Third Circuit

Morning Docket: 05.12.17

* What's the over–under on how long acting FBI director Andrew McCabe will keep his current post? [New York Times] * And Democratic senators want answers -- lots of answers -- from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. [Washington Post] * Following up on our list of top law schools with great employment outcomes, here's a broader look at the latest ABA employment data. [ABA Journal] * And following up on our recent round-ups of possible judicial nominees in the Trump administration, here's a name for one of the open Third Circuit seats in Pennsylvania. [CA3 blog via How Appealing] * A lawsuit claims that a Biglaw behemoth is trying to invalidate the same patents it prosecuted -- not a good look. [Daily Business Review] * Former Biglaw chair J. Stephen Poor ruminates on the riches of this year's top Am Law 100 firms. [Big Law Business] * Robert Post looks back over his eight years as dean of Yale Law School. [Law.com]

Circuit Court Nominees In The Trump Administration: A Nationwide Round-Up

Names, names, and more names, for federal judgeships around the country.

An Outspoken Critic Of A Supreme Court Shortlister

A "celebrity" in legal circles comes out against one of the SCOTUS finalists.

Morning Docket: 09.27.16

* “Even with a new Republican appointee, [Justice Clarence] Thomas is likely to remain somewhat isolated on the extreme right.” In the case of Justice Thomas, it wouldn't even matter if Donald Trump won the presidency -- he'd still be the most conservative justice in the modern history of the Supreme Court. [New York Times] * The Supreme Court's long conference was yesterday, and we'll likely find out later today (or in the days to come) the cases for which the justices decided to grant certiorari for the 2016-17 term. One of those cases may be NCAA v. O'Bannon, where the question of sports amateurism for the purpose of athletes' pay is up for debate. [CBS Sports] * Hot on the heels of the news that Dentons dragged down revenue per lawyer rankings for the entire 2016 Global 100 thanks to its mega-merger with Dacheng, the firm had a more upbeat announcement. Partners Mike McNamara, Jeff Haidet, and Peter Wolfson have ascended to national and global leadership positions. Congrats! [Big Law Business] * Under a new California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, actors may conceal their age and force websites like IMDb to remove their age from bio pages in order to shield themselves from age-based discrimination in casting. Critics of the law are calling this an attack on free speech -- and it's too little, too late for Junie Hoang. [WSJ Law Blog] * Judge Leonard I. Garth, Third Circuit Court of Appeals jurist, RIP. [Washington Post] * Daniel O. Bernstine, president of LSAC, RIP. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 08.19.16

* "Donald Ducks," the DNC's mascot that's being used to taunt Donald Trump for his undisclosed tax returns, bears a striking resemblance to Disney's Donald Duck, and people are starting to wonder: "Is Donald Ducks waddling over Disney's intellectual property rights?" [WSJ Law Blog] * The Third Circuit declined to re-seal excerpts of depositions in the Bill Cosby case where he admitted to giving women Quaaludes, but included in its opinion an interesting footnote calling out the district court judge's decision to unseal the records in the first place, saying its "public moralist rational" had "no basis in our jurisprudence," and that the term itself was "vague and undefined." [THR, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter] * This fall, Indiana Tech Law will welcome its largest class ever, with 55 students set to begin their legal studies next week. With only 15 students in its inaugural class, this huge jump in enrollment could possibly be due to the fact that the ABA gave the school a provisional rubber stamp (as it's wont to do) back in March. [Indiana Lawyer] * "There is a disconnect between what banks are doing and what consumers want," and what they want is the ability to sue. More and more big banks -- 72 percent of them, in fact -- are using mandatory binding arbitration clauses in their contracts to prevent customers from filing suit. Read the find print, people. [DealBook / New York Times] * "What if somebody gets injured on somebody else's property? Trip on a rock or get bitten by the neighbor's dog? There would be a whole host of responsible parties." A New York firm already filed a class-action suit against the company behind Pokemon Go, but this lawyer thinks there's a minefield of tort actions available to sue over. [Mlive.com]

Morning Docket: 08.18.16

* A Brazilian judge ordered that Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen surrender their passports and remain in Rio until investigators can determine whether they filed a false police report of being robbed at gunpoint. There's one problem: Lochte is back in America. Jeah! [USA Today] * As we mentioned yesterday, according to NALP, law school graduates in the class of 2015 landed fewer jobs in private practice than any other class in the past 20 years. There is a bright side, though: Biglaw firms are hiring in droves and the median starting salary for new lawyers has risen to $100,000, which is 5 percent higher than it was for the class of 2014. [DealBook / New York Times] * Graduates who sued Widener Law in 2012 over the school's allegedly deceptive employment statistics lost a federal appeal to overturn a denial of class certification. A three-judge panel of the Third Circuit -- one which included Donald Trump's sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry -- rejected a class-wide theory of damages. [Law.com] * Legal ethics professor Ronald Rotunda of Chapman Law wrote an op-ed striking out against the ABA's adoption of a new professional misconduct rule which seeks to combat discrimination and bias in the law. He refers to the new rule as a misguided "foray into political correctness," and thinks the ABA overstepped its bounds. [WSJ Law Blog] * "At best he was doing something profundity stupid with the hopes of meeting someone he will never get to meet in his lifetime." A lawyer for Stephen Rogata, the teen who scaled Trump Tower, says her client should receive psychiatric treatment instead of jail time. He's being held on $10,000 bail bond or $5,000 cash. [New York Daily News]

Appeals Court Dashes New Jersey’s Hope For Legal Sports Betting

New Jersey just can't catch a break.

Non-Sequiturs: 01.20.16

* Living the goddamn dream! This Biglaw attorney is retired... at age 33. [Mr. Money Mustache] * Law school lecture goes viral! In fairness, "don't talk to the police" seems like extra relevant advice after binge-watching Making a Murderer. [The Blaze] * Pissed off about price gouging on Super Bowl tickets? Well, the Third Circuit sure isn't going to help. [Bloomberg BNA] * Is there a way to wish anger away? It may not be easy, but here are some tips to help with anger management. [Katz Justice] * The ACLU has filed a class action over Louisiana's underfunding of the public defender system. [ACLU] * Great advice for keeping your firm's (and client's) sensitive information out of the hands of hackers. [Reboot Your Law Practice] * Congratulations to Elizabeth Wydra, longtime chief counsel of the Constitutional Accountability Center, who takes over as CAC's new president. [National Law Journal]

Morning Docket: 01.12.16

* Based on reading the oral-argument tea leaves, it sounds like the Supreme Court is about to school the teachers' unions (and public-sector unions more generally). [How Appealing] * Ring in the new year by making the register ring: a slew of Biglaw firms have secured (presumably lucrative) engagements working on the proposed $32 billion merger between drug makers Shire Plc and Baxalta Inc. [American Lawyer] * By a vote of 82-6, and after a wait of more than 400 days, the Senate just confirmed Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo to the Third Circuit, making him the first Hispanic federal judge from Pennsylvania to sit on that court. [Associated Press] * Good news for fantasy-sports fans: it's not (yet) "game over" for DraftKings and FanDuel, thanks to a stay issued by a New York appellate court. [Bloomberg News] * And bad news for student-loan-saddled law grads (like our own Shannon Achimalbe) who were hoping that SCOTUS might make it easier to discharge such debts through bankruptcy. [Wall Street Journal via ABA Journal] * Does Sean Penn face legal risk for his interview of El Chapo, the infamous Mexican drug lord? [ABA Journal] * A former federal prosecutor just secured a six-figure settlement and reinstatement from the Justice Department. [National Law Journal] * U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara -- who came so, so close to winning Lawyer of the Year honors -- announced that Governor Mario Cuomo is off the legal hook for his controversial shutdown of the Moreland Commission, a panel aimed at investigating public corruption. [Law360] * Avvo is starting to roll out a service featuring fixed-fee, limited-scope legal services through a network of attorneys (and Bob Ambrogi has the scoop). [Law Sites] * Professor Peter J. Henning explores the implications of the end of the government case against hedge fund magnate Steve Cohen. [DealBook / New York Times]