SoFi

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.07.17

* Ben Wittes on James Comey's prepared testimony (which he'll deliver tomorrow): "the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes." [Lawfare] * Could the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program be eliminated -- retroactively? Thoughts from Professor Gregory Crespi. [SSRN] * The California Supreme Court appears less than enthused about a ballot measure that would compel the courts to decide death penalty cases more quickly. [How Appealing] * Behind every great bestseller is... a tiger mother? How Amy Chua mentored J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy (affiliate link). [The Atlantic] * Picking up on Shannon Achimalbe's post from earlier today, here's additional financial advice for young lawyers. [SoFi] * Legal technology is a godsend -- but what do you do when problems arise? [Reboot Your Law Practice] * Mark your calendars: one week from today, on June 14 in San Francisco, it's the Battle of the (Law Firm) Bands! [Family Violence Appellate Project]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.11.16

* "Could a firm with a different business model suffer, potentially, if they don't match the $180,000? Maybe." Law firms may be competing for fewer students than in years prior thanks to decreased law school enrollment, but Biglaw's new starting salary scale doesn't seem to have made a big impact on the summer associate applicant pool -- at most schools, OCI participation has held steady or risen only slightly since last year. [Law.com] * “Are you listening? He just flat out lied. ... [I]t could be bad." In a text message that was included in a federal court filing earlier this week, a former aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie claimed that the governor lied when he told the media none of his staff knew about a plan to block George Washington Bridge traffic. Uh-oh! [New York Times] * "We'll tell the council that there's a giant need for affordable law schools like us, and we're going to meet that need." After learning it was unlikely his school would receive accreditation due to students' poor qualifications, Dean Royal Furgeson Jr. of UNT Dallas Law shrugged it off, saying the school would "get a fair hearing." [ABA Journal] * Robert Schulman, a former partner at Hunton & Williams, has been indicted for allegedly trading on insider information ahead of Pfizer's $3.6 billion purchase of King Pharmaceuticals, a client he represented in 2010 while at the firm. He, along with his investment adviser, will face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. [Big Law Business] * Yet another Biglaw firm has partnered with a financial company to assist its attorneys with their law school debt. Miller Canfield is working with Social Finance (SoFi) to provide loan refinancing options to the firm's associates to help "ease the financial burden" of their heavy six-figure debt loads. [Grand Rapids Business Journal] * "They're being terribly exploited." Lichten and Bright, a New York labor law firm, has contacted hundreds of UFC fighters in an effort to unionize them and help get them benefits that other sports unions share, like health insurance, pensions, and the ability to negotiate the terms of their contracts with the mixed martial arts giant. [MMA Junkie]

By Staci Zaretsky