Harvard Law

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.12.21

* A Florida lawyer who became famous dressing up as the "grim reaper" on beaches to warn about COVID-19 may face discipline for an appeal he filed. Hope he didn't wear the "grim reaper" outfit to court... [ABC News] * Megan Markle won a lawsuit against a company that published portions of a private letter she wrote to her father. [Harper's Bazaar] * Check out this group of Harvard Law grads who are trying to eliminate harassments and discrimination in the legal profession. [New York Times] * Bruce Springsteen has hired a New Jersey legal eagle to defend himself in a DWI case. [New York Post] * Since Above the Law hasn't had a "Lawyerly Lairs" segment in a while, just wanted to relate that a lawyer just bought a multimillion-dollar waterfront mansion in Jupiter, California. Check out the sweet digs in the article. [Real Deal]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.01.18

* President Trump asked the FBI to investigate the claims of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, the first two women to accuse would-be SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault and misconduct, leaving out Julie Swetnick's claims to the chagrin of her lawyer. [Wall Street Journal] * So, just how limited in scope will the FBI's new Kavanaugh inquiry be? Trump claims that the bureau has "free rein," but no one who has contradicted the judge's claims about his drinking and partying as a high school and college student are going to be interviewed. [New York Times] * HLS is second best at feeling shame: Following student protests against Kavanaugh teaching at Harvard Law, the elite law school's dean won't come out and say whether the accused jurist will still have a job in legal academia come 2019. [HuffPost] * ICYMI amid the Kavanaugh craziness, a judge ruled that the plaintiffs in Blumenthal v. Trump -- the 201 Democratic members of Congress -- have standing to sue the president for his alleged violations of the emoluments clause. [National Law Journal] * That was quick! In the span of just a few days, Elon Musk settled the securities fraud lawsuit filed against him by the SEC, and the deal calls for him to pay a $20 million fine and step down as Tesla's chairman for the next three years. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.11.16

* As we previously mentioned, London-based firms CMS and Olswang and international firm Nabarro were considering entering into a merger. Partners at all three firms have officially voted in favor of the merger, which will close in May 2017. The new firm will operate under the CMS name. We'll have more on this later. [Legal Week] * "The infringement has been affirmed, now it's whether this huge judgment should be affirmed." In the Supreme Court's first design patent case in more than 120 years, Samsung will face off against Apple today, where the smartphone companies will duke it out over how much Samsung should have had to pay for copying the iPhone. [Reuters] * "Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg no longer needs to worry about whether she seems threatening to the Court. She is the Court." A new linguistics research study tells us what we can learn from Justice Ginsburg's accent as a lawyer versus her accent as a Supreme Court justice, and how all lawyers make accommodations in their speech. [TIME] * By edict of a federal court -- and over Governor Rick Scott's objections -- Florida's voter registration deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday thanks to Hurricane Matthew's interference with last-minute sign-ups. Florida's Democratic Party alleged many voters would be "severely burdened" by the hurricane's effects. [CNN] * Sorry, social justice warriors: Harvard Law 1Ls wanted to feed the university's striking dining services workers at their sections' social committee events, but Dean Marcia Sells shut down their plans, saying it "does not seem to make sense for us to encourage ... students to bring in food to feed workers who are on strike." [The Concourse / Deadspin]

By Staci Zaretsky