9th Circuit
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* The Kozinski retirement raises the important question — where does a clerk go to report misconduct (a question raised in this Lithwick column)? There’s now pressure on Chief Justice Roberts to work out a solution. [The Recorder]
* Speaking of sexual harassment, the wave of misconduct revelations has lawyers seriously questioning NDAs (something we’ve written about before here at ATL). [Reuters]
* Wondering who the next potential Trump SCOTUS nominee would be? Breaking down the numbers it would seem to be… [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Crain’s has a list of the 100 Leading Women Lawyers in New York City. [Crain’s]
* Law enforcement requests for Facebook data are up big time. This is why we can’t have nice things. [CNET]
* What do general counsel want for the holidays? The same thing they want every year: more service for less money. [American Lawyer]
* New suit goes after Blue Apron for its stock price drop. As if they’re responsible for Jeff Bezos gutting their market share in Brooklyn. [Law360]
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Ninth Circuit Lets Us See Its Glassdoor Ruling, And It’s Terrible
Friends don’t let friends inadvertently undermine the First Amendment.
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* 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]
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Federal Judges, Social Media, Technology
Did This Judge’s Tweeting Constitute Reversible Error?
The Ninth Circuit has spoken.
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* The Second Circuit vacates the corruption convictions of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Congratulations to his counsel, the high-powered litigation boutique of MoloLamken (which handled the appeal as well as the trial). [How Appealing]
* And congrats to federal judicial nominees John K. Bush (Sixth Circuit) and Kevin Newsom (Eleventh Circuit), who just got voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Washington Examiner]
* In other nomination news, the White House seems to be taking its time in announcing a Ninth Circuit nominee from Oregon. Delay may strengthen the case for frontrunner Ryan Bounds; his main competition, Chief Judge Michael Mosman, gets older by the day (turning 61 later this year). [Portland Tribune]
* Meet Michael Murray, an ex-SCOTUS clerk and Jones Day alum, who is the Justice Department’s new point person on pot. (Fun fact: Kevin Newsom, Ryan Bounds, and Michael Murray all clerked for my former boss, Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit.) [U.S. News]
* Former Ropes & Gray COO Hugh A. Simons wonders: “Are Law Firms Too Sophisticated for Their Own Good?” [Am Law Daily]
* Will law school applications see a “Trump Bump,” as idealistic aspiring attorneys seek law degrees to join the resistance? We might have more on this later. [Law.com]
* Yes, lawyers should stand up for their beliefs — but they also can (and must) understand the arguments on the other side, as new Yale Law dean Heather Gerken explains. [Time]
* The Ninth Circuit has ruled in the Case of the Tweeting Judge. We might have more on this later as well. [How Appealing]
* Congratulations to Stephen Kane, an alum of O’Melveny & Myers and Lex Machina, on securing $1.8 million in funding for his FairClaims startup — which he describes as “a virtual Judge Judy.” [TechCrunch]
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* Professor Ann Althouse wants to know: What’s the theory that take-home exams redress gender inequity? [Althouse]
* Legal analytics versus legal research: what’s the difference? Owen Byrd of Lex Machina explains. [Law Technology Today]
* Professor Noah Feldman is not a fan of the Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling on Trump Travel Ban 2.0. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]
* And Professor Sam Bray is not a fan of nationwide injunctions in the travel ban litigation. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]
* My colleague Elie Mystal yesterday offered an ideological critique of Justice Ginsburg’s opinion in Morales-Santana; Professor Will Baude has a technical one (and I think he might be right). [PrawfsBlawg]
* Mollie Hemingway respectfully dissents from the James Comey lovefest.
[The Federalist] -
* Last night’s Ninth Circuit argument drew a live audience of more than 137K people. But remember there’s no audience for real-time Supreme Court coverage. [Litigation Daily]
* Despite the public interest, Judge Neil Gorsuch reportedly dodged questions about the ban “like the plague” according to Senator Schumer, who met with the nominee yesterday. With a president so fond of bluntness, it’s good to see the old ways of spineless deflection and disingenuous evasion still have a home in Washington. [Law360]
* ABA rejects tighter law school standards because why throw the brakes on the runaway train? [National Law Journal]
* Maryland takes a firm stance against courts using financial wherewithal to determine whether someone sits in jail or goes free on bail. [Washington Post]
* Quinn Emanuel’s investigation finds widespread corruption at FIFA. In other news, the sky is blue. [Bloomberg]
* The “Internet of Things” is going to blow up discovery. [Legaltech News]
* Pillsbury takes its talents (from Boies Schiller) to South Beach. [Daily Business Review]
* And congrats to the new editorial team over at ALM. Heather Nevitt was named executive editor of Corporate Counsel and Inside Counsel while Gina Passarella was named executive editor of The American Lawyer.