Lucy Koh

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.23.19

* Is Kirkland really worth twice as much as the next most valuable Biglaw firm? That seems like an inordinately massive gap. [American Lawyer] * Young lawyer went to police station drunk, carrying cocaine. He's no longer a young lawyer. [Legal Cheek] * Michael Avenatti's now charged with stealing from Stormy Daniels. Remember when fighting a partner over whether or not he deserved a share of billables was considered an Avenatti scandal? [Law360] * Lawyers, especially criminal defense and legal aid attorneys, can take on the emotional burden of their clients' troubles causing personal trauma just in case you needed a better argument to go into ERISA. [Daily Business Review] * Qualcomm shellacked by antitrust ruling and Judge Koh went straight at the lawyers working in-house at the company. [NY Times] * Harvey Weinstein's lawyers have gone to court to get almost half a million in back pay from the producer. [Page Six] * Roughly 70 percent of Biglaw declined to follow Milbank in raising salaries to the $190K scale. [American Lawyer]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.26.16

* Given the unusually "circus-like atmosphere" surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation process, anyone who is nominated to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat must "have the backbone to take the risk of being out there in front of the recalcitrant Senate." Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval apparently didn't have the testicular fortitude necessary for the challenging endeavor. [WSJ Law Blog] * President Obama nominated Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.), the queen of Silicon Valley tech-industry and patent litigation, to the Ninth Circuit. Consider what's likely to be her difficult confirmation a preview to the politically divisive process of getting Justice Scalia's replacement a meeting before the Senate. [San Jose Mercury News] * Of the current justices, Elena Kagan is the only one who has experienced the fallout of an eight-member Supreme Court. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall when there was an almost eight-month vacancy on the Court, and may have learned how to avoid 4-4 decisions from Chief Justice William Rehnquist. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Apple wants to vacate an order compelling the tech giant to help the FBI unlock one of the San Bernadino shooter's iPhones, noting "[i]f this order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent." [The Hill] * Johnson & Johnson may have suffered a $72 million blow in its loss in a case alleging links between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, but it doesn't necessarily mean that other plaintiffs will come away from their talc-cancer cases with windfalls quite as large. They'll still have to convince a jury that J&J's products caused their illness. [Reuters]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.03.16

* Sorry, Berners, but you'll have to start the revolution somewhere else: Students at Georgetown Law have been barred from campaigning for Bernie Sanders on campus because administrators say it would threaten the law school's tax-exempt status. [Hit & Run / Reason] * A group from Kasowitz Benson's lucrative insurance recovery practice, including its leader, Robin Cohen, is leaving for McKool Smith, but name partner Marc Kasowitz doesn't seem to mind one bit. He says it'll help the firm out in the long run. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Obama is expected to nominate Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California, she of the Apple v. Samsung patent feud, to the Ninth Circuit. It's too bad the likelihood of her getting through the Senate right now is "close to zero." [San Jose Mercury News] * Hole singer Courtney Love's "Twibel" (Twitter plus libel) victory against her ex-lawyer in the first case to ever go to trial over a defamatory tweet was recently upheld by a California appellate court. Retweet and Like. [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter] * Mmm, cheese-product sticks! Fast-food conglomerate McDonald's is facing a class-action suit over its sometimes cheeseless mozzarella sticks, with allegations that they're not made with "100 percent real cheese" and "real mozzarella" as advertised. [Eater]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 10.22.12

* “You’re paying a partner $800 to $1,000 an hour and they’re charging you because they ordered sushi.” In-house counsel are paying more attention to their bills, and they’re refusing to pay for things like photocopies and food. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)] * According to litigators, who are the ten most notable federal district court judges to watch? Three come from S.D.N.Y., but one from N.D. Cal. captured our hearts this summer when she asked counsel for Apple if he was “smoking crack.” [American Lawyer] * A guide for law students with disabilities says: “If you are thinking that you’re a shoe-in for LSAT accommodations since you had accommodations in undergrad, think again.” But thanks to these suits, LSAC’s policies may soon be changing. [National Law Journal] * Seeing as there are only nine law schools in Illinois, and given the abysmal job market for new law grads, it’s clear the state needs a tenth school. Say hello to Bradley University College of Law. [Peoria Journal Star] * Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow trademarked “Tebowing.” Yes, seriously. But don’t worry, he didn’t do it to make money, he just wants to “control how it’s used, make sure it’s used in the right way.” [Washington Post]

By David Lat
Bankruptcy

Morning Docket: 10.03.12

* Yeah, about that huge bonus we were going to pay our ex-finance director — we realized how silly that was, so we’re not going to do that. Aww, don’t worry, Dewey & LeBoeuf, you’ll have plenty of other chances to look absurd. [Am Law Daily] * Not only is Samsung suing Apple for patent infringement, but the company is also trying to get a do over by getting Judge Lucy Koh to throw out the original billion-dollar verdict over jury foreman Velvin Hogan’s alleged misconduct. [Bloomberg] * “Small deals are easier to swallow, easier to integrate.” Regional firms like Carlton Fields and Adams and Reese are gobbling up smaller firms in what seems to be the latest trend in law firm merger mania activity. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Douglas Arntsen, the former Crowell & Moring associate who had to be extradited from Hong Kong after embezzling $10.7M from clients, pleaded guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence. [New York Law Journal] * It’s tough to come up with appropriate whistleblower jokes given the background here. We’ll play it straight: Mike McQueary filed a defamation suit against Penn State, and he’s seeking $4M in damages. [ABC News] * Jose Godinez-Samperio, an undocumented immigrant, is fighting for the ability to practice law in Florida, but the members of the state Supreme Court are literally trying to make it into a “federal case.” [Washington Post]

By Staci Zaretsky