AIG

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.14.16

* "Your complaint claims that it must speak for us because we are too afraid to speak for ourselves. That is not how we see ourselves and certainly not how any of us believes our clients and colleagues perceive us." Some female partners at Chadbourne & Parke are speaking out against the $100 million class-action sex discrimination lawsuit that's been filed on their behalf. We'll have more on this news update later today. [WSJ Law Blog] * Davis Polk is so desperate to improve gender diversity at the firm that it has launched an alumni rehiring program to give women who have opted to leave the firm to raise children a pathway back to an associate-level position. Participants in the program will earn $190K for one year, and may be offered a permanent job. [Am Law Daily] * Say hello to Michael Gerstenzang, who was elected as Cleary Gottlieb's new managing partner. He's been with the firm for his entire career as an attorney since the 1990s, and he'll continue to maintain his private equity and funds practice during his time serving as the firm's leader, or rather, its "listener in chief." Congratulations! [Legal Week] * The House of Representatives approved the Financial Choice Act, a bill meant to roll back portions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including the Volcker Rule and the Durbin Amendment. Critics had this to say: "This bill is so bad that it simply cannot be fixed. It's clear that this is a rushed, partisan messaging tool.” [DealBook / New York Times] * Sixteen years after the alleged fraud took place, ex-AIG chairman Hank Greenberg is standing trial. Although he's accused of orchestrating multimillion-dollar transactions, David Boies of Boies Schiller says "[t]his case is devoid of any admissible evidence that ties Mr. Greenberg to anything improper in either of these transactions." [Reuters] * Deborah Broyles, global diversity director at Reed Smith, RIP. [Big Law Business]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 08.13.15

* The legal battle over the AIG bailout rolls into the Federal Circuit. [DealBook / New York Times] * What does a lawyer say when he gets caught swapping fees for oral sex? Claim sex addiction, of course! [Legal Profession Blog] * The New Orleans public defender office is a testament to underfunding. [Buzzfeed News] * Charleston School of Law loses a dean right before school resumes. Yep, nothing wrong here! [South Carolina Lawyers Weekly] * Neighbors sue 8-year-old girl for being kind to animals (or sues her parents anyway). [KIRO] * A friend remembers John Ralston Pate. [What About Clients?] * A counterargument to the suggestion of suspect classification for poverty (final item). [PrawfsBlawg] * The ABA is diving into the world of legal publishing, riding the success of Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link). [Chicago Tribune] * A domestic violence defendant got the first name of his judge tattooed on his neck. Paul Clement has similar ink that reads "Nino." Check out the pic. [North Carolina Lawyers Weekly] CMToR96UAAAKHQh.jpg-large

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.15.15

* Hank Greenberg won his lawsuit against the government for illegally seizing insurance giant A.I.G. as part of a bailout. But the court awarded no damages, finding that shareholders weren't harmed by the takeover. So, to translate this, the court basically said to Greenberg, "You were so bad at running your business that a cabal of bureaucrats acting illegally did better for shareholders than you." That's... gotta sting. [New York Times] * Lost in the excitement of today's Baker Botts decision was the Supreme Court declining to save North Carolina's struck-down abortion law that would have required doctors to bend over backwards to dissuade women from getting an abortion. Over the dissent of Justice Scalia, the Court killed the law without giving it a chance. [Jezebel] * If you're going to Richmond, California, make sure you've left your Ultimate Nullifier at home. [Lowering the Bar] * Something finally goes wrong for wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. SPOILER: it's other wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. [Brownstoner] * Justice Ginsburg tells the crowd at the annual ACS Convention that Natalie Portman held up the upcoming RBG biopic, On the Basis of Sex, demanding that the film have a female director. Men's rights activists can take heart that a man will be directing the inevitable porn version. [The Week] * Alan Dershowitz worries that the Zivotofsky decision gives the White House too much power over foreign policy as opposed to some myopic former water commissioner awash in lobbyist money from AIPAC and apocalyptic-minded Evangelicals Congress. [The Blaze] * Do you hate patent trolls? Good. Consider supporting this feature comedy film trolling patent trolls. [Indiegogo] * If you're in D.C. Thursday morning, come hear our own David Lat discuss the future of the Roberts Court with some other people who are nowhere near as important. Like congresspeople and former federal judges and such. [Politico]

By Joe Patrice
Cellphones

Non-Sequiturs: 10.09.14

* Zombies responsible for tort. It’s like Walking Dead but with more motion practice. [PrawfsBlawg] * As much as you hate pocket dialing someone, you don’t hate it as much as these people who pocket dialed 911 while making a drug deal. [Legal Juice] * Ever wonder why AIG seemed to fare much worse under the bailout than the banks? Perhaps that’s because the government used the AIG bailout to play favorites and help out all their banking buddies. [Medium] * Here’s one out of left field: Oregon’s first lady had a secret marriage to an 18-year-old immigrant 11 years her junior. Was this a “green card marriage” (i.e., a felony)? My home state doesn’t have great luck with political figures and legal trouble. [Willamette Week] * Is law one of the most profitable industries for private companies? Of course it is. [Inc.] * Guess what? Spending decades decrying “for’ners” for stealing hard-earned American cash, people consistently believe we spend tons more on foreign aid than we really do. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Legendary plaintiffs’ attorney Fred Levin talks about the ongoing effort to demonize plaintiffs lawyers. Video after the jump…. [Mimesis Law]

By Joe Patrice
2nd Circuit

Non-Sequiturs: 12.09.13

* Good news if you’re a better golfer than your buddies: if you play in New Jersey, you’re not liable when another member of your group injures someone with an errant ball hit into the proverbial lumber yard. On the other hand, you’ll have to be in New Jersey. [The Legal Blitz] * Hank Greenberg continues his effort to throw roadblocks in the way of the NY AG investigation into AIG. Now he’s accusing the AAG on the case of ethical lapses, which is only fair since that’s what everyone else is accusing Greenberg of. [NY Daily News] * It’s official: Biglaw fees are unreasonable. At least by South Florida standards. [South Florida Lawyers] * A Nevada judge was charged with misdemeanor manslaughter in the death of a bicyclist. If convicted, he could spend up to six months in jail. I’d like to imagine this would play out a lot like when Rorschach went to prison. [Associated Press] * Congratulations to Jennifer J. Johnson on being named the new dean of Lewis & Clark. Try to avoid any censorship scandals! [Lewis & Clark] * If you’re in NYC tomorrow evening, the New York City Bar Association is hosting a free event titled “The First Amendment in an Age of Terror” featuring Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall University School of Law; James Goodale of Debevoise & Plimpton; Judge Robert D. Sack; Spencer Ackerman, the U.S. National Security Editor for The Guardian; and Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union. [New York City Bar Association] * Syracuse College of Law students have an early Law Revue video for us. Strap in for a Mariah Carey parody that involves a baby getting a hatchet to the face. That sounds way darker than it really is. Video embedded below….

By Joe Patrice
1st Circuit

Morning Docket: 06.27.13

* Edith Windsor’s lawyer said she thought her client’s case was “simple,” but it proved to take a little longer than she thought to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. [New York Law Journal] * Conservative pols are up in arms about the SCOTUS decisions, promising to file constitutional amendments, but like Rand Paul said, “As a country, we can agree to disagree.” [Washington Post] * Nate Silver breaks down gay marriage by the numbers. By August, 30% of Americans will live in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized. [FiveThirtyEight / New York Times] * Wherein the ancient artifacts of a once storied and prestigious Biglaw firm are touted by a furniture liquidation company as “like new, for less!” Dewey know how embarrassing this is? [Am Law Daily] * Sorry, Joel Tenenbaum, but the First Circuit affirmed your $675K debt to the RIAA. That’s what happens when you blame illegal downloads on burglars and foster kids. [Law & Disorder / Ars Technica] * It looks like David Boies claimed two victories yesterday. The Court of Federal Claims gave Maurice Greenberg the green light to sue the U.S. over the terms of AIG’s bailout. [DealBook / New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 04.26.13

* The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to wade into the constitutional contretemps of recess appointments, but if the high court refuses to take up the case, it may be back to the drawing board for the NLRB. [National Law Journal] * The Am Law 100 law firm rankings are out, and it looks like there’s a new leader of the pack in terms of gross revenue. But which firm could it be? Not Skadden or Baker & McKenzie. We’ll likely have coverage on this later. [American Lawyer] * Apparently the FBI wanted to continue questioning Dzhokhar Tsarnaev under Miranda’s public-safety exception, but a judge read the accused bomber his rights anyway. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)] * “This case is over. Someone should put it out of its misery.” Be that as it may, New York’s attorney general is desperate to get AIG’s Maurice Greenberg on the stand at trial. [DealBook / New York Times] * “I have had it with these motherf**king snakes in my motherf**king files!” This spring, clerks in this old Mississippi courthouse are finding more and more snakes filed under “Ssssssss.” [Associated Press]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 04.09.13

* Oh mon dieu, Justice Breyer was inducted as one of just 12 foreign members of France’s Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. C’est très chouette pour un Américain, non? [New York Times] * Man, for a four-seeded firm that got knocked out of our March Madness competition after the Sweet Sixteen, Davis Polk is looking great in 2013′s first quarter as far as legal advising in M&A deals goes. [Am Law Daily] * Brown Rudnick picked up a California boutique, and it’ll be doubled in size through lateral hiring. No layoffs are currently expected, but no one really advertises that as a merger selling point. [National Law Journal] * The New York Times: bringing you last month’s news, today! South Dakota is offering a subsidy for law school tuition to keep lawyers in the state. Here’s our post from two weeks ago. [New York Times] * Pace Law School’s “low bono” residency program was praised by New York’s Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, but if you’ve got other job offers, Dear Lord, take one of them. [New York Law Journal] * AIG wants to prevent Hank Greenberg from suing in its name, probably because it’d prefer not to be known as “the poster company for corporate ingratitude and chutzpah.” [DealBook / New York Times] * “[D]o I cover this really important story and maybe go to jail?” That’s the choice Jana Winter is facing after reporting on James Holmes’s massacre notebook and refusing to reveal her sources. [CNN]

By Staci Zaretsky
Law Schools

Non-Sequiturs: 01.24.13

* Twitter ordered to out anti-Semitic users by a French court. France wants to know the names of the anti-Semites so they can surrender to them. [Thomson Reuters News & Insights] * How are you feeling, Vermont Law School? Right now, you don’t look so good. [Constitutional Daily] * Now you too can see why AIG decided to not sue the government that bailed them out. [Dealbreaker] * Seems like these Catholic hospitals aren’t so strident about when life begins when there’s a malpractice lawsuit on the line. [Raw Story] * Though, according to some Republicans, fetuses might still be evidence — evidence that rape victims should not be allowed to “tamper” with (what a wonderful little party the GOP has going there). [Gawker] * Orly Taitz: Still Bats**t crazy. [Huffington Post] * The Maryland State Police have to turn over racial profiling complaints to the NAACP. Man, wouldn’t that have made a good season of The Wire? “The Staties.” Carcetti would be Governor. McNulty would be getting away from it all by tending bar in the D.C. area, only to get sucked back in when he passes a state trooper arresting Bubs for driving while black through Takoma Park. [Baltimore Sun]

By Elie Mystal