“Judge Judy” / Judith Sheindlin

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.08.20

* A Tennessee lawyer has been suspended from practice for allegedly taking controlled substances from an evidence room while serving as a prosecutor. Maybe he wanted to see if the drugs were legit...? [ABC News] * Former Attorney General William Barr has condemned President Trump's alleged role in the riot that occurred at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week. [New York Daily News] * Check out this interview with Judy Sheindlin in which she discusses her career on the bench and on Judge Judy as the show reaches its final episodes. [ABA Journal] * The lawyer for a California man accused of having a New Year's Eve party attended by around 100 people at Eddie Murphy's former mansion said it "wasn't supposed to be a big affair." [Sacramento Bee] * The DEA has asked that a lawsuit concerning hemp regulations be dismissed. Bet many hope this challenge goes up in smoke... [Capital Press]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.16.20

* Judge Judy's lawsuit against a former broadcast partner about allegedly unpaid profits is heating up. Maybe they can resolve their differences on The People's Court... [Deadline] * A lawyer for the first woman to face a federal execution in decades is seeking a delay of the execution because the attorney is battling COVID-19. [Yahoo News] * It has been recently revealed that one of Jeffrey Epstein's defense lawyers, who got Epstein a "sweetheart" plea bargain in 2009, previously dated a top prosecutor involved with the deal. [New York Post] * New Jersey policymakers have moved to name a building at Rutgers University after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who taught at Rutgers Law between 1963 and 1972. [New Jersey Law Journal] * A lawyer has been sentenced to four years in prison for allegedly smuggling meth to clients in jail. Going to refrain from making a lazy Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul joke here... [Texarkana Gazette]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.16.16

* President Obama will announce his pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia later this morning. Which member of the D.C. Circuit will he choose, Judge Sri Srinivasan or Judge Merrick Garland? America will find out at 11 a.m., and then the real political circus of trying to get a confirmation hearing will begin. [New York Times] * "Republicans know they can't get away with complete and total obstruction, so they may try to set up a double standard." Senate Republicans have refused to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but it looks like more than 30 other federal judicial nominees may have been caught in the political fray. [AP] * After having a district court judge's deferred compensation remedy slapped down by the Ninth Circuit, lawyers in the O'Bannon NCAA student-athlete pay case have asked the Supreme Court to grant certiorari. The lawyers involved "[feel] so strongly in the principles involved" that they don't care if they lose their fees and costs. [USA Today] * A small victory for a washed-up Mean Girl? Lindsay Lohan has never really had much success when it comes to suing others on the basis of likeness appropriation, but a New York judge has refused to dismiss her case against Rockstar Games over a look-alike character in Grand Theft Auto V. You go, girl! [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter] * Per Lex Machina, after a slow 2014, patent litigation rose by 14.7 percent in 2015. What's troubling to some lawyers, though, is that all of the action has migrated to Texas courts: "Why should this little corner that’s not particularly a hotbed of innovation have such an important role to play in patent law?" [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Talent agency Rebel Entertainment Partners is suing CBS, the TV station that airs "Judge Judy," because it claims Judge Judy is taking in such a high salary that the network has been unable to dole out its contractually obligated payments. Although she's not named in the suit, Judge Judy, full of sarcasm, says this is "hilarious." [Variety]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.20.16

* Justice Judy? According to a poll conducted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, about 10 percent of college graduates think that Judith Sheindlin, aka Judge Judy, serves on the bench of the Supreme Court. [CNN] * If you haven't heard, Houston-based firm Bracewell & Giuliani lost one of its famous name partners this week. Former New York Mayor and founding New York partner Rudy Giuliani is taking his nouns and verbs about 9/11 and heading to presumably greener pastures at Greenberg Traurig. [DealBook / New York Times] * Yeehaw! Ride 'em, partners! Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is the latest Biglaw firm to open an outpost in Houston, Texas, and there's no better way to staff an office in the Wild Wild West than to poach 20 partners from your competitor firms. [Texas Lawyer] * Texas Wesleyan Law graduates have officially lost the diploma war they've been waging against Texas A&M Law. A judge recently dismissed their case for want of any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever. [National Law Journal via Courthouse News Service] * Martin Shkreli is sick and tired of being depicted as nothing more than a "pharma bro" in the press, so he's decided to get new legal representation in his securities fraud case, as if that'll somehow solve all of his problems. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.28.15

* As it turns out, Marilyn Mosby, State's Attorney for Baltimore, has been a legal all-star for much of her adult life. Not only did she file charges against police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, but she won a case in front of Judge Judy. Watch the video below. [New York Daily News] * “No one needs more than 18 years in the high stakes and extremely powerful position of Supreme Court justice.” If you're against lifetime terms for SCOTUS justices, you're going to love Fix the Court's new initiative for voluntary term limits. Who'd actually follow through with this? [Legal Times] * The DOJ brought a landmark case against FIFA officials, but there's likely going to be a problem getting those who were charged extradited from Switzerland. Legal experts say it'll be at least six months until we can get them in the U.S. penalty box. [WSJ Law Blog] * Sure, Dewey & LeBoeuf's former chief financial officer may have referred to the firm's "fake income" and hoped for a "clueless auditor," but come on, that doesn't mean that he was involved in anything fraudulent. He's just a really "blunt" kind of guy. [Am Law Daily] * UC law students are thanking Gov. Jerry Brown they're exempt from supplemental tuition increases -- "[they] are paying a ton already for [their] degrees." Good thing legal education is in the toilet, otherwise they'd be paying the fee hikes. [Los Angeles Times] * Comedian Tracy Morgan has settled his personal injury lawsuit against Wal-Mart over the tractor-trailer truck crash he was involved in last summer. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, but we imagine someone will leak them online soon. [Reuters] https://youtu.be/f6aN3_hKdwk

By Staci Zaretsky