* Michael Cohen’s lawyers are doubling down on their effort to get a gag order against Michael Avenatti. Meanwhile, Cohen gave an interview to Good Morning America, an irony not lost on Avenatti. [Courthouse News Service]
* After the Supreme Court gutted public sector unions, the cheerleaders of Alito’s judicial activism may end up getting more than they bargained for. Some believe that, stripped of funds to negotiate a contract at the table, unions may increasingly jump right to the picket line. [National Law Journal]
* The sad tale of Stan Lee’s finances apparently has folks lawyering up. [USA Today]
* Jones Day’s gender discrimination suit puts a new spotlight on its notorious black box compensation model. Will the firm come clean about how it pays people, or will it be dragged into discovery? [American Lawyer]
* The top appellate attorney for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an entity devoted to whittling down the rights of consumers to pursue meaningful legal action against businesses, has left the group to join a plaintiffs’ side firm. Ahahahahahahahaha. [National Law Journal]
* Michigan State is fighting hard to keep the advice of its in-house attorneys privileged. The state has some concern that potential criminal activity could’ve been shielded by having a lawyer in the room, which given the scope of the cover-up revealed so far is not entirely unreasonable. [Corporate Counsel]
* We’ve given the NLJ 500 a lot of flack over the years, but the ranking does give us insight into which markets are in growth mode. This year, that’s Portland, Oregon. Tell that to Perkins Coie. [Law.com]
* A full 85 percent of companies aren’t ready for the GDPR implementation deadline later this week, meaning… well probably nothing, but let’s freak out about it anyway. [Corporate Counsel]
* Jones Day’s Dana Baiocco tabbed by Trump administration to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to end Democratic leadership on that board. So get ready for exploding bottles and nails just sticking out of stuffed animals… because “freedom.” [National Law Journal]
* DOJ tests new investigative tactic of just telling suspected criminals everything before interviewing them. [Huffington Post]
* We’re deregulating banks again because that’s historically worked out so well. [Wall Street Journal]
* South Carolina has repealed its “disturbing school” law, which was really just a vague catch-all provision to allow cops to harass and imprison black kids. [ACLU]
* Paul Manafort looks to suppress more evidence. Hey it’s worth a shot. [Courthouse News Service]
* In sad news, groundbreaking attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree has passed away at 104. [Washington Post]
Gregory M. Shumaker, Managing Partner,
University of Notre Dame, JD