St. Johns Law

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.31.15

* Good news if you've made it to midlevel associate -- survey says you're happier than ever. [American Lawyer] * Amal Clooney lost a case in Egypt, her client was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced to prison for their coverage of the 2013 uprising. Clooney warned the sentence sends a "dangerous message." [People] * More and more Pennsylvania firms are getting on-board with the $160k pay scale. [Legal Intelligencer] * Chalk another victory up for the Amazing Schneiderman -- that's New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. This time, retail giant Gap Inc. has fallen in line. [Fashionista] * A happy ending for David Powers, whose admission to St. John's Law was revoked after officials there found out about a drug conviction. He's starting at Pace Law today. [New York Times] * When a client announces a new general counsel, law firms should consider that a wake-up call -- or get fired. [Corporate Counsel] * In truly horrific news, two Indian sisters were sentenced to be gang raped as punishment for their brother eloping with a woman of a different caste. The (hopefully) good news is the women have appealed to the Indian Supreme Court for protection. [Jezebel] * What do in-house counsel need to know about the recent NLRB decision expanding the concept of joint-employers? [Law360]

By Kathryn Rubino
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 03.07.13

* Mary Jo White isn’t the only Debevoise partner who will face high scrutiny while being vetted for the SEC. Andrew Ceresney may be up for co-chief of enforcement. [DealBook / New York Times] * The Crowell & Moring ethics complaint alleging the firm suggested Appalachians have family circles instead of family trees was chalked up to an “inbreeding memo mishap.” [Am Law Daily] * A panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department will hold court at St. John’s School of Law next month. Perhaps the students will be a little less embarrassed happier with the school now. [New York Law Journal] * Patrick Fitzgerald, ex-U.S. attorney and current Skadden partner, will teach a course in national security law at Chicago Law School. Attend his class, lest his “extraordinary brilliance” go to waste. [National Law Journal] * Looks like somebody forgot about Dre. The rapper’s headphones company, Beats By Dr. Dre, is now going after people for trying to register anything with “beat” or “beats” as trademarks. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)] * Ross Ehlinger, a litigator who died while competing in the Alcatraz triathlon, RIP. [San Francisco Chronicle]

By Staci Zaretsky
Deaths

Morning Docket: 03.23.12

* Joe Amendola has filed a motion to dismiss the child sex abuse charges against his client, Jerry Sandusky. And if he actually thinks that’s going to happen, then he definitely needs to call 1-800-REALITY. [Associated Press] * @AllenStanford’s motion for a #newtrial has been denied. The Ponzi schemer’s “conviction by journo tweet” argument has failed. Major props to Judge David Hittner for issuing a ruling in less than 140 characters. [Bloomberg] * Everyone’s obsessed with the U.S. News law school rankings, but here’s a ranking that people should actually be paying attention to: the law schools that lead to the most debt. [The Short List / U.S. News and World Report] * This defunct firm’s homeless Halloween party just won’t be as fun this year. Steven J. Baum P.C. has to fork over $4M to settle a probe over its alleged foreclosure abuses. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * St. John’s Law is planning to launch two new LL.M. programs, neither of which is in tax. This is newsworthy because people will apply anyway, and then bitch about the “value” of their degree. [National Law Journal] * John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, RIP. [NAACP LDF]

By Staci Zaretsky
Job Searches

Dean of Students Gets Networking Advice All Wrong

A couple of days ago, Elie offered some networking advice to the functional alcoholics in the audience. Sure, his thoughts were a little bit outside the box, but they were better than the kind of standard networking tripe most law students get from their overmatched career services administrators. Case in point, take a look as some networking advice sent around by the Dean of Students at a New York-area law school just last week. The advice was perfect if the dean was trying to ensure that the students made no impression, and left all employers wondering why they bothered to show up for a silly networking event in the first place....

By Elie Mystal