Loans

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.12.18

* While you were busy watching Kanye spew drivel in the Oval Office, you may have forgotten that he was there to watch the Music Modernization Act get signed into law to enrich artists. And by "artists" we mean the RIAA. [The Verge] * The public service loan forgiveness program appears to be a total disaster. Glad we got 10 years of free public service out of those chumps who honestly believed the Department of Education would honor its commitments! [Law.com] * Washington strikes down the death penalty as racially biased in application. [Washington Post] * A reminder that Republicans used to support "sanctuary" laws because they objected to the federal government commandeering local law enforcement. How the times of changed... [Mother Jones] * Cleary's hired a chief talent officer to handle recruiting, retention and diversity and it's a wonder more firms haven't gone this route. [American Lawyer] * Former Newsweek owner pleads not guilty in $10 million bank fraud scheme, claiming the charges are false and trumped up by Manhattan DA Cy Vance in retaliation over negative news coverage. This is the fundamental problem with Vance staying in this job: these charges may be legit but based on his history of high profile screw-ups, this retaliation defense sounds entirely reasonable. [Law360] * Georgia sued over law that its Secretary of State is using to block new voter registrations from mostly minority citizens. For the record, that Secretary of State is himself in a tight race for governor against a black woman. Funny that so many minority registrations would get blocked like this, huh? [AJC]

By Joe Patrice
Airplanes / Aviation

Morning Docket: 01.02.13

* While Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts made a plea to keep funding for the federal judiciary intact, we learned that student loan default cases have fallen since 2011. You really gotta love that income-based repayment. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)] * Introducing the Asia 50, a list of the largest firms in the Asia-Pacific region. When it comes to the firms with the biggest footprints, only one American Biglaw shop made the cut. Go ahead and take a wild guess on which one it was. [Asian Lawyer] * Congratulations are in order, because after almost a year of stalling, Arnold & Porter partner William Baer was finally confirmed by the Senate as the chief of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. [Bloomberg] * Our elected officials might not have allowed the country to fall off the fiscal cliff, but the American Invents Act was put on hold, so if you’re a patent nerd, you can still be mad about something. [National Law Journal] * Remember when Rutgers-Camden Law said “many top students” were making bank after graduation? Yeah, about that: Law School Transparency just filed an ABA complaint. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Here are some law school trends to look out for in 2013. FYI, the applicant pool is smaller because no one wants to foolishly gamble on their careers anymore. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report] * In the latest NYC subway shoving death, a woman was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, and allegedly bragged about other hate crimes she’s committed to police. Lovely. [New York Times] * Next time you’re trapped on a plane that’s literally filled with other people’s crap for 11 hours, don’t bother suing over your hellish experience — you’re going to be preempted by federal law. [New York Law Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky