Small Law Firms
How Did Small Law Firms Survive -- And Recruit -- After The Market Went To $180K?
Not every firm is capable of keeping up with the Cravathians.
* Biglaw’s about to get hit hard by an economic downturn. [Law.com]
* Looks like Ralph Baxter is announcing a run for congress this afternoon. [Am Law Daily]
* Dewey think a 4 year sentence sounds fair? [Law360]
* Judge calls fee request “attempted bank robbery.” This is why you never request fees while wearing a rubber Nixon mask and carrying a shotgun. [Law.com]
* Fascinating overview of the complex fight over Cravath’s efforts to block victims from getting previously produced discovery materials. [Litigation Daily]
* An interview with Ben Brafman, including a delightful explanation of why he has the hardest job in the world. [Coverage Opinions]
* California moving to limit access of federal immigration officials to those in the state court system. [The Recorder]
* What schools do the best job of placing AGs, SGs, United States Attorneys, and federal judges? The answer will absolutely not shock you at all. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* The Ninth Circuit, President Donald Trump’s judicial archnemesis, affirms Judge Derrick Watson’s (modified) preliminary injunction against the “grandma ban.” [How Appealing]
* Donald Trump Jr. opens up to the Senate Judiciary Committee about that infamous June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer. [New York Times]
* Consolidation continues in the legal-services world: Counsel On Call acquires e-discovery company DSicovery LLC (DSi). [ABA Journal]
* The Trump administration sides with the anti-gay-marriage baker in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that will be decided this coming Term by SCOTUS. [How Appealing]
* ICYMI: Deborah Farone — Cravath’s chief marketing director for the past 14 years, and the “gold standard” in legal marketing — is leaving Cravath to start her own consulting firm and to write a book on law firm marketing (to be published next year by the Practising Law Institute). [Law.com]
* Cooley raids Wilson Sonsini for talent for the second time in three months, this time hiring emerging growth specialists Jon Avina, Calise Cheng, and Rachel Proffitt. [Big Law Business]
* Legal research startup Casetext — led by CEO Jake Heller, COO Laura Safdie, and VP Pablo Arredondo — continues on its upward trajectory. [ABA Journal]
* Can the president be indicted? You betcha! “It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties. In this country, no one, even [the president], is above the law.” [New York Times]
* According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most notorious grandma of them all, the Trump administration was a little heavy-handed when it came to the travel ban from majority-Muslim countries, and its definition of close family was simply “too restrictive” for the high court to abide by — which is why the “grandma ban” no longer exists. [Associated Press]
* Why did Ty Cobb decide to join President Trump’s legal team for the Russian election collusion investigation? Here’s what he said, in his own words: “If the president asks you, you don’t say no. I have rocks in my head and steel balls.” Well, that certainly explains it! [National Law Journal]
* As the Supreme Court’s junior justice, Neil Gorsuch has the unenviable task of serving on the cafeteria committee. It’s a “truly disheartening assignment,” especially since the vast majority of the people who are forced to eat there thanks to a lack of other options have described the food as poor, at best. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* A Cravath associate once said that Anthony Scaramucci, the Harvard Law grad who now serves as President Trump’s new communications director, isn’t one to “humble brag.” But that won’t stop him from helping the president with a few second-hand humble brags. During the press conference where he introduced himself to the world, he said Trump could “throw a dead spiral through a tire,” “hit[] foul shots and swish[] them,” and “sink[] 30-foot putts.” This is all totally believable(?). [Law.com]
* Leary Davis, founding dean of Elon Law and Campbell Law, RIP. [Roanoke Times]
* Johnson & Johnson pushing back against the baby powder cancer verdicts. I thought J&J was the one that wasn’t supposed to cause tears. [Law.com]
* Nine percent tuition hike in store for this law school. [Inforum]
* While the Comey story has sucked up a lot of attention, civil libertarians are watching West Virginia, where a reporter was arrested for asking a question of the Trump administration. [US News & World Report]
* What was Putin wearing when he gave his thoughts on Comey’s firing? (A) A bear costume; (B) A Russian Air Force Uniform; (C) MAGA Hat; (D) Hockey Gear; (E) Shirtless. [Huffington Post]
* German authorities laugh off Jones Day complaints. [Am Law Daily]
* Fewer meetings makes for a better team. This… apparently isn’t obvious to people yet. [Corporate Counsel]
* Chinese hackers have to pay up for breaches at Cravath and Weil Gotshal. [Big Law Business]
* Judge Kaplan was attacked by a pit bull, but he’s all right now. [Law360]
* According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judge Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to the Supreme Court at about 11:30 a.m. on the first day of the Senate’s nuclear winter. Now that we’re in the nuclear age, when it’s time for the next SCOTUS nominee’s confirmation hearings, Senator Orrin Hatch “expect[s] Armageddon.” [CNN]
* It’s been about a month since Preet Bharara was ousted from his position as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and he isn’t mincing his words when it comes to his firing, calling it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence” people associate with the Trump administration. [New York Times]
* Speaking of the Trump administration’s “helter-skelter incompetence,” Twitter has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to block an agency summons to reveal the identity of @ALT_uscis, an anonymous user who has used the social media platform to criticize the president’s immigration policies. [Reuters]
* According to the latest data from Bloomberg, Cleary Gottlieb handled the largest volume of M&A deals in 2017’s first quarter, with the firm involved in 22 deals worth more than $98 billion. Skadden Arps, Cravath, Kirkland & Ellis, and Slaughter and May fell in line behind Cleary, each surpassing $54 billion in deal volume. [Big Law Business]
* Welcome back, John White! Now that Mary Jo White has departed from her position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is back at Debevoise & Plimpton, her husband — who was the firm’s lone nonequity partner for four years — will return to the firm’s equity partnership, where he can enjoy all of the rain he makes. [Am Law Daily]
Faiza J. Saeed, Presiding Partner
Harvard Law School, JD
