Travel Ban
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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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* President Donald Trump rejects reports that he’s considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller, while offering a less-than-ringing endorsement of his relationship with Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “It is what it is.” [New York Times]
* Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, whose house was the subject of a predawn raid by the FBI, parts ways with WilmerHale and goes back to his former lawyers at Miller & Chevalier. [National Law Journal]
* Meanwhile, the Trump administration files its opening brief in the Supreme Court in the travel ban litigation. [How Appealing]
* Georgetown Law launches a new con-law center, the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, led by star SCOTUS litigator Neal Katyal, former National Security Council official Joshua Geltzer, and former Justice Department official Mary McCord. [ABA Journal]
* Some Democratic senators claim that the White House isn’t consulting them enough about judicial nominations. [Politico]
* The hype may exceed the reality on alternative-fee arrangements — but not at pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, which takes an aggressive and innovative approach to AFAs. [Am Law Daily]
* Settling the “pink slime” litigation cost Disney/ABC how much? [How Appealing]
* Also not cheap: the costs of bad-faith discovery spoliation. [Big Law Business]
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* Buyer’s remorse: Trump says he wouldn’t have hired Jeff Sessions if he’d known Sessions would follow the law. [New York Times]
* Your grandma is now officially part of your close family according to the Supreme Court. [SCOTUSBlog]
* A fitting end to Trump’s “Made in America Week”? Star of “O.J.: Made In America” may get out today (or… get approval to get out in a couple months to be more accurate). [NBC News]
* White & Case slapped with record fine over conflict of interest. [Law.com]
* Andy Pincus mouths off about CFPB arbitration rule: “quite an extraordinary moment to see this agency, notwithstanding the election, six months into the new administration, issue this very dramatic and far-reaching rule.” You mean the election where Trump got 3 million fewer votes? Yeah, the CFPB may be more plugged into the will of the electorate than you are. [National Law Journal]
* New York City has extended the right to counsel to tenants. Here’s one City Councilman’s statement on the measure. [City & State]
* Second Circuit backhands federal prosecutors over foreign compelled testimony. [Forbes]
* When GCs become propaganda mouthpieces… a look at what ISP GCs are saying about the need to repeal net neutrality rules. [Corporate Counsel]
* Things that are a problem: Revenge Porn. Things that aren’t a problem: Revenge Editing. Someone explain that to this college. [Chronicle of Higher Education]
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* Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams pleads guilty to accepting a bribe, ending his ongoing federal corruption trial and his tenure as DA — and sending him straight to jail, since Judge Paul Diamond denied bail. [ABA Journal]
* The Trump administration moves forward on implementing the travel ban (and has reversed its earlier determination that being engaged to marry an American doesn’t count as “a bona fide” connection to this country). [New York Times]
* Colorado baker Jack Phillips, petitioner in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that the Supreme Court will hear next Term, explains his refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. [How Appealing]
* DLA Piper, hit by a major ransomware attack earlier this week, endures its third consecutive day without email. [Law360]
* And DLA isn’t the only Biglaw firm with big weaknesses in cybersecurity, as Ian Lopez reports. [Law.com]
* Lawyer turned television host Greta Van Susteren has been let go by MSNBC (after just six months). [Vanity Fair]
* The tragic case of Charlie Gard comes to an end: the European Court of Human Rights declines to review prior court rulings refusing to let the terminally ill 10-month-old boy travel to the U.S. for experimental treatment. [Washington Post]
* Drs. John Eastman and Sohan Dasgupta break down the Trinity Lutheran case. [Claremont Institute]
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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] -
* 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]