Breaking Bad

* Judge Judy’s lawsuit against a former broadcast partner about allegedly unpaid profits is heating up. Maybe they can resolve their differences on The People’s Court… [Deadline]

* A lawyer for the first woman to face a federal execution in decades is seeking a delay of the execution because the attorney is battling COVID-19. [Yahoo News]

* It has been recently revealed that one of Jeffrey Epstein’s defense lawyers, who got Epstein a “sweetheart” plea bargain in 2009, previously dated a top prosecutor involved with the deal. [New York Post]

* New Jersey policymakers have moved to name a building at Rutgers University after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who taught at Rutgers Law between 1963 and 1972. [New Jersey Law Journal]

* A lawyer has been sentenced to four years in prison for allegedly smuggling meth to clients in jail. Going to refrain from making a lazy Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul joke here… [Texarkana Gazette]

* A North Dakota lawyer has been disbarred for trying to sell drugs. This might be the perfect mix of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. [Bloomberg Law]

* Attorney General Barr has reportedly told friends he would like to remain Attorney General if President Trump wins reelection. [Washington Post]

* A former Virginia lawyer has been indicted on federal charges related to financial misconduct. [ABC News]

* The Attorney General of New York is reportedly preparing a list of Trump actions for Joe Biden to undo if he wins the upcoming election. [NBC News]

* Canada Dry has settled a lawsuit alleging that the company falsely claimed health benefits for its ginger ale. They should have advertised how it makes a good chaser instead… [Fox News]

* A Texas lawyer is accused of smuggling meth into a county jail. Maybe this lawyer has been watching too much Breaking Bad. [Houston Chronicle]

* The lawyer for a man accused of firing shots after an argument over masks escalated claims his client is “not handling the pandemic well.” That seems like an understatement. [NBC News]

* A Chinese artificial intelligence company has filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Apple, alleging that Apple infringed on its patents. [CNBC]

* Senate Republicans are divided over whether they would move to fill a Supreme Court vacancy that occurs before the election. [Hill]

* A mysterious death has resulted in a $2 million life insurance settlement. Sounds like the plot of a John Grisham novel… [Daily Business Review]

An attorney who shook his butt at an adversary during a mediation has avoided court sanctions. Maybe the lawyer was just showing off some dance moves? [Texas Lawyer]

* The New York Attorney General’s Office is questioning officials at NBC over sexual harassment allegations. [New York Daily News]

* HUD has agreed to pay $17,800 to settle a lawsuit about records relating to Ben Carson’s bible study. [Fox News]

* Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, is suing SoftBank for allegedly backing out of a deal to buy stock from Neumann and other shareholders. [New York Times]

* A woman who was arrested because her cotton candy mistakenly tested positive for meth has recovered no damages. The officers must have watched a little too much Breaking Bad. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

* Three Indiana judges are in hot water after they partied until 3 a.m., headed to a strip club, and got shot at during a brawl outside of a White Castles. Apparently another judge who went inside the White Castle was unharmed and avoided discipline, which just shows you the power of the crave. [New York Times]

* The Florida Bar is seeking to suspend a Florida lawyer whose pants caught on fire during an arson trial. Maybe he was a “liar, liar”… [Miami Herald]

* A Manhattan judge ruled in favor of Marc Kasowitz’s client, but never disclosed that he received campaign donations from Kasowitz and an associate. [New York Daily News]

* A Texas lawyer has been accused of conspiring with a funeral home to illicitly solicit clients. I guess instead of being an “ambulance chaser” this attorney is accused of being a “hearse chaser.” [Texas Lawyer]

* Planned Parenthood has won a civil lawsuit against parties responsible for undercover videos of Planned Parenthood activities. [Independent]

* Two Arkansas chemistry professors have been charged with cooking meth. Hopefully, they did not use Breaking Bad as their inspiration. [Washington Post]

Of course, the stories are fictional and overly dramatized so people will read or watch them.

Last week's episode may be the first truly memorable Better Call Saul episode.

Better Call Saul is a very good show, but it has something of an identity problem.

Federal judge binge-watches shows and can't stop thinking about them when he's at work.

Culture columnist Harry Graff looks back on the year that was in law-related television, books, and movies.

* Amal Clooney of Doughty Street Chambers, who happens to be married to George Clooney, is being heralded as an “exotic, luxe-brand Princess Diana upgrade.” Lesson learned: marry a celebrity and your legal credentials look awesome. [New York Magazine]

* If you’re into fashion at the high court, this satirical news website managed to get an exclusive photo of all of the Supreme Court justices in their new spaghetti strap sun-robes. You know what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg must be thinking about her colleagues: “Do you even lift?” [The Onion]

* The William Mitchell Law professors who filed suit against the school to protect the tenure code after its merger with Hamline Law was announced have voluntarily dropped their case. Apparently no harm will come to the precious after all. [National Law Journal]

* Vicente Sederberg, a firm that focuses on marijuana law, will sponsor a three-year professorship for marijuana law and policy at Denver Law. Sam Kamin will be the first to hold the position. Come see him at ATL’s marijuana reception in June. [The Cannabist]

* Everyone in the legal community likes to complain about the fact that law reviews are useless because no one reads them. We dare you to complain about an entire law review issue dedicated to the legal problems presented in AMC’s Breaking Bad. [WSJ Law Blog]

“You don’t want a criminal lawyer. You want a criminal lawyer.” If you like Breaking Bad, watch Better Call Saul.

* A Saul Goodman Bobblehead. You know you want it. [Amazon (affiliate link)] * It looks like that Jimmy John’s non-compete agreement we reported on is going to spawn a congressional inquiry. [Huffington Post] * His dreams of becoming a solicitor were sidetracked when he was “jailed for slapping a sleeping woman in the face […]

* Jury writes judge a note asking for a “big bottle of wine.” It’s gonna be a long night. [Southern District of Florida Blog] * As it turns out, some Redditors are morons who don’t understand law. Glad we cleared that up. [The Concourse] * There’s a Kickstarter for an Ally McBeal podcast. If you love talking about unisex bathrooms, here’s a golden opportunity. [Kickstarter] * Attention law students: there’s a $500 prize in it if you can craft a winning blog post. [The Expert Institute] * Terrible, terrible advertising. [Copyranter] * A Simpson Thacher associate is planning to row across the Atlantic to support cancer research. [Remacae] * These teacher tenure suits are so stupid and completely miss the real reason public schools have trouble. And the lead plaintiff inadvertently confessed just how off the mark he is. [Washington Post] * AMC released the teaser for Better Call Saul. After the jump… [via Time Magazine]

* Have you all called the Breaking Bad law firm number yet? Because it works, so go for it! [Legal Cheek] * How to make airlines more profitable: make everyone sit on bicycle seats! [Lowering the Bar] * Ilya Somin explains why the D.C. Circuit’s interpretation in Halbig isn’t absurd. And it’s not absurd. It just reflects the hilariously cynical conservative opposition to giving their own citizens tax breaks. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Ohio State fired its band director amid sexual harassment allegations. To fire a guy, Ohio State must have dotted every “i” in this investigation. [USA Today] * Speaking of sexual harassment, the Navy’s Blue Angels are the subject of a sexual harassment suit. And somehow it involves a blue and gold penis seen from space. [Slate] * The Chevron battle over Ecuador continues. Turns out the star witness Chevron paid upwards of $1 million to testify took 50 days of prep to finally get his ever-shifting story straight. [Huffington Post] * There’s a new book out called Kate’s Escape from the Billable Hour (affiliate link). We haven’t read it, but apparently this tale of “a burnt-out, second-year attorney working in the dysfunctional world of Big Law” mentions ATL. So they definitely did their research. [Amazon] * Watch a drunk guy give cops a lesson in Con Law. Video after the jump…. [Barstool Sports]

* Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett, who really wants to win his reelection vote in November, won’t appeal the decision striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage, making him the third governor to concede after a major loss in court. [Bloomberg]

* Sen. Ted Kennedy finally received his diploma from UVA Law, albeit posthumously. The school’s registrar kept it for more than half a century — they didn’t have his address. Lucky guy never received donation letters, either. [National Law Journal]

* An associate is suing her former boss for six figures after he allegedly sent her erotic emails about his fantasy workplace affair. Her fantasy of loan repayment may come true if she wins this case. [Oregonian]

* Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell gave some pretty great advice to recent graduates at GW Law: “Be someone [your boss] can talk to, rather than someone she can give orders to.” [Corporate Counsel]

* The New Mexico Law Review is dedicating an upcoming issue to articles related to Breaking Bad, which officially makes it one of the only law reviews whose pages will be read by human beings. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Everything you wanted to know about the Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul. [Latin Post] * Well, we made fun of him in the past, but now Rob Greenstein has been sworn into office by none other than Hillary Clinton. Good for him. The ads were still stupid, though. [New York Personal Injury Blog] * Really, Seattle? Blow dart attacks? [Seattle Times] * Clay Aiken is thinking about running for Congress? Bad move, bro. Ruben Studdard has that district locked up. [Roll Call] * It’s a very civil world where evidence spoliation earns you a nice compliment from the judge. [IT-Lex] * Joe was on Legalese It! on HuffPo Live to discuss everything from gay marriage to threats made against the President. And you get to see Joe forget the name of Mail Goggles. Video embedded below... [HuffPo Live]

* Big data is coming for the law. I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords. [Associate's Mind] * Judge tells a Sikh man to “remove that rag” or go to jail. Guess which state! [ACLU] * The feds are at it again, posting a job opening for an uncompensated “Special Assistant U.S. Attorney.” Finally a government job that contract employers can point to and say, “See, $10/hour isn’t so bad…” [A Connecticut Law Blog] * Law firms are getting out-hustled by a number of other service providers. [ABA Journal] * Lawyers are terrible leaders. And if you don’t understand business, you can’t really be a good advocate. This also explains why firms are getting out-hustled per the prior item. [Fashion Law Blog] * The Supreme Court Historical Society & The Historical Society of the New York Courts Present are hosting a CLE event called “Learned in the Law: Role of the U.S. Solicitor General…a New York Point of View” on October 25. Tickets are $30. [Historical Society of the New York Courts] * Paul Konigsberg, Bernie Madoff’s tax lawyer, has been arrested. Hopefully he won’t get screwed. [Crain's New York Business] * Is the series finale of Breaking Bad a trade secret? A better question is whether the recipe for Blue Sky is a trade secret. Video after the jump….

* Sri Srinivasan was sworn in as a member of the D.C. Circuit by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who called him “fair, faultless and fabulous.” The man must have great shoes. [Washington Post]

* Things aren’t going very well for Steven Donziger in the Chevron / Ecuador case now, but then again, they never are. The Second Circuit denied his bid to oust the judge on the case. [Bloomberg]

* Dewey know how much this failed firm’s ex-landlord wants from 450 of its former partners? Somewhere in the ballpark of $1.6 million to $45.45 million, so it could be painful. [Am Law Daily]

* Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has already named a new chairman. Congrats to J. Henry Walker IV, a man whose name alone makes it sound like he should probably leading something. [Daily Report]

* Time is running out for prosecutors to bring charges against those connected to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, but it looks like his niece, a Fordham Law grad, is in their sights. [DealBook / New York Times]

* The series finale of Breaking Bad airs on Sunday, and you must be very sad, so here are five compliance lessons to take away from the show. First and foremost, don’t ever hire a Pinkman. [Corporate Counsel]

* E.A. Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company settled the suit filed against them by college athletes, leaving the NCAA to whine, moan, and “take this all the way to the Supreme Court.” [Birmingham News]

* George Zimmerman’s wife says her husband “went on a victory tour” without her, and has no idea where he is. Clue: maybe he was advising Cybill Shepherd for her role on Law & Order next week. [Miami Herald]

* Sort of, not really spoiler alert: Saul Goodman apparently left New Mexico and joined Covington’s D.C. office. That’ll be a good fit. [Legal Cheek] * There’s a Broadway version of A Time to Kill? And Fred Thompson is in it, because this is a lot better than putting in that modicum of effort it takes to mount a campaign for president. [A Time to Kill on Broadway] * A bestselling author is suing USC for discrimination. I find that hard to believe. If USC turned any discriminating eye toward hiring, they wouldn’t employ Lane Kiffin. [Courthouse News Service] * Check out the new book by former firm partner Liz Brown about the process of leaving the legal profession. [Life After Law (affiliate link)] * A humorous take on the Supreme Court’s preparations for the new term. Justice Ginsburg is basically a Time Lord. [McSweeney's] * Class certification is denied for the Thomas Jefferson School of Law grads alleging the school misled them with false and inaccurate employment statistics. The case was doomed from the beginning, because there’s nothing “typical” about TJSL students! [San Diego Courts] * A profile of Ted Cruz by Jason Zengerle. It’s unfair to call Cruz a “Wacko Bird from Texas”; he’s a “Wacko Bird from Canada.” [GQ] * Lawyers defending the accused rapists of a Naval Academy Mid asked the victim to describe her oral sex technique, if she “felt like a ‘ho,’” and if she wore underwear. The goal was to teach Afghanistan to be more like the U.S., not to teach the Navy to be more like the Taliban. [Jezebel]