Kelli Peters

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.19.16

* In case you've been wondering about what happened to Jill Easter, the lawyer who, along with her attorney husband, planted drugs on a former PTA president at her son's school, we've got you covered. Easter, who has since changed her name to Ava Everheart, shared her trials and tribulations on the Dr. Phil show yesterday afternoon. We'll have more on this later. [OC Register] * Wisconsin law grads don't have to take the bar to be admitted to practice, so you have to do something heinous to be denied admission. All this guy did was inflate his GPA on a transcript, falsely claim to be on law review, and "forget" about some speeding tickets. The state Supreme Court granted him conditional admission anyway. [Journal Sentinel] * Being a member of the Supreme Court Bar is pretty awesome and comes with some prestigious perks. Not only do SCOTUS Bar members get an impressive-looking membership document, but they also get "preferred admission and seating at key Court arguments." That's not bad for the $200 price of lifetime admission. [Big Law Business] * Led by Alan Dershowitz, a slew of law professors are speaking out against the Department of Education to condemn actions that have led to the "pervasive and severe infringements" of students' due-process and free-speech rights with regard to sexual harassment and misconduct complaints across college campuses. [WSJ Law Blog] * Which law schools have enrolled the highest percentage of students from underrepresented minorities? At 10 legal institutions, minority enrollment exceeded 52 percent, which is a rarity in the stereotypically lily-white land of law schools. More law schools should strive to be as diverse as the those named in this ranking. [U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.08.16

* Remember Kent and Jill Easter, the married lawyers who planted bags of weed and pills in the car of Kelli Peters, a PTA volunteer at their son's school? Kent's law license was suspended, Jill was disbarred, they're now divorced, and to top it all off, a jury recently awarded Peters $5.7M in her case against them. [Orange County Register] * The horror! The horror! Not only did Marco Rubio get his ass handed to him during this weekend's Republican debate, but it turns out he's accused of having been a law firm lobbyist for Florida firms Becker & Poliakoff and Broad and Cassel. [BuzzFeed News] * A proposed ABA resolution that local bar groups think has to do with non-lawyer ownership of law firms -- they're not entirely sure, of course -- is making the hair stand up on the back of attorneys' necks. What could possibly go wrong? [WSJ Law Blog] * Career alternatives for attorneys law school deans: David Yellen, dean of Loyola Law - Chicago for more than a decade (and former ATL columnist), will be leaving the law school game to assume the presidency at Marist College. [Poughkeepsie Journal] * Applications may be down at Yale Law School when compared to prior years, but administrators aren't exactly concerned about it. Come on, get real: It's Yale, and the law school "still [has] more qualified applicants than [it] can accept." [Yale Daily News] * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal profession celebrated the New Year by shedding 1,400 jobs. Don't worry, 2016 graduates, there's still a chance the job market could improve, but we'll have to wait it out. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Miriam Cedarbaum, longtime federal judge of the S.D.N.Y., RIP. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Antitrust

Morning Docket: 08.14.12

* Looks like someone skipped professional responsibility class during bar prep: the Ninth Circuit denied attorney fees to McGuireWoods in light of an “egregious” ethics violation made in the BAR/BRI antitrust settlement. [National Law Journal] * Apple rested its patent-infringement case against Samsung yesterday, making way for the rival tech company to begin presenting its case. Jurors must be thrilled that the end is in sight, with just 25 more hours of arguments to go. [Bloomberg] * Remember the mom-and-dad law grads accused of planting a potpourri of drugs on an elementary school volunteer? Their alleged victim is suing. We’ll have more on this hot mess later. [Orange County Register] * “The facts don’t seem to support a ‘stand your ground’ defense.” That’s what George Zimmerman’s attorney said yesterday, but the defense team is going to try to get the case dismissed on those grounds anyway. [AP] * When applying to law school, it’s usually helpful to demonstrate in your application that you actually want to go to law school. Gah, people seriously need to be told these things. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News] * “[T]he plaintiff’s tampon was never forcibly removed by any deputy.” First of all, yuck. Second of all, you know that a crazy lawsuit must have been filed when the cops are making public statements like this. [NBC News]

By Staci Zaretsky