Seventh Circuit

* “President Trump views the Roberts Court as his potential, perhaps literal, ‘get out of jail free’ card.” While Trump thinks he’s got allies on the high court, Chief Justice Roberts has attempted to put the president in his place numerous times — to no apparent avail. [Washington Post]

* AG Bill Barr says he may not show up at this week’s Mueller report hearing before the House Judiciary Committee unless Chairman Jerry Nadler changes the proposed questioning format. Au contraire, says Nadler: “The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period.” [CNN]

* Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired after refusing to defend the Muslim travel ban, says that the Trump would “likely be indicted on obstruction” if he weren’t president. [The Hill]

* In case you missed it, Anna Delvey-Sorokin, the “socialite” who skipped out on more than $250K in fees due to three Biglaw firms, was recently convicted on grand larceny charges. [American Lawyer]

* A former Baker & McKenzie paralegal who alleged she was sexually harassed, sued the firm for $200 million, and later withdrew her suit is now on the hook for $35,445 in attorneys’ fees after disobeying court orders to substantiate her claims. [Big Law Business]

* According to White House counsel Don McGahn in comments made at CPAC, President Trump has picked judicial nominees “he can relate to.” Hmm, so maybe that’s why he chose people like leading legal luminaries Brett Talley, Jeff Mateer, and Judge John Bush. [National Law Journal]

* Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his onetime aide, Rick Gates, face tax and bank fraud charges in a new 32-count indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election interference investigation. Do ya feel like taking a plea and cooperating now? [Bloomberg]

* Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted by a grand jury on a Class D felony charge of invasion of privacy after allegedly tying up a woman he had an affair with, taking a nude picture of her, and threatening to release it. He doesn’t intend to resign and called the Circuit Attorney on the case a “reckless liberal prosecutor.” [USA Today]

* Look out, Biglaw, because the Big Four are coming for you. Accounting firm PwC, which already has more than 1,000 legal contractors, is planning to expand its Flexible Legal Resources offering into global markets. [American Lawyer]

* A Reed Smith partner’s widow has asked the Seventh Circuit to uphold a $3 million jury verdict against GlaxoSmithKline for its failure to warn about an alleged risk of suicidal behavior on Paxil’s labeling. Her late husband took his own life days after starting a generic version of the antidepressant drug. [Big Law Business]

* Sitting en banc, the Seventh Circuit reinstated the conviction of Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey in a split decision. If you recall, Dassey’s conviction was overturned by a federal magistrate in June 2016, and that ruling was later affirmed by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit this June. [ABA Journal]

* Dean Blake Morant says GW Law enrolled a smaller incoming class this fall in order to stop its downward slide in the U.S. News rankings. Because of the smaller class, some programs are being cut and there’s a freeze on staff hiring. Yikes. [GW Hatchet]

* What is special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal endgame in this Russia probe? Some think that this could turn into an obstruction of justice case, while others think this could turn into a conspiracy case. What’ll it be? This investigation has no end in sight, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out. [NPR]

* Kevin McIntyre, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s new chairman, has given us a little $1.8 million peek into the Jones Day black box in his financial disclosure. [National Law Journal]

* The legal profession had something to be thankful for this November: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector grew by 600 jobs. [American Lawyer]

* The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to toss the travel ban case on mootness grounds — and to scrub the lower-court rulings against it from the books. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, the District of Columbia won’t take the fight over its concealed-carry law to SCOTUS, fearing that the Court might just make the situation worse if called to rule on gun rights. [Washington Post]

* At age 86, Marty Lipton of Wachtell Lipton is still in the mix, issuing influential client memos on important issues of corporate law. [Big Law Business]

* Does the emperor have no clothes robes? Zoran (Zoki) Tasic, a former Seventh Circuit staff attorney, calls out Judge Richard Posner over alleged errors in the judge’s new book (affiliate link) about the treatment of pro se litigants. [How Appealing]

* Support staff at Hogan Lovells seem to love the firm’s buyout offers; the firm’s voluntary-retirement program attracted even more interest than expected. (Expect more on this later.) [Law.com]

* What does the future hold for the Obama administration’s proposed changes to overtime rules? Senators seek guidance from Cheryl Stanton, the former Alito clerk and Ogletree Deakins partner who enjoyed smooth sailing at her recent confirmation hearings to serve as head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. [Bloomberg BNA]

* In other news about the fate of Obama-era regulations, it looks like the Trump administration will be rolling back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, expanding exemptions for religious objectors. [New York Times]

* Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore has won the Republican primary runoff election for the Senate seat that was once occupied by AG Jeff Sessions. Perhaps we can look forward to history repeating itself and Moore being twice suspended if he wins the special election. [New York Times]

* Senate Republicans don’t have the votes for the Graham-Cassidy effort to repeal Obamacare to pass, but not to worry, because they’ll be back at it again soon via the 2019 budget reconciliation process, and next time, they’re going to be transparent, hold committee hearings, and even consult Democrats. [CNN]

* The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has refused to waive Jones Act shipping restrictions that are preventing Puerto Rico from getting the gasoline and supplies that are so desperately needed for the island’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria. Senator John McCain is pissed, and says it’s time to repeal the “archaic and burdensome” Act. [Reuters]

* Freedom hangs in the balance for Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey, whose case was heard before the full Seventh Circuit yesterday. According to court watchers, the judges seemed split, and we can’t help but to wonder what Judge Richard Posner would have thought. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

* Irell & Manella’s Andrei Iancu, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is awaiting confirmation. There’s no better way to bide our time while we wait than to discuss the fact that he’d been pulling down a $4 million paycheck at the firm. We’ll have more on this later. [Am Law Daily]

* “How can you expect companies to do the right thing when you[r] agency has not?” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton is taking heat over the fact that his agency was hacked in 2016, but nothing was mentioned about it until last week. He’s set a great example. [Big Law Business]

* According to a recent study, no matter what women do, in most cases, they’ll continue to earn less than men. The ban on asking employees about their salary history is doing nothing for women; in fact, they’re being penalized for refusing to disclose their salaries, while men are being rewarded. [The Careerist]

* Well, well, well… it seems that another law school has succumbed to the allure of the GRE. Which T14 law school has decided to accept the GRE for admissions purposes? We’ll have more on the law school that hopes to reel in those sweet, sweet STEM majors later today. [Law.com]

* Make Twitter great again? Lawyers from the White House and the Department of Defense had reportedly warned President Trump about the ramifications of the transgender military ban for days before he announced the policy via Twitter without warning because he was tired of being “slow-walked.” [POLITICO]

* Rep. Maxine Waters is reclaiming her time to call Alan Dershowitz a racist. The congresswoman is upset the Harvard Law professor claimed that a D.C. grand jury will be “unfavorable” to the Trump administration in the Russia case because of its liberal leanings and “ethnic and racial composition.” [Free Beacon]

* According to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department will federally prosecute anyone and everyone who so much as thinks about leaking classified information — but not members of the press, because they’re “after leakers, not journalists.” Perhaps he ought to relay this information to his boss. [CNN]

* Kirkland & Ellis is looking for law students to join its army of summer associates in 2018. The magic number of summers is somewhere around 245, but they “could go over.” Do you have what it takes to be one of the few many, the proud prestigious? Be all you can be at K&E. [Big Law Business]

* Crap, it looks like the legal profession lost a ton of jobs in July. We’re talking four figures worth of jobs — 4,300 jobs, to be exact. All in, the profession has only seen an increase of 600 jobs since January, and is still down by about 50,000 jobs since pre-recession highs in May 2007. [Am Law Daily]

* The Seventh Circuit will rehear “Making a Murderer” star Brendan Dassey’s case en banc, following a 2-1 decision that Dassey’s confession to murder was coerced and that his conviction should be overturned. Perhaps the full court won’t be as sympathetic to Dassey’s situation… [Washington Post]