Gawker

* Are you paying too much in mutual-fund fees? If you’re paying more than zero, then yes — or so argue Professors William Birdthistle and Daniel Hemel in this interesting and persuasive op-ed. [Wall Street Journal]

* James Comey, FBI director turned author (affiliate link), responds to the criticisms of him in the Inspector General’s report. [Althouse]

* It’s complicated — but just how complicated? Adam Feldman uses word counts and citations to measure opinion complexity during the current Term of the Supreme Court. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Judge Alex Kozinski (Ret.) pays tribute to the memory of his late colleague on the Ninth Circuit, Judge Stephen Reinhardt. [Concurring Opinions]

* If you’re confused by why the latest Obamacare litigation over the individual mandate matters, since the mandate was rendered toothless by the recent tax reform, Professor Ilya Somin can help. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Ethics expert Steven Lubet reviews Ryan Holiday’s book (affiliate link) about the Hulk Hogan/Gawker case — and argues that Peter Thiel’s financing of the litigation might have violated legal ethics. [American Prospect via PrawfsBlawg]

* Thomson Reuters, a leader in applying artificial intelligence in the law — we’re partnering with them on our Law2020 series, exploring how AI is affecting the legal profession — also utilizes machine learning to help people trade cryptocurrencies (among many other use cases). [Artificial Lawyer]

* Manafort’s old son-in-law is flipping because that’s what happens in a criminal conspiracy case. [NBC]

* And now New Jersey is codifying school segregation. This, folks, is why it’s entirely relevant to know if federal judicial nominees believe Brown v. Board is rightly decided. Sadly, the officials running the confirmation process say those questions are unfair. [New York Times]

* The Gawker Media saga ends as its Chapter 11 settlement is approved. In celebration, Peter Thiel is going to drink the good blood. [Law360]

* Kirkland loses four partners to Gibson Dunn.[National Law Journal]

* The anatomy of a satirical SCOTUS story that went viral. [ABA Journal]

* Vivia Chen explains how women should be more like Michael Cohen, and I know that sounds bad, but she’s got a good point. [American Lawyer]

* Now that the FBI is all up in his business, Squire Patton Boggs has cut ties with Michael Cohen. They had been working together in an amorphous strategic alliance that was almost certainly some kind of murky lobbying-related arrangement. [American Lawyer]

* Today is Equal Pay Day and in-house counsel hold the key to remedying pay inequality. [Corporate Counsel]

* This lawyer’s got 99 problems and all of them are a year in prison for trading sex for legal work. [Texas Lawyer]

* Trump advised that he can’t contribute to legal defense fund. This story assumes the phony billionaire has enough non-debt-financed disposable income to help his cronies, which is a very open question. [Bloomberg]

* In shocker, the Texas Supreme Court doesn’t understand homosexuality. [Slate]

* Wilmer and Foley Hoag seek documents to prove the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation drove the administration’s decision to ban transgender troops — since we know the general serving as Secretary of Defense wasn’t pushing it. [National Law Journal]

* Gawker’s liability releases hit snag. [Law360]

* Chuck Schumer wants Donald Trump Jr. to testify under oath. Given DTJ’s contempt for anyone not named Trump, this promises to be appointment viewing. [The Hill]

* The Gawker case is keeping the heat on litigation finance. [Law360]

* What you need to know if you have a law firm as a client. [Law and More]

* In case you need more sources to point out the obvious. [Huffington Post]

* Your most important question about Spider-Man: Homecoming, answered. [Slate]

* I know you want to hear Elie Mystal arguing over Kelo v. City of New London, I just know it. [The Greenspace]

* Have you ever ridden a bike? Are you interested in a scholarship? Check out this law firm’s application. [Utah Advocates]

* Are you ready to be tracked online, everyone? Senate Republicans voted yesterday to overturn internet privacy protections for individuals that were created by the Federal Communications Commission in October. “These were the strongest online privacy rules to date, and this vote is a huge step backwards in consumer protection writ large.” [DealBook / New York Times]

* Being forced to resign from your position isn’t so bad when you can land a sweet gig as a law professor. Barbara McQuade and Preet Bharara aren’t the only U.S. Attorneys who found new homes at law schools in the wake of their recent ouster by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Paul Fishman, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, is now a visiting fellow at Seton Hall University School of Law. Congrats! [Law.com]

* Mary Yelenick, the third Chadbourne & Parke partner to join the $100 million gender bias class-action suit filed against the firm, claims she was pressured to disavow the allegations in a letter signed by fourteen of the firm’s then-sixteen female partners. “At least two of the partners who signed the letter subsequently expressed to me that they hesitated, but felt great pressure to sign the letter,” she says. [Big Law Business]

* Gawker may be approaching a “potential settlement” with Peter Thiel relative to the tech billionaire’s vendetta against the website. The feud led to Thiel’s funding of several lawsuits against Gawker, including the one filed by wrestler Hulk Hogan which eventually bankrupted the site. Any deal between the parties would likely protect Gawker founder Nick Denton from any future Thiel-funded lawsuits. [New York Post]

* Illinois may be getting ready to puff, puff, pass some legislation that will legalize recreational marijuana. Senate Bill 316 and House Bill 2353 will allow adults to possess up to 28 grams of marijuana and regulate its sale, tax, cultivation, and use. The state already allows patients with certain ailments to use medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana last year. [Newsweek]

* Handicapping the race for the Supreme Court vacancy. [Bloomberg BNA]

* Can redecorating courthouses make a difference to justice? [Katz Justice]

* An illuminating interview with the lawyer behind Loving v. Virginia. [Coverage Opinions]

* States’ rights are all well and good when talking about the emission of pollutants, but not when it comes to marijuana. Wait — what? [Slate]

* Was the end of Gawker inevitable? [Law and More]

* Will gun owners in Ohio have more rights than LGBT people? [The Trace]

* Law professor thinks he’s cracked the code to determining the results of the election. And it involves the Philadelphia Eagles. [Washington Examiner]

* Feeling a little antsy about the election? [fivethirtyeight]

* The Rolling Stone libel verdict won’t turn into a Gawker situation. [Law and More]

* Refresh. [fivethirtyeight]

* The intellectual property war over jeans. [The Fashion Law]

* Nope, nothing’s changed. [fivethirtyeight]

* How to focus on the clarity of your message. [Reboot Your Legal Practice]

* It’s going to be a long night. [fivethirtyeight]

* Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended. [Slate]

* A look at Alexander Hamilton, the lawyer. [Law360]

* The cases that are shaping the upcoming Supreme Court Term. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Donald Trump’s history of pleading the Fifth. [Huffington Post]

* Review of the latest episode of jury consultant extraordinaire, Dr. Bull. [DOAR]

* Are Trump’s late-night tweets defamatory? [LawNewz]

* The Hulk Hogan decision has made A.J. Daulerio consider some crazy options. [Law and More]

* Is it time for Mike Pence to act on pardoning a wrongfully convicted man? [Huffington Post]

* Let the postmortems begin: Who killed Gawker? [New York Magazine]

* Lewis & Clark Law School fails Communications 101. [Law and More]

* This is a huge step backwards for Title VII enforcement. [Slate]

* The number of prospective law professors takes a tumble. [TaxProf Blog]

* Yale Law School grad J.D. Vance, author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy (affiliate link), explains the appeal of Donald Trump to certain voters. [New York Times]

* Ding ding ding, we have a winner: with a bid of $135 million, Univision has prevailed in the auction to buy Gawker Media’s assets (held at the offices of Gawker’s bankruptcy counsel, Ropes & Gray). [Politico]

* The Ninth Circuit rules that the feds can’t spend money to prosecute people whose actions comply with state medical marijuana laws. [How Appealing]

* Protip for millennial law students: don’t call your law professor by her first name. [WSJ Law Blog]

* “Is $88,500 Salary Too Much for a Deputy General Counsel?” (Hint: no.) [Big Law Business]

* Is it time to rethink antitrust enforcement, especially when it comes to Big Tech? [DealBook / New York Times]

* Judge Timothy Dooley has been censured by the Alaska Supreme Court for his rude remarks in open court. [Alaska Dispatch News]

* Hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen can’t trade in CFTC-regulated commodities markets until 2018, as part of a settlement with the commission. [Bloomberg]

* Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two men accused of killing law professor Dan Markel, isn’t getting bond just yet. [Tallahassee Democrat; WCTV]

* Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is leading a filibuster to demand Congress actually act on gun control. Many Democrats and Republican Senator Pat Toomey have all spoken on the issue. [Slate]

* Music is the first order of business in a copyright trial — well, when the subject of the complaint is Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, it is. [Courthouse News Service]

* An analysis of the role of a human rights worker. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Gawker is under more legal threats, this time for writing an article about Donald Trump’s hair. [Law and More]

* But Nick Denton assures us, despite legal threats and filing for bankruptcy, the business will be just fine. [Gawker]