Neil Gorsuch
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* Which lawyers and law firms scored the most SCOTUS arguments this Term? Adam Feldman has the tally. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* And speaking of the Supreme Court, what can lawyers learn from linguists about Heller and the Second Amendment? [LAWnLinguistics]
* Adam Kolber discusses the phenomenon of “judicial bulls**t” — and wonders whether the justices would fail Philosophy 101. [Daily Journal via PrawfsBlawg]
* Are Justice Neil Gorsuch’s long-winded concurrences contributing to the Supreme Court slowdown this Term? Andrew Hamm crunches some numbers. [SCOTUSblog]
* Many of the major precedents in the school free-speech context feature liberal students — but conservative kids can play this game too. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Lex Machina’s latest foray into litigation analytics covers the world of trade secrets. [Dewey B Strategic]
* Relativity: not just for ediscovery anymore. [Artificial Lawyer]
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* A question that has crossed the mind of every Biglaw corporate associate: “How much of lawyering is being a copy-and-paste monkey?” [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]
* Kenneth Jost notes out how Justices Ginsburg and Gorsuch like to butt heads — and scores the fight 2-0 in RBG’s favor. [Jost on Justice]
* And speaking of rumbles at One First Street, which pairs of justices have the most disagreements with each other, as reflected in majority and dissenting opinions? Adam Feldman has answers. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Saira Rao, former Cleary Gottlieb associate and author of the clerkship novel Chambermaid (affiliate link), takes on a new challenge: running for Congress. [American Bazaar]
* Data privacy is the name of the game these days, and Thomson Reuters is ready; TR showed off its new, Watson-enabled Data Privacy Advisor at Legalweek here in New York. [Dewey B Strategic]
* Amidst all the hoopla and robot fights at Legalweek, it would be easy to overlook the latest news from Neota Logic — but you shouldn’t. [Artificial Lawyer]
* Should more states move away from requiring unanimous jury verdicts in criminal cases? Joel Cohen argues that 11 is not enough. [Law & Crime]
* Can a U.S. court punish someone for their speech, on the theory that he breached an agreement not to speak, while keeping the speech-restrictive agreement secret? Eugene Volokh thinks not (with good reason). [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Dewey see an end in sight for legal proceedings related to the collapse of the Biglaw giant? Former executive director Stephen DiCarmine was supposed to be in court today to face fraud claims from the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it looks like the parties might have a deal. [Law360]
* If you will be in New York City next weekend and are interested Asian-American leadership in the legal field, consider attending Columbia APALSA’s annual conference — where Kathy Hirata Chin will be honored for her efforts to promote diversity in the legal profession. [Columbia Law School APALSA]
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* In case you missed it, Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times has noticed a trend when it comes to Chief Justice Roberts and who he’s been aligning himself with at the Supreme Court. He may not yet be a moderate, but he seems to be shying away from “the reliably right-wing triumvirate” of Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch. [New York Times]
* “The document speaks for itself.” All three of former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates’s lawyers are withdrawing as counsel, and will only explain why in documents filed under seal. Only his Biglaw attorney who is known for his plea deals remains. Gates is under indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. [POLITICO]
* According to the latest year-end report from the Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, law firm revenue and profits were up in 2017, and demand had increased for legal services. As usual, the most profitable firms at the top of the market outperformed their smaller counterparts. [American Lawyer]
* Trump administration policies having to do with immigration, specifically the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, may force many Biglaw firms to move to their practices to the cloud sooner than they would have liked. In times of “political uncertainty” like these, Biglaw can’t rely on “offshore labor arbitrage” for IT outsourcing. [TechTarget]
* The GC of the American Red Cross has resigned following the publication of a report that he praised a former colleague who was the subject of an internal investigation and pushed out of the organization for alleged instances sexual misconduct. [Corporate Counsel]
* Disgusting: A Georgia lawyer who asked a witness to recant an eyewitness account of her son’s molestation has politely gave up his license to practice law after pleading guilty to felony witness tampering and attempting to suborn perjury. [Big Law Business]
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* Very interesting piece by Mark Joseph Stern on Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s dissent in Pavan v. Smith (aka the “LGBT parents on birth certificates” case). It seems to me that Justice Gorsuch’s statement is technically correct — the Arkansas Department of Health (1) was okay with giving the named plaintiffs their birth certificates and (2) conceded that in the artificial-insemination context, gay couples can’t be treated differently than straight couples (see the Arkansas Supreme Court opinion, footnote 1 and page 18) — but it’s either confusing, at best, or misleading and disingenuous, at worst (the view of Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, counsel to the plaintiffs). [Slate]
* Speaking of Justice Gorsuch, Adam Feldman makes some predictions about what we can expect from him in the future, based on his first few opinions. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Professor Rick Hasen has made up his mind on this: “Gorsuch is the new Scalia, just as Trump promised.” [Los Angeles Times]
* The VC welcomes a new co-conspirator: Professor Sai Prakash, a top scholar of constitutional law and executive power. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]
* Now that Harvard Law School will accept GRE scores in lieu of LSAT scores, what do law school applicants need to know about the two tests? [Law School HQ]
* And what do Snapchat users need to know about the app’s new “Snap Map” feature? Cyberspace lawyer Drew Rossow flags potential privacy problems. [WFAA]
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* Nine months from now, look for the Gorsuch effect. [Clickhole]
* Welcome to the Supreme Court, Neil. [Huffington Post]
* Will Justice Kennedy take the retirement bait? [Slate]
* A blueprint for getting Trump’s tax plan done by August. [The Hill]
* Technology’s role in reducing drunk driving. [Law and More]
* Good news for Planned Parenthood out of Maryland. [The Slot]
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* Prosecutors raid Jones Day. This is not a joke. [Am Law Daily]
* Jim Harbaugh’s gonna be pissed. [ABA Journal]
* Harvard Law grad sentenced in kidnapping case. [SF Gate]
* Judge Gorsuch doesn’t really buy legislative history because sticking your fingers in your ears and going, “na, na, na, I’m not listening” is always solid jurisprudence. [Corporate Counsel]
* Should privilege cover PR flacks? [Law360]
* Lawyers may hate numbers, but clients don’t. [Legaltech News]
* Florida wants to bolster its stand your ground law, because there’s never been any problems with it. [Washington Post]
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* 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.
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