Bryan Cave

* Adam Feldman poses — and answers — an interesting question: are particular justices more or less partial to certain lawyers’ or law firms’ positions? [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Speaking of the federal judiciary, Carrie Severino offers this helpful scorecard of President Donald Trump’s track record on judicial appointments — which underscores, as she notes, the importance of the 2020 elections. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* And speaking of President Trump, Joshua Matz and Laurence Tribe have this excellent explanation of why the Supreme Court does not have a role in adjudicating impeachments. [Take Care]

* In the wake of the Mueller Report, Ilya Somin pushes back against conventional wisdom and takes this position: “Not all foreign interference in elections is unjustified. Far from it, in fact.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Fair use in the copyright context is an infamously amorphous concept — so the Fourth Circuit’s recent ruling in Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions deserves your attention. [All Rights Reserved]

* Congratulations to Westlaw Edge, voted the “best new analytics product” by the readers of Dewey B Strategic. [Dewey B Strategic]

* And congrats to Kira Systems on being picked by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as its AI solution for “high-volume workstreams” across the firm. [Artificial Lawyer]

* If you’re a libertarian-leaning lawyer with two to six years of experience under your belt, check out these great employment opportunities over at IJ. [Institute for Justice via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Matt Whitaker thinks Marbury v. Madison should be overturned. We truly live in the dumbest timeline. [National Law Journal]

* Heightened security as Kavanaugh formally joins the Court. That’s a good idea, he seems like a dangerous man. [NPR]

* Amazon really excited about its new role as a leader in wrongly convicting people. [The Verge]

* Baker Donelson is just a big Skinner Box for tech adoption now. More firms should follow suit. [American Lawyer]

* Google is ending its practice of forcing sexual harassment claims into arbitration in another advancement spurred by the #MeToo movement. [Law360]

* Bryan Cave unveils new tech service to help clients evaluate the value of pursuing litigation. [Corporate Counsel]

* The Justice Department put out a new rule limiting asylum claims in violation of international law because that’s how this country rolls now. [Reuters]

* Voter suppression tactics don’t work as well after the votes are cast. [The Hill]

* “The chief justice, in particular, doesn’t like the court to be a disruptive force,” but that might change this spring as the Supreme Court considers reversing at least three of its longstanding precedents. Trashing precedents could potentially become much easier now that Justice Gorsuch is here. [USA Today]

* Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bryan Cave partners are voting on their proposed transatlantic merger, and the results are expected by the end of the month. If the tie-up is approved, BCLP — the combined firm’s new name — will be a billion-dollar firm with 1,500 lawyers and 32 offices in 12 countries. [Law.com]

* Charles Harder, the lawyer who brought down Gawker and now represents Donald Trump and members of his family, is experiencing some growing pains at his firm thanks to his presidential representation. Name partner Douglas Mirell just quit because of his “pledge to protect the First Amendment.” [The Recorder]

* New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a civil rights suit against the Weinstein Company and its founders, alleging that they “repeatedly and persistently treated female employees less well than male-employees through gender-based hostile workplace harassment, quid pro quo harassment, and discrimination.” [Variety]

* In an effort to increase diversity, LSAC will be awarding a total of $1.5 million to five law schools so they can hold Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars programs on their campuses. Akron, Alabama, Duke, Houston, and St. John’s will each receive these grants to convince college students to enroll. [Black Enterprise]

* Congratulations to Charleston Law’s National Tax Moot Court team, which just clinched its seventh championship title in a row. It’s nice to know that students were able to rise above the school’s designation as one of the “least selective law schools in the country” to create a tax law dynasty. [Post and Courier]

* Remember the former Ulta employee who accused the beauty retailer of reselling used products as new? Now a concerned customer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the store’s “widespread and surreptitious practice” of allegedly repackaging and selling returned products. [Chicago Tribune]

* The Senate rejects the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — with Senator John McCain casting the decisive “no” vote. [Washington Post]

* Riley Safer Holmes and Cancila continues its rapid expansion, adding 13 new lawyers — including eight from Bryan Cave, led by former managing partner Joseph McCoy. [Law360]

* More bad news for the LGBT community from the Trump administration: the Justice Department takes the position that Title VII doesn’t cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBT groups get ready to file suit if President Trump’s plan to ban transgender people from the military becomes a reality (which is not yet the case). [National Law Journal]

* And these groups might just prevail — Michael Richter and Anna Pohl, chairs of the New York City Bar Association’s Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees, lay out the case for why the transgender ban is unconstitutional. [The Hill]

* Stephanie Francis Ward takes a long, hard look at the woes of Charlotte School of Law — and the rest of the beleaguered Infilaw consortium of law schools. [ABA Journal]

* Closing statements in the Martin Shkreli case paint very different pictures of the infamous “Pharma Bro.” [Law.com]

* Nuisance claims, or nuisance suits? Judge James Donato (N.D. Cal.) seems skeptical of a purported class-action case targeting Pokémon GO (which recently added Legendaries to the game). [The Recorder]

* Remember when Trump recaptured the news cycle from the string of blunders and Russian scandals that rocked his first month? That seems like just yesterday…. [Washington Post]

* What happens to lawyers after they publicly demean themselves appear on The Bachelor? [The Ringer]

* After a massive scandal, Wells Fargo is slashing executive pay in the name of accountability. Well, by “slashing,” they mean “the people who failed to pick up the fraud will still make millions,” but it’s the tokenistic thought that counts. [Corporate Counsel]

* JP Morgan replaced 360,000 hours of annual legal work with a robot that does the work in seconds. That sounds impressive, but when you control for Biglaw hour padding the software really replaced about 20 minutes of work. [Bloomberg Markets]

* Yahoo’s GC resigned over their cybersecurity kerfuffle. Most Americans greet the news by wondering, “wait, Yahoo is still around?” [NY Times]

* Salary increases may be nice, but it just intensifies senior skepticism over what young associates really bring to the table. [Law360]

* Gibson Dunn building its Houston office on with Latham laterals. [Texas Lawyer]

* Even with revenue down, Bryan Cave manages to get PPP up. [Am Law Daily]

* Everyone was under the impression that Dickstein Shapiro and Bryan Cave would be tying the knot by the year’s end, but instead, it looks like their brief love affair has turned into a bad romance. Oh no! Will Dickstein Shapiro be left at the altar? [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* “The idea they own the name ‘blue’ for a manual for legal citations is ridiculous.” A rival citation guide to The Bluebook will be released in 2016, using the name “BabyBlue.” Since a Biglaw IP attorney is involved in the copyright clash, this is already more exciting than techciting. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Ethan Couch, the Texas teen who was too rich to realize his actions had consequences, was apparently also too rich to realize he shouldn’t hide out in a ritzy vacation locale in Mexico while on the run from police with his mother. Damn you, affluenza! [CNN]

* If you’re looking for a law firm where you can take time off whenever you want and still earn a healthy paycheck, then look no further than Ashton KCJ Lawyers in England. That’s a perk we’re sure attorneys in the U.S. would love their firms to adopt. [Mirror]

* Annie, get your gun: Gun-toting Texans are going to have a very happy new year, because come January 1, 2016, the state’s new open carry law will go into effect. The open carrying of handguns had previously been banned in the state since 1865. [RT]

* Jeffrey Feulner, founder of the Men’s Divorce Law Firm, was charged with domestic violence battery after he allegedly attacked his wife. She filed for divorce three days later — and presumably used a more woman-friendly lawyer as counsel. [Orlando Sentinel]

* Bill Cosby files suit against 7 women who accused him of sexual assault, because accusers say the darnedest things. [BBC News]

* NY to 193!!! If you’re a state judge. Maybe. [NY Daily News]

* Bowe Bergdahl faces court-martial for desertion. It’s like Saving Private Ryan meets Earnest Goes To Fort Leavenworth. [NY Times]

* Jury convicts the Bryan Cave attorney accused of fraud in an effort to take over Maxim magazine. [NY Post]

* A Missouri lawmaker proposes a bill to strip athletes of scholarships if they refuse to play because one possible scrap of power for black people hasn’t been regulated yet. [Huffington Post]

* Rather than accept the $200 million judgment against Andrews Kurth, a Texas judge orders the parties back to mediation. [Law360]

* Putin signs law allowing Russia to overturn international human rights decisions in a move that, frankly, I’m surprised wasn’t taken years ago. [Reuters]