Billy McFarland

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.30.19

* What do Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland, and Jersey Shore star Mike Sorrentino all have in common? They may soon be inmates together at FCI Otisville, one of America's "cushiest" prisons. Oooh, looks like we've got a situation! [INSIDER] * "New York State’s campaign finance system is generally a scandal, and this is another example of it." Disgraced former New York AG Eric Schneiderman used campaign funds to pay the law firm that represented him during an investigation into allegations of his physical abusiveness, and people are pissed. [Associated Press] * Remember that meeting Ginni Thomas had with President Trump where she expressed her displeasure with transgender military service? Rest assured that Justice Clarence Thomas likely won't be recusing over it anytime soon. [Bloomberg Law] * A meaningful mouthful: The ABA passed a resolution asking that legal employers stop requiring mandatory arbitration for discrimination, harassment, or retaliation complaints "based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence." [ABA Journal] * Confused about your legal bills? You're not the only one. That's why the Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry Alliance is trying to introduce its “matter category standard” billing codes to simplify things for everyone. [American Lawyer]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.07.18

* Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who was paid six figures in exchange for not spilling the beans about her affair with Donald Trump, is now suing him, claiming that the "hush agreement" she entered into prior to the election is invalid because he never signed it. [Washington Post] * File this under Not Top Ten: Former ESPN legal analyst and sports anchor Adrienne Lawrence, a onetime associate of Greenberg Traurig, Arent Fox, and McGuireWoods, has filed a sexual harassment suit against the sports network, claiming that SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross constantly harassed her. [American Lawyer] * Not only will the government be able to seize more than $7.3 million of disgraced pharma bro Martin Shkreli's assets -- including his one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album -- but prosecutors want to throw him behind bars for no less than 15 years. [New York Law Journal] * Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce today that the Justice Department will be filing suit against California over its "sanctuary state" laws. As alleged in the complaint, the Golden State's laws -- AB 450, SB 54, and AB 103 -- were all created to impede immigration laws. [USA Today] * "When I heard the gun went off accidentally, that just didn’t ring true. Someone has to pull the trigger. They just don’t accidentally discharge." Prospective jurors in former Biglaw partner Claud "Tex" McIver's murder trial weren't exactly buying his defense. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] * Forget about the egregious law school tuition you'll have to pay in the future, because it can cost quite the pretty penny to apply to law school in the first place. You may want to look into fee waivers so you can save yourself some cash. [U.S. News] * Billy McFarland, the millennial entrepreneur who organized the disastrous Fyre Festival, has taken a plea deal after defrauding the investors who bought into the failed event. He's looking at sentence of eight to 10 years in prison. [Big Law Business]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.08.17

* President Trump included a signing statement when approving the funding legislation that will keep the government running through the end of September. In it, he questioned the limits of his spending power and suggested he'd ignore advance notice requirements for Congress when taking foreign policy and military actions, amid other troubling stances on legal matters. [Bloomberg Politics] * In other news, sometime this week -- possibly even later today -- President Trump is expected to announce some of his picks for the more than 120 vacancies in the lower federal courts, all of whom are known for their "scholarly credentials and 'intellectual boldness.'" As luck would have it, we already scooped predicted the names of many of the nominees. [New York Times] * #NoFilter necessary for this case: The End, a Brooklyn coffee shop, has filed suit against Starbucks, claiming the coffee giant copied its Unicorn Latte with its highly Instagrammable Unicorn Frappuccino. The End registered the name of its whimsical drink with the Patent and Trademark Office in January, and seeks all profits Starbucks made from its sale of its mythical sugar bomb. [Newsweek] * Even if you're a passenger in a car, you'll have no reprieve from police searches in this state. The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that police may ask for passengers' identification and run background checks on them -- without any suspicion of wrongdoing -- during traffic stops, and that doing so will not stand as a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. [FOX 13 Salt Lake City] * Think you've found the perfect person to write you a law school rec letter? Think again. "Like in the world of dating, it helps if your partner/prospective partner is supportive of your plans." Here are some red flags to look out for that may indicate your reference isn't going to meet your deadlines, isn't going to remember who you are, and isn't going to write you a glowing letter. [U.S. News] * Celebrity trial attorney Mark Geragos has filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit against rapper Ja Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland, the organizers of the ill-fated Fyre Festival, an event marked by "incompetence on an almost inconceivable scale." In an interview with Variety, Geragos referred to the disastrous event as a "Petri dish of fraud, incompetence and hubris." [Variety]

By Staci Zaretsky