* Lawyer remembers when young people were encouraged to fly instead of becoming the veal in the airlines' effort to treat us all like cattle. [Travels With Darley]
* Starbucks iced drinks too icy? Sue. [CNN]
* Attention Class of 2016: you may be excited because you're about to graduate and start your real life, but here is what you need to survive law firm life. [Law and More]
* Eastern District of New York Judge Brian M. Cogan is upping the pressure on the government to unseal documents being sought by the press in the case of Felix Sater that they believe may illuminate business dealings between Donald Trump and the mob-connected figure. [Wise Law]
* Know your Miranda rights before you get in a sticky situation and need them. [St. Louis Tribune]
* There are lots of stats that can be aggregated by looking at this Term's oral arguments at the Supreme Court, like which justice spoke the most and what does that tell us about the Court's liberal justices? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* The gentrification of Brooklyn can be summed up pretty easily. [Redline]
* Arizona Law's plans to scrap the LSAT in favor of the GRE has angered the Law School Admission Council terribly. In fact, LSAC's general counsel says the school's new policy may violate the organization's bylaws, so it may boot Arizona Law from its membership, thereby cutting the school out of its applications and admissions clearinghouse. We'll have more on this news later today. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Tom Brady of the New England Patriots hasn't filed an appeal of the Second Circuit's reinstatement of his four-game suspension yet, but you can bet your ass that it's coming soon, because the quarterback just made the ultimate Hail Mary legal hire by adding Ted Olson to his team of lawyers. Sports fans can look forward to a bid for an en banc Second Circuit hearing, or even a possible flea flicker to the Supreme Court. [NBC Sports]
* "Republicans haven't been satisfied to simply hobble the court's ability to function. In recent weeks, they have gone to remarkable lengths to impugn the integrity of the justices and thus the legitimacy of the court." The New York Times Editorial Board has a piece that essentially begs Republicans to stop their shenanigans, give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing, and "rescue the Supreme Court from limbo." [New York Times]
* Law firm merger mania is already in full bloom this spring, but which Biglaw firm was one of the first to bite the bullet? It looks like it's Husch Blackwell, which is merging with Milwaukee-based Whyte Hirschboek Dudek, effective July 1. The combined firm will have more than 700 attorneys, 19 offices, and it will likely be among the country's 100 top-grossing law firms. We hope redundancy layoffs won't follow. [Journal-Sentinel]
* "We respect other professors' point of view, but it's less than (8 percent) of the academic faculty." Some professors are outraged over Mason Law being renamed after the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but the university isn't budging, and plans to stick with its new name since administrators "believe that the Antonin Scalia Law School, once it's approved, will be one of the top law schools in the country." [Big Law Business]
* Law students, you make think you know what a gunner is, but you haven't met this prodigy yet. Eighteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed will be the first student to attend the University of Southern Florida College of Medicine and the Stetson University College of Law at the same time. If you hurry, you may be able to convince this genius to join your study group. You'll surely be the envy of all of your new friends. [ABC Action News]
* Fanfic come to life! Allison Janney handles the White House press corps as C.J. Cregg. Can you catch all the West Wing references she throws out in under a minute? [The Decider]
* Sure, people want a "sleep revolution," but it is only likely to garner ridicule in the legal profession. Aren't we lucky? [Law and More]
* Salon's latest HOTTAKE suggests Bernie or Bust folks should vote for Donald Trump. Yes, it is that stupid. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* Behind the IP fight that killed a fashion house revival. [The Fashion Law]
* Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is really pissed at the Southern Poverty Law Center because they filed an ethics complaint against him. I mean all he did was tell probate judges not to marry same-sex couples... [Wonkette]
* U.S. military says U.S. military is not guilty of a war crime for bombing a Doctors Without Borders hospital. [Huffington Post]
* The impact an eight-justice Supreme Court may have on climate change. [Green Biz]
* Given the fact that Senate Republicans have remained firm in their opposition to Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland receiving a confirmation hearing, it seems all the more likely that the vacancy left on the high court by the late Justice Antonin Scalia will remain unfilled until after Election 2016. [Bloomberg Politics]
* But is someone having a change of heart? "I would have to admit it's a gamble." Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, claims that while he hasn't second-guessed his decision not to hold confirmation hearings for Judge Garland, that it's anyone's guess as to who Donald Trump would choose to fill the position if elected as president. [Huffington Post]
* “He said that I had to keep my attorney happy.” A Texas lawyer who was accused of trading sex with court-appointed clients for performing legal work was recently indicted on 18 counts of sexual assault and 17 counts of compelling prostitution. He faces up to 20 years in prison. We may have more on these allegations of misconduct later. [KSAT]
* As we mentioned previously, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District Court for the District of Columbia will be taking senior status on May 18, but we didn't know that she was chosen by Chief Judge John Roberts to take over as the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the next day. Congrats! [National Law Journal]
* Biglaw gets in on the green rush: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has partnered with Americans for Safe Access Foundation, a medical marijuana advocacy group, to update a series of manuals on state medical marijuana laws. In the future, Orrick attorneys will man a hotline for medical marijuana patients in need of legal advice. [Am Law Daily]
* James Hurlock, former two-decade chairman of White & Case, RIP. [Big Law Business]
* If Bush v. Gore didn't teach you that election laws are a mess, then this season of Veep will hammer the lesson home. [Strook]
* D.C. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh knows the value of saying no -- especially to a sitting president. [United States Law Week]
* Oh, this is fun, well, at least if you are an avowed Trekkie. There's an amicus brief written entirely about the Klingon language. When arguing that Paramount cannot claim a copyright over the Klingon language, what better to spice up your prose than some quotes actually written in Klingon? [Popehat]
* A look at the most cited law reviews in Supreme Court opinions from the 2013 Term to the present. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Wait -- what did this Oklahoma court say? That forcing an unconscious woman to perform oral sex isn't sexual assault? What. The. Hell. [Slate]
* Pauli Murray, lawyer, scholar and activist, just had a residential college named after her at Yale. [New York Magazine]
Meet Anthony Franze, a Supreme Court litigator and author of legal thrillers set at SCOTUS; his latest novel, The Advocate's Daughter, came out just last month.
Explore the mindset, cultural shifts, and training strategies that define the AI‑savvy lawyer, revealing why human judgment, standardized competence, and integrated learning—not technology alone—will shape the future of the profession.
* Dig if you will the picture, of you and I engaged in a... probate battle? Uh-oh! In documents filed in a Carver County, Minnesota, probate court, Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, claims that the music icon -- whose estate is said to have been valued at about $300 million -- died without a will. [USA Today]
* "[L]ook, if he's not our nominee, I think he would be a great replacement for Scalia." Despite the fact that Senator Ted Cruz previously insisted that he wasn't interested in being nominated to replace the late Antonin Scalia as a SCOTUS justice, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) thinks Cruz is the man for the job. [The Hill]
* Dentons says $2 million was "erroneously allocated" to McKenna Long & Aldridge partners during a merger with Luce Forward, and now the Biglaw behemoth really wants the money back. Partner's aren't pleased, griping that "this is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of merging with Dentons." [National Law Journal via Big Law Business]
* Today is sentencing day for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The accused child abuser faces up to five years in prison for attempting to cover up his hush-money payoffs, but prosecutors have asked that he serve no more than six months. We wonder how his Biglaw supporters will feel if he receives a stiff sentence. [Chicago Sun-Times]
* Indiana Tech Law School will soon hold a commencement ceremony for its inaugural graduating class of 21 students. These soon-to-be law school graduates say that one of the main reasons they chose to attend the school was its low cost of tuition. Not having a lot of debt is a great thing when your job prospects are uncertain. Congrats! [21Alive]
* Kate Middleton's famous wedding dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen is now the subject of a lawsuit, with designer Christine Kendall claiming it is a knockoff. [Fashionista]
* This lawyer, Helene Goodin, after 22 years in the legal profession, left it all to open her own bakery. [Huffington Post]
* The rest of the world discovers Delaware's a haven for holding companies; lawyers everywhere shrug. [Gawker]
* When humanitarian aid actually caused more economic hardship for the very people we are supposed to be "helping." [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* Can Indian start-ups render the Biglaw firm structure unnecessary? [Law and More]
* Richard Hsu talks with Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip. [Hsu Untied]
* The Constitutional Accountability Center is holding an event this Thursday, April 28th at the National Press Club in D.C. on the Supreme Court's docket this Term, previewing decisions yet to be handed down and discussing key themes from the Term. [Constitutional Accountability Center]
* Speaking of SCOTUS, if you're interested in Supreme Court lit, check out this televised panel of authors, including Irin Carmon of Notorious RBG and ATL editor David Lat of Supreme Ambitions (affiliate links). [C-SPAN]
* Has the death of Justice Scalia turned the Supreme Court more liberal? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* The best Supreme Court sketch featuring a sleeping Clarence Thomas you will see all year. [Slate]
* "We're all just people. Trying to pee in peace." A trans activist speaks out about North Carolina's discriminatory bathroom law. [Buzzfeed]
* An update on the legal problems plaguing Uber. [Huffington Post]
* The diplomatic strategy involved in expanding intellectual property rights. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]
* Serving lattes instead of having a law library. [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]
