Jim Hinkle

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.21.17

Ed. note: We're sure you already know this, but there's a total eclipse today. If you're planning to watch the eclipse, make sure you do so safely. Enjoy and have fun! * More than 30 percent of law students are minorities, but only 15 percent of lawyers and less than 9 percent of partners are attorneys of color. Racial diversity in law firms seems to have flatlined, but some law firms are doing a little better than others when it comes to recruiting and retaining minority lawyers. We'll have more on this sometime soon. [Law360 (sub. req.)] * Is "Google" undeserving of trademark protection thanks to genericide? "There is no single word other than google that conveys the action of searching the Internet using any search engine," and perhaps that's why Chris Gillespie, who lost his case at the Ninth Circuit when he attempted to have Google's trademark invalidated, has applied to the Supreme Court for certiorari. [Ars Technica] * Judge Jim Hinkle of Gwinnett County, Georgia, who was suspended after posting some controversial remarks about Charlottesville on Facebook -- i.e., comparing "snowflake" counter-protesters to ISIS because they were "destroying history" -- has officially resigned from the bench. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] * James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old accused of ramming his car into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring numerous others, has been charged with five additional felony counts on top of the five he was already facing, one of which was second-degree murder. [CNN] * Some law schools are doing more than others when it comes to helping students with mental health and substance abuse issues. While some law schools are offering students and professors an impressive suite of awareness, reporting, and counseling services, others are a bit behind the eight ball. [Daily Report] * In what could very well be one of the first virtual law firm mergers, FisherBroyles and Ntellect Law, two cloud-based firms, have tied the knot, combining to form the largest law firm of its kind. Kevin Broyles, the firm's co-founder, thinks the firm will join the Am Law 200 by 2018. [Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.17.17

* Leaders and prominent partners at Biglaw firms across the country are speaking out against President Donald Trump's most recent comments concerning the deadly Charlottesville rally, where he blamed "both sides" for the violence that occurred. Has anyone among the leadership at your firm denounced Trump's remarks? We'll have more on this later. [Big Law Business] * In case you missed it, James Alex Fields, the man accused of second-degree murder in the death of Charlottesville counter-protester Heather Heyer, was supposed to be represented by an attorney from the public defender's office, but it seems there was a conflict of interest -- a relative of an employee was injured in the car crash that led to Heyer's untimely death. [Richmond Times-Dispatch] * Judge Jim Hinkle of Gwinnett County, Georgia, has been suspended thanks to his Facebook comments about the events that unfolded in Charlottesville. Hinkle compared the protesters "nut cases tearing down monuments" to ISIS, referring to them as "snowflakes" with "no concept of history." Hinkle said he didn’t "see anything controversial" about his posts. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] * Retired Judge Robert Echols, formerly of the Middle District of Tennessee and now a partner at Bass Berry & Sims, once donated about $3,000 to the Mary Noel Kershaw Foundation, which funds firearms training for the League of the South, a hate group tied to the violent Charlottesville rally. The firm has launched an internal investigation into the matter. [Tennessean] * Austin Gillespie -- d/b/a Augustus Sol Invictus, the DePaul Law grad who opened his own Florida solo practice, closed it via this unhinged memo, and later sacrificed a goat and drank its blood -- was an organizer of the Charlottesville alt-right rally and is now running for Senate, again. [Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky