Morning Docket

* General Counsels make bank. [Corporate Counsel] * Southerners trying to carpetbag New York’s U.S. Senate seat need to get on board with gay marriage. [New York Times] * Google v. China. [Wall Street Journal] * in case you haven’t seen it, Conan O’Brien’s letter to Earth is brilliant. But notice how many times he […]

* New Jersey may have nixed gay marriage, but it’s cool with medical marijuana. [New York Times] * Speaking of the Garden State, the legislature there has given the green light to unionization of prosecutors. [NJ.com] * The Proposition 8 trial gets underway in California, as Ted Olson asks: “What does it mean to be […]

* Does moving Jay Leno back to 11:35 trigger Conan O’Brien’s (allegedly huge) buyout clause? [USA Today] * I think the city of New York has an unhealthy interest in my diet. [ABC News] * All rise … for a fun SCOTUS term. [National Law Journal] * Ted Olson makes the conservative case for gay […]

* Obama won’t weather this advertorial use of his image. [New York Post via Fashionista] * New Jersey follows New York’s lead on gay marriage. [Star Ledger] * North Face sues South Butt. [South Butt] * Seven lessons for working with regulators. [Young Lawyers Blog] * Insider-trading Canadian lawyer Stan Grmovsek gets 39 months. His […]

* Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker gets digital-jiggy with it. The federal trial over Prop 8 and gay marriage will be broadcast on YouTube. [ABC News] * Ponzi-scheming Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein is going down without a fight. [Reuters] * You’re not worth $160,000. [Business Insider] * Yay. Lots of Americans need lawyers. [Tax […]

* Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) — a lawyer, like a number of his Senate colleagues (University of Louisville ’72) — won’t seek reelection this year. [Washington Post] * The D.C. Circuit rules in favor of the presidential war power to hold Guantanamo Bay detainees, with Judge Janice Rogers Brown swatting away a request for release […]

* Is it me or is Justice Scalia running his mouth a lot lately? [ABA Journal] * The Las Vegas courthouse gunman has been identified as a 66-year-old man. [New York Times] * Did you know you could use Twitter to harass lawyers you don’t like? [Legal Blog Watch] * Senator Charles Schumer wants the […]

* Happy 2010. Welcome back to work. We read the New York Times on Sunday so you wouldn’t have to. [Above The Law] * Judge Ricardo Urbina throws out the baby with the Blackwater because of the DOJ’s overzealousness. [Washington Post] * Patricia Cohen, the ex-wife of the hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, swapped […]

* Robert Morgenthau, the 90-year-old legal legend, concludes 35 years of service as district attorney of Manhattan. [CNN] * A gestational mother is held to be the legal mother of twin girls, even though she contracted to carry them for her brother and his husband and is not genetically related to the twins. [New York […]

* Ninth Circuit to police: Don’t tase him, bros. [How Appealing (linkwrap)] * The AIG email trail could provide evidence for criminal and civil actions related to the company. [Washington Post] * The Christmas day bomber incident renews the debate over full-body scans and how to strike the proper balance between security and privacy. [New […]

* AIG’s general counsel cashes out. [Marketwatch] * Scathing report issued in the death of 37-year-old lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, in a Moscow prison cell. [New York Times] * Judge Charles Bernstein wants to stay on the bench and is claiming that forced retirement is unconstitutional. [Daily Record and Baltimore Sun] * Job watch in […]

* Airport security rules being reexamined after the Northwest 253 scare. [New York Times] * Advice from lawyers who graduated during the 1990s recession: “Don’t panic.” [ABA Journal] * This may be more embarrassing than ordering an appletini. [New York Post] * We hope 2010 brings closure for Dahlia Lithwick’s novel, which she hoped to […]

* Next year, Santa will need to make sure his elves have health care. [Politico] * Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor gets serious about bringing an end to judicial elections. [New York Times] * Arnold Schwarzenegger wants cert for Christmas. [True/Slant] * Los Angeles judge protects porn stars’ right to bareback. [Associated Press] […]

* It’s beginning to look a lot like … what? We’re still working? The whole team? Oh all right. [ABC News] * Gatesgate 2: The Prequel. [Courthouse News Service] * Yes, to your friend, Forbes Magazine, you will listen about the wisdom of applying to law school. [Forbes] * An exodus from Dickstein Shapiro to […]

* The decade’s 25 biggest legal stories. [National Law Journal] * A former Fried Frank litigation associate, Julie Kamps, who previously filed a employment discrimination claim, is now filing a lawsuit against the firm, alleging sexual harassment by a female partner and discrimination because she is gay. She’s suing for $50 million and partnership. If […]

* If you’re a regular ATL reader, this Bloomberg article on law firm bonuses being squeezed won’t hold many surprises. [Bloomberg] * Being naked in your own home is a crime. [The Post Chronicle] * In 2007, a National Enquirer reporter spotted Tiger Woods visiting a church parking lot for some non-religious ecstasy. Los Angeles […]

* Elin lawyers up. [Daily News] * Meanwhile, Accenture is shredding Tiger’s memory. They’ve got some experience in this area. [Going Concern] * Oh yeah, John Edwards. Also a philanderer. [Politics Daily] * The Federal Circuit benchslaps the Eastern District of Texas — for the fourth time in the past year — over the issue […]

* Mumbai high court upholds 1995 decision invalidating licenses for White & Case, Ashurst and Chadbourne & Park to open firms in India. Unless the government changes the law, that goes for any other non-Indian firm that wants to open an office there. Partnerships with Indian firms and offshore work still welcome, of course. [Bloomberg] […]

* Microsoft reaches a settlement with European antitrust regulators, agreeing to give Windows users a choice of browsers. [New York Times] * Garth Brooks is suing his hometown hospital for half a mill. (If we had knowledge of any of his music, we’d engage in some wordplay here based on an album or song title, […]

* Elizabeth Wurtzel pens a column for the Wall Street Journal on the law firm meltdown. [Wall Street Journal] * Not only can they not Facebook friend lawyers before them, judges need to start unfriending lawyer friends they currently have. [St. Petersburg Times] * Elin’s talking to a divorce lawyer, if you believe Britain’s News […]