Above the Law

Morning Docket: 07.10.26

* OpenAI accused of hiding evidence in NY Times copyright case. Reached for comment, ChatGPT said, "I'm sorry, you're right, I was supposed to produce that." [Law360]

* Lawyer dressed as police officer to spy on ex-girlfriend at Nando's. [Roll on Friday]

* Ninth Circuit judge Ryan Nelson will have his parking lot tussle with another motorist heard by the Fourth Circuit. Here's a helpful guide for him. [LA Times]

*Every federal judge in the Middle District of Tennessee recused themselves from defamation case against Candace Owens. No reason given. [MSN]

* After killing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, ICE says there's no bodycam footage because of "back-to-back Democrat shutdowns." [Houston Chronicle]

* And now the federal government is pressuring witnesses to Araujo's killing to quickly self-deport -- which is what we generally call witness tampering. [Eliza Orlins]

*ABA successfully connected a death row inmate to pro bono attorneys who got him freed. [ABA Journal]

* Accounting firms see problems with SEC's proposal to drop quarterly reporting. Like, you know, the fraud. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Simpson Thacher heading to malpractice trial in Florida. [Reuters]

* Judge wants to hear more about how the DOJ suddenly decided to drop its case against Sullivan & Cromwell client Gautam Adani as soon as he promised investment projects. [Bloomberg]

Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand The Adage About Catching Flies With Honey — See Also

Discovery Really Is The Best Part Of Litigation: ABA wants the deets on the Trump Biglaw executive orders.

The World's Best Law Schools: Of course the USA features prominently on this ranking.

CSI Agentic: Exterro releases an agentic AI tool for forensics. Courts will take a while to come to grips with this.

Born To Lose: Donald Trump asks Supreme Court for big favor by calling them insane.

Morning Docket: 07.09.26

* Trump asks Supreme Court to rehear birthright citizenship case, in case the English language has changed since last week. [CNBC]

* Judge Ross denies recusal request in civil case based on the claim that she barely supervised clerks on her civil docket. Or maybe her clerk denied the request. [Bloomberg Law News]

* State AGs finalize antitrust suit over Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. [CNN]

* ABA wants to see more Trump admin documents surrounding Biglaw intimidation campaign. [Law360]

* Judge refers to Smartmatic case as "The Most Whack-a-Mole of All of My Cases," which is true to the extent Whack-a-Mole is a game about malicious prosecution. [Daily Business Review]

* AI founder admits role in the big Biglaw insider trading scheme. [ABA Journal]

* Judge Dugan fined but not sentenced to any prison time over conviction for not allowing ICE to nab people from her courtroom. [NY Times]

A Merger-Sized Wrinkle In Time — See Also

Doesn't Reviewing 6 Months Of Time Entries Sound Fun?!?! Pour some out for legacy Cadwalader attorneys.

Ken Paxton Heal Thyself: Or at least get your voter registration issues in order before going after others.

You, Sir, Have The Boorish Manners Of A Yalie!: Yale Law School is trying to convince the university that settling with Donald Trump has literally never worked in the history of ever.

You'll Never Guess Which Law Schools Have The Lowest Acceptance Rates: Okay, fine, you will, but two T14 schools didn't make the cut.

Emil Bove Is Le Fou With A Lifetime Appointment: Judge keeps Trump on his phone's lock screen because no one's slick as Donald, no one's quick as Donald, no one's ass is as incredibly thick as Donald's!

The DMS, Reimagined: Why Your Firm’s Memory Is Now Its AI Foundation

A conversation with iManage CEO Neil Araujo.

Morning Docket: 07.08.26

* Yale Law School is working behind the scenes to convince Yale University to stop trying to cut a deal with the Trump administration. [NY Times]

* Latham cleaning up on AI power demands. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Former Wisconsin judge faces sentencing for refusing to allow ICE to use her courtroom to kidnap migrants. [Reuters]

* Biglaw pro bono chill may be thawing a bit. [American Lawyer]

* DOJ sent letters to threatening to prosecute election officials if noncitizens vote. Which they won't, since we've had years of investigations unable to prove it even happens in any significant way. [NBC News]

* Eleventh Circuit strikes higher education provision in Florida's Stop W.O.K.E. Act, with Trump appointee writing for the court "[i]f the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it." [ACLU]

* Government wants judge to stop release of documents covering Todd Blanche's role in Epstein coverup currently due right before his confirmation hearing. [The New Republic]

* Kalshi loses effort to keep New York from treating it as a gambling site. Because it is... a gambling site. [Law360]

Is The Supreme Court Putting Money On The Merits? — See Also

SCOTUS Betting On Its Own Cases? It shouldn't be this hard for Chief Justice Roberts to answer this one.

More People Come Out Against Todd Blanche's nomination for the Attorney General Role: But what the Senate does with that information is up to the Senate.

The Trump Administration May Be Making It More Difficult To Do Pro Bono Work: But these Biglaw firms managed to crack the code to help others.

Blanked: Blank Rome hit with a couple lawsuits over data breach caused by trusting a fake IT call.

Another Bill Trump Won’t Pay — See Also

Roberta Kaplan Wants Her Client To Get Paid: Trump's legal goons, on the other hand, are trying more delay tactics.

World Cup Of Lawyerball: The United States dragged the soccer world into its national pastime -- legal threats.

You'd Have To Be High To Buy Elon Musk's Legal Arguments: And Judge Charles Breyer was not, refusing the billionaire's request to blow off the fraud verdict against him.

Environmental Law Isn't Just For Tree-Huggers: Check out the law schools that make the latest Honor Roll here.

Kasowitz Sued: Former clients accuse Kasowitz of pocketing lion's share of settlement.

Morning Docket: 07.06.26

* FIFA Peace Prize recipient Donald Trump sent elite lawyers to get FIFA red card lifted. Finally, an advantage to a lawyer culture that never takes vacations like the rest of the world. [Yahoo Sports]

* West Point professor wins injunction against speech restrictions in detailed opinion. [New York Law Journal]

* Montana Senate candidate cut a deal as the former U.S. Attorney to allow police officer to serve under a year for sexually abusing a 6-year-old. [Huffington Post]

* Kentucky Law changes rules to ensure Trustee involvement in future dean hiring. [ABA Journal]

* A Supreme Court breakdown. [Law360]

* "When their interests align, Trump and Roberts both win at Supreme Court," alternate headline, "Mainstream Conservatives Always Win At Supreme Court." [Reuters]

* Knicks win highlights gaps in intellectual property law. [Bloomberg Law News]

Supreme Court Term Goes Out In Blaze Of Hypocrisy, False Retirements, And Bad Ratings — See Generally

Roberts Writes Two Opinions With One Shrug Emoji: The Chief Justice declared independent federal agencies unconstitutional and then turned around and, without a note of irony, said that OF COURSE the Federal Reseve is a duly ordained independent federal agency because... [trails off].

Neil Gorsuch Takes Road Less Traveled By: The Birthright Citizenship case broke down into those who think the Fourteenth Amendment says what it plainly says and everyone agreed it said for well over a century, and conservatives looking to rewrite history... and Neil Gorsuch, who managed to find an idiosyncratic third path that both rejected the Fourteenth Amednment but seemed to cover children of undocumented migrants.

Sam Alito Has Not Retired: NPR accidentally published Nina Totenberg's pre-written Alito retirement piece, creating a 10 minute fire drill. But when all was said and done, Sam Alito continues to let his freak flag fly at the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Sets Another Low Point: New poll finds that only 22% of registered voters have "a great deal" or "quite a bit" of faith in the Supreme Court. Even 47% of Republicans say the Court needs stronger oversight.

We're All Looking For The Guy Who Did This: Former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb called Trump's $1 billion crypto haul "the greatest onslaught of corruption in the history of mankind."

Second Circuit Judge Collects Second Reprimand: Judge Sarah Merriam has been scolded a the second time for creating a "tense and challenging" work environment.

The Firms Clients Love, Or At Least Will Call Back: BTI Consulting released its annual ranking of the 113 law firms that in-house counsel love most.

Fireworks, Firm Raises, And Fantasy Vacations — See Also

The Supreme Court's Politics Are Becoming A Big Problem: And Americans are catching on.

Compensation Decisions Don't Wait Around For Biglaw: Boutiques are taking over when it comes to paying their people.

Imagine What America's Semiquincentennial Could Have Been: America's 250th anniversary would have been so much better in this alternate universe.

Vacationing at Blackacre: Checking out the vrbo reviews of some lawyerly lairs.

AI Is Killing Legal’s Billable Hour. It’s Also Repeating Its Worst Mistake.

Law firms and legal departments are writing the future of the profession in separate rooms. What happens when they actually work together?

Morning Docket: 07.02.26

* New interview with Justice Breyer talks about the decision to retire. [Bloomberg Law News]

* DOJ loses effort to commandeer state voting rolls. [National Law Journal]

* Speaking of elections, a judge has blocked the Post Office's claim that they'll simply not deliver mail-in ballots. [Reuters]

* Former Above the Law editor and birthright citizen David Lat offers his takeaways from Trump v. Barbara. [Original Jurisdiction]

* Panel of experts -- including Above the Law alum Elie Mystal -- discuss the Supreme Court Term.[Legal AF via YouTube]

* FDIC expert explains "I would've been fired" for making the decisions Silicon Valley Bank made. [Law360]

* Two panels put on by Seattle Law breaking down the Supreme Court's Trans athlete ruling. [YouTube]

Neil Gorsuch’s Sly Dissent– See Also

In-House Counsel May Love Your Law Firm: But is it one of the "Best of the Best"? Find out here.

Neil Gorsuch: Agent Of Chaos: The justice's dissent in the birthright citizenship case managed to undermine the Trump administration's whole strategy.

Norton Rose Raises Salaries: Most of Biglaw is still sleeping on associate compensation.

Ty Cobb Has *Thoughts* On Donald Trump's Crypto Haul: None of it good.