Free Speech
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Free Speech, Nude Dancing, Quote of the Day, Sex, Texas
Judge Strips Gentlemen's Club Case to Bare Facts
To the Judge: I see what you did there... -
Blog Wars, Blogging, Free Speech, Media and Journalism, Sex, Sex Scandals
Gawker Tells Judge to 'Talk to the Hand' in Hulk Hogan Sex Case
Judge turns heel and enjoins Gawker. Gawker calls her bluff. - Sponsored
Law Firms Now Have A Choice In Their Document Comparison Software
Six months on since its launch, over 200 firms worldwide are now using Draftable Legal for accurate and reliable document comparison, including UK Top 50… -
Baseball, FCC, Free Speech, Sports
Red Sox' David Ortiz Unleashes An Expletive During Televised Speech; FCC Says 'F**k It'
FCC makes an entirely reasonable decision. I'm woozy.
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Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Free Speech, John Roberts, Media and Journalism, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
The Chief Justice, a Dean, and a Newspaper All Walk Into a Censorship Scandal
No good deed goes unpunished, as the Chief Justice's visit to an out-of-the-way law school leaves controversy in his wake. -
Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Confirmations, D.C. Circuit, Deaths, Federal Judges, Free Speech, Howrey LLP, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, State Attorneys General, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Morning Docket: 04.08.13
* President Obama apologized to Kamala Harris after referring to her as the “best-looking attorney general in the country.” We’re guessing the First Lady was none too pleased with her husband’s behavior. [New York Times]
* If you’re unemployed (or were the victim of a recent layoff), try to keep your head up, because there’s still hope for you. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector added 2,000 jobs last month. [Am Law Daily]
* The 10 percent vacancy rate on the nation’s federal courts is unacceptable and the New York Times is ON IT. Perhaps D.C. Circuit hopeful Sri Srinivasan will have some luck at this week’s judicial confirmation hearing. [New York Times]
* Shine bright like A. Diamond: Howrey’s bankruptcy trustee is still trying to get “unfinished business” settlements from several Biglaw firms, but managed to secure funds from ALAS. [Capital Business / Washington Post]
* Contrary to what law deans tell you in the op-ed pages, if you want to work as a real lawyer, it actually matters where you go to law school. We’ll probably have more on this later today. [National Law Journal]
* Cooley Law took a hard hit in the appeal of its defamation case against Rockstar05, and now the disgruntled blogger may seek a dismissal. Score one for anonymous online speech! [Ars Technica]
* Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain’s first female Prime Minister, RIP. [CNN]
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Alan Dershowitz, Free Speech, Gambling / Gaming, Quote of the Day
Reversal of Fortune? Alan Dershowitz Loses in Las Vegas
The high-profile Harvard law professor fails to prevail in a First Amendment case in Nevada. -
Crime, Free Speech, Gambling / Gaming, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Things Oliver Wendell Holmes Didn't Say
Don't yell fire in a crowded old-folks home? -
Football, Free Speech, Sports
Can't We Get All Alabama Football Fans Declared Legally Insane?
Free speech, football, and trees. - Sponsored
Diving Into Generative AI: A Practical Guide For Law Firms Starting From Scratch
NetDocuments’ Michelle Spencer on where to start, what to ask, and considerations for implementing generative AI tools in your organization. -
Blogging, Free Speech, Lawyer Advertising
Virginia Supreme Court Officially Blesses Above the Law
Virginia Supreme Court holds that lawyers can blog about their clients. This is awesome. Lawyers writing about their clients without their consent sounds like it will produce endless ATL fodder. -
Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Video games, Violence
Connecticut State Representative Proposes 10 Percent Tax On Mature Video Games
Another day, another effort from the nanny state to restrict violent video games. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Bar Exams, California, Law Schools
California Law School Claims Free Speech Right To Offer Piss-Poor Education And Be Accredited For It
Is a 40 percent bar exam passage rate too much to ask of a law school? -
2nd Circuit, Cyberlaw, DealBreaker, Free Speech, Kellogg Huber, Racism, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 02.07.13
* Above the Law promotes real-world change! Complaint filed against a Texas judge after Elie calls him out for being RACEIST! [ABA Journal] * If you were thinking of calling your friend from the Philippines a “skank” on Facebook, you may want to reconsider. [Philippine Inquirer] * If you’re a powerful financial executive, lay off the bath salts. [DealBreaker] * Judicial throwdown at the Second Circuit! Short version: Judge Raagi thinks Judge Jacobs should care way more about punishing guys sexting underage girls. Judge Jacobs thinks Judge Raagi watches too much Dexter. [Second Circuit / FindLaw] * Federal District Judge John Lungstrum calls out a couple trial teams for terrible trial work. Biglaw litigators may not be the best trial attorneys? You don’t say. [New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog] * Kenneth Anderson describes the U.S. government’s longstanding love affair with “imminence” in the context of the Obama drone strike white paper. To borrow from Rev. Lovejoy’s sermon: “Imminence…sweet imminence.” [Lawfare] * Judges: If you’re going to base a decision on a particular fact… don’t include pictures in the opinion that directly contradict that finding. Check out page six, line two and Appendix 2 [Court of Appeals, State of Oregon] * SCOTUSBlog and Bloomberg Law have a competition for law students. Beat your peers AND the SCOTUSBlog team and win $5000. [SCOTUSBlog] -
2nd Circuit, Bar Exams, Barack Obama, Billable Hours, California, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Non-Sequiturs, Police, Politics
Non-Sequiturs: 01.04.13
* According to the Second Circuit, the long arm of the law doesn’t extend to the middle finger. You can’t just go around arresting dudes for flipping you the bird. [U.S. Second Circuit / FindLaw] * President Obama jetted off to Hawaii before he could sign the fiscal cliff bill, so he ordered it be signed by autopen. Of course, people are losing their minds over it. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Should we scrap the Constitution? Georgetown Law professor Louis Seidman continues to advocate for constitutional disobedience in this epic ConLaw throwdown. [HuffPost Live] * Don’t celebrate your increase in California bar passage points yet. The state bar changed its tune, and a 40% pass rate is the new standard. That shouldn’t be hard, eh TJSL? [California Bar Journal] * One of our former columnists, Jay Shepherd, has a great way to calculate what your actual hourly rate should be, if you don’t mind working for just pennies a day. Most lawyers would mind. [jayshep] * For the love of God, even Gawker knows that going to law school these days is a fool’s errand, or in their own words: “IT’S A SUCKER’S BET. A CLEAR SUCKER’S BET.” Come on, stop being suckers. :( [Gawker] * If you’d like to hear Dean Lawrence Mitchell of NYT op-ed fame sound off on why there isn’t a lawyer oversupply problem, and why it isn’t his job to get law students jobs, we’ve got a video for you to watch….
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ACLU, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Defamation, Department of Justice, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Federal Judges, Free Speech, Money, Morning Docket, New York Times, Partner Issues, Technology
Morning Docket: 01.03.13
* Dewey know how much money this failed firm has run up on its tab for legal advisers since May? It’s quite the pretty penny — $14.8 million — and that amount actually includes some pretty ridiculous fees and charges, like $21,843 for photocopies. [Am Law Daily]
* Everyone’s glad that we didn’t nosedive over the fiscal cliff, but the people who are the most excited about it seem to be Biglaw partners. This wasn’t the best bill, and more uncertainty means more work, which means more money. [National Law Journal]
* It looks like we’re never going to find out what the Justice Department’s legal justification was for the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, because a federal judge upheld the validity of its secret memo. [New York Times]
* Everyone flipped out over Instagram’s money filter, but they’re keeping relatively quiet about this mandatory arbitration provision. Quick, post some pseudo-legalese on your Facebook wall. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* Good news, everyone! Thanks to this ruling, in Virginia, you can be as nasty and negative as you want to be on Yelp without fear that your voice will be censored… kind of like the Above the Law comments. [All Things D]
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Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.02.13
* Lawyers who re-argue 2,400 year old cases are lawyers with too much time on their hands, even if they’re doing it for charity. [ABA Journal] * What do you know, free speech is allowed to exist on the internet. [Public Citizen Press Room] * I shaved my balls for this fiscal cliff deal? [Huffington […] -
ACLU, Antonin Scalia, Bernie Madoff, Biglaw, Crime, Deaths, Federal Judges, Football, Free Speech, Law Schools, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Prisons, Robert Bork, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, State Judges, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 12.21.12
* Seven out of nine sitting Supreme Court justices were silent when it came to the passing of Robert Bork. Justice Antonin Scalia, of course, issued a public statement, as did liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (surprise!). [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* No one ever really doubted that it would take an army of Biglaw lawyers from the likes of Sullivan & Cromwell, Shearman & Sterling, and Wachtel Lipton to handle a monumental deal like the proposed $8.2 billion NYSE/ICE merger. [Am Law Daily]
* Can you coach with Nick Saban and be a Miller Canfield partner at the same time? No. But you can sue (and win!) when the firm allegedly forces you out due to its “culture of fear and intimidation.” [Detroit Free Press]
* Justice Rolando Acosta, who wrote the opinion upholding the dismissal of the class action case against NYLS, rates well among his peers as a nominee for the New York Court of Appeals. [New York Law Journal]
* Peter Madoff was sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, but the judge will probably let him go to his granddaughter’s bat mitzvah before shipping him to the pokey. [Bloomberg]
* Merry Christmas, now go f**k yourself. A federal judge has given a woman in Louisiana free rein to display holiday lights on her roof in the form of an extended middle finger. God bless America. [CBS 3 Springfield]
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Art, Defamation, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Free Speech, Morning Docket, New Orleans, Parties, Pictures, SCOTUS, Social Media, Supreme Court, U.S. Attorneys Offices
Morning Docket: 12.07.12
* “Did the imperative use of the F-bomb … threaten judicial authority?” Wow, seriously? This is perhaps the most entertaining question presented for review in a Supreme Court certiorari petition in the history of man. [National Law Journal]
* Boy, Dewey have some expensive paintings for you to buy! This failed firm’s art collection will be hitting the auction block in February, and the entire LeBoeuf lot is supposedly worth $2.3M, but most pieces are pretty damn ugly. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* When anonymous commenting goes wronger-er: Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, has resigned amid the scandal caused by his underlings’ obnoxious comments. [Times-Picayune]
* Your employers really don’t want pictures of your office holiday party antics going viral online (but we do). Here are some of the many ways they’ll try to keep you from becoming internet famous. [Corporate Counsel]
* George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Trayvon Martin, is suing NBCUniversal, alleging that the network and Today show reporters committed serious “journalistic crimes.” [Media Decoder / New York Times]
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Crime, Fashion, Free Speech, Music
Feline Riot
Do you know what a "balaclava" is? And that wearing one under certain circumstances can be a crime? -
Bad Ideas, Blog Wars, Blogging, Defamation, Federal Government, Free Speech, New Orleans, Rank Stupidity, Technology, U.S. Attorneys Offices
When Anonymous Commenting Goes Wronger
Can you believe what's going on in the U.S. Attorney's Office down in New Orleans? -
9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Constitutional Law, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Eugene Volokh, Federal Judges, Federalist Society, Religion, Videos, YouTube
First Amendment Fun at the Ninth Circuit
The Ninth Circuit hearts the First Amendment.