Recent Headlines from Above the Law
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Law Schools
Law School Sues Government For Right To Get Back To Collecting Tuition While Students Fail The Bar
And now we enter the final act. -
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Law Schools
Law School Operated 'Recklessly' According To Department Of Education
The school disputes the findings. -
Law Schools
Troubled Law School Dealt Another Setback
There just doesn't seem to be an end of the trouble for Florida Coastal Law. -
Law Schools
Law School Gets Cut Off From Student Loan Funds... Again
More trouble for Florida Coastal Law. -
Law Schools
Going To These Law Schools Is Pretty Much Never A Good Idea
New DOE debt figures confirm that some schools are a rotten deal. -
Law Schools
Lawsuit Against Struggling Law School Alleges They Tried To 'Artificially Inflate' Bar Exam Passage Rate
The lawsuit alleges the law school tried to 'weed out students' prior to graduation. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.28.19
* Uh-oh! In the wake of Michael Cohen’s testimony, Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee sent letters to President Trump’s tax attorney from Morgan Lewis and the Trump Organization’s outside counsel from Michael Best requesting their appearance for a “transcribed interview.” [National Law Journal]
* After widespread rebuke, the Florida Bar has officially opened an ethics investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz’s alleged witness tampering of Michael Cohen via tweet prior to his testimony before the House Oversight Committee. [Daily Business Review]
* Milbank’s profits exceeded the $1 billion mark in 2018, which the firm is absolutely thrilled about. The firm less thrilled about its all-male partner class, and unlike in prior years, they haven’t been listed in a press release. [New York Law Journal]
* Hot on the heels of announcing it intends to become a nonprofit, Florida Coastal Law asked a court to dismiss the accreditation suit it filed against the ABA, saying it’s “no longer necessary to protect the interests of our students.” [ABA Journal]
* “For decades a lot of young lawyers have missed opportunities to build families and this technology puts that ability back into their hands.” Bill now, procreate later? Lawyers are flocking to freeze their eggs and embryos. [American Lawyer]
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Law Schools
Struggling Law School Vows To Change Its Ways, Triple In Size
The last InfiLaw school left standing recently announced its plans to convert to a nonprofit institution. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.06.19
* Only four Supreme Court justices attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last night. Chief Justice John Roberts was accompanied in the front row by Justices Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh — who still likes beer, but was unable to participate in any #SOTU drinking games. [USA Today]
* Biglaw partnership classes are getting smaller and smaller, which is making it that much harder for women and minorities to advance at their firms. In fact, it’s becoming a scenario where “at the end of the day, when they look around and look at who’s now reached the level of seniority to be considered, they’re left with a lot of white men.” [American Lawyer]
* “I wouldn’t be surprised if the next industry to see a #MeToo movement would be in the legal industry.” It’s already happening, but it seems that the mainstream media is just now discovering that the legal profession is a prestigious breeding ground for sexual harassment. [CBS News]
* In case you missed it, earlier this week Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her first public appearance since undergoing a pulmonary lobectomy in late December to attend “Notorious RBG in Song,” a concert written and performed by her daughter-in-law. [Big Law Business]
* Vanessa Tyson, the woman who’s accusing Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax of sexual misconduct, has hired the same law firm Dr. Christine Blasey Ford used to guide her through her testimony against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. [Salon]
* Florida Coastal Law is reportedly ditching its owner Infilaw and its status as a for-profit institution to join with a non-profit university partner. The school is also planning to double or triple its student base. We’ll have more on this later today. [Jacksonville Business Journal]
* Jerry Sandusky will be resentenced for his child sex abuse conviction, since he received a mandatory minimum sentence of 30-60 years, and it has since become unconstitutional for judges to impose sentences based on mandatory minimums. Keep in mind, his new sentence could very well be the exact same. [Reuters]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.05.18
* Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings will continue today, and we imagine that when his rulings are discussed, he’ll be pummeled on own “frozen trucker” case — but his involves a killer whale. [National Law Journal]
* Special counsel Robert Mueller says he’ll accept written answers from President Donald Trump on questions related to whether his campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. As for the obstruction question, it seems like Mueller still wants an interview. [New York Times]
* The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached settlements totaling about $216,815 with the former leaders of failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf. Of course, that’s nowhere near multimillion-dollar fraud that’s been alleged, but at this point, Dewey even care anymore? [American Lawyer]
* According to the American Bar Association, Florida Coastal Law, the last InfiLaw school left standing, is still out of compliance with accreditation standards. Coastal is already suing the ABA, so this latest decision is sure to inspire some additional filings from the school. [ABA Journal]
* North Dakota Law has welcomed more than two dozen students who fled from beleaguered Arizona Summit Law with open arms. Why have so many Summit students flocked to Roughrider Country? All of their credits will be accepted there, which is a pretty good reason. [Bismarck Tribune]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.27.18
* A Republican-appointed federal judge has ordered that families separated at the border be reunited within 30 days, and if children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of her order. [USA Today]
* Immigration attorney Andrea Martinez claims that an ICE officer broke her foot and detained her in a room while she was covered in blood as she attempted to drop off a 3-year-old boy to be reunited with his pregnant mother before they were deported to Honduras. [Daily Beast]
* “Did Justice Anthony Kennedy Just Signal His Retirement? The depressing defeatism of Kennedy’s work this term indicates his time on the court could be coming to an end.” Given the fact that Justice Kennedy’s recent opinions have seemed a bit phoned-in… Rick Hasen might just be right. [Slate]
* In case you missed it amid all of the fanfare of Biglaw’s 2018 associate salary raise, the public interest pay gap is now even larger. Public interest salaries have been stagnant for way too long. In fact, according to NALP’s Public Service Attorney Salary Survey, the median entry-level salary is just $48,000. [Big Law Business]
* Sedgwick, the dearly departed Biglaw firm that suddenly closed its doors in January, is now facing a $450,000+ default judgment in a landlord/tenant lawsuit, which includes $31,982 in “failure to vacate” fees. Oopsie. [American Lawyer]
* Even though Florida Coastal has filed suit against the ABA, the law school accreditor has decided to extend a little olive branch to the school. It won’t have to reveal its weak first-time bar exam pass rate record to current students. [Daily Business Review]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.19.18
* Florida Coastal seeks restraining order against ABA requirement that the school to let students know that they’ll probably not be passing the bar exam. [Daily Business Review]
* Kris Kobach lost his effort to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters based on a series of rank fabrications… but the best part is the judge ordered him to attend CLE as punishment for his cluelessness throughout the trial. [Courthouse News Service]
* Cadwalader Cabinet functions as the “Bloomberg Terminal for financial regulation.” [American Lawyer]
* … And then promptly loses its financial services co-chair to Debevoise. So it’s an up and down kind of day down there. [American Lawyer]
* MillerCoors and Pabst locked in bitter legal battle. Why do mommy and daddy have to fight like this? [CNBC]
* Conversations with minority partners. [Law360]
* A call for Silicon Valley to get behind a privacy law. [Politico]
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Law Schools
Good Law Schools Are All Alike; Every Bad Law School Is Bad In Its Own Way
ABA seeks MDL treatment For InfiLaw suits. -
Law Schools
Yet Another Subpar Law School Sues The ABA In 'Accreditation-By-Lawsuit' Strategy
It looks like Kirkland & Ellis is pretty sure the ABA is out of money. -
Law Schools
Another Terrible Law School Has Sued The ABA For Pointing Out That It's Terrible
The terrifying prospect is that the ABA may just not have the ability to fight these suits. -
Law Schools
Law School Sues ABA For 'Attacking Diversity' And, Like, Doing Its Job
The school's only good argument is that the ABA is bad at its job. -
Law Schools
Oh No, Are We Going To Create Another Law School?
The Jacksonville Jaguars are somehow involved in a potential new law school and this all sounds like a terrible idea. -
Law Schools
Which Law School Has Been Put Up For Rent?
How much is a law school going for these days? -
Law Schools
10 Law Schools Sanctioned By The ABA -- More To Come?
The ABA is going after poorly performing law schools and more may be in the crosshairs.