-Newark Law may merge to create the Rutgers School of Law, one of the largest law schools in the country. [NJ.com]

    * In case you missed it, the courtroom erupted into chaos in the final moments of the Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins trial because a juror “made a mistake” and decided to change his vote mid-verdict. Come on, give the guy a break — he’s almost 90. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Lawmakers are awfully interested in the way that the SEC is doing its job, and they’re drafting new laws in the hope of helping the agency out. We’ll let you know how helpful this was in a few years if those bills are ever passed. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * After an incredibly unsuccessful defense of its ban on same-sex marriage, Wisconsin is going to have to shell out more than $1 million in legal fees to the ACLU — the largest single payout yet by a state in the history of cases of this kind. [National Law Journal]

    * If you’re looking to transfer to another law school after your first year in the trenches, here are three things that you absolutely, positively must do to ensure your chances of being accepted elsewhere. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

  • American Bar Association / ABA, Federal Judges, Gay Marriage, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Sports, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.09.14

    * If you’ve ever wondered what’s being said about Supreme Court justices during the vetting process, we’ve got a great one-liner about Justice Breyer, who’s apparently a “rather cold fish.” Oooh, sick burn. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

    * The NLJ 350 rankings are here, and this is where we get to see the big picture about the big boys of Biglaw. In 2013, it looks like headcount grew by 3.9 percent, which is good, but not great, all things considered. Meh. [National Law Journal]

    * A Wisconsin judge is the latest to give her state’s ban on same-sex marriage the finger, and she did it with flair, noting in her opinion that “traditional” marriages throughout history were polygamous. [Bloomberg]

    * The Ed O’Bannon antitrust case against the NCAA is going to trial today before Judge Claudia Wilken. Since it could change college sports forever, here’s everything you need to know about it. [USA Today]

    * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of those employed in the legal sector is at its lowest level since the beginning of 2014, with jobs still being shed. Welcome, graduates! [Am Law Daily]

    * UC Irvine Law has finally earned full accreditation from the American Bar Association. We’d like to say nice work and congrats, but we’re pretty sure the ABA would fully accredit a toaster. [Los Angeles Times]