Senate Judiciary Committee

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.11.18

* "We never once saw him take a shortcut, treat a case as unimportant, or search for an easy answer." According to 34 of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's former clerks, the man is apparently not just a judge, but also a saint, and they wanted the Senate Judiciary Committee to know all of the details. [National Law Journal] * Nice guys get confirmed fast? More on Judge Kavanaugh's sainthood. The man coaches not one, but two girls' basketball teams, he's a superb "carpool dad," and he takes a family friend's daughter whose father died to the school’s annual father-daughter dance each and every year. He's just so nice! [Washington Post] * Damn, it's not just Arizona Summit's graduates who can't practice law in Arizona. Three lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis -- including Paul Clement, Viet Dinh, and Christopher Bartolomucci -- were booted from the school's case against the ABA for failing to comply with out-of-state attorney admission procedures. [Law360] * Acording to the Boston Larger Law Firm Managing Partner Group, "much work needs to be done" when it comes to attorneys who have experienced inappropriate sexual behavior at work. Per a recent study, 60 percent of respondents had either received messages of a personal or sexual nature, been touched inappropriately, or witnessed a coworker being touched inappropriately. [Boston Business Journal] * Lawyerly Lairs: Convicted Murderer Edition. The 80-acre ranch of Claud "Tex" McIver, the former Fisher Phillips partner who shot his wife in the back, is now on the auction block, and there's a dispute over who will receive the proceeds. [Daily Report]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.10.18

* Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were both appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon. Booker is the first African-American man to ever serve on the SJC, and Harris is the second African-American woman to ever serve on the SJC. Congratulations! [The Hill] * Rescind immigration protection from current DACA recipients? Dream on! That’s not going to happen under Judge William Alsup’s watch. He issued a nationwide injunction to block the Trump administration from denying program renewals for “dreamers.” [Washington Post] * Sorry, North Carolina, but according to the Middle District, your congressional map is unconstitutionally gerrymandered. This is the first time that a federal court has blocked a congressional map because it was “motivated by invidious partisan intent.” [New York Times] * Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has filed defamation suits against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier following Senator Dianne Feinstein’s publication of a transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Fusion’s co-founder. The legal action was announced over Twitter, obviously. [POLITICO] * "Lawyers like shiny things, and so there has been a huge spike in interest in blockchain law, especially over the last year." This is just one of the reasons why so many Biglaw firms now have blockchain practice groups and task forces. [Big Law Business] * Norton Rose Fulbright has closed its doors in Abu Dhabi, making it the largest law firm to shutter an office in the Middle East. [American Lawyer] * Professor Toby Heytens of UVA Law has been named the next solicitor general of Virginia. He'll be taking his second leave of absence from the law school during his term. He took his first leave to serve in the U.S. Solicitor General's Office. [Daily Progress] * No, contrary to popular belief, Radiohead has not filed suit against Lana Del Rey for similarities between their hit song "Creep" and her song "Get Free" -- but the band really should consider doing so, and their lawyers ought to become as "relentless" as Del Rey claimed on Twitter. Take a listen, here. [Rolling Stone]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.08.17

* The Ninth Circuit, President Donald Trump's judicial archnemesis, affirms Judge Derrick Watson's (modified) preliminary injunction against the "grandma ban." [How Appealing] * Donald Trump Jr. opens up to the Senate Judiciary Committee about that infamous June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer. [New York Times] * Consolidation continues in the legal-services world: Counsel On Call acquires e-discovery company DSicovery LLC (DSi). [ABA Journal] * The Trump administration sides with the anti-gay-marriage baker in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that will be decided this coming Term by SCOTUS. [How Appealing] * ICYMI: Deborah Farone -- Cravath's chief marketing director for the past 14 years, and the "gold standard" in legal marketing -- is leaving Cravath to start her own consulting firm and to write a book on law firm marketing (to be published next year by the Practising Law Institute). [Law.com] * Cooley raids Wilson Sonsini for talent for the second time in three months, this time hiring emerging growth specialists Jon Avina, Calise Cheng, and Rachel Proffitt. [Big Law Business] * Legal research startup Casetext -- led by CEO Jake Heller, COO Laura Safdie, and VP Pablo Arredondo -- continues on its upward trajectory. [ABA Journal]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.30.17

* The First Amendment chalks up a much needed win: Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff dismisses Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times. [The Slot] * Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is pushing the state forward on police reform, even without the assistance of the Department of Justice. [Washington Post] * Donald Trump Jr. is scheduling a date -- a private date -- with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sounds like sexy times. [CNN] * Even former clerks of Justice Antonin Scalia can be convinced of the social good of class actions. Vanderbilt Law professor Brian Fitzpatrick's new article on class actions preventing corporate wrongdoing is creating quite the dustup in conservative circles. [Reuters] * Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr is defending Pepe the Frog... against the alt-right groups that want to co-opt the cartoon for white supremacist purposes. [Law.com] * The assault on voting rights continues -- a new Indiana law is purging voters from the rolls without notifying them or affording them an opportunity to respond. [Daily Beast]

By Kathryn Rubino