Federal Judge Steps Down (Sorta) Over Racially Insensitive Comments
Just over a week into his term as chief judge, the controversy blew up.
Morning Docket: 08.24.16
* Ivanka Trump has responded to a lawsuit filed by fashion house Aquazurra, which accused her of infringing upon the luxury brand's shoe designs. Trump repeatedly denied copying the shoe designs in question, and asked that the suit be tossed out like a pair of last season's pumps. Will this keep on kicking until after the election? [Huffington Post] * A federal judge tossed a rather absurd suit that was filed against Starbucks, which alleged the company put a deceptive amount of ice in its cold drinks, writing, "If children have figured out that including ice in a cold beverage decreases the amount of liquid they will receive, the Court has no difficulty concluding that a reasonable consumer would not be deceived." [WSJ Law Blog] * Bad Boies, bad Boies, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they finance you? The Boies/Schiller Film Group, a small film finance company started by law firm founder David Boies and Zack Schiller (son of law firm co-founder Jonathan Schiller), is fronting the cash needed for comedy movie based on reality show "COPS." [Law.com] * Turing Pharmaceuticals, the drug company once led by disgraced pharma bro Martin Shkreli, has been accused of retaliation following the alleged sexual assault of its chief commercial officer at the hands of its interim chief financial officer. For his part in this mess, Shkreli is accused of sexist and vulgar behavior. [DealBook / New York Times] * "The allegations of the suit are ridiculous. We are confident that the suit will be dismissed in short order." Cassidy Recruiting is suing Holland & Knight partner Dean Schaner over a failed law firm placement, and it's seeking between $200K and $1M in damages, all because Schaner used another recruiter to join the firm. [Big Law Business]
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Morning Docket: 01.07.16
* The statute of limitations giveth, and the statute of limitations taketh away. Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to charge Bill Cosby in a case where a woman claimed that the comedian raped her in 1965 when she was 17 years old. [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times] * Apparently sick and tired of people continuing to just waive in, the D.C. Court of Appeals is considering allowing third-year law students to take the D.C. bar up to 190 days before they even graduate, making it the most permissive early bar program in the country. [Blog of Legal Times] * This is apparently the new way for law firms of all sizes to survive and thrive: Per Altman Weil, 2015 was yet another record year for law firm mergers and acquisitions, with 91 announced over the course of the year. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Congratulations to Elizabeth "Betty" Temple, the first woman to serve as chair and CEO of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. She joins about two handfuls of other women who are leading some of the country's largest law firms. You go, girl! [WSJ Law Blog] * "The food-borne illness costs extra. Is that okay?" Thanks to numerous food scares and an outbreak of norovirus, Chipotle now finds itself at the center of a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the Central District of California and the FDA. [AP]
Morning Docket: 11.13.15
* Steven Metro, an ex-managing clerk at Simpson Thacher who was accused of passing insider info about mergers and other business transactions to his law school buddy in a $5.6 million insider trading scheme, has pleaded guilty. He faces up to 20 years in prison. [Reuters] * Remember Keila Ravelo, the Willkie Farr partner who allegedly stole millions from that firm and her prior firm, Hunton & Williams? It turns out her involvement in the $5.7 billion MasterCard/Visa antitrust settlement could ultimately become its kiss of death. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Chief Judge Morrison England (E.D. Cal.) says he and his colleagues are incredibly overworked, sometimes putting in more than 80 hours per week. It's too bad it doesn't make a difference -- the court is at a "crisis point" in its backlog of cases. [WSJ Law Blog] * Last summer, a federal judge ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional in California because an appeals process with the "slight possibility of death" was cruel and unusual. Here's a real shocker: the Ninth Circuit overturned the decision. [New York Times] * Embattled Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is well past the point of having 99 problems, but there's no end in sight. Former prosecutors have filed suit against her, alleging she retaliated against them for exposing her alleged criminal misdeeds. [Tribune-Review]