* Are vacancies on the federal judiciary causing a crisis in North Carolina? It does have the longest-running hole on the federal bench. [Raleigh News Observer]
* Jodi Arias is planning a wedding from prison. I don't know you guys, I think those crazy kids might just make it. [Law and More]
* If racism and the death penalty can never be separated, is the only just move to eliminate the death penalty? [Slate]
* More revelations in the stomach-turning Sandusky case. Who at Penn State knew what when? [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* An analysis of cases where federal clemency has been granted that identifies trends in President Obama's decisions. [LinkedIn]
* The Am Law 200 rankings are out, and the difference between the First Hundred and Second Hundred Biglaw firms has been described as “stark.” Check out who made the grade here. [American Lawyer]
* Many Biglaw attorneys are sharks, but at Crowell & Moring, a firm with a duck as its mascot, at least they’ve got hearts. They’re awaiting the birth of little ducklings outside of their office. [Washington Post]
* Spyfall, Round Two: General David Petraeus, of CIA and sex scandal fame, is joining private equity company KKR & Co. with Williams & Connelly advising on his employment agreement. [Am Law Daily]
* Want to know at which law school you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck? Want to see which law school is best at financial efficiency? You may be surprised at some of the schools on this list. [Morse Code / U.S. News & World Report]
* No, silly, he wasn’t being an antisocial gunner, he just wasn’t old enough to go to the bar with you. Harvard Law recently graduated one of its youngest African-American students ever. [Boston Globe]
* A legal Hail Mary? Joe Paterno’s family, former Penn State football players, and select members of the school’s board of trustees are suing the NCAA over its Sandusky sanctions. [Legal Intelligencer]
* A woman is suing MAC after she allegedly picked up the gift that keeps on giving from Rihanna’s lipstick: herpes! Chris Brown, don’t hurt me for implying it was from Rihanna. [New York Daily News]
Pennsylvania's Governor files an antitrust suit alleging NCAA overstepped its authority hoping Pennsylvanians forget his personal involvement in the scandal.
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Death doesn’t change your status as a party. — Max Kennerly, a Philadelphia trial lawyer, commenting on the effect (or lack thereof) that Joe Paterno‘s death would have on lawsuits stemming from the Penn State football sex scandal. Kennerly said prospective litigants could name Paterno’s estate.
* Representative Gabrielle Giffords will be resigning from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting her, is still way too loony to stand trial. [CNN] * Because of this huge law firm, Dotcom’s bubble has officially burst. Hogan Lovells partner Robert S. Bennett has withdrawn from the […]
* So, just so we’re all clear, Republicans running for President are no longer on board with the Voting Rights Act. Happy Martin Luther King Day. [Election Law Blog] * It’s not like there are no more voting issues where we might want to have federal oversight of state laws that affect the electoral power […]
A close friend’s father passed away. He was 71, a retired school teacher and a great man. A man dying at 71 used to seem far off in my comprehension of time, but as I get older, it’s really not. I learned of his death the day after ATL had posted a story about a […]
* Are Asian American lawyers too nerdy to climb the Biglaw or corporate ladder — or is this just an outdated stereotype? [The Careerist] * Does having your law school sob story featured on national television count as “employed upon graduation”? (Or, more seriously, here’s an opportunity for an unemployed law school grad.) [Inside the […]
Prospective law students always get excited when they're offered application fee waivers. But what happens when a law school offers prospective applicants a fee waiver after its undergraduate institution is involved in one of the biggest college sports scandals of all time? Talk about bad timing....
It appears that Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coordinator who is accused of having sex with little boys, has hired an attorney. You'd think that out of all the attorneys in the world, Sandusky would pick one who had an untarnished record when it comes to sleeping with minors. But you'd be wrong. Instead, Sandusky went the other way. He didn't find a lawyer who just slept with a minor, he found one who reportedly impregnated one....
* I wish I had a government job like working for the SEC or something. Not only would I have had today off, but I could also be grossly incompetent without any accountability. [NPR] Ponder that while we get to the rest of the links….
If they hanged Joe Paterno from a tree and gave little boys a bat and said "whack that man like a piñata," it probably wouldn't hurt as much as what's actually about to happen to JoePa. Obviously, we don't yet have all the facts. But just looking at the Grand Jury report should tell you that civil actions are coming....
