Making A Murderer

* A lawyer who was featured in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer has been unable to shake his conviction for violating a restraining order. Maybe he should have had “dreamy” Dean Strang defend him… [ABA Journal]

* A study has found that the number of lawyer jobs may have decreased by over 15% in the past six months. [Bloomberg Law]

* A group of voters have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Trump Administration from excluding undocumented immigrants from the census. [Jurist]

* Michael Avenatti will receive a taxpayer-funded lawyer in one of his criminal cases after claiming he did not have the financial resources to pay his own counsel. [Fox News]

* The Supreme Court has denied the request of environmentalists to stop the Trump Administration from building a southern border wall. The justices didn’t rule if Mexico needs to pay for it… [ABC News]

* A receiver may be appointed to oversee the dissolution of Cellino & Barnes. That receiver would have tough decisions about what to do with the jingle. [New York Post]

* The former police officer accused of killing George Floyd is being represented by a new lawyer. [Reuters]

* An attorney who is also a police officer has been prohibited from working on traffic matters in courts located in the county where he is a cop. [Bloomberg Law]

* President Trump is already being challenged over an executive order he signed targeting social media. [Washington Post]

* Steven Avery, a subject of the Netflix series Making a Murderer, has been diagnosed with COVID-19 according to his lawyer. [Daily Beast]

* The Washington State Attorney General is suing tuna companies for allegedly fixing the price of their product. Hope the defendants don’t use “canned” arguments when defending the case. [Spokesman Review]

* “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that Congress will launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. [Washington Post]

* Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have promised to quickly do away with any articles of impeachment that are passed by the House, especially if they’re based on the Mueller report, says Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham. This Ukraine incident, on the other hand… [The Hill]

* That having been said, Senate Republicans actually participated in and unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the White House to disclose the Ukraine whistleblower complaint. [Vox]

* And in the interim, the White House seems to be working on a deal to allow the whistleblower who filed a complaint against Trump to speak with congressional investigators, and the director of national intelligence is likely to release a redacted version of the complaint. [New York Times]

* Former Vice President Joe Biden supports the impeachment effort against Trump, saying that “[d]enying Congress information to which it is constitutionally entitled and obstructing its efforts to investigate actions is not the conduct of an American president.” [New York Times]

* According to Working Mother’s ranking of the Top 100 Companies, only five Biglaw firms made the cut for 2019. Not only that, but those firms are getting beaten by the Big Four when it comes to women’s success and family-friendly policies. [American Lawyer]

* In case you missed it, a “notable convicted murderer” in Wisconsin has reportedly confessed to the murder of Teresa Halbach — the murder for which Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey of Making a Murderer fame have spent years behind bars, all the while proclaiming their innocence. [Newsweek]

* Lawyers for Brendan Dassey of Making a Murderer have filed a writ of certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to review a decision made by the en banc Seventh Circuit that upheld his conviction for murder. Earlier, a federal magistrate overturned his conviction and a panel of the Seventh Circuit affirmed. This is totally going to be in the show’s sequel. [ABC 2 WBAY]

* A step in the right direction for gun control? During a Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House, President Trump announced that he’d directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to draft regulations that would effectively ban the use of bump stocks. Now we’ll just wait a few months to see some action on AR-15s… [USA Today]

* Could it be? Could Justice Neil Gorsuch be on your side when it comes to privacy? Believe it or not, “[h]e may even become the Supreme Court’s next swing vote on Fourth Amendment issues,” and this term he’ll have more than an ample opportunity to swing on the issues of digital privacy and police search warrants. [VICE News]

* If you thought you couldn’t get rid of your student loans in bankruptcy, you were likely be right, but that could change. The Trump administration is looking into what it takes for borrowers to meet the “undue hardship” threshold for the discharge of federal loans in bankruptcy, and may clarify the standard. [Wall Street Journal]

* In perhaps the best student event ever, Howard Law rented out an entire movie theater so that students, faculty, staff, and alumni could see an opening-night screening of Black Panther. The school’s SBA co-hosted the awesomeness with Georgetown Law’s Black Law Students Association. Congratulations! [Law.com]

* Sitting en banc, the Seventh Circuit reinstated the conviction of Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey in a split decision. If you recall, Dassey’s conviction was overturned by a federal magistrate in June 2016, and that ruling was later affirmed by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit this June. [ABA Journal]

* Dean Blake Morant says GW Law enrolled a smaller incoming class this fall in order to stop its downward slide in the U.S. News rankings. Because of the smaller class, some programs are being cut and there’s a freeze on staff hiring. Yikes. [GW Hatchet]

* What is special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal endgame in this Russia probe? Some think that this could turn into an obstruction of justice case, while others think this could turn into a conspiracy case. What’ll it be? This investigation has no end in sight, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out. [NPR]

* Kevin McIntyre, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s new chairman, has given us a little $1.8 million peek into the Jones Day black box in his financial disclosure. [National Law Journal]

* The legal profession had something to be thankful for this November: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector grew by 600 jobs. [American Lawyer]

* Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore has won the Republican primary runoff election for the Senate seat that was once occupied by AG Jeff Sessions. Perhaps we can look forward to history repeating itself and Moore being twice suspended if he wins the special election. [New York Times]

* Senate Republicans don’t have the votes for the Graham-Cassidy effort to repeal Obamacare to pass, but not to worry, because they’ll be back at it again soon via the 2019 budget reconciliation process, and next time, they’re going to be transparent, hold committee hearings, and even consult Democrats. [CNN]

* The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has refused to waive Jones Act shipping restrictions that are preventing Puerto Rico from getting the gasoline and supplies that are so desperately needed for the island’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria. Senator John McCain is pissed, and says it’s time to repeal the “archaic and burdensome” Act. [Reuters]

* Freedom hangs in the balance for Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey, whose case was heard before the full Seventh Circuit yesterday. According to court watchers, the judges seemed split, and we can’t help but to wonder what Judge Richard Posner would have thought. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

* Irell & Manella’s Andrei Iancu, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is awaiting confirmation. There’s no better way to bide our time while we wait than to discuss the fact that he’d been pulling down a $4 million paycheck at the firm. We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]

* “How can you expect companies to do the right thing when you[r] agency has not?” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton is taking heat over the fact that his agency was hacked in 2016, but nothing was mentioned about it until last week. He’s set a great example. [Big Law Business]

* According to a recent study, no matter what women do, in most cases, they’ll continue to earn less than men. The ban on asking employees about their salary history is doing nothing for women; in fact, they’re being penalized for refusing to disclose their salaries, while men are being rewarded. [The Careerist]

* Well, well, well… it seems that another law school has succumbed to the allure of the GRE. Which T14 law school has decided to accept the GRE for admissions purposes? We’ll have more on the law school that hopes to reel in those sweet, sweet STEM majors later today. [Law.com]

* Make Twitter great again? Lawyers from the White House and the Department of Defense had reportedly warned President Trump about the ramifications of the transgender military ban for days before he announced the policy via Twitter without warning because he was tired of being “slow-walked.” [POLITICO]

* Rep. Maxine Waters is reclaiming her time to call Alan Dershowitz a racist. The congresswoman is upset the Harvard Law professor claimed that a D.C. grand jury will be “unfavorable” to the Trump administration in the Russia case because of its liberal leanings and “ethnic and racial composition.” [Free Beacon]

* According to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department will federally prosecute anyone and everyone who so much as thinks about leaking classified information — but not members of the press, because they’re “after leakers, not journalists.” Perhaps he ought to relay this information to his boss. [CNN]

* Kirkland & Ellis is looking for law students to join its army of summer associates in 2018. The magic number of summers is somewhere around 245, but they “could go over.” Do you have what it takes to be one of the few many, the proud prestigious? Be all you can be at K&E. [Big Law Business]

* Crap, it looks like the legal profession lost a ton of jobs in July. We’re talking four figures worth of jobs — 4,300 jobs, to be exact. All in, the profession has only seen an increase of 600 jobs since January, and is still down by about 50,000 jobs since pre-recession highs in May 2007. [Am Law Daily]

* The Seventh Circuit will rehear “Making a Murderer” star Brendan Dassey’s case en banc, following a 2-1 decision that Dassey’s confession to murder was coerced and that his conviction should be overturned. Perhaps the full court won’t be as sympathetic to Dassey’s situation… [Washington Post]

* Federal investigators are delving into multimillion-dollar deals involving former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai. [New York Times]

* The Fifth Circuit lifts the injunction against H.B. 1523, Mississippi’s notorious “religious freedom” law that many regard as antigay (but the court ruled on jurisdictional rather than gay-hating grounds). [Texas Lawyer]

* In the wake of a mistrial in the criminal case against him, Bill Cosby plans to educate young men on how to avoid accusations of sexual assault. (My advice: don’t commit sexual assault.) [New York Times]

* The Fourth Circuit affirms almost all the convictions of ex-CIA officer in a leak case — a potentially significant ruling if the Trump administration follows through on its threats to prosecute leakers. [How Appealing]

* The Seventh Circuit declines to reinstate the conviction of Brendan Dassey, the defendant made famous by Making A Murderer. [ABA Journal]

* Martin Shkreli, aka “Pharma Bro,” is gearing up for trial — and, for the record, he is “so innocent.” [New York Times]

* More disturbing news from my ancestral homeland of the Philippines, involving accusations that the police are shaking down families in distress as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.” [Washington Post]

* Siding with prosecution and without explaining its reasoning, the Seventh Circuit has delayed the release of “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey, ordering that he remain incarcerated “pending the outcome of the appeal” in his case. Dassey’s conviction was overturned in August; he was set to be released today. [Reuters]

* According to some sources, we may have a full Supreme Court bench by the end of the current term, but at this point, it’s really a matter of “who President Trump nominates and what kind of ‘payback’ the Democrats decide to exact for having lost the election and for the Senate’s having held up the Merrick Garland nomination.” [Big Law Business]

* For the first time, the ranking Republican and Democratic lawmakers leading the Senate Judiciary Committee will be non-lawyers. Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein will not only review judicial appointments, but they’ll also have Department of Justice, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security oversight. [Wall Street Journal]

* Rather than issuing a grant or denial, the ABA will continue to review the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law’s application for accreditation. What does this mean for the school’s third-year students? The administration hopes the Texas Supreme Court will allow them to take the state bar exam in July 2017. [Dallas Business Journal]

* “[University leadership] need to be ashamed of themselves. … [They showed a] total lack of consideration for the lives of the staff and faculty.” People are pretty angry about the impending closure of Indiana Tech Law School, including its benefactors, and some of them want refunds. We may have more on this at a later time. [Indiana Lawyer]

* Don’t say we didn’t tell you this, but according to the latest report from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, the great Biglaw salary increase of 2016 is now being cited as a strain on law firm profits. Expenses are now growing faster than revenues at many firms. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]

* This is one promise that President-elect Trump is sticking to: Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, has confirmed that he will choose a Supreme Court nominee from the list(s) he released earlier this year: “You’ve seen the list of 21. The list has not changed.” You can see Trump’s shortlist(s) here and here. [Big Law Business]

* “Every good person has an obligation to both to continue being heard and to continue doing the right thing. We can’t afford for a president to fail.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor has spoken out about the results of the presidential election, and she thinks that we must guide President-elect Trump to make the right decisions for the country. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has sanctioned not one, but two law schools for their lax admissions standards. Valparaiso Law has been publicly censured and Charlotte Law has been placed on probation. We’ll have more on this later today. [National Law Journal]

* Judge William Duffin of the Eastern District of Wisconsin has denied a request made by state prosecutors to delay “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey’s release from prison. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says he will appeal Duffin’s ruling to the Seventh Circuit. Dassey is scheduled to be released on Friday. [Reuters]

* A Wisconsin judge has ordered that Brendan Dassey, one of the subjects of “Making a Murderer,” be freed from prison while the state appeals a ruling overturning his conviction, as authorities have “failed to demonstrate that Dassey represents a present danger to the community.” The date of his release is not yet known, but the state plans to file another appeal. [USA Today]

* “If you have baseball commissioner to offer me, then I can tell you what my plans are.” Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White is stepping down from her position even though she still has two years left before her term is up. The departure of the former Debevoise partner and federal prosecutor will make way for President-elect Donald Trump to start dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act. [DealBook / New York Times]

* For a man who seems to be completely obsessed with all things tremendous, big league, great, and yuge, the vast majority of the judges on President-elect Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist have at least one thing in common: They didn’t go to Ivy League law schools. That being said, just like his outsider campaign as a whole, the names on Trump’s Supreme Court pick list are a “revolt against the elites.” [New York Times]

* While he was still on the campaign trail, President-elect Trump pledged to “open up our libel laws” so celebrities and public officials can “sue [the media] and win lots of money,” but it might not be so easy to do. The Supreme Court doesn’t seem to have any designs on overturning the precedent set in New York Times v. Sullivan, and the only other way to change libel laws would be to amend the Constitution. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Chadbourne & Parke has filed a motion for summary judgment in the $100 million gender discrimination class-action suit filed by one of its current partners and one of its former partners, contending that not only are their claims “utterly baseless,” but that the plaintiff partners are not or were not employees of the firm who fall under employment discrimination laws. We’ll have more on this news later today. [Big Law Business]

* “We believe the magistrate judge’s decision that Brendan Dassey’s confession was coerced by investigators, and that no reasonable court could have concluded otherwise, is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law.” Prosecutors in Wisconsin have appealed the overturned conviction of “Making a Murderer” subject Brendan Dassey. He’ll remain in prison pending the outcome of the appeal. [New York Times]

* A Canadian judge is facing possible removal from the bench after asking this question to the accuser in a rape trial: “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” The judge also made other inappropriate remarks during the trial, and blames it on his failure to understand changes to the country’s sexual-assault laws. [ABC News]

* Desperate times sometimes call for really desperate measures? California-based Prism Patents is cutting its executives’ compensation by two-thirds in an attempt to come up with some cash. Its general counsel’s salary fell from $240,000 to $90,000, and the company’s CEO now makes $12 (not a typo), down from $300,000. [Big Law Business]

* The battle between Houston Law School and the Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas Law) rages on, and now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is involved. Thanks to a complaint lodged by U. Houston, the USPTO has suspended Houston College’s trademark application for its new name. [Houston Chronicle via TaxProf Blog]

* It doesn’t matter if Romy and Michelle invented Post-It Notes or if serial inventor Alan Amron did, because your lawsuit against 3M is likely to be dismissed — especially if you’ve already settled a prior $400 million suit over the product’s inventorship for $12,000 and released the company from all of your future claims. [CBS Minnesota]

* A debate between two British academics in honor of National Ukrainian Independence Day. [Debates.EU]

* Fascinating podcast with Professor Steve Drizin who heads up the legal team defending Making A Murderer’s Brendan Dassey. [Scalar Learning]

* You really don’t want a stressed out jury on your hands. [Law360]

* The University of Kentucky would rather sue its student newspaper than release documents about a professor accused of sexual assault. [Buzzfeed]

* Early retirement is probably not happening for law firm partners. [Law and More]

* The Title VII loopholes restaurants use to only hire pretty servers. [Jezebel]

* Scott Brown is denying Andrea Tantaros’ allegations that he sexually harassed her at Fox News. [Slate]

* Is law school worth the money? 1 percent of attorneys have high paying careers — you be the judge. [Investopedia]

* Analogizing law school to setting a track and field world record. [Tax Prof Blog]