Sexual Harassment
-
Sexual Harassment Allegations Pile Up At Annual Legal Tech Conference
Awful stories of sexual harassment have emerged from Legalweek.
-
One Thing COVID Hasn’t Killed? Sexual Harassment
Remote working hasn’t ended this problem.
-
-
* 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]
-
* According to his friends, President Trump is reportedly planning to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute special counsel Robert Mueller and his team. Considering he’s done nothing wrong, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Mueller could possibly be prosecuted for, but that’s neither here nor there. [CNBC]
* For the first time in more than 80 years, the Senate has confirmed a circuit court judge with a missing blue slip. Yesterday, Judge David Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court was confirmed to the Eighth Circuit, with a 56-42 vote that threw decades-old tradition to the wind. [The Hill]
* “It’s really important that lawyers in large firms know that they can sign up….” In the short time since the initiative was announced, more than 500 lawyers have signed up to take on cases for the Time’s Up legal defense fund, and they’ll be able to provide free consultations to victims of workplace sexual harassment. [Big Law Business]
* The robots are coming: Former payroll managers from Dechert claim in a federal age and gender bias suit that they were laid off because they were the oldest women employees in the department. The firm says that’s not the case, since it was cloud-based technology, not discrimination, that took their jobs. [Legal Intelligencer]
* A California appellate court has breathed new life into a proposed class action that accuses Tinder of charging older users more money to use the enhanced version of the app. The judge who wrote the opinion reversed the lower court using slang very familiar to dating app aficionados. We’ll have more on this later. [The Recorder]
-
* Grumpy cat should be a little less grumpy after winning $710,000 in a licensing case. [Courthouse News Service]
* Remember that judge who gave a Stanford swimmer 6 months for a rape conviction? Yeah, he’s poised to get kicked off the bench. [NY Daily News]
* Can you get a DUI in an autonomous vehicle? A lot of people aren’t familiar with State of Oregon v. The Autobots. [Versus Texas]
* Ty Cobb is a lot less eager to meet with Mueller under oath than his client. [New York]
* Apparently “AI” is now a verb. That’s… awful. [Legal Week]
* Your summer associate lunch plans have taken a hit — Le Bernardin sued over everything from shortchanging employees to sexual harassment. [Le Bernadin]
* Your work email is probably in the Dark Web. It’s also probably on your firm website, but that doesn’t sound as menacing. [National Law Journal]
* New York will only do business with ISPs that adhere to net neutrality in a move that many states are expected to copy. I’m sure the states rights-loving politicians who worked tirelessly to kill neutrality will hail this as a triumph of federalism. [New York Law Journal]
-
* The effort to hijack “religious freedom” to legalize discrimination continues to be plagued by members of Satanic Temples invoking the same law to secure personal freedoms that governments routinely curtail. [Huffington Post]
* Cy Vance is barring donations to his campaign from lawyers with business before his office, resolving a conflict that was obvious to everyone but him. [ABC News]
* Mary Jo White admits Debevoise made a mistake in naming confidential witnesses in its report that functionally exonerated the University of Rochester in a massive sexual harassment investigation. Well, when they’re described as “confidential” witnesses this would seem to be a mistake. [American Lawyer]
* Prosecutors want to retry Senator Menendez and have a list of demands for the new trial like, “not letting defense attorneys talk.” [New Jersey Law Journal]
* HLS students open a startup bringing AI into document categorization following in the proud tradition of Harvard undergrads who dropped out to become tech moguls. [Legaltech News]
* Discrimination suit against Winston & Strawn hinges on what it means to be a “partner.” In other words, can firms placate attorneys with empty titles without accepting the consequences? [Litigation Daily]
* Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered map gets the benchslap. [NPR]
-
Microsoft Junks Arbitration Agreements In Show Of Support For #MeToo Movement
Companies use employment agreements to silence sexual harassment victims. Microsoft’s decided it’s time to change that.
-
* 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]
-
* Federal judicial nominee has no idea what a motion in limine is. EVERYTHING’S FINE!!!! [National Law Journal]
* “If law firm merger talks are the equivalent of dating, then firm leaders are playing the field.” Yeah… you’re gonna get an STD dude. [New York Law Journal]
* Dahlia Lithwick recounts her Koziniski story. [Slate]
* So Taylor Swift, an elephant, and a funeral home walk into a bar… [Legaltech News]
* Ole Miss needs a general counsel. Must be comfortable with hookers and racism! [Corporate Counsel]
* Whoa. “Career ending”? What the hell is going on? [Law360]
-
-
At Page Vault, we know it’s become vital that legal professionals specializing in cyber harassment understand where the harassment can take place.
-
Labor / Employment, On The Job, Silicon Valley, Technology
‘I’m a Creep,’ And Other Silicon Valley Mea Culpas: So What?
Employment lawyer Richard Cohen asks: What can be done about the persistent problem of sexual harassment?
-
* Settlements have been reached between Berkeley Law, the school’s former dean, and the dean’s former assistant. If you recall, then dean Sujit Chaudry was accused of sexually harassing his assistant, and as part of the settlement, he’ll have to pay $100K in fees and charitable donations, but will be considered to be on “sabbatical” until May 2018, keeping all of his benefits. Hmm, do we think this is fair? [Mercury News]
* “We have not livestreamed before, but that’s not to say that won’t happen in this case.” The Fourth Circuit is considering livestreaming oral arguments for travel ban 2.0, much like what the Ninth Circuit did with oral arguments for Trump’s first travel ban. Maybe you’ll be able to do some “professional development” billing… [National Law Journal]
* “Arkansas does not intend to torture plaintiffs to death.” Judge Kristine G. Baker (E.D. Ark.) has halted a whirlwind series of eight executions — the state’s first executions scheduled since 2005 — citing a “threat of irreparable harm” if the drug midazolam is used as part of the lethal injection drug protocol and somehow fails. [New York Times]
* More and more out-of-state Biglaw firms are flocking to Houston, Texas, to open their own offices, which has inspired many lawyers to leave their current firms for greener pastures — in terms of both money and opportunities. But is there enough legal work to go around with all of the new competition? Only time will tell. [Houston Chronicle]
* Ten Harvard Law student affinity groups are gunning for Professor David B. Wilkins to become the next dean of the school after Martha Minow steps down at the end of the year. They’ve written a letter to the university president, imploring him to take their advice and select their dean candidate for the position. Check it out. [Harvard Crimson]
-
Cyberlaw, Facebook, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Technology
Sex Offenders, Welcome to Facebook (Well, Kind Of)
Sex offenders are the easiest people to take away rights from. Even other criminals hate sex offenders. Their crimes are heinous, it’s unclear if recurring sex offenders can ever be “cured,” and if they ever get out of jail, even most progressives are happy to severely curtail their rights and freedoms. It’s tough to take […]