Patrick Hobbs

Morning Docket: 11.30.15

* While you were feasting upon turkey this Thanksgiving, Dentons -- otherwise known as the largest Biglaw behemoth in the world -- was busy gobbling up yet another law firm. The megafirm will combine with 33-lawyer OPF Partners out of Luxembourg. [WSJ Law Blog] * According to a survey from AlixPartners, over the past 12 months, GCs have reported more "bet the company" lawsuits compared to last year. Don't get too excited, though, because growth in litigation spend hasn't quite caught up yet. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * You really can do anything with a law degree -- including things that have absolutely nothing to do with the law! Patrick Hobbs, dean emeritus of Seton Hall Law, has been tapped to become the athletics director at Rutgers University. [NJ Advance Media] * What would happen if one of the largest publicly traded plaintiffs firms in the world went under? Ever since its stock price plummeted by 52 percent, industry analysts have started to wonder whether Slater & Gordon is on the verge of collapse. [ABC News] * In the wake of the defacement of black faculty portraits and the administration's apparent "ongoing failure" to address racism on campus, Harvard Law alumni are being asked to stop making donations to the school until changes are made. [Boston Globe] * One of 92-year-old Sumner Redstone's exes filed a probate suit questioning his mental competence and ability to run Viacom and CBS. His attorney from entertainment law powerhouse Loeb & Loeb essentially called her client's ex a gold digger. [CNBC]

Non-Sequiturs: 05.26.15

* A divided Fifth Circuit panel delivered bad news for President Obama on immigration today. [How Appealing] * Want to track the Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal case in real time? Dewey have a resource for you: the liveblog of Law360. [Law360] * Benchslap of the Day (from Judge Beth Bloom): "A rose by any other name may smell as sweet.... People, not so much." [Southern District of Florida] * Another must-read graduation speech: at Seton Hall, outgoing dean Pat Hobbs surprised each graduate with a gift package: a McDonald's happy meal gift card, a Mega Millions lottery ticket, and a quarter for calling him if times get tough. (For other graduation gift ideas, see our ATL gift guide.) [Seton Hall Law School] * Why lawyers shouldn't take the "kitchen sink" approach to their clients' affirmative defenses. [Angry Asian Man] * Is San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe going easy on a sheriff's deputy accused of wrongdoing? [San Jose Mercury News] * Need something to listen to for your next commute or trip to the gym? Check out my chat with Shearman & Sterling partner Richard Hsu about Above the Law, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), and more. [Hsu Untied]

Morning Docket: 09.05.14

* A unanimous Seventh Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Posner, just struck down Wisconsin and Indiana’s bans on same-sex marriage. The result isn’t surprising in light of the blistering benchslaps delivered by Judge Posner at oral argument, but the timing is faster than usual (for a federal appellate opinion in a high-profile case, not for the prolific Posner). [BuzzFeed] * Bad news for Cahill Gordon: the Third Circuit just revived a fraud case against the high-powered firm and one of its clients, a unit of BASF. [WSJ Law Blog] * And badder news for BP: a federal judge just concluded that the oil giant was grossly negligent in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [New York Times] * Freshfields gets fresh talent, adding former Wachtell partner Mitchell Presser and former Skadden partner James Douglas to its ranks. [American Lawyer] * The dean of Seton Hall Law, Patrick Hobbs, will step down from the deanship at the end of the current academic year. Congratulations to Dean Hobbs on a long and successful tenure. [South Orange Juice] * And congratulations to John Grisham and Jason Bailey, winners of, respectively, the 2014 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2014 ABA Journal/Ross Short Fiction Contest. [ABA Journal] * Brittany McGrath, Brooklyn Law class of 2014, RIP. [TaxProf Blog]

Morning Docket: 04.18.14

* Leonard M. Rosen, one of the name partners of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, died earlier this week. Our very own Managing Editor David Lat once sat three doors down from this respected restructuring maven. Rest in peace. [Bloomberg] * A judicial ethics board has recommended that this judge be removed from the bench because she once “sold out her clients, her co-counsel, and ultimately herself.” Oh Flori-duh, you give us so many reasons to <3 you. [Sun Sentinel] * Gov. Christie named Dean Patrick Hobbs of Seton Hall Law as ombudsman for New Jersey’s executive branch. Congrats, but looks like Seton Hall may need a new dean. [New Jersey Law Journal] * A woman working in retail was put on four months of forced maternity leave when she was four months pregnant. She’s due after her forced maternity period is up. Of course she’s suing. [Los Angeles Times] * ICYMI, here’s a list of all of the fine states in America where blowjobs are illegal, but necrophilia is a-okay — or “anti-blowjobs, corpse-sex-friendly states,” as Adam Weinstein ever so eloquently puts it. [Gawker]

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