Theodore Olson

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.05.18

* No donation is too small, and no donor is too young: Former Senate candidate and former judge Roy Moore is begging his supporters via Facebook for cash for his legal defense fund because his "resources have been depleted" and he's "struggled to make ends meet." [Washington Post] * The Trump administration wants to stop federal judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, and the Justice Department is using the travel ban case to ask the Supreme Court to "reject the deeply misguided practice." Will SCOTUS put these "so-called judges" in their place? [Associated Press] * Remember Claud "Tex" McIver, the Biglaw partner who shot his wife in the back and killed her, allegedly blamed the incident on a Black Lives Matter protest? Jury selection for his murder trial begins today. [Daily Report Online] * No, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn't advising LeadInvest, a company promoting cryptocurrency investments in Texas, and neither are former U.S. Solicitors General Theodore Olson, Seth Waxman, and Paul Clement. The Texas State Securities Board sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the company remove photos of the justice and the lawyers from its site. [National Law Journal] * And the Oscar for Best Lawyer goes to... John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel has served as outside counsel to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1986, and he attends every show with the ABC contract in his pocket in case a legal issue pops up. [Corporate Counsel] * Is it time to bring back the lists and rankings commemorating the "hotties of law"? Vivia Chen has a hot take, and thinks that in this puritanical era, it's high time that we stop pretending lawyers are asexual. So long as both men and women are included on the lists, what's the harm? Right now, a lot. [American Lawyer]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.23.17

* Trump's reportedly close to selecting outside counsel. According to these reports, the top contenders are Robert Giuffra Jr., Marc Kasowitz, Theodore Olson and Reid Weingarten. [The Hill] * Speaking of Trump, he's asking the D.C. Circuit to delay a ruling on health care subsidies because throwing markets into chaos is the new normal. [NY Times] * Sessions suggests that sanctuary cities will lose Justice and Homeland Security funds if they don't affirmatively prove that they're deputizing themselves to federal immigration officials. That really puts in the proper perspective exactly how committed this guy is to actually keeping people safe from crime. [USA Today] * La La Anthony has hired a top-notch divorce lawyer. “Carmelo is still in denial and thinks he can fix his marriage.” Well, he still thinks he can fix the Knicks too so.... [Page Six] * Dorsey & Whitney is out and Proskauer is in, much to the judge's dismay. [Law360] * DOE releases some loan money to Charlotte Law students. [ABA Journal]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.27.15

* Should town clerks opposed to gay marriage be required to issue licenses to all couples? The Sixth Circuit says.... [How Appealing] * John H. Ray III, the African American ex-associate at Ropes & Gray who claimed the elite firm discriminated against him, loses in court again, this time before the First Circuit. [National Law Journal] * Vester Lee Flanagan aka Bryce Williams, the Virginia television broadcaster who killed two colleagues on-air before killing himself, was also no stranger to the legal system: he filed multiple lawsuits alleging racial discrimination. [New York Times] * Why are in-house lawyers more likely than their non-attorney corporate colleagues to fall for phishing emails? [ABA Journal] * Dewey know when the prosecution will rest in this seemingly endless trial? Probably today. [Wall Street Journal] * State judges get nasty with each other in Oregon. [Oregonian] * Federal judges around the country are advocating for a second look at how defendants get sentenced. [New York Times] * The Dilly in Philly: Paul Clement v. Ted Olson. [Am Law Litigation Daily] * A T14 law graduate turned "traveling artist" gets charged with criminal sexual assault in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune] * Speaking of sexual assault laws, Emily Bazelon explains how the St. Paul’s Rape Case shows why these laws must change. [New York Times] * Update: convicted Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes didn't get just a life sentence, but 12 life sentences -- plus 3,318 years on top of that. [CNN] * Linda Hirshman, author of the forthcoming book Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (affiliate link), explains how Justices O'Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor brought wisdom to SCOTUS (but where's the love for Justice Kagan?). [Slate via How Appealing]

By David Lat
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 10.01.13

* “The multimillion dollar question is: Is it going to happen and for how long?” Surprisingly, health care attorneys from large firms are being quite blasé about the Congressional battle over Obamacare. [Blog of Legal Times] * The 2013 Global 100 is out, and with an 8.6 percent growth in revenue, DLA Piper was able to really show the world the benefits of churning that bill, baby! We’ll have more on this news later today. [American Lawyer] * This is getting exhausting: Dentons, the three-way merger product of SNR Denton (a merger product itself), Salans, and Fraser Milner Casgrain, is in talks with McKenna Long & Aldridge for yet another merger. [Am Law Daily] * The director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s enforcement unit will be stepping down to spend time more with family. The countdown until he returns to Skadden Arps starts now. [DealBook / New York Times] * Ted Olson and David Boies, perhaps more commonly known these days as the gay marriage dream team, will be working together to challenge Virginia’s ban on marriage equality. [National Law Journal] * Should law school be two years long? Kyle McEntee of Law School Transparency (3 points) is beating the pants off Northwestern’s dean (-4 points) in this debate. [Debate Club / U.S. News & World Report] * If you’re still considering applying for law school despite all of the warnings seen here and elsewhere, then you’ll probably want to follow this advice. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report] * The Italian Court of Appeal is retrying Amanda Knox of a crime she’s already been convicted and acquitted of, and the chances she’ll be extradited if convicted again are slim to none. Buon lavoro. [CNN]

By Staci Zaretsky
2nd Circuit

Morning Docket: 09.27.13

* Sri Srinivasan was sworn in as a member of the D.C. Circuit by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who called him “fair, faultless and fabulous.” The man must have great shoes. [Washington Post] * Things aren’t going very well for Steven Donziger in the Chevron / Ecuador case now, but then again, they never are. The Second Circuit denied his bid to oust the judge on the case. [Bloomberg] * Dewey know how much this failed firm’s ex-landlord wants from 450 of its former partners? Somewhere in the ballpark of $1.6 million to $45.45 million, so it could be painful. [Am Law Daily] * Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has already named a new chairman. Congrats to J. Henry Walker IV, a man whose name alone makes it sound like he should probably leading something. [Daily Report] * Time is running out for prosecutors to bring charges against those connected to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, but it looks like his niece, a Fordham Law grad, is in their sights. [DealBook / New York Times] * The series finale of Breaking Bad airs on Sunday, and you must be very sad, so here are five compliance lessons to take away from the show. First and foremost, don’t ever hire a Pinkman. [Corporate Counsel] * E.A. Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company settled the suit filed against them by college athletes, leaving the NCAA to whine, moan, and “take this all the way to the Supreme Court.” [Birmingham News] * George Zimmerman’s wife says her husband “went on a victory tour” without her, and has no idea where he is. Clue: maybe he was advising Cybill Shepherd for her role on Law & Order next week. [Miami Herald]

By Staci Zaretsky
American Bar Association / ABA

Morning Docket: 03.19.13

* President Obama nominated Thomas Perez, the head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to be the next secretary of labor. Republicans, of course, are all butthurtt, calling this a “needlessly divisive nomination.” [New York Times] * Let’s get ready to RUMBLE! Be prepared to see some legal heavyweights next week when the Prop 8 and DOMA cases are argued before the Supreme Court, including Paul Clement and Ted Olson. [National Law Journal] * How appropriate that Justice Scalia should break out the Spanglish for an Arizona voter registration law that requires proof of U.S. citizenship. Our beloved Wise Latina probably wasn’t too thrilled by this. [New York Times] * To promote pay equity in law firms, the ABA is encouraging bar groups to hold conferences on the topic. The question on everyone’s minds, of course, is whether those conferences are billable. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Law schools aren’t the only places where transparency is lacking. Jeh Johnson, the DOD’s former general counsel, thinks the secrecy swirling around drone strikes is bad for the government. [At War / New York Times] * The members of Debevoise’s displaced trusts and estates practice team have been picked up by Loeb & Loeb. Enjoy your new home, and your new — presumably lower — compensation package. [Am Law Daily] * Lindsay Lohan took a plea deal yesterday, and instead of going to jail, she’ll be going to rehab to be kept under lock and key for 90 days. I’d say this is bad for her career, but who are we kidding? [Los Angeles Times] * Casey Anthony’s trustee just answered my prayers. He wants the ex-MILF to sell her story to pay off her debts. I demand that LiLo be cast in the role! She’s the only one broken enough to pull it off. [Washington Post]

By Staci Zaretsky