A Country Unto Itself
On the first day of the new SCOTUS term, the desire to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land was reaffirmed.
Morning Docket: 08.26.19
* 3M is asking Biglaw to care for attorney mental health in its new procurement process. The fourth "M" is for "Mindfulness." [Corporate Counsel] * In today's installment of "intellectual property law is broken," publishers are suing over audiobooks that offer captions. [New York Law Journal] * A guy who legally changed his name to Atticus Finch when he was 8 is now in law school. If you think you hated Go Set A Watchman... [Texas Lawyer] * Second Circuit doing all sorts of fact-finding because adhering to the record and precedent is out of fashion apparently. [Law360] * Anti-gay blogger Judge John Bush calling out Kim Davis for "antihomosexual bias" is peak 2019. [National Law Journal] * Famous football players who became lawyers. [Law.com] * Convict seeks sheriff job. [HuffPo]
LexisNexis’ Practical Guidance Is Every Attorney’s Essential Concierge
This tool will — seamlessly and authoritatively — take you from initial research to final draft in just about any practice scenario.
Morning Docket: 11.07.18
* Republicans' control over the Senate grew after the midterm elections, but Democrats managed to take the House. Here are six interesting reasons why that means President Donald Trump could be in "huge legal trouble" now. [Law & Crime]
* Florida voters approved an amendment to their state constitution to restore felons' voting rights, which will now be automatically restored after prison time is completed and restitution paid. That's at least 1.4 million more voters! [Orlando Sentinel]
* Remember Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after she refused to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples? Last night, she lost her reelection campaign to Elwood Caudill Jr., a Democratic challenger. [Lexington Herald Leader]
* In case you missed it, President Donald Trump chose former White House counsel and current O'Melveny of counsel A.B. Culvahouse to go Down Under to put another shrimp on the barbie serve as U.S. ambassador to Australia. [National Law Journal]
* A California appellate court has paved the way for former Winston & Strawn partner Constance Ramos to get out of an "unconscionable" arbitration agreement with the firm. This may be the first Biglaw gender bias case to make it to trial. [The Recorder]
* Sorry, but you can't deduct the cost of your law degree on your taxes because it qualified you for a new trade or business. The U.S. Tax Court says that even with a shiny new J.D. in your possession, you've only enhanced your current skills. [Law360]
* Grab 'em by the public interest: Per a new Gallup survey, pre-law students don't care about Biglaw money; no, they say the top reason to go to law school is to "pursue a career in politics, government, or other public service." [Idaho Business Review]
* A group of crypto investors has filed suit against rapper T.I., alleging that they could not have whatever they like because he tricked them into backing FLiK Token. The Rubberband Man's lawyer says, "Tip is truly disheartened by the lawsuit." [Complex]
Morning Docket: 08.31.17
* Maybe it's just me, but your lawyer shouldn't be giving interviews about he "relishes a challenge," when your entire defense -- to date -- is that the case against you is a "nothing burger." Right? [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] * Remember Kim Davis? Her lawyer Mat Staver wants us to know that people who hate gays are persecuted like Jews in Nazi Germany. Yes... it's exactly like that. [Huffington Post] * Have equity partners become employees? [American Lawyer] * Special prosecutor appointed to look into Richard Luthmann's alleged use of spoof Facebook accounts to masquerade as various elected officials. Perhaps he should seek to vindicate himself through trial by combat. [NY Post] * We already knew that trial by combat is allowed in New York, but what about "blood oaths"? According to the SDNY, those are enforceable too. America's conversion into Westeros is almost complete. [Law.com] * Philadelphia is suing Jeff Sessions over the administration's efforts to frustrate the town's "sanctuary city" status. [Philly.com] * Speaking of sanctuary, Chief Judge Orlando Garcia blocked the controversial Texas sanctuary cities law. [Washington Post] * NLJ hands out three lifetime achievement awards. [National Law Journal]
Non-Sequiturs: 07.21.17
* Akie Abe, first lady of Japan, played Donald Trump so hard. She, evidently, pretended she didn't know how to speak English to avoid having to talk to our boor of a president. I'm telling you guys: World War III: this time the Axis powers are the good guys. [National Post] * On this day that Trump turns over his press team, it's worth mentioning that the media's war against Trump is doomed to fail. Honestly, this first press conference with Anthony Scaramucci just emphasizes the point. The media asked him two questions in a bunch of different ways: 1. Will you be nicer to us than the last guy? 2. Why does this administration suck? The answers were "sure" and "we're great," respectively. [The Guardian] * Walls don't just keep people out, they lock people in. Like East Germany before, the White House takes its first totalitarian step to... oh, they're just banning travel to North Korea. Honestly, that's a pretty solid idea. [CBS News] * Kentucky was ordered to pay $222,695 in legal fees to people who had to deal with Kim Davis's BS. [Louisville Courier-Journal] * Exxon fined $2,000,000 for "reckless disregard" for sanctions against Russia while current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in charge. In response, Exxon sued the U.S. Treasury Department, naming Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as a defendant, arguing they had received a special carve-out. Everything is so dirty. [ABA Journal] * Remember when Republicans cried and complained and sniggered that Obama was a "Muslim" whenever he would bring over a Guantanamo detainee for trial in the U.S.? The Trump administration just brought over a Guantanamo detainee for trial in the U.S. This administration is very much like Linkin Park, just do what the black guy did but with white faces and more guitar, and people will like it. [New York Times] * Breitbart is fapping itself over Anthony Scaramucci, so I checked out Red State and found this gem: "Beating the filibuster just takes guts and a desire to win." The argument is that Republican leaders should not be afraid of a Democratic filibuster on health care, because if Republicans are strong they'll refuse to conduct any other business until health care gets a vote, and Democrats won't shut down the government to save Obamacare. Two points: (a) Republicans don't have 50 votes now, and (b) NOTHING would make Democrats happier than to shut down the entire Republican legislative agenda by making a principled stand defending the right to health care. But hey, if y'all think you have the "guts" to shut down the government in order to "win," by all means, bring it the eff on. [RedState]
Morning Docket: 08.22.16
* "You're going to make a federal case out of this - a dispute between two sorority sisters?" A fight between two sorority sisters recently landed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, but it turns out the suit was dropped quicker than a misbehaving pledge. We'll have more on this later today. [Philadelphia Inquirer] * "Generally, it is God who decides whether presidents get Supreme Court appointments." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be the oldest member of SCOTUS, but that doesn't mean she's preparing to step down, even if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. She's already hired clerks for the October 2017 term. [Washington Post] * The Eastern District of Michigan has ruled that in cases of employment discrimination, religious rights trump transgender rights. The ACLU says this case has set a "dangerous precedent," in that it has "exempted [a business that was "not a particularly religious operation"] from civil rights law with regard to transgender people." [WSJ Law Blog] * The ABA has closed a probe regarding allegations of religious discrimination (i.e., expulsion of students who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and bans of sexual activity between students of the same sex) that were said to have occurred at BYU Law School. The school is said to have changed its honor code. [ABA Journal] * Infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has lucked out thanks to some actions taken by the Sixth Circuit. A new state law removed the names of clerks from marriage licenses, thus enabling the appeals court to refuse her claims, allowing a judge to toss a suit she was facing over her unwillingness to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. [WSAZ]
Your Law Firm’s Website Is Failing You.
Here’s What The Best Ones Are Doing Differently.
Morning Docket: 04.15.16
* Ted Cruz may not like dildos, but he doesn't seem to mind legal weed. Earlier this week, the Republican presidential candidate said that while he opposes federal legalization of cannabis, states should be free to experiment because the Constitution allows for it. Colorado's legalization of recreational marijuana is safe and sound, for now. [Denver Post] * "It was a very pleasant meeting, but it has changed nothing." Senate Republicans may want nothing to do with confirming D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, but they've sure been taking their sweet time telling him "no" during their courtesy meetings with him. Some of these seemingly pointless meetings have gone on for more than an hour. [New York Times] * Chief Judge Garland may be wasting his time with these lengthy meetings, though, because if the jurist isn't confirmed before the upcoming presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders said during last night's Democratic debate that if he wins, he'd ask President Obama to withdraw his nomination, as he doesn't think that Garland would pass his progressive litmus test on Citizens United. Are you still feeling the Bern? [TIME] * Lawmakers in several states have passed bathroom bills that enable bigotry in the name of protecting religious rights, but what you may not have known is that there is one lawyer behind them all. Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel -- who was recently in the news for representing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis -- says he's doing it to push back against the Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. [CBS News] * Professor Richard Sander of UCLA School of Law, whose claim to academic fame is his "mismatch" theory of affirmative action, has been trying to get more than 30 years' worth of data from the State Bar of California for quite some time in an effort to continue his research into the "large and persistent gap in bar passage rates among racial and ethnic groups," and now he's finally going to get his day in court. [WSJ Law Blog] * David Gherity, a former Minnesota lawyer who was falsely accused of setting his girlfriend on fire using accelerants like alcohol, lotion, hair spray, and fingernail polish remover, has filed a civil rights suit against the police and prosecutors who kept him in jail for about two months. Gherity, who was suspended from practice in 2004, alleges a violation of the "protected interest in his good name." [Twin Cities Pioneer Press]
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The State Of The Union Address: Let’s Get Irresponsibly Drunk
Some people watch the State of the Union Address as a point of civic duty. Others like to get drunk. This is for the latter demographic.
Morning Docket: 12.23.15
* It's the Miss Universe pageant lawsuit you've all been waiting for: attorneys at a Colombian law firm say they will be filing suit due to Miss Colombia's crowning and de-crowning, noting "the crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us.” [WGNO] * The Federal Circuit handed down a major ruling yesterday, saying that the government can no longer bar the registration of offensive trademarks due to restrictions on free speech. This will likely be appealed to SCOTUS, but the Redskins must be pretty pumped. [Reuters] * In an effort to avoid another Kim Davis fiasco (and to protect clerks' religious beliefs), Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin has signed an executive order directing that his state prepare new marriage licenses without the names of county clerks. [Associated Press] * Lil Wayne may be a "motherf**kin' cash money millionaire," but he reportedly can't spare the cash to pay his attorneys' fees. This marks the second time in recent months that he's been sued for allegedly failing to pay his lawyers what they're owed. [SPIN] * Lakeisha Holloway, the woman accused of using her car to mow down and kill a pedestrian and injure many others on the Las Vegas Strip, has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. [NBC News]
Morning Docket: 11.20.15
* Jared Fogle, Subway's former spokesman, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to sex with minors and child pornography, and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. His creative defense? Losing weight on the Subway diet made him choose to erm... "eat fresh." Yuck. [Washington Post] * Biglaw firms have been announcing their new partnership classes over the past few weeks, and it goes without saying that the vast majority of new partners attended highly ranked law schools. Take a wild guess at which school was the most represented. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Per the latest report from the NALP, women and African-Americans continue to falter in their career progress at Biglaw firms. James Leipold says it's "troubling" that the numbers are "reversing course." We couldn't agree more. [DealBook / New York Times] * UnitedHealth recently announced that it expects to suffer in terms of its insurance sales under the Affordable Care Act, and has gone so far as to threaten that it may pull out of the exchange. Here are five things you need to know about that. [WSJ Law Blog] * One of the members of Survivor filed a copyright infringement suit against Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign after the song "Eye of the Tiger" was played during a rally held for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Now it's stuck in your head. Welcome! [Reuters]
How AI Is Transforming The Legal Profession (2025)
A survey of professionals reveals the impact of legal work, clients, concerns, and future roles.
Non-Sequiturs: 11.12.15
* Take a look at this glorious send-up of the hypocrisy behind Mat Staver, Kim Davis's attorney, who now has his panties in a twist because he doesn't think a public servant is doing their job. Oh, the delicious delicious irony. Maybe Alanis can stick it in her next song. [Wonkette] * Well, isn't this f**king stupid. A Utah judge orders a same-sex couple to give up their foster child because the child would be better off with heterosexual parents. This is just infuriating. [Salt Lake Tribune] * Just when you finally had all the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure memorized, they're about to change. [Associate's Mind] * How lawyers can draw the line when asked to support judicial candidates? [Katz on Justice] * Greenberg Traurig's CEO, Richard Rosenbaum, predicts some Biglaw firms will die. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POZoVsGD_Ps&feature=youtu.be
Morning Docket: 10.06.15
* While we're loath to continue giving this woman airtime, it turns out that infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis's law firm, Liberty Counsel, was recently declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This fits the overall narrative here quite nicely, don't you think? [Salon] * After 12 days of deliberation, the jury in the criminal trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf's former execs has shown no signs of reaching a verdict, but instead, signs of exhaustion. In fact, one juror needed medical attention because she deliberated too hard. [Am Law Daily] * This seems to be a common phrase lately: law firm mergers are breaking records again. Altman Weil says more firms announced mergers in the first three quarters of 2015 than in the first three quarters of any year in almost a decade. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * "I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death." Thanks to Governor Jerry Brown, California is now the fifth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The End of Life Option Act will take effect sometime in 2016. [Los Angeles Times] * If you're an undergraduate student who's planning to go to law school, then you better be building relevant lawyering skills. Master the art of bullsh*tting before you graduate and you'll be ahead of the game. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
Kentucky Governor Is Having None Of Kim Davis’s Shenanigans
To say the governor disagrees with Kim Davis is putting it mildly.
Non-Sequiturs: 10.01.15
* Don't get accused of a crime you didn't commit in Oklahoma, turns out they don't collect fingerprint evidence on the reg. [The Journal Record] * What those deal toys really mean. [Daily Lawyer Tips] * Yeaaah, the 1% do get different justice: judge lets embroiled Wall Street CEO Benjamin Wey out of his curfew to watch Swan Lake. [Dealbreaker] * Is the law equipped to deal with aliens (like the extraterrestrial kind)? [Law and More] * Kentucky governor Steve Beshear is having exactly none of Kim Davis's horse hockey. [Wonkette] * Law firms are still hopelessly stuck in the past. [The Atlantic]
Morning Docket: 10.01.15
* Vatican officials confirmed -- or rather, didn't deny -- that Pope Francis did, in fact, have a secret meeting with infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Hmm, apparently all it takes is denying people their newfound civil rights to get an audience with the Pope. [WSJ Law Blog] * The ABA Accreditation Committee will recommend that the ABA approve the merger between Hamline and William Mitchell. The merger byproduct could be operational in 2016 if all goes well. Is this something we should be excited about? [Hamline University] * On the ninth day of deliberations in the criminal trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf's former executives, jurors were still unable to come to a consensus, and one juror mentioned she'd have to leave early on October 9. Oy vey! Dewey think this jury is hung? [Am Law Daily] * Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin stayed the execution of Richard Glossip -- you may recognize his name from his recent unsuccessful Supreme Court case -- because the drugs the Corrections Department received didn't match protocol. Figures. [Associated Press] * "We are heartened the district attorney has agreed that even a misdemeanor charge would be inappropriate." Prosecutors will not be charging Caitlyn Jenner with vehicular manslaughter in the fatal car crash she was involved in earlier this year. [USA Today]