Celebrate Pride Month! Check Out Which Firms Are Supporting Inclusive Families
Law firms: please send us updates to your family leave and related policies
The Worst Law Of The Week: Re-Homing
How aren't there laws preventing this?
Legal Is Changing. And NeoSummit Is Where The Future Is Being Built.
Legal and operational leaders are gathering May 6–7 in Fort Lauderdale to confront the questions the industry hasn't answered—with a keynote from Amanda Knox setting the tone.
The Crazy Parenting Book That Inspired Parents To Kill Daughter (And How To Avoid Another Tragedy)
The legal regime surrounding adoption is relatively lax, sometimes with tragic results.
Morning Docket: 03.29.13
* The latest update on the law school litigation front represents good news for New York Law School. [National Law Journal] * Should summarizing a one-day deposition transcript really cost $90,000? Even DLA Piper might blush at such a bill. [Point of Law] * Ropes & Gray isn’t backing down in the discrimination lawsuit brought by former partner Patricia Martone. (We’ll have more on this later.) [Am Law Daily] * No, silly polo mogul, you can’t adopt your 42-year-old girlfriend to shield your fortune from litigation. [ABA Journal] * Replacing “barbers” with “beauty culturists”? This is Indiana and not California, right? [WSJ Law Blog]
Non-Sequiturs: 03.01.13
* Court rules that overlapping elements between romance novels do not amount to infringement. I mean, there’s only so many ways to phrase “throbbing member.” [Courthouse News Service] * Pinellas County, Florida (Tampa Bay area) returns to using fluoridated water after a governmental sea change brought on by the issue. Don’t they understand the Communist plot to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids? [Tampa Bay Times] * In fairness, I think pro se litigants generally have a pretty good ineffective assistance claim. [Lowering the Bar] * The D.C. Circuit managed to irritate both environmentalists and industry by affirming Fish and Wildlife’s designation of polar bears as “threatened.” It’s a nice middle ground. You know who else would appreciate some middle ground? A polar bear clinging to a shrinking ice floe. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor thinks kids need a healthier respect for the American democratic process. It would be unfortunate if the will of a democratic majority could get hijacked by five partisan hacks. [Courthouse News Service] * Following up on yesterday’s profile of Lindsay Lohan’s attorney Mark Heller, the judge declared him “incompetent.” Fair enough. [TMZ] * Oh, but trust him, he’s a doctor (of law). [The Economist] * To quote the inimitable Spencer Hall, “Fine, here, cry.” [New York Times]
Biglaw Perk Watch: Adoption Benefits
(Plus an update on the gay gross-up.)
Which major law firms offer benefits that cover adoption and/or surrogacy costs? Plus an update on the gay gross-up (aka "tax equalization for same-sex health benefits").
Protégé™ In CourtLink® Explains The Whole Case Faster
Designed to reduce manual docket work by prioritizing what litigators need most: on-demand full docket summarization that explains the whole case to date, followed by on-demand document summaries for filing triage, and AI-powered natural language searching for faster search and retrieval.
Lawsuit of the Day Update: More About Levinson v. WilmerHale
Additional tidbits about both the plaintiff, from former colleagues at WilmerHale, and about the firm, from women who have worked there.
Lawsuit of the Day: A $5 Million Discrimination Suit Against a Top Law Firm
Which firm is being sued, and what are the plaintiff's allegations?
A Biglaw Firm Institutes A Smaller Hours Requirement
One Biglaw firm is actually lowering its hours requirement. And instituting a new adoption / surrogacy benefit too. Could these trends spread?
Non-Sequiturs: 02.09.12
* How would you describe the mainstream media’s recent reporting on Citizens United? Not true, not true — and Dan Abrams explains why. [Mediaite via The Corner / Ramesh Ponnuru] * Whether the U.S. Constitution requires marriage equality can be debated as a matter of constitutional law. But as a policy matter, is this still […]
LexisNexis Practical Guidance Rolls Out Dedicated Practice Area for AI & Technology
The new generation of AI-related legal issues are inherently cross-disciplinary, implicating corporate law, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
Morning Docket: 02.02.12
* How many friend requests did these firms just get? Fenwick & West and Simpson Thacher are the Biglaw stars of Facebook’s S-1 filing for its $5B initial public offering. Like. [Am Law Daily] * The prosecution is expected to make its arguments today in Julian Assange’s appeal of his extradition from the U.K. to […]
Hot Sauce Is for Eating, Not for Disciplining Your Kids
Sometimes kids can be really annoying and behave really badly. Luckily for my parents, I was a little bit of both when I was younger. After throwing a spare rib at someone’s head in a Chinese restaurant, my parents didn’t take me out to dinner with them for months. After throwing a puzzle at the […]
Florida Appellate Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Adoption
Thus far, 2010 has been a great year for LGBT rights. As noted previously, federal judges have struck down Prop 8’s gay marriage ban, section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Today the gay rights movement scored another win — this time in Florida, and this […]