Amy Wax

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.16.19

* "This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious. We're here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not hold a full vote to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump -- yet. [POLITICO; CNN] * Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, has officially failed to comply with a congressional subpoena. According to Giuliani, despite the fact that he's reportedly the subject of numerous federal investigations, Jon Sale is no longer repping him, saying, "At this time, I do not need a lawyer." Good luck with that, bro. [The Hill] * You may remember Mossack Fonseca from the Panama Papers case, but now you'll remember the firm as the one that sued Netflix for libel and trademark infringement for portraying its attorneys as villains in the new movie “The Laundromat.” Catch the flick this Friday from your couch. [Big Law Business] * Students from Penn Law are marching to demand that Professor Amy Wax be shown the door. "We’re hoping that today people will join our call to fire her just to create a more inclusive space at the Law School that actually rectifies the harm that is being done." But will it work? [Daily Pennsylvanian] * In case you missed it, jurors recommended life in prison for Sigfredo Garcia after finding him guilty of murdering Professor Dan Markel, and a judge another 30 years on top for conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors still intend to retry Katherine Magbanua. [Tallahassee Democrat] * Sign up here if you’d like to take part in a conversation between best-selling author John Grisham and former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara (S.D.N.Y.) tonight. I’ll be there to cover the event for Above the Law, and I hope to see you there. [TimesTalks]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.23.19

* After days of unrest following news of a whistleblower report concerning Donald Trump's alleged conversations with Ukraine's leader about investigating former VP Joe Biden, the president now acknowledges that he did discuss Biden, and that he did acccuse him of corruption, but he left out the part about where he reportedly urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to work on investigation with Rudy Giuliani... repeatedly. Lawmakers are understandably up in arms. [New York Times; Wall Street Journal] * House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff says that "we may very well have crossed the Rubicon here" and that impeachment may be "the only remedy" if Trump did, in fact, pressure Ukraine to investigate a political opponent. [Slate] * Meanwhile, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has demanded that Attorney General William Barr release the Ukranian whistleblower complaint to lawmakers ASAP, as required by law. [The Hill] * Penn Law recently held a town hall meeting with students to discuss Amy Wax, and the controversial professor is pissed, claiming not only that she wasn't invited but that she had no idea about the meeting's existence in the first place. [Philly Voice] * How do you like them apples? Whitey Bulger's family plans to file a $200 million wrongful death claim against the government over his prison murder. [Boston Herald]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.23.19

* The DOJ sent a newsletter to the nation's immigration judges including links to a white nationalist website. Bill Barr is running a real crackerjack organization. [Buzzfeed News] * A deep question and answer exchange with Penn Law's Amy Wax and she comes off just as loony as you'd expect. [New Yorker] * It looks like Michael Avenatti is going to put Nike on trial in his upcoming extortion suit. [Law360] * A Brad Pitt role holds the key to being a good prosecutor. It's not Tyler Durden and that's a little surprising. [ABA Journal] * Weil Gotshal may have cost investment bankers millions, leaving them mere multimillionaires. [NY Post] * Ed Whelan seems to have no idea how law review articles are written in this tortured effort to defend Trump circuit appointee Steve Menashi's reputation. Essentially, Whelan says because Menashi's controversial article was cited by real academics it must be real scholarship -- as opposed to a 2L randomly inserting Menashi into a string cite. [National Review] * Nicholas Sparks won that fight he's been having with the former headmaster of his vanity school. [Deadline]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.24.19

* Donald Trump seems particularly irritated that former special counsel Robert Mueller will be testifying today before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees on the "witch hunt" that's plagued his presidency. Get ready for a tweetstravaganza! [CNN] * Professor Amy Wax of Penn Law has been professionally scolded by the dean of the school after condemning her recent comments as racist and "repugnant," and now comes news that she'll soon be taking a previously scheduled -- but awfully conveniently timed -- sabbatical. [Law.com] * But before you get too excited, Professor Wax says that she has "no plans" to leave Penn Law on a permanent basis. In fact, here's what she said about the speculation that she'd be leaving for good: "The students need me. When I’m gone, the place goes full North Korea. (It’s 95% there)." [Big Law Business] * Professor Bruce Hay of Harvard Law gets taken for the ride of his life after an alleged paternity trap left him homeless, out of work thanks to sexual harassment claims, and up to his eyeballs in litigation. [The Cut / New York Magazine] * This personal finance website wants to know: What is Biglaw, and what kind of salary should you expect? Very cute! If you want to know the real deal, you happen to be looking at the website that most closely tracks Biglaw salaries. [Nerdwallet] * Xi Chen, the bus driver who struck and killed Kimberly Greer, a law clerk at the Southern District of New York, took a no-jail plea deal earlier this week. He'll lose his license for six months and must pay $1K in fines. [New York Post]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.22.19

* In a series of wide-ranging interviews across the political spectrum — or “Fake News,” per President Trump — the commander in chief’s closest allies admitted that they didn’t think he had any idea what he’d done or what kind of havoc he’d wreaked with his racist tweets. [Washington Post] * According to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report contains "very substantial evidence" that the president is "guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.” Let’s see if Mueller’s testimony can change any minds on impeachment. [CNN] * After one scandal too many, it looks like Deutsche Bank has decided to hire someone new to look after its legal and regulatory affairs. [Corporate Counsel] * Students and alumni from Penn Law are calling for Professor Amy Wax’s ouster from faculty teaching duties following her latest foray into racism. [Big Law Business] * Aside from Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld and Clayton Kozinski, who else will be clerking for Supreme Court justices for the upcoming October term? In addition to these controversial choices, we’ve got the second blind person to ever clerk at the high court, and someone who was picked dead last in the 2010 MLB draft. [Associated Press] * Joan Bullock, former dean of Thomas Jefferson Law School, has decamped to become Dean at the Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Congrats! [National Jurist]

By Staci Zaretsky