* Congrats to Weil Gotshal and Fenwick & West for getting in on Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, the biggest Internet deal in a decade. [The Recorder]
* In South Carolina, you can get arrested for crimes that aren’t even things any more. Like “failure to return a VHS tape.” [Lowering the Bar]
* Drunk lawyer at heart of alleged insider trading scheme. [Dealbreaker]
* Did LBJ colossally screw up the Supreme Court? [Concurring Opinions]
* Were you curious about who would be on the Mount Rushmore of Tax Law professors? No? Well, here they are anyway. [TaxProf Blog]
* The so-called “trial penalty” is really a myth and empirical data confirms that defendants who reject plea deals and go to trial actually garner a “trial discount.” Yep, prosecutors aren’t overreaching at all. [PrawfsBlawg]
* President Obama called for patent law reform in the State of the Union address. Now we have some insight into what he’s thinking about. [Patently-O]
5 Tips For Proving Your Legal Department’s Value
Join our expert panel on March 3rd at 1pm ET to explore actionable, emerging ways you can gather and proactively share the data that demonstrates the impact of your work.
* Congratulations to Matthew Skinner, the next executive director of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York! [LeGal]