Silk Road

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.01.17

* The gaggle of Jones Day lawyers who joined the Trump administration received a blanket waiver from ethical rules because what's the point when there's no integrity left to protect? [National Law Journal] * The ABA is discussing a massive overhaul of its law school accreditation regime in order to appease critics from the Department of Education (at least the former DOE). Hey, DOE... we already solved this problem for you! [Law.com] * Historically the Silk Road connected China to Europe. According to the Second Circuit it connects Ross William Ulbricht to a life sentence. [Law360] * Because it wasn't big enough yet, Dentons opens an office in Myanmar. [Legal Week] * In-house counsel complain that they receive too much marketing material. But that's not stopping firms from piling on more, because in-house lawyers don't know what's good for them. [Am Law Daily] * George Mason students have filed a lawsuit accusing the school of violating public records law in an effort to obscure funding the school -- especially ASS Law -- may receive from the Koch brothers. [Courthouse News Service] * "Lawyer who killed lover’s dog blames being lone Jew at boarding school." I'm just going to leave this here. [NY Post]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 02.04.15

* Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht found guilty. [Law360 * Valentine's Day gifts for lawyers. [Law and More] * "7 Things You Only Find Out as a Lawyer to the Poor." [Cracked] * On the day high school athletes sign away their futures, this article explains that law school is almost as bad when it comes to transfers. [Inside Higher Ed] * The lawyer who won Survivor: Racism Survivor: Cook Islands is now in charge of keeping Facebook users from throwing privacy hissy-fits. [Fusion] * Win your case... still lose your license. [Associated Press via Philly.com] * On the subject of law-related scents, does you law school have a custom fragrance yet? [TaxProf Blog] * Should law professors serve as both parties and counsel on amicus briefs? An interesting question of ivory towerness. [Josh Blackman's Blog] * The duty to vaccinate: or not all libertarians are as crazy as Rand Paul. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 02.03.15

* Who's the meanest Supreme Court justice of all time? Science has the answer and it's not Justice Scalia... [Eric Posner] * Harper Lee is publishing a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird (affiliate link). We hope for the best, but the circumstances of this announcement should make everyone a little worried. [Jezebel] * Following the ridiculous arrest of a public defender for the egregious act of defending her client, some California lawyers are raising money to send copies of the Constitution to the SFPD. Silly lawyers, the cops understand the Constitution, they just don't care. But still a commendable protest set piece that could keep the local media on the case. [Indiegogo] * An interview with Steven Browne of Morgan Lewis on how the merger/non-merger with Bingham McCutchen is working out. The answer is pretty well except for some associates expecting a decent bonus. [Forbes] * Uh oh. Emails suggest that Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht hired a Hell's Angels hitman. The takeaway here is that there are Hell's Angels running on Bitcoin now. [Gawker Internet] * Are you learning how to speak Arabic? Then you're probably a terrorist. [Lowering the Bar] * In a mind-blowingly stupid move, Florida's legislature legalized teen sexting while trying to ban it. It's almost as dumb as that time they legalized just shooting people on the street if you get scared. [Slate] * Mary Holland, a "Graduate Legal Skills Program Research Scholar" at NYU Law, goes on CNN as their representative anti-vaxxer. As an NYU Law alum, this worried me until I noticed she got her law degree from Columbia. Now it all makes sense. [YouTube] * A bitter rejection of corporate-speak. Ha. Good luck. I'm at LegalTech and expect to hear the word "synergy" about 20,000 times over the next 48 hours. [What About Clients?] * Yes, Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link) is fun, but it tackles important issues too, as noted by Howard G. Franklin in this review. [Howard G. Franklin]

By Joe Patrice