SEC

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 09.18.15

* Daily lawyer tips is just killing it. The latest is on the perils of actually becoming a senior associate. [Daily Lawyer Tips] * Lawyers can't be getting dumber if no one (hyperbole alert) is passing the bar exam. [Bloomberg BNA] * A kickstarter our readers are sure to love: a new board game that combines Would You Rather?, Poker, and Rock, Paper, Scissors with arguing. What's not to love? [Kickstarter] * Pile-on-the-SEC-week (the securities kind, not the football kind) continues. This time, Judge Berman is taking a crack. [Dealbreaker] * The civil justice system is riddled with inequities, especially if you happen to be a plaintiff. [Mighty] * Is a new pro-worker law in the works? [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * The NFL field that is the subject of lawsuits is getting changed... not that they're admitting any wrongdoing, natch. [Deadspin] * The Ninth Circuit? Not a fan of Sheriff Joe. [AZ Central]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.01.15

* ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams is suing his neighbors over his lawyerly lair -- and one of the defendants is a Biglaw partner at a top firm. Expect more on this later. [New York Post] * Speaking of Biglaw, a familiar tale of financial performance: gross revenue at Am Law 100 firms grew by 4 percent in the first half of 2015, but driven by rate increases rather than demand growth. [American Lawyer] * If you want the Supreme Court to hear your case, try to steer your cert petition clear of the "long conference," known as the place "where petitions go to die." [New York Times] * Speaking of SCOTUS, the Court won't come to the rescue of the Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- time to issue those licenses or quit, Kim Davis. [How Appealing] * But the justices did come to the (temporary) rescue of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, allowing him to remain free until SCOTUS acts on his petition for certiorari. [SCOTUSblog via How Appealing] * Are criticisms of the S.E.C.'s administrative-law procedures correct? Here's a study from Professor David Zaring. [New York Times] * The Show-Me State leads when it comes to showing defendants to their deaths: Missouri has displaced Texas as the "epicenter of the American death penalty." [The Marshall Project] * Speaking of capital punishment, I predicted that these particular Ninth Circuit judges wouldn't be too sympathetic to this challenge to the death penalty -- and based on yesterday's oral argument, it seems I was right. [How Appealing]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.30.15

* Who says political foes can't work together? It's easy when there's a ton of money on the line. Newt Gingrich and Howard Dean make their first joint appearance as Dentons employees. [National Law Journal] * Have you been paying attention to the SEC? Catch up with is analysis of the 3 major trends of the Mary Jo White era. [Corporate Counsel] * Speaking of the SEC are they playing small ball, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, with the makers of a popular baby formula? [Litigation Daily] * Former Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati employee, Dmitry Braverman, was sentenced to two years in jail for insider trading based on information he learned at the firm. [Wall Street Journal] * Perkins Coie helps Avvo, an online legal services marketplace, with fundraising to clock in with a $650 million valuation. [Am Law Daily]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.24.15

* Mary Jo White's sizable net worth is causing sizable headaches over at the SEC. [DealBook / New York Times] * If you work at a law firm and take way too long to perform simple tasks in Microsoft Word or Excel, shape up: a new test, developed by former in-house lawyer Casey Flaherty, could expose your weaknesses -- and lead to your work being discounted. [Capital Business / Washington Post] * More from Howard Bashman about the misadventures of Howard Shipley, the Foley & Lardner partner who might get spanked by SCOTUS for a bizarre filing. [How Appealing] * An S.D.N.Y. jury held the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization liable for supporting six terrorist attacks and issued a verdict of $218.5 million -- an award that will under the law get tripled (collected remains to be seen). [WSJ Law Blog] * Wall Street banks and their law firms are getting serious about cybersecurity. [New York Times] * Thanks to Emily Kelchen for her review of Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), which she calls "a true legal thriller." [Wisconsin Lawyer]

By David Lat
Abortion

Morning Docket: 01.06.14

* “Either access to abortion will be dramatically restricted in the coming year or perhaps the pushback will begin.” We’re moving back in history. Here’s hoping pro-choice advocacy will be born anew in 2014. [New York Times] * George S. Canellos, the SEC’s co-chief of enforcement, announced his departure on Friday, and people are already wondering whether he’ll return to his old stomping grounds at Milbank Tweed. [DealBook / New York Times] * We hope legal educators had fun at the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting, but we hope most of all that they learned what needs to change to really make legal education pay. [WSJ Law Blog] * “I believe women lawyers can contribute a lot to the legal system.” Saudi Arabia now has its first female law firm dedicated to bringing women’s issues to the country’s patriarchal courts. Congratulations! [RT] * A Starbucks spokeswoman issued a defense to the cease-and-desist response letter that went viral worldwide, and it reads just like how her company’s coffee tastes: bland. [International Business Times] * Amy “Tiger Mom” Chua is back with a vengeance, co-authoring a controversial new book (affiliate link) with her husband, Jed Rubenfeld. Which cultural groups are superior? [New York Post]

By Staci Zaretsky