Egypt

There is no doubt that opportunity abounds on the IP front for cash-rich Gulf State investors.

* Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, took the witness stand in a lawsuit filed by the maker of Fortnite. Wonder if he swore the oath on an iPad… [BBC]

* An Egyptian court has permitted the Suez Canal to keep holding the ship that caused a blockage in the waterway earlier this year. [Reuters]

* A lawsuit claims a worker aboard the Staten Island ferry was injured trying to stop a fight. [New York Post]

* A federal prosecutor was injured by a stray bullet while dining out in Brooklyn last week. [New York Daily News]

* Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, is beefing up its legal team. After last week’s dip, hope they aren’t getting paid in Bitcoin… [Reuters]

* A federal judge has upheld an Ocean City, Maryland, rule banning women from being topless on beaches. It would be amazing if this case ends up at the Supreme Court… [Baltimore Sun]

* Some attorneys in Minnesota need to be sworn into the bar curbside because of social distancing guidelines. Check out the pictures in the article, it looks like an interesting process. [Fox News]

* An Egyptian lawyer is filing a multi-trillion-dollar lawsuit against China over damages allegedly incurred because of COVID-19. Hey, stop taking ideas from American lawyers! [Daily Sabah]

* The Massachusetts Attorney General has launched an investigation of a retirement home over a COVID-19 outbreak that led to dozens of deaths. [Boston Herald]

* Costa Cruises is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company allowed a ship to sail knowing that it was a “ticking coronavirus time bomb.” [Fox News]

* An Oklahoma City attorney and her boyfriend have been linked to a triple homicide. Hopefully, she’ll put her law degree to good use. [Oklahoman]

* Good news if you’ve made it to midlevel associate — survey says you’re happier than ever. [American Lawyer]

* Amal Clooney lost a case in Egypt, her client was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced to prison for their coverage of the 2013 uprising. Clooney warned the sentence sends a “dangerous message.” [People]

* More and more Pennsylvania firms are getting on-board with the $160k pay scale. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Chalk another victory up for the Amazing Schneiderman — that’s New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. This time, retail giant Gap Inc. has fallen in line. [Fashionista]

* A happy ending for David Powers, whose admission to St. John’s Law was revoked after officials there found out about a drug conviction. He’s starting at Pace Law today. [New York Times]

* When a client announces a new general counsel, law firms should consider that a wake-up call — or get fired. [Corporate Counsel]

* In truly horrific news, two Indian sisters were sentenced to be gang raped as punishment for their brother eloping with a woman of a different caste. The (hopefully) good news is the women have appealed to the Indian Supreme Court for protection. [Jezebel]

* What do in-house counsel need to know about the recent NLRB decision expanding the concept of joint-employers? [Law360]

* Per recent reports, human rights attorney Amal Clooney was threatened with arrest after she pointed out major issues with the Egyptian justice system in a paper sponsored by the International Bar Association. She was able to escape because officials feared the wrath of George Clooney. [The Telegraph]

* Uh oh! It looks like Alan Dershowitz got himself mixed up in a lawsuit involving a salacious underage sex scandal. In his own defense, the famed Havard Law prof said, “It’s a completely, totally fabricated, made-up story. I’m an innocent victim of an extortion conspiracy.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* The price of the billable hour may have risen by more than 10 percent over the course of the last four years, but according to the chairman of one Biglaw firm, “[t]he question is: Is anybody ­paying that?” Hahaha, yeah right. [National Law Journal]

* That was quick. The Bitcoin Foundation hired a global policy counsel who lasted there for less than a year. It seems the policy and regulation aspects of the digital currency’s existence were viewed as a “distraction.” [DealBook / New York Times]

* Chicago Biglaw and midsized firms are brushing up on their Mandarin language skills because Chinese investment in the Windy City hit more than $3 billion last year. FYI, senior associates, these firms may have a job for you. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

* Did she get SLC punk’d? Another woman was just nabbed for allegedly pretending to be a lawyer. It seems that Utah resident Karla Carbo reportedly impersonated a member of the bar at least three times in the past six months. [New York Daily News]

Let's check out more from this attorney's bats**t editorial, shall we?

Ed. note: We hope that you had a great July 4th — and that you’re enjoying a four-day weekend. But if you’re at work today and looking for diversion, check us early and often — we will be posting today (although on a reduced publication schedule).

* Lawyer of the Day Long Weekend: Christopher Kirby, who reportedly launched a profanity-laced tirade at the mother of a special-education student during a school board meeting. Stay classy, Chris. [New York Daily News]

* Speaking of classy, if you make Donald Trump look good, you’re doing it wrong. The $5 million arbitration award against former beauty queen Sheena Monnin just got upheld by Judge J. Paul Oetken (S.D.N.Y.). [New York Law Journal]

* Have you been injured in an accident? Call a New York State legislator, who might be earning a six-figure income by moonlighting at a personal-injury firm. [New York Times]

* Who doesn’t love rule by lawyers? Adli Mansour, chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, takes over as the nation’s interim leader. [New York Times]

* Nationwide layoff watch: Dickstein dismisses seven partners in New York. [WestlawNext Practitioner Insights (sub. req.)]

* If you’re feeling the heat in D.C. these days, lawyer turned ice cream entrepreneur Victoria Lai can help. [Washington Post]

* Will it be DOMA or Prop 8? The countdown until Friday starts now, because everyone’s waiting to see whether the Supreme Court will grant cert on one of the five same-sex marriage cases that has come before the high court. [UPI]

* Walk like an Egyptian — or, in this case, you can protest like one. Judges and lawyers are on strike and filing legal challenges to President Mohamed Morsi’s “unprecedented attack on judicial independence.” [New York Times]

* Dewey know when this failed firm’s bankruptcy plan will be approved? Team Togut is hoping for a February resolution, but the rascally retirees may throw a wrench in things with their committee’s continued existence. [Am Law Daily]

* Even though the Northern District of California has a historic all-women federal bench — a courthouse of their own, if you will — there’s probably no need to tell them that THERE’S NO CRYING IN LITIGATION. No crying! [The Recorder]

* New technology + old laws = a privacy clusterf**k. This week, a Senate committee will contemplate whether the Electronic Communications Privacy Act needs to be updated to get with the times. [New York Times]

* The New York State Bar Association may oppose it, but Jacoby & Meyers’s challenge to the state’s ban on non-lawyer firm ownership shall live to see another day thanks to the Second Circuit. [New York Law Journal]

* An Alabama Slammer is both a dangerous cocktail and a term for what happens when your Southern law school refuses to cut its class size and you’re left woefully unemployed after graduation. [Birmingham News]

* Casey Anthony finds relevancy again! Girls in my high school used to search for “foolproof suffocation” on Google and later get acquitted of murdering their daughters all the time; it was no big deal. [USA Today]

* Dean Boland, aka Paul Ceglia’s gazillionth lawyer in the Facebook ownership case, will soon find out if can withdraw as counsel. He’s got other things to deal with, like a $300K child porn judgment. [Wall Street Journal]

* Representative Gabrielle Giffords will be resigning from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting her, is still way too loony to stand trial. [CNN] * Because of this huge law firm, Dotcom’s bubble has officially burst. Hogan Lovells partner Robert S. Bennett has withdrawn from the […]

* How many of these suggested New Year’s resolutions should the members of the Supreme Court consider following? Eight out of ten resolutions wouldn’t be too shabby. [Huffington Post] * Like a virgin, detained for the very first time: thanks to this court order, Egypt will be forced to come out of the dark ages […]

* Ira Schacter’s lawyer on his client’s propensity to give out rings worth more than $200K: “He’s just a generous guy.” No, he’s just a Biglaw partner. [The Careerist] * From Russia Israel with Love: Emory Law student Ilan Grapel has been released from Egypt and will be arriving back in the U.S. today. Welcome […]

* Cloudy with a chance of dismissal for Steve Sunshine, Sprint’s Skaddenite. During oral argument, a judge reminded him that antitrust law didn’t exist to protect competitors. [Wall Street Journal] * Oh, the things you’ll argue to get around a motion to dismiss: Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s accuser now contends that diplomatic immunity isn’t a pass for […]

* You know you’re screwed when law school folks are coming after you. A University of Hawaii Law dean has jumped aboard the “sue Facebook for wiretapping” bandwagon. [The Republic] * Walk like an Egyptian? Emory Law student, Ilan Grapel — who was detained by Egypt on espionage charges — may soon be released in […]

As we mentioned yesterday, a student at Emory Law School by the name of Ilan Chaim Grapel was arrested in Egypt on Sunday, and ordered held for 15 days. The Egyptians allege that Grapel is a “highly trained” spy, working for the state of Israel. Ilan Grapel is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. And he did […]

At this year’s Emory Law School commencement, Professor Sara Stadler urged graduates to think outside the box with respect to their career options: “You might not be able to land that [top-choice] job…. You might have to move to Nebraska.… You might have to join a small firm where they don’t make the big bucks.” […]

* New Egyptian democracy is already putting critics in jail. Dammit Middle East, this is why we can’t have nice things. [Gawker] * We must make sure this technology never gets into the hands of clients. [LawyerClock] * So it appears that South Dakota actually does have one badass living and working there — but […]

* Tipsters, I’ve seen the Milbank / Harvard Law news. I just don’t have a strong opinion about it. Good, bad, indifferent? You tell me. [Harvard Law School; National Law Journal via Truth on the Market] * Is Ashley Madison (the dating site for adulterers) a scam? [Forbes] * Ah, the real reason Hosni Mubarak […]

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has finally decided to step down. We should all be thankful that this has been a relatively “bloodless” coup. We should all take notice of a middle eastern regime change that didn’t require the use of American armed forces. We should all wish the people of Egypt the best of luck […]

* If the Muslim Brotherhood gains power in Egypt, they will impose sharia law. Just like Oklahoma! [ABC Online] * Lindsay Lohan took to Twitter to announce that she “was not raised to lie, cheat, or steal.” Well, nature it is. [msnbc.com] * Arizona is suing the federal government over the porous border. Mr. Obama, […]

* Foreign journalists risking their lives to cover the story in Egypt should remind everybody why we have to pay for reporters. [Huffington Post] * The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether or not it wants to decide anything on Prop 8. [Poliglot / Metro Weekly] * A tipster has the credited blurb: “When […]