Tax Law
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Biglaw, Department of Justice, Politics
A Closer Look At George Conway, Wachtell Lipton Partner And Husband Of Kellyanne Conway
Let's get to know the high-powered Biglaw partner who's married to one of the most famous women in American politics. -
Biglaw, Tax Law
Biglaw Firm And Partner Ripped To Shreds On National TV
This is one of the many 'perks' of representing the president in his tax matters. -
Department of Justice, Federal Government, Justice, Politics
Who Is Being Considered To Succeed James Comey As Director Of The FBI?
Candidates include current and former judges, prosecutors, Biglaw partners, and other impressive individuals. -
Biglaw, Politics
Trump Lawyers Produce More Comically Bad Drafting
Morgan Lewis does great work, with a few exceptions.
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.04.17
* Harvard Law wants students to defer admission. Tuition deferral program still a no go apparently. [New York Times / Dealbook]
* Trump signing executive order to let the IRS choose when to enforce the Johnson amendment. I’m old enough to remember when conservatives had a meltdown over exaggerated allegations of IRS selective enforcement. Now it’s actually going to be legal and I doubt I’ll hear anything about it. [CBS News]
* Want to know how much a Sullivan & Cromwell partner takes home? Thankfully Donald Trump can tell us. [National Law Journal]
* Alabama enacts law allowing adoption agencies to reject gay couples. Alabama has one of the worst economies in America, but this was the issue that they really needed to address. Roll Tide. [Alabama]
* ABA President Linda Klein testifies on behalf of Legal Services Corporation. funding. Question: Is the ABA President job more or less difficult today? One could say “more” because she has to devote considerable energy to fighting a hostile government. Or you could say “less” because the most difficult argument she has to make is, “please don’t be monsters.” [ABA Journal]
* FAMU fired its dean. [Orlando Sentinel]
* New trend in litigation finance: buying portfolios of cases instead of investing in individual matters. We’ve reached the fund stage people! [Law.com]
* Former Guinea mining minister convicted of taking bribes. How did they know? Perhaps they thought he was a Dickensian throwback when he kept saying “Guinea” all the time. [Law360]
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Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate
Lawyerly Lairs: A Tax Lawyer's (Upper) West Side Story
The brutal Manhattan real estate market is the great leveler. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.27.17
* Guess who gets to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s new tax plan? Lawyers and their law firms — which are largely organized as pass-through entities — will likely benefit greatly, as they’ll be able to reduce their tax rate from 39.6 percent to 15 percent. [ABA Journal]
* The Charlotte School of Law may be on the brink of collapse, but the school is heading to court to try to shake off three of the four federal class-action lawsuits that were filed by current students and recent graduates with motions to dismiss. We’ll have more on this later today. [Law.com]
* The Trump administration didn’t seem to fare very well during oral arguments in an immigration case yesterday. Chief Justice John Roberts certainly wasn’t impressed, and Justice Anthony Kennedy seemed even less so, dropping this benchslap: “It seems to me that your argument is demeaning the priceless value of citizenship.” [Reuters]
* Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will propose a rollback of the Obama-era net-neutrality rule that regulated broadband internet providers as common carriers. Critics aren’t pleased: “It makes no sense. We cannot keep the promise of net neutrality openness and freedom without the rules that ensure it.” [Big Law Business]
* Four third-year students at Harvard Law have demanded that the administration provide clarification as to how it assesses applicants who have been accused or convicted of sexual assault. “We put forth a call for transparency and affirmative efforts demonstrating the school takes sexual assault seriously.” [Harvard Crimson]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.25.17
* Who says you can never go home again? Neil Eggleston, White House Counsel under President Obama, return to Kirkland & Ellis. [Law.com]
* The Biglaw scandal that just keeps giving and giving and giving… The Dewey retrial nears its end. [New York Law Journal]
* North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has opened up an investigation into the troubled Charlotte School of Law. We’ll have more on this story later today. [Politico]
* The Republican controlled North Carolina General Assembly is trying to mess with Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s ability to appoint judges to their state courts. But Judge J. Douglas McCullough — a Republican — has at least one trick up his sleeve to thwart the plan. [Slate]
* The NRA is ramping up its legal strategy in California as they anticipate the future political direction of the courts there. [LA Times]
* The excuse “the Russians did it” just doesn’t fly in the world of tax law… not even if you are Sotheby’s. [New York Times]
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Crime, Federal Government
New Reason To Fear The IRS
Even the homeless are getting ripped off by the IRS. -
Morning Docket, Politics
Morning Docket: 04.12.17
* The Republicans hold on to the House seat vacated by CIA director Mike Pompeo; state treasurer Ron Estes defeated James Thompson, a Wichita civil rights lawyer. [New York Times]
* So it seems the FBI did obtain a FISA warrant to monitor the communications of a Trump adviser (foreign policy adviser Carter Page). [Washington Post]
* In a time when many firms are closing offices, Adams and Reese is opening new ones, in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale. [Law.com]
* The retirement buzz around Justice Anthony M. Kennedy persists — and stems from conversations Kennedy has had with people close to him. [Bloomberg and CNN via How Appealing]
* As for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has she been enjoying Opus One yet again? [New York Daily News]
* Yes, it’s possible for an in-house legal department to be too cost-conscious — just ask Wells Fargo. [Big Law Business]
* A professor accused of sexual harassment by a student and a staff member just lost his case before the Sixth Circuit. [Law.com]
* Speaking of things sexual… don’t write “sexual favors” in the check memo line when paying your taxes. [Billings Gazette]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 04.07.17
* Behind the legal battle over #BlackGirlMagic. [Jezebel]
* A look at the lawmakers who are questioning Trump’s Syrian strike. [Huffington Post]
* Justices outside of the mainstream are now the new normal. [Slate]
* When your lawyer has to make “oops, he forgot” your central defense, well, the pressure’s on. [Salon]
* What do we really know about Neil Gorsuch? [Law and More]
* New charges for the Situation. [The Hill]
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Federal Government, Money, Politics
Trump White House Lawyers: How Much Are They Worth? (Part 3)
One of these legal eagles has a nine-figure fortune. -
Federal Government, Money, Politics
Trump White House Lawyers: How Much Are They Worth? (Part 2)
Meet a Biglaw associate (not partner) who earned more than $800,000 last year. -
Justice, Police
Sessions's Orders To Local Police Are Contradictory, Until You See The Racism That Ties Them Together
Sessions wants a world where police can violate your civil rights, and ask you to prove your status while they're doing it. -
Federal Government, Money, Politics
Trump White House Lawyers: How Much Are They Worth? (Part 1)
Some of these lawyers are rich; others, not so much. -
Federal Government, Federal Judges, Politics, White House Counsel
Trump Administration To American Bar Association: 'You're Fired'
The ABA will no longer get special early access to the identities of judicial nominees. -
Biglaw
Kasowitz Benson Loses Name Partner, Lots Of Money
The Trump administration will now have at least one "superior legal mind." -
Drugs, Federal Government, Politics
GAO Will Investigate Potential Abuses With Orphan Drug Act
The investigation stems from a request from three influential U.S. senators.