Kathleen Kane

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.25.16

* From prosecutor to prisoner: former Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane gets sentenced to 10 to 23 months. [CNN(Opens in a new window)]* Oh, the irony: the ABA won’t publish a report calling Donald Trump a “libel bully” because of “the risk of the ABA being sued by Mr. Trump.” [New York Times(Opens in a […]

By David Lat
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 08.18.16

* North Carolina really wants to keep its voter ID law alive. [Lawyers, Guns and Money] * RIP Gawker. [Gawker] * Even Biglaw firms know Martin Shkreli is toxic. [Law360] * Which SCOTUS cases from this past term are already getting cited by lower courts? [Empirical SCOTUS] * Breakdown of how Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane wound up a convicted criminal. [Vice] * Northwestern Law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer discusses sexual assault on campus. [Legal Talk Network] * Donald Trump and Roger Ailes are teaming up, but maybe it isn't Hillary Clinton who should be worried. [Law and More]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.17.16

* "There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done in off years. That’s not in the constitutional text." Angering armchair constitutional scholars, President Obama vowed to appoint someone to replace Justice Scalia following his death, despite the fact that it's an election year. [New York Times] * "My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas." The fact that Justice Scalia was found dead with a pillow over his head has made conspiracy theorists come out in droves. Some are "stunned" that an autopsy wasn't performed on the late justice. [Daily Intelligencer / New York Magazine] * Dickstein Shapiro partners were informed via letter that they'd face "the almost certain loss of all firm capital." For some equity partners, that's more than $1 million -- and the letter wasn't even signed "sincerely." How rude! [National Law Journal via ABA Journal] * Justice Scalia's passing could have an impact on the anti-marijuana legalization suit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado. The Court was supposed to discuss it this week, but the justices may not want to overpack their bowls, so to speak. [Guardian] * Troubled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not be seeking reelection after her term expires in January 2017. With her license to practice law suspended and criminal charges pending, we'll see if she's even able to make it that far. [WSJ Law Blog] * Vigilante justice on the internet swift: Despite Google listing the firm as "permanently closed" and its brutal one-star Yelp rating, "Making a Murderer" prosecutor Ken Kratz assured reporters his law firm was still open, contrary to appearances. [Post-Crescent] * Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former U.N. Secretary General, RIP. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.09.16

* Demand for corporate work may be down, but that's not stopping senior Biglaw partners from ramping up their hourly billing rates. Partners at some firms have rates that exceed $1,400 per hour. They're not making it rain, they're making it monsoon! [WSJ Law Blog] * No law license, no pretty huge problem: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's license to practice law is still suspended, so the state Senate has scheduled a historic vote for her removal. For her part, Kane, of course, thinks this is "unwarranted and unconstitutional." [PennLive.com] * Herbert Sudfeld Jr., an ex-partner at Fox Rothschild, was convicted of insider trading. He'd apparently eavesdropped on discussions related to a firm merger client and purchased stock based on what he'd overheard. [Legal Intelligencer via ABA Journal] * Washington & Lee Law settled a suit filed by a former student who claimed he was dismissed as a result of a campus judicial proceeding because he was accused in a sexual assault case. The terms of the deal won't be disclosed. [Richmond Times-Dispatch] * When your firm's founding partners have been disciplined by the state Supreme Court a few times too many, you should probably hurry up and change the firm's name to something kooky like LawyerASAP to distract your existing clients. [Orlando Sentinel]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 12.21.15

* Nobody puts Bernie in the corner! The Democratic race for president has been a little more exciting ever since the Bernie Sanders campaign sued the Democratic National Committee over a data breach involving Hillary Clinton's voter information. [New York Times] * Everyone else and their mother has been disciplined in the Pennsylvania Porngate scandal -- except for AG Kathleen Kane's twin sister, prosecutor Ellen Granahan. Her emails were just as awful, but nothing's going to happen to her. Ain't nepotism grand? [Morning Call] * A few weeks ago, Dentons announced that it was interested in swallowing up two Latin American firms, and now a three-way merger has been approved. With 7,400 lawyers, Dentons will become an even bigger Biglaw behemoth. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * The house always wins? Before its sale to billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporters were asked to investigate and write about a judge who may soon make a ruling adverse to his interests. [DealBook / New York Times] * Arkansas Law wants to dismiss Prof. Robert Steinbuch's suit over its admissions data. The school's defense essentially amounts to this: "Just because we accidentally gave you all that info last time doesn't mean we'll do it again now." [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.25.15

* Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit completely obliterated a Wisconsin law that required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Posner said any health benefits conferred by the law were "nonexistent." [Reuters] * Judge Richard Sullivan (S.D.N.Y.) wasn't a fan of the Bank of China essentially telling Gucci to "suck it up" when it came to "ridiculous" delays in providing counterfeiters' records, so he held the bank in contempt and is considering assessing millions of dollars in fines. [WSJ Law Blog] * A Pennsylvania attorney activist who launched the "Kane is not Able" campaign has asked the state's highest court to provide clarification on how AG Kathleen Kane should delegate her duties considering the fact she has a suspended law license. [PennLive.com] * A proposed class-action suit has been filed against fashion company Kate Spade over its alleged "imaginary discount prices." If this goes the way of the $4.88M Michael Kors settlement over the same issue, then Kate Spade could be in trouble. [Consumerist] * "Talk about being uprooted!" Vendors who sell wares outside of Brooklyn Law are pissed about the school's plans to install planters on the sidewalks around the building, thereby kicking the vendors not to the curb, but out onto the street. [Brooklyn Paper]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.13.15

* Steven Metro, an ex-managing clerk at Simpson Thacher who was accused of passing insider info about mergers and other business transactions to his law school buddy in a $5.6 million insider trading scheme, has pleaded guilty. He faces up to 20 years in prison. [Reuters] * Remember Keila Ravelo, the Willkie Farr partner who allegedly stole millions from that firm and her prior firm, Hunton & Williams? It turns out her involvement in the $5.7 billion MasterCard/Visa antitrust settlement could ultimately become its kiss of death. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Chief Judge Morrison England (E.D. Cal.) says he and his colleagues are incredibly overworked, sometimes putting in more than 80 hours per week. It's too bad it doesn't make a difference -- the court is at a "crisis point" in its backlog of cases. [WSJ Law Blog] * Last summer, a federal judge ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional in California because an appeals process with the "slight possibility of death" was cruel and unusual. Here's a real shocker: the Ninth Circuit overturned the decision. [New York Times] * Embattled Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is well past the point of having 99 problems, but there's no end in sight. Former prosecutors have filed suit against her, alleging she retaliated against them for exposing her alleged criminal misdeeds. [Tribune-Review]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.26.15

* “Cases swing. I don’t." Justice Anthony Kennedy would really like it if folks would stop referring to him as the high court's swinger swing vote. In other news, the Supreme jurist thinks Legally Blonde is a "pretty good movie." [Harvard Gazette] * Hey, everyone, it's high time we did something about this law school debt crisis. Have you somehow never heard about or experienced this before (despite reading Above the Law for eons)? Not to worry, because the New York Times is on it! [New York Times] * "She’ll still be fighting for the things she cares about. But this time, she’ll be asking us to join her." Irin Camron, co-author of Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (affiliate link), thinks we'll see more Badass Bader this Term. [New York Times] * The Pennsylvania Senate is trying to kick embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane out of office because she's working with a suspended law license. Come on, it must be pretty embarrassing when your AG can't even refer to herself as a lawyer. [Morning Call] * According to Professor Paul Campos, the law school scam will keep on trucking thanks to the for-profit institutions -- Arizona Summit Law, Charlotte Law, and Florida Coastal Law -- that are run by InfiLaw. Well, at least they're good at one thing, right? [The Atlantic] * Toke the vote! The next states that will likely legalize recreational marijuana by ballot referendum come November 2016 include California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Vermont, on the other hand, may pass marijuana-friendly legislation. [Rolling Stone]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.02.15

* Not everyone can lead a glamorous life before going to law school. Take, for example, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. After graduating from college, she traveled to Alaska where she gutted fish with some "gentlemen from Japan." Eww, that sounds... slimy. [JD Journal] * Law schools have been forced to hike up a rocky road in terms of admissions for quite some time, but admissions officers recently decided to put on their rose-colored glasses. Everything will be okay next year! Things are looking up! [Inside Counsel] * Corrales Municipal Judge Luis Quintana of New Mexico may have been disbarred, but he has no plans to resign from his position on the bench; after all, municipal judges in his state don't have to be lawyers. How terribly convenient for him. [Albuquerque Journal] * Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is now facing additional charges -- including a new perjury charge -- related to her grand jury testimony. She better find a way to blame this on her evil twin, because this doesn't look good. [Times-Tribune] * Warren Watson, a man who was convicted of robbing, raping, and murdering 66-year-old attorney Claudia Miller in her office in 2013, was recently sentenced to life in prison, plus 334 years on top of that for all of his dastardly deeds. [Denver Post]

By Staci Zaretsky