Law Schools

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.12.18

* "The chief justice, in particular, doesn’t like the court to be a disruptive force," but that might change this spring as the Supreme Court considers reversing at least three of its longstanding precedents. Trashing precedents could potentially become much easier now that Justice Gorsuch is here. [USA Today] * Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bryan Cave partners are voting on their proposed transatlantic merger, and the results are expected by the end of the month. If the tie-up is approved, BCLP -- the combined firm's new name -- will be a billion-dollar firm with 1,500 lawyers and 32 offices in 12 countries. [Law.com] * Charles Harder, the lawyer who brought down Gawker and now represents Donald Trump and members of his family, is experiencing some growing pains at his firm thanks to his presidential representation. Name partner Douglas Mirell just quit because of his "pledge to protect the First Amendment." [The Recorder] * New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a civil rights suit against the Weinstein Company and its founders, alleging that they "repeatedly and persistently treated female employees less well than male-employees through gender-based hostile workplace harassment, quid pro quo harassment, and discrimination." [Variety] * In an effort to increase diversity, LSAC will be awarding a total of $1.5 million to five law schools so they can hold Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars programs on their campuses. Akron, Alabama, Duke, Houston, and St. John's will each receive these grants to convince college students to enroll. [Black Enterprise] * Congratulations to Charleston Law's National Tax Moot Court team, which just clinched its seventh championship title in a row. It's nice to know that students were able to rise above the school's designation as one of the "least selective law schools in the country" to create a tax law dynasty. [Post and Courier] * Remember the former Ulta employee who accused the beauty retailer of reselling used products as new? Now a concerned customer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the store's "widespread and surreptitious practice" of allegedly repackaging and selling returned products. [Chicago Tribune]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.07.18

* Slater & Gordon, the world's first publicly traded law firm, claims that it isn't planning to conduct any layoffs in the wake of its latest operations review. The firm, which once found itself on the verge of insolvency and is now owned by a hedge fund, is no stranger to conducting massive layoffs. [The Australian] * Andrews Kurth continues to lose lawyers left and right, with a group of up to 25 attorneys from its public finance group in Texas soon expected to defect to Orrick. How's that merger talk with Hunton & Williams going these days? [American Lawyer] * Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will be delivering the commencement address at Campbell Law’s graduation ceremony this spring. At this rate, given how much the president likes him, let’s see if he’s still Deputy AG come May. [News & Observer] * ASU Law is on track to receive a record-breaking number of applications for the upcoming academic year. According to LSAC, ASU is one of only four law schools in the country to have seen an increase in applications of 50 percent of more. [ASU Now] * "Jane Doe," the New Hampshire woman who won the $560 million Powerball lottery last month, has filed suit against the state’s Lottery Commission in an attempt to remain anonymous. Now that she's a multimillionaire, she doesn’t want to risk the "significant invasion of privacy" of her name being released. [USA Today]

By Staci Zaretsky