LSAT

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.10.17

* Former FBI Director James Comey found out that he'd been fired in the worst way possible. He apparently saw the news of his sudden termination on television, and originally thought that it was some sort of a prank being played on him. When you get fired and everyone in the world knows about it before you do, that takes trolling to a whole new level. Ice cold. [New York Daily News] * In other news, with Comey out of the way, President Donald Trump really wants to drill home the alternative fact that he has no connections to Russia. According to White House press secretary Sean Spicer, Trump hired a "leading law firm in Washington, D.C." to send a letter to that effect to Senator Lindsey Graham. Which "leading law firm in Washington, D.C." could it be? [NBC News] * The Law School Admissions Council has named Dean Kellye Y. Testy of the University of Washington School of Law as its new president and CEO. Testy will step down from her current position to take the lead on several new initiatives at LSAC, including increasing the frequency of when the LSAT is administered and offering free online prep materials for the exam. Congratulations! [ABA Journal] * "[W]e are reviewing all Department of Justice policies to focus on keeping Americans safe and will be issuing further guidance and support to our prosecutors executing this priority." Attorney General Jeff Sessions seems interested in reinstating harsh punishments for low-level drug crimes, up to and including severe mandatory minimum sentences. [Washington Post] * Andrew Luger was once the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, but in March, AG Jeff Sessions demanded that as an Obama-era holdover, he resign from his position. A few months have passed, and now Luger will actually have an opportunity to work intimately with the Trump administration. He's now a member of the partnership at a firm with close ties to the president: Jones Day. [Am Law Daily] * Travel bans, and SCOTUS appointments, and executive powers, oh my! Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were filled with such legal lunacy that professors at the Cardozo School of Law were inspired to create a 10-week course on Trumpism and the rule of law. Were they worried that the president would stop providing for material for them to work with? No, absolutely not. [HuffPost]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.29.17

* Almost 2,000 lawyers have signed on to a complaint filed by the Lawyers for Good Government with the Alabama State Bar Disciplinary Committee which alleges that Attorney General Jeff Sessions violated the state's rules of professional conduct when he falsely testified under oath during his confirmation hearing that he "did not have communications with the Russians," and thus should be disbarred. [Alabama Political Reporter] * A superior legal defense from a superior legal mind? A former contestant on The Apprentice who accused President Donald Trump of groping her in 2007 is now suing him for defamation. Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz of Kasowitz Benson, claims that the president is immune from private litigation thanks to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Perhaps he ought to take another look at Clinton v. Jones. [USA Today] * Sources say that Seyfarth Shaw partner Alexander Passantino is under consideration to run the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. He served as deputy Wage and Hour Division administrator from 2006 to 2008, and if offered the job, he'll be in charge of overseeing some pretty major policy issues, like rolling back the Obama-era expansion of overtime pay to millions of American workers. [Big Law Business] * General counsel from 185 companies signed on to a letter delivered to Congress, beseeching lawmakers to continue to support the Legal Services Corp. which could go without necessary funds under President Trump's budget plan. They've requested that $450M be allocated to the organization in order to create a "level playing field for the many lower and moderate-income families who cannot afford a lawyer." [WSJ Law Blog] * Angelo Binno, a blind prospective law student who alleged that the LSAT's logic games test is discriminatory, was denied Supreme Court certiorari earlier this week. Not to worry, because his lawyer says that the fight will go on: "I’m not going to stop until he gets into law school because I know he will be a great lawyer even though he cannot diagram that on a test. This battle is far from over." [National Law Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 03.24.17

* For those of you too busy this week to follow Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing, here's a nice collection of the highlights by Benjamin Wallace-Wells. [New Yorker via How Appealing] * SCOTUS confirmation hearings are often compared to kabuki theater; law professor cum novelist Jay Wexler reimagines the Gorsuch hearing as, well, actual kabuki theater. [McSweeney's] * Insider trading: it's not entirely about the benjamins, as therapist and executive coach Andrew Snyder explains. [LinkedIn] * Is the Second Circuit sitting on juicy information about President Trump's ties to Russia? [WiseLawNY] * Law school applicants with high LSAT scores: which schools do they favor? [SSRN] * Speaking of legal education, what are the secrets to law school success? Vanderbilt 3L Niya McCray shares her thoughts. [Amazon (affiliate link)]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.23.17

* "You have been very much able to avoid any specificity like no one I have seen before. And maybe that’s a virtue, I don’t know. But for us on this side, knowing where you stand on major questions of the day is really important to a vote." Despite hours of questioning, Senate Democrats were unable to get Judge Neil Gorsuch to commit to any response beyond researched generalities. At this point, his confirmation seems inevitable. [New York Times] * Sure, Biglaw associates want their firms to be more progressive when it comes to flexible working arrangements, but that doesn't mean they feel comfortable taking advantage of the programs being offered. Per a survey conducted by the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance, only 8.8 percent of lawyers at firms with reduced hours policies actually work reduced hours. We'll have more on this later today. [Big Law Business] * Is this the end of the Swiss verein? While the legal structure has been adopted in almost every major cross-border law firm merger in recent memory, both of the last two transatlantic Biglaw tie-ups opted to use an entity called the company limited by guarantee (CLG). Apparently this legal structure is being favored for new law firm combinations because there are still questions about vereins' proper use. [Am Law Daily] * Dean Alex Acosta of Florida International University School of Law, a man who is better known these days as Trump's nominee to be the Secretary of Labor, not only says the fiduciary rule requiring retirement investment advisers to put their clients' interest first goes too far, but indicated that he may decline to defend a rule doubling the salary ceiling under which employees would be eligible for overtime pay. Ouch. [Reuters] * Now that Harvard Law has decided to accept applicants' GRE scores in lieu of their LSAT scores for admissions purposes, other law schools have decided to try the alternative exam on for size. Suffolk Law, for example, launched a study last week and offered students $100 to take the GRE. Suffolk's dean says that "the mad dash for the GRE is not being driven by declines in applications." Bless your heart. [Boston Globe]

By Staci Zaretsky