Prominent Georgetown Law Professor Arrested, Charged In Domestic Violence Case
The former jailhouse lawyer may be headed back to jail.
From Time Spent Behind Bars To Getting Admitted To The Supreme Court Bar
He's been on both sides of the law, and his achievements should be celebrated.
The Hidden Threat: How Fake Identities used by Remote Employees Put Your Business at Risk—and How to Defend Against This
Based on our experience in recent client matters, we have seen an escalating threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) information technology (IT) workers engaging in sophisticated schemes to evade US and UN sanctions, steal intellectual property from US companies, and/or inject ransomware into company IT environments, in support of enhancing North Korea’s illicit weapons program.
Florida Sleeps On Ticking Time Bomb
Florida's leaders have done a fine job of identifying problems in the state’s prison system. Now they need to find the will to solve them.
Tiffany Trump Isn’t ‘Just A Typical Law Student’ — Yeah, No Kidding
This article sets out to paint Tiffany Trump as failing to integrate to law school. It only succeeds in making the law school look bad.
D.C. Lawyer Prom
An exciting night honoring D.C.'s brightest legal stars.
Morning Docket: 10.13.17
* Does Trump's health care executive order violate ERISA? [CNBC] * Just when law firms needed another challenge, here comes PwC. [Law.com] * Pepper Hamilton partner brings clients to secluded private island. Enjoy Camp Crystal Lake everyone! [The Legal Intelligencer] * On Sunday, 60 Minutes will have a profile on the fascinating career of Shon Hopwood, the Georgetown Law professor who came to his career as a jailhouse lawyer while serving time for bank robbery. [National Law Journal] * Why aren't there vegan wigs? It's actually a pretty interesting question. [Legal Cheek] * Judge was "unaware" that he gave joint custody to an accused rapist. But before the judge gets pilloried for conducting a slapdash proceeding, consider that the prosecutors never bothered to mention this. [ABA Journal] * The gender bias suit against Proskauer reaches the Second Circuit on claims that Judge Cote erred in preventing the plaintiff from getting key discovery for her retaliation claim. [Law360] * A guide to interviewing for introverts. The first tip should be to open every interview with, "I'm interested in tax." In my experience, firms expect to put the tax geniuses in a dungeon and let them work their sorcerer's ways in peace, so they'll forgive any awkwardness as a sign of genius. [The Recorder] * Law firm merger mania strikes Texas. [Houston Chronicle]
Gen AI: Your Legal Research Assistant, Not Your Replacement
Here's how you can spend more time practicing law, and less time sorting, sifting, and summarizing.
From Jail To Yale — And Hopefully The Bar
This young lawyer deserves a second chance.
Morning Docket: 04.10.17
* According to reports, Donald Trump is "obsessed" with his next possible Supreme Court nomination, and it seems like the president is trying to use their sons' friendship to remain in Justice Kennedy's good graces -- after all, he's banking on the high court's swing justice to retire. [POLITICO] * The new year has not been kind as far as employment in the legal profession is concerned. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector took a beating in March, losing about 1,500 jobs. This is the third month in a row that the legal sector has lost jobs. Ouch. [Am Law Daily] * Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is planning to repeal Obama-era landmark net neutrality rules in the hope of internet providers volunteering to maintain an open internet, and then binding them to compliance through their terms of service. Let's see how well this works out... [Reuters] * Remember Shon Hopwood, the bank robber who won a SCOTUS case as a jailhouse lawyer, went to law school, and clerked for the D.C. Circuit? He's got a new job as a Georgetown Law prof. Talk about a remarkable career path. Congrats! [Seattle Times] * "SCOTUS judge, feminist icon, Bubby. Notorious." Believe it or not, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won a March Madness bracket. Click the link to see what we mean. [Jewcy]
Morning Docket: 10.06.14
* The Supreme Court’s new term kicks off today, and lawyers are pumped — especially since “the Roberts court [may] be to the rights of gays and lesbians what the Warren court was to the rights of African Americans.” [New York Times] * But come on, the Supreme Court hasn’t even decided to take up a same-sex marriage case for October Term 2014, you say. Not to worry, because “[h]owever slow the term is starting, it could obviously explode.” [USA Today] * This year’s law firm merger pace is slightly more robust than last year’s record-breaking rate. Lawyers should probably get ready for some real merger mania before the new year comes. [Am Law Daily] * The legal services sector just lost the largest number of jobs in a one-month period in almost five years. Our condolences to recent law school graduates who are still searching for employment. [WSJ Law Blog] * On the other side of the spectrum, this recent law school graduate has it made. This former bank robber turned D.C. Circuit clerk just found out he’ll be allowed to take the bar exam. Yay! [National Law Journal]
Stephen Glass Isn’t A Lawyer Just Because Of The Whole ‘Serial Lying’ Thing
California refused to admit Stephen Glass. Were they right?
Why Better Financial Acumen is the Key to Law Firm Success in 2025
From training to technology, uncover the essential steps to futureproof your law firm in a competitive market.
Non-Sequiturs: 10.28.13
* Chief Judge Philip P. Simon of the Northern District of Indiana has ruled that being a federal judge is better than being an equine semen collector. Agreed. [The Kentucky Trial Court Review] * The Supreme Court lets tradition trump technology. Because if the Founders wanted cameras in the courtroom they would have written it into the Constitution. [Washington Post] * NBC is developing a TV show based on Shon Hopwood’s memoir Law Man (affiliate link). Could NBC have a watchable drama? [Variety] * Congress keeps telling us the D.C. Circuit is not overworked. They’re wrong. [People for the American Way] * A poem about the lawyer as shark. Wasn’t this a whole TV show once? [Poetic Justice] * Legal education needs to adapt to reflect the fact that 50 percent of law students don’t intend to use their law degrees to work in traditional legal fields. In other words, legal education needs to adapt to people too stupid to figure out the only jobs that require a law degree are those in traditional legal fields. [New York Law Journal] * Harvard is hosting an event on the “business of college sports.” You can learn all about the business of college sports from this video right here. [Sports Agent Blog] * The judge who forced a family to change their baby’s name from “Messiah” is getting disciplined. [The Volokh Conspiracy] * Flash mobs are disturbing enough without being composed entirely of lawyers. [Daily Report Online] * Elie and Staci appeared on CNBC’s Power Lunch today to discuss the Orrick and Pillsbury merger talks and the Clifford Chance memo. Video embedded after the jump… [CNBC]
Morning Docket: 09.06.13
* Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Department of Justice will be declassifying some secret opinions from the FISA Court. We wonder who’ll be hosting the giant redaction party. [Associated Press] * Morgan Lewis paid out a $1.15 million settlement over unfinished business claims to this defunct firm. Great work, Mr. Diamond, but Howrey going to get the rest to do the same? [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)] * “[Shon] Hopwood proves that my sentencing instincts suck.” Now that this former bank robber has a clerkship with the D.C. Circuit, the judge who sentenced him is having second thoughts. [The Two-Way / NPR] * Laptops are useful tools for students in law school classrooms, but they’re also great for checking Above the Law and buying shoes while professors are droning on and on. Apparently we needed a study to confirm this. [National Law Journal (sub. req.)] * George Zimmerman’s wife filed for divorce, citing “disappointment” as one of her reasons for ending the marriage. Don’t worry, Shellie, half of the nation was disappointed with the verdict too. [Washington Post]
Non-Sequiturs: 08.26.13
* DOJ busts giant fortune telling ring. You’d think they would have seen that coming. [Lowering the Bar] * Today’s New York Times points out that Judge Kopf penned an eloquent post regarding his reaction to the news that Shon Hopwood — a man Kopf sentenced to a lengthy prison term — is poised to clerk for Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit. Funny, it seems like I read that news before… [New York Times] * The government just doesn’t know what documents Edward Snowden stole. That’s part of the reason British authorities stopped David Miranda. That and the Brits love irony. [The Volokh Conspiracy] * The message here is not bad per se, but to all the law school apologists spreading it around based on the quote, “Yeah, I know, the legal market sucks, blah blah blah. But you don’t need thousands of jobs. You just need one,” well, that’s not a sustainable model. For students that is. [Medium] * In the midst of cracking down on the NYPD, Judge Scheindlin also issued a new opinion on e-Discovery. IT-Lex provides an in-depth review. [IT-Lex] * Another sign of the discrimination against women in business — women lag far behind in the commission of high-level corporate fraud. [Law and More] * BP has taken out a full-page ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal to complain about how much money they’ve had to spend cleaning up that one time they catastrophically devastated an ecosystem through their own recklessness. It’s the most recent curious PR move on BP’s part…
Non-Sequiturs: 08.13.13
* The DOJ and a number of state attorneys general are suing to block the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. American and US Airways weren’t phased because they expected lengthy delays. [Courthouse News Service] * Following up on yesterday’s tale of divorcing law professors — which may as well have been Jarndyce v. Jarndyce — here’s a post collecting some other entertaining divorce battles. [Lowering the Bar] * The Consumer Product Safety Commission is going after a CEO individually. Craig Zucker, the CEO of the company that makes the office toy BuckyBalls, has really gotten under the CPSC’s skin in resisting their efforts to get BuckyBalls off the market. First they came for the BuckyBalls and I said nothing, then they came for the drinking bird and there was no one left to speak for it. [Overlawyered] * Here’s a look at law school applications for top schools charted over time. Spoiler alert: if these schools are playing a Ponzi scheme, they’re failing. [Associate's Mind] * More Americans fled overseas to avoid taxes this year. If we make it so the traitorous ninnies can’t come back, this sounds awesome. [Wall Street Journal] * Judicial Clerk Review asks how Shon Hopwood disclosed that whole “convicted bank robber” thing in his application. [Judicial Clerk Review] * Professor Robert Anderson has a new bar passage calculator. Take it for a spin to figure out whether or you much you should be freaking out. [Witnesseth] * Is this the worst job listing ever? Perhaps not. Definitely the most honest in being a bad job listing though. Check it out after the jump (click to enlarge), via the University of Houston Law Center…
Non-Sequiturs: 08.09.13
* This gem of a listing just showed up in the “legal/paralegal jobs” section of Craigslist. Be sure to send a “nude picture” with your résumé! Perhaps someone has been watching too many Maggie Gyllenhaal films. If it gets taken down a screenshot is here, and the klassy alternative picture in the listing is here. [Craigslist] * From the “no good deed goes unpunished” department, Georgetown Law has figured out how to bilk taxpayers into covering the costs of increasing tuition. The federal government forgives law school debt for those in the public sector if they agree to make an income-based payment. Georgetown is covering those costs, passing it on to future students (who also won’t be paying it back), and then encouraging students to shelter income to guarantee the school comes out ahead. This is why we can’t have nice things. [Wonkblog / Washington Post] * The always outspoken Judge Kopf shares his thoughts on Shon Hopwood’s selection as a clerk for Judge Janice Rogers Brown. Judge Kopf sentenced Hopwood to 147 months in the 90s. [Hercules and the Umpire] * A delightful “man bites dog” story: a bank didn’t read a customer’s amendments to a credit card application before issuing him a card and went to court whining about how hard it is to pay attention to the fine print. Boo hoo hoo. [The Telegraph] * How to deal with your mistakes. This only applies to associates, though. Partners have two steps: (1) find an associate; (2) blame the associate. [Associate's Mind] * Everything’s bigger in Texas, including their misreading of the Supreme Court’s precedent. [Election Law Blog] * China is way serious about prosecuting corruption. [Legal Juice] * The Mets muscle man whose comic inability to open a water bottle went viral on YouTube is actually a lawyer from White Plains. If you haven’t seen the clip yet, it’s after the jump. Watching the water bottle battle is the only excuse for subjecting yourself to a Royals-Mets game…