Brooklyn DA’s Office

* Lady Gaga’s father has joined a lawsuit seeking to end New York City’s indoor dining ban. Now that litigation is on “the edge of glory.” [Fox Business]

* A lawyer for the accused Kenosha shooter has resigned his position from a defense fund that has raised around $700,000 for the defense team. [Yahoo News]

* A Senior District Attorney in the Brooklyn DA’s office was killed by a bus while riding her bike yesterday. Sending our deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased. [New York Post]

* A South Carolina attorney has been disbarred after taking a plea on an indecent exposure charge. [NBC News]

* A Texas Supreme Court decision may open the door to service of process through email or social media accounts. Think of all the filters that can be used when serving process through insta… [KSAT.com]

* Could there be a new lead, 10 years later, in the Natalee Holloway case? Or maybe just some overly sensationalized news coverage marking 10 years since Holloway went missing? [Inside Edition]

* Despite Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson’s decision not to prosecute Willie Groomes for the March fatal shooting in the Borough Hall subway station, stating they couldn’t prove “homicide beyond a reasonable doubt.” Andy Cush makes a compelling case, with graphics and photos, that Groomes was pursuing, with his gun drawn, the unarmed victim at the time of the shooting. [Gawker]

* Lawyers who make less money are happier. Of freaking course, just another reason why “having it all” is nothing but a cruel joke. [New York Times]

* From T-14 law schools to… comedy? The career change for twin brothers that will feed the dream of disillusioned law students everywhere. [Village Voice]

* This is how public interest lawyers are made: University of Wisconsin School of Law students create video for the public on the law of police-related killings. [Channel 3000]

* Who doesn’t love some awkward lawyers shilling their wares for our consumption? Check out this round-up of attorney commercials. [Esplin Weight]

* Natalie Portman just loves her some legal luminaries. The Hollywood Reporter has her take on Alan Dershowitz [The Hollywood Reporter]

* Unfortunately, it seems that if you want to get an elite legal education in this country, you’re going to have to pay an arm and a leg for it. This year’s NLJ Top 10 Go-To Law Schools each have a sticker price that’s greater than $50K. [National Law Journal]

* Hamline University’s president thinks it was smarter for her law school to merge with William Mitchell Law than for it to close altogether — hey, it’ll still bear the Hamline name and its dying carcass won’t be on her books anymore! [Star Tribune]

* Later this week, SCOTUS will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, a case that could decimate the Affordable Care Act as we know it. At this point, the justices must be contemplating how many people will lose if the plaintiffs here win. [Wall Street Journal]

* An ADA from the Brooklyn DA’s office who prosecuted drug cases was canned after his colleagues learned that he failed to report his personal connection to an admitted cocaine dealer. Perhaps they were jealous he refused to share his hookup. [New York Daily News]

* In case you missed it, Above the Law, your favorite legal website, has been “rankle[d]” by a new series on CNNMoney called “Above the Law.” We know you’re as ticked off about this as we are, so we hope you’ll help us write our cease-and-desist letter. [Am Law Daily]

* In November, Supreme Court justices engaged in the “totally unnecessary” practice of releasing 41 pages of nondecision opinions. In all fairness, we can’t really blame them for enjoying hearing themselves speak. [National Law Journal]

* These D.C. Circuit judges of differing political viewpoints “disagreed less than 3 percent of the time” over the course of two decades. Please, keep arguing about the court’s “ideological balance.” You’re accomplishing lots. [New York Times]

* With more tie-ups than ever before and another record broken, 2013 is officially the year of full-blown law firm merger mania. Query how many more we’ll be able to add to the already huge list of 78 by the end of December. [Am Law Daily]

* Speaking of which, Baker Hostetler is merging with Woodcock Washburn, an intellectual property firm with a name that sounds like the aftercare instructions for a painful sex toy injury. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Of course a fired ADA’s scandalous emails landed on BuzzFeed. This is one more embarrassing chapter in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. [New York Times]

* It’s amazing how things can change in a year. In 2012, New York bar pass rates for in-state schools fell. In 2013, they’re up — except for one school, which is way down. Which one? [New York Law Journal]

If you're a lawyer with designs on political power, here's what you should've learned from yesterday's elections.

* Now that Republicans have some actual issues to concern themselves with, they’re going to… vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act again? My God, they’re dumb. [New York Times] * Sonia Sotomayor has the highest name recognition on the Court. Kennedy is the most liked. Clarence Thomas has lower favorability among African-Americans than he […]

* Given the name and origins of the Tea Party movement, it actually makes perfect sense that their groups got grief from the IRS. [Washington Post]

* Wachtell Lipton weighs in against the practice of shareholder activists offering special compensation to director nominees. [Dealbook / New York Times]

* A law professor, Joshua Silverstein, argues that schools should embrace grade inflation. (But haven’t most of them done this already?) [WSJ Law Blog]

* Facebook shareholders might not “like” this news, but Ted Ullyot is stepping down as general counsel after almost five years. We’ll have more on this later. [National Law Journal]

* The Brooklyn DA’s office is reopening 50 murder cases that were worked on by retired detective Louis Scarcella (who looks oh-so-savory in the NYT’s photo of him). [New York Times]

* In news that should shock no one, Nicholas Speath’s dubious discrimination case against Georgetown Law has been dismissed. [The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]

* Not long after leaving Cravath for Kirkland, Sarkis Jebejian is putting together billion-dollar deals for private-equity clients. [Am Law Daily]

* Professor Jeffrey Rosen reviews an interesting new book, The Federalist Society (affiliate link), authored by Michael Avery and Danielle McLaughlin. [New York Times]

A Brooklyn prosecutor has been accused of assaulting an EMT. What might have provoked the alleged attack? Here is one theory.

The business of high-end prostitution is enormously profitable. — Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, commenting on the big bust of a prostitution ring aimed at wealthy Wall Street clients. (For more on this story, see Dealbreaker.)

Another summer, another reason to never go to Brooklyn. Yes, my friends, the bedbugs are back in the King’s County District Attorney’s Office. Last summer, bedbugs invaded the KCDA’s office — and emails started flying around from concerned employees on the verge of having anxiety attacks. You’d think that given all the coverage and stress, […]

It’s a bad news day in Brooklyn. This morning, the class of 2010 made Brooklyn Law look foolish. Now we’ve received reports that the Brooklyn DA’s Office has laid off 13 attorneys and two staffers in the past week. It’s big news, especially for law students and private practice attorneys who think that working for […]