Footlong Class-Action

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.09.16

* "In the past, law school was often times seen as a safe haven in a bad market, and that’s just not the case given the jobs that are available.” Applications may be down, but given the state of the job market, more and more students are flocking to law schools without any desire to practice law, intending to pursue alternative career paths instead. [Wisconsin Bar] * Former Berkeley Law Dean Sujit Choudhry returned to campus this semester after resigning from his post thanks to a sexual harassment lawsuit, but a letter he penned on the subject that was published in the school paper didn't have the results he expected; instead, about 100 law students protested the professor's presence on campus. [SFGate] * The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Investment Advisers Modernization Act of 2016 today, a bill that private equity firms hope will chip away at Dodd-Frank's requirements on what information the industry must report to regulators. The White House has threatened a veto if it's passed. [DealBook / New York Times] * Can this group of general counsels from Fortune 100 companies save the legal profession from becoming a haven for old white men and turn it into a melting pot of opportunity across all demographics? That's what they're hoping to do by hiring and firing outside counsel based on their diversity. Best of luck! [Big Law Business] * Subway's "footlong" class-action suit is now before the Seventh Circuit, with Ted Frank of the Competitive Enterprise Institute arguing that the lawyers who settled the sandwich-size discrepancy gave themselves too much credit, calling them, along with the class representatives, "the only beneficiaries of the case." Ouch. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.04.16

* "I'd hope they'd see reason but I wouldn't bet the family farm on it." Senate Republicans may be stomping their feet about confirming one of President Obama's Supreme Court nominees, but it may behoove them to do it now before Hillary Clinton takes office with a Democrat-controlled Senate. [Common Sense / New York Times] * Sincere congratulations to Damaris Hernández, who recently achieved a seemingly impossible feat at her Bigfirm. The 36-year-old attorney is the first Latina to become a partner at Cravath Swaine & Moore. She joins the 46 other Hispanic women who are partners at just a few of America's largest law firms. [DealBook / New York Times] * Lawmakers from the Garden State have demanded that Gibson Dunn and digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg repay $2.8 million in legal fees in the Bridgegate case, the bulk of which were e-discovery charges to the tune of $2.3 million. Welcome to the absurdity that is document review, New Jersey! [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * It looks like Apple isn't the only tech company that's dueling with the DOJ right now. Since "[t]he interest in secrecy does not last forever," Twitter is mounting a First Amendment case against the Feds over its ability to publicly release data that allegedly contains details related to the government's terrorism investigations. [WSJ Law Blog] * The 10 customers who filed a class-action lawsuit against Subway over the sub shop's less-than foot-long footlong sandwiches will only be able to afford 100 $5 footlongs each, because the lawyers on the case are walking away with $520,000 out of $525,000 settlement dollars -- that's 99 percent of the settlement. Fair? [Dayton Daily News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.21.15

* Arizona Summit Law wasn't the only law school to post an embarrassing passage rate on the July 2015 administration of the bar exam. Only 28 percent of test-takers from this law school passed, but its dean says that the scores don't "reflect a problem with the school's quality." Hey, whatever helps you get to sleep at night. [Tennessean] * Speaking of bar passage rates, if you're applying to law school, should you care about them? Job statistics are probably a more telling measurement when comparing schools, but then again, it's harder to get a job when you can't pass the bar exam. [U.S. News] * “It’s a huge blow to his tenure as DA." The mistrial in the criminal case against Dewey & LeBoeuf's former executives is putting a major damper on what was supposed to be Manhattan DA Cy Vance's crackdown on corporate crime. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Thanks to the Department of Education's "gainful employment rule," for-profit law schools could be in trouble when it comes to eligibility for federal student loans under the "debt-to-earnings" test. This certainly may put a crimp in Infilaw's style. [Huffington Post] * The vast majority of all class members in the Subway "footlong" lawsuit aren't likely to see a dime. This is fine because they don't need to see any "dough," but a guarantee that the company's next spokesperson won't be a child predator would be nice. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky