United Kingdom / Great Britain
-
Family Law, Health Care / Medicine, Kids
Government Tells Gay Couple To (Fraudulently) Divorce If They Want To Keep Legal Rights To Their Son
This is like an awful exam hypothetical -- except a real couple's parental rights are at stake. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.13.17
* Does Trump’s health care executive order violate ERISA? [CNBC]
* Just when law firms needed another challenge, here comes PwC. [Law.com]
* Pepper Hamilton partner brings clients to secluded private island. Enjoy Camp Crystal Lake everyone! [The Legal Intelligencer]
* On Sunday, 60 Minutes will have a profile on the fascinating career of Shon Hopwood, the Georgetown Law professor who came to his career as a jailhouse lawyer while serving time for bank robbery. [National Law Journal]
* Why aren’t there vegan wigs? It’s actually a pretty interesting question. [Legal Cheek]
* Judge was “unaware” that he gave joint custody to an accused rapist. But before the judge gets pilloried for conducting a slapdash proceeding, consider that the prosecutors never bothered to mention this. [ABA Journal]
* The gender bias suit against Proskauer reaches the Second Circuit on claims that Judge Cote erred in preventing the plaintiff from getting key discovery for her retaliation claim. [Law360]
* A guide to interviewing for introverts. The first tip should be to open every interview with, “I’m interested in tax.” In my experience, firms expect to put the tax geniuses in a dungeon and let them work their sorcerer’s ways in peace, so they’ll forgive any awkwardness as a sign of genius. [The Recorder]
* Law firm merger mania strikes Texas. [Houston Chronicle]
- Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 10.06.17
* Salary hikes (in London). [Legal Cheek]
* Travel bans and compelling interests. [Dorf on Law]
* Speaking of SCOTUS, Adam Feldman reads the oral-argument tea leaves from the first week of the new Term. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* And devotees of Justice Antonin Scalia might want to check out Scalia Speaks (affiliate link), a collection of the late jurist’s speeches edited by son Christopher Scalia and former law clerk Ed Whelan. [Bloomberg BNA]
* Did this court just gut her whole job description? [New York Law Journal]
* It can be challenging for creators to protect their IP; could a small-claims court for copyright be the answer? [Copyright Alliance]
-
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.02.17
* Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which took place last night in Las Vegas, Nevada. [New York Times]
* “There’s only one prediction that’s entirely safe about the upcoming term. It will be momentous.” The Supreme Court’s October Term 2017 begins today, and it will be Justice Neil Gorsuch’s first full term. The docket features issues like voting rights, religion and discrimination, workers’ rights, and digital privacy, and Trump’s DOJ has radically flipped its position from that of prior administrations in many of the cases, which hasn’t happened in decades. [New York Times]
* Jeffrey Toobin wonders, “How badly is Neil Gorsuch annoying the other Supreme Court justices?” Based on the junior justice’s behavior thus far — from his seemingly politicized appearances to his domination of oral arguments to his dissenting jab at Justice Kennedy — the answer could very well be PRETTY BADLY. [New Yorker]
* You may have grown up, but you’re still a Toys “R” Us kid at heart, so you’ll want to know how much these Biglaw firms are charging Geoffrey the Giraffe for their representation in the toy store’s bankruptcy. Partners and of counsel are billing up to $1,745 per hour, and associates are billing up to $1,015 per hour. [Am Law Daily]
* Biglaw salary wars are heating up across the pond, with Clifford Chance having recently decided to boost pay for newly qualified associates to £87,300 (~$116,933.99) a year in total compensation. Other firms like Freshfields and Linklaters have also instituted salary hikes, while Slaughter & May has frozen associate pay. [Law.com]
* “This, all of this, allows me to prove my story is useful.” Reginald Dwayne Betts, the Yale Law School graduate whose dreams of being able to practice law after passing the bar exam were deferred thanks to a decades-old felony carjacking conviction, was finally admitted to the Connecticut bar. Congratulations! [Hartford Courant]
-
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.29.17
* The ACLU is ready to fight a Louisiana school district after they told student athletes they must stand for the national anthem or they’ll get kicked off the team. [Huffington Post]
* New York landlords that harass rent stabilized tenants beware — AG Eric Schneiderman has his eye on you. [Cityland]
* The Supreme Court’s role in building Hugh Hefner’s naked empire. [Law and More]
* Starting a new Biglaw job? Tips to keep your finances in order. [Corporette]
* Will lowering California’s bar cut score do more harm than good? [Lawyerist]
* The party behind Brexit has a new logo that looks a little like they cribbed it from a law school. [LegalCheek]
-
Technology
Lawyers Gearing Up To Hit UK With Corporate Sovereignty Claims Totalling Billions Of Dollars Over Brexit
A Brexit wrinkle could pay off big for lawyers. -
Law Schools
Woman Abandons Law Degree To Become Porn Star
When "attorney" is a worse job than "porn star," the industry should take pause. -
Biglaw, Layoffs
Another Law Firm Merger That Could Lead To Layoffs
As many as 32 positions could be affected. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Biglaw, Layoffs
Biglaw Firm Announces Hundreds Of Buyouts And Layoffs, Almost 500 Affected
What's the kindest way to tell an employee to pack up their crap and leave? With money! -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.01.17
This week in the legal blogosphere….
* Everyone gets their day in arbitration really doesn’t have a great ring to it. But, Benchmark Capital’s lawsuit against former Uber head Travis Kalanick is headed there anyway. [Law and More]
* New York City Department of Education Chancellor Carmen Farina spoke at New York Law School about the partnerships and programs that create a truly comprehensive education for public school kids. Anyone interested in the state of public education should pay attention to Farina’s remarks. [Cityland]
* “I betrayed my people and will be known as a modern day Dathan, all for tax cuts, but all I got was this stupid hat” — Gary Cohn soon. [The Levin Report]
* Is the judge in Senator Menendez’s trial unfairly disenfranchising voters by preventing him for attending Senate votes? [The Hill]
* Remember William C. Bradford? Well, he says it was the hackers who made his account call Obama’s mother a whore. That sounds totally plausible! [CNN]
* Law student caught on video trying to burn money in front of a homeless man won’t be expelled. He’s a still a dick though. [Legal Cheek]
* Judge Harold Murphy took senior status at 90. A look back at a distinguished career. [Bloomberg BNA]
* Another reminder that doing good usually puts you behind the 8 ball financially. [Medium]
-
Women's Issues
A Famous Female Judge On Why More Women Need To Be On The Bench
Diversity in the judiciary is incredibly important. -
Biglaw, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Small Law Firms
Navigating The Negotiation Traps: 5 Factors To Consider
A career as a lawyer is a career based on negotiation -- so here's how to negotiate successfully. -
General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Technology
alt.legal: An MBA For Lawyers! Bruce Macmillan’s Vision
Could lawyers -- especially in-house lawyers -- benefit from an MBA made especially for them?
Sponsored
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
-
Fashion, Politics, United Kingdom / Great Britain
The Leather-Trousered Philanthropists
Behold the genuine demise of common sense decision making. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.30.17
* Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams pleads guilty to accepting a bribe, ending his ongoing federal corruption trial and his tenure as DA — and sending him straight to jail, since Judge Paul Diamond denied bail. [ABA Journal]
* The Trump administration moves forward on implementing the travel ban (and has reversed its earlier determination that being engaged to marry an American doesn’t count as “a bona fide” connection to this country). [New York Times]
* Colorado baker Jack Phillips, petitioner in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that the Supreme Court will hear next Term, explains his refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. [How Appealing]
* DLA Piper, hit by a major ransomware attack earlier this week, endures its third consecutive day without email. [Law360]
* And DLA isn’t the only Biglaw firm with big weaknesses in cybersecurity, as Ian Lopez reports. [Law.com]
* Lawyer turned television host Greta Van Susteren has been let go by MSNBC (after just six months). [Vanity Fair]
* The tragic case of Charlie Gard comes to an end: the European Court of Human Rights declines to review prior court rulings refusing to let the terminally ill 10-month-old boy travel to the U.S. for experimental treatment. [Washington Post]
* Drs. John Eastman and Sohan Dasgupta break down the Trinity Lutheran case. [Claremont Institute]
-
In-House Counsel, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Creating A Bad Test
Law school exams may not have predicted much about your future legal career, but at least they made sense. -
-
Biglaw, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Videos
Come For The Clifford Chance Partner, Stay For The Intergalactic Space Lord
John Oliver tackles Brexit, and a Clifford Chance partner has the perfect visual aid. -
Labor / Employment, On The Job
What Is Sexual Harassment In Today’s Workplace?
Has the twenty-first century seen the beginning of the end of sexual harassment in the workplace? Hardly. -
Health Care / Medicine, Kids, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Charlie Gard: The General Election Isn't The Only Important Decision On June 8
The UK Supreme Court is the last hope for a treasured little boy and his parents.