Plagiarism

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 04.06.17

Is this Supreme Court nominee a plagiarist? * SCOTUS nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch has been accused of plagiarizing borrowing language and sentence style from other authors and incorporating it into a book and a law journal article without proper citation. On the bright side, at least one of the authors whose language he copied doesn't seem to have a problem with it. [POLITICO] * As it turns out, Chadbourne & Parke isn't too keen on having a partner who filed a $100 million gender discrimination suit against the firm still working there. A spokesperson for Chadbourne says that the partners will convene to vote Kerrie Campbell out of the partnership. We'll likely have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily] * According to Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, the leaders of some of America's largest law firms had the wrong idea about how 2016 would turn out. Legal demand went down, not up as hoped for; realization rates did not improve, as expected; and revenue at many firms dropped, instead of increasing. Ouch. [Big Law Business] * Professor Verna Williams will serve as the special assistant to the provost (i.e., interim dean) of the University of Cincinnati College of Law while Dean Jennifer Bard is on administrative leave. Williams was one of the UC professors who opposed Bard's leadership, once referring to the situation as "untenable." [Cincinnati Enquirer] * Speaking of Dean Bard, she has obtained legal representation and claims that her removal from her position was improper. Per her attorney, "[t]he interim provost placed Dean Bard on administrative leave without the slightest factual basis for doing so," and the law faculty were unwilling to put students' needs ahead of their own. [Law.com]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.20.16

* The “Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book” -- which is exactly what it sounds like, a trial manual by federal prosecutors for federal prosecutors -- is protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act as attorney work product. [Wall Street Journal] * Donald Trump Jr. seems to have "borrowed" lines from his convention speech from his own speech writer. And the defense of Melania Trump's plagiarism at Monday night's RNC keeps getting more and more outlandish. Now it involves My Little Pony. [CNN] * Former Cardinals director of baseball development Christopher Correa is going to jail for hacking into emails of the Houston Astros, and now Major League Baseball is looking into the scandal. [Law360] * The Department of Justice really, really wants the Supreme Court to rehear the immigration case of U.S. v. Texas, which ended in an unsatisfying tie -- preferably once they get, you know, the traditional nine justices. [National Law Journal] * And you thought your job was stressful -- imagine if you were running your global firm's Turkey office. [American Lawyer] * Potential merger in the air: CMS Cameron McKenna is eyeing Olswang. [The Lawyer]

By Kathryn Rubino
Bankruptcy

Morning Docket: 08.16.12

* Dewey have some false expectations of success for this partner settlement agreement? Only one in four affected partners have signed on the dotted line, but advisers think the plan will win bankruptcy court approval. [Am Law Daily] * “There comes a point where the prospects of substantially increasing your income just outweigh everything else.” Even on his $168K salary, this appellate judge wasn’t rich in New York City, so he quit his job. [New York Law Journal] * The middle class needs lawyers, and unemployed law school graduates need jobs. The solution for both problems seems pretty obvious, but starting a firm still costs money, no matter how “prudent” you are. [National Law Journal] * “This is a time when law schools are trying to look carefully at their expenses and not add to them.” New York’s new pro bono initiative may come at a cost for law schools, too. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Much to Great Britain’s dismay, Ecuador has announced that it will grant political asylum to Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame. Sucks for Ecuador, because Assange is known to not flush the toilet. [New York Times] * A smooth criminal gets a break: Michael Jackson’s father dropped a wrongful death suit against Dr. Conrad Murray. It probably would’ve been helpful if his attorneys could actually practice in California. [Washington Post] * Did Lindsay Lohan’s lawyers plagiarize documents from internet websites in their defamation filings against Pitbull? You can deny it all you want, but his lawyer is out for blood and sanctions. [New York Daily News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Attorney Misconduct

Morning Docket: 06.20.12

* It’s not just media groups that are urging the Supreme Court to allow live coverage of the announcement of the ACA decision. Senators Patrick Leahy and Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee have joined the club. [Blog of Legal Times] * Dewey know whether this failed firm’s former partners will be settling their claims any time soon? Team Togut hopes to reach a deal in the next six weeks, and claims that cooperation will absolve D&L’s deserters of all future liability. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)] * From Biglaw to the big house: former Sullivan & Cromwell partner John O’Brien, who is serving time for tax evasion charges, has been suspended from practicing law in New York. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * A Stradling Yocca partner and his wife, a Boalt Hall graduate, stand accused of planting drugs on a school volunteer who supervised their son. Looks like the only thing they’re straddling now is jail time. [OC Register] * Dharun Ravi was released early from jail yesterday after completing a little more than half of his 30-day sentence. Funny how bad behavior got him into the slammer, but good behavior got him out of it. [CNN] * “Why would somebody so smart do something so stupid?” Kenneth Kratz, the sexting DA from Wisconsin, claims that the answer to that question is an addiction to sex and prescription drugs. [Herald Times Reporter] * Jay-Z’s got 99 problems and this bitch is one. He’s been accused by Patrick White of plagiarizing parts of his own best-selling memoir, “Decoded,” and slapped with a copyright infringement suit. [New York Daily News]

By Staci Zaretsky