Unpaid Internships

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 08.26.16

* As a teenager, Richard Posner was fond of the phrase "The Poze knows." In other news, Richard Posner was an insufferable teenager. [WSJ Law Blog] * Layoffs are coming! At least that's what this analyst thinks. [Am Law Daily] * Law school dean beats charges that he beat professor. Or "squeezed" him anyway. [Law.com] * The evolution of the Fourth Circuit. [MSN] * Alabama passes a law requiring students to learn cursive. Tough educational stance for a state that continues to call evolution controversial. [NPR] * France's top court will hear the stupid Burkini ban case. [Yahoo!] * Another day, another humiliating loss for unpaid interns. [Courthouse News Service]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 08.11.15

* The two-tiered partnership model turns out to be much more complicated than firms expected. That's why we're seeing moves like BakerHostetler's proposed elimination of non-equity partners. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Graffiti artist files suit claiming fashion designer violated his copyright in his work. [The Legal Artist] * On the unpaid internship front, the Olsen twins have been sued by a former intern who claims she clocked 50-hour weeks and didn't earn a penny from her multimillionaire bosses. [New York Daily News] * Before the 25th Amendment, the ill-defined line of succession could have landed one of these guys in the White House. [Constitution Daily] * Who said it: Justice Scalia or a YouTube commenter talking about Magic Mike XXL? [Suited Gladiators] * There's a big gap between law school graduates and practice-ready skills. Somewhere the ABA is scheming about how to turn this into the case for four-year law schools. [LexisNexis] * California is removing the word "Alien" from the labor code. Because symbolic gestures are still important gestures. [Associated Press via NBC]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 07.21.15

* There's a "small but organized minority of law professors" trying to keep students from getting paid. Go tell the ABA not to listen to them. [Professor Bainbridge] * Taking the bar exam in New York? Want a pre-ordered lunch? These folks have your back. They're extending their deadline for ordering. [Custom Gourmet NY] * Line up to buy your ".law" address! [Adjunct Law Prof Blog] * Estimating the cost of eDiscovery. In monetary terms, not in the souls of contract attorneys. [Logikcull] * Kansas Governor Sam Brownback needs money, and he's apparently not above asking officials with business before his office for cash. [Topeka Capital-Journal] * Questions not to ask in an interview. Forgot to include, "Does this look infected?" [JD Supra] * When you want to close a sale, be present in the moment. [Law and More] * Want to join a college faculty? Here's where to work. Spread that anti-law-school hate to the next generation. [TaxProf Blog] * David Lat joins Sam Glover to discuss the future of Biglaw and SmallLaw. [Lawyerist]

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 02.10.15

* 12 Things Every Lawyer Should Learn From Saul Goodman. [LinkedIn] * The 10th Circuit had so much trouble wading through a federal statute they had to diagram the sentence. As the opinion notes, "[t]hat bramble of prepositional phrases may excite the grammar teacher but it’s certainly kept the federal courts busy." If you want to see the whole opinion, it's here. [Lowering the Bar] * Meet your King v. Burwell plaintiffs! It's actually kind of sad. Like the guy paying $655/month on health insurance who could be paying $62.49/month but won't because Obama is a secret Muslim or something. [Jezebel] * A guide to cybersecurity for lawyers. If this interests you, come to our conference March 18, to see the author, Leeza Garber, participate in a panel on privacy. [Capsicum Group] * Speaking of cybersecurity, hackers hit Anthem Insurance pretty bad. At least the company is handling the data breach well. [LXBN] * New evidence reveals that the victims of lynchings in the South were much higher than previously assumed. Thankfully, racism is over according to the Supreme Court. [Gawker Justice] * After introducing you to J.Ko, the Harvard Law rapper, it seems his website is now password protected. Aw. Come back, J.Ko! This is what free publicity looks like. [Harvard Rapper] * Maybe there is a role for Millennials to play in ending unpaid internships. They won't take it of course, but there's a role out there to be played. [Law and More] * Geopolitics explained simply. Shearman's Richard Hsu talks to Dr. Pippa Malmgren, author of Signals (affiliate link). [Hsu Untied] Meanwhile, that sentence diagramming opinion discussed earlier is available on the next page.... https://www.scribd.com/doc/255322959/United-States-v-Rentz

By Joe Patrice
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 02.02.15

* D.C. Circuit upholds FTC decision that Pom Wonderful deceived consumers with disease-fighting claims. Next thing you know they're going to say Red Bull doesn't really give you wings. [Chronicle of Higher Education] * Macklemore is looking for an intern. Probably going to find a lawsuit instead. [LXBN] * Now that the Super Bowl is over, Glendale can get back to focusing on how they're going broke because of that stadium. Once again, publicly funded stadiums are a terrible idea on par with running a quick slant instead of running the best back in football up the gut for one yard. [Americans For Tax Reform] * In case you were interested, Sheldon Silver's former employer makes serious bank. [Page Six / New York Post] * A quick and easy summary of amici briefs filed in King v. Burwell. [Balkinization] * Dean Chemerinsky in a wide-ranging interview about the Supreme Court and its failings. As you'd expect from the author of The Case Against the Supreme Court (affiliate link). [Concurring Opinions] * Richard Hsu talks to Kelly Perdew, who won the Apprentice back when the show was about finding competent businesspeople instead of helping Jose Canseco squeeze out 15 more minutes of fame. [Hsu Untied]

By Joe Patrice
Copyright

Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.14

* David Letterman and CBS got smacked with the latest internship class action. To think, poor Paul Shaffer’s been working for free all those years. [Deadline] * Class action could be on the horizon over high-frequency trading. [Wall Street Journal] * Frankly, I don’t know what the problem is. [Washington Post] * You may have been following the story of Justice Ginsburg’s officiating a wedding in New York this weekend. Well, if so, here’s the Times write-up. [New York Times] * The federal courts are looking at tightening the word limits on appellate briefs. How do you feel about this move? I’m with the author that “The number of cases where attorneys think they need a word extension is greater than the number of cases that actually warrant one.” [New Mexico Appellate Law Blog] * Scott Brown, formerly of both Massachusetts and the Senate, is threatening to sue Harvard’s Larry Lessig after Lessig labeled the Nixon Peabody “advisor on governmental affairs” a “lobbyist.” Lessig asks if the campaign preferred he write the more technical, “sold his influence to a DC lobbying firm.” Ha. [Time] * Fordham professor Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute and designer Narciso Rodriguez make the case for strong legal protection for fashion designs. [Room for Debate / New York Times] * On Friday, Keith Lee wrote about a lawyer who billed a client for sanctions. We’ve written before about lawyers billing for the time spent boning their clients. A law professor who teaches professional responsibility asks: “Is billing for sanctions better or worse than billing for sex. I say sanctions. Can we have a survey on this?” Of course you can. Poll after the jump….

By Joe Patrice
10th Circuit

Non-Sequiturs: 06.30.14

* For all of you gearing up for the bar exam, take heart that failure isn’t the end of the world. At least if you fail with a last name like “Roosevelt” or “Kennedy.” [Buzzfeed] * Hobby Lobby may be behind us, but there are still anti-ACA cases on the horizon. [The Advisory Board Company] * Morning Docket noted Neal Katyal’s op-ed suggesting the Supreme Court was less divided these days. Consider this a detailed response. [mitchellepner] * Thoughts on Kitchen v. Herbert. [Pollvogtarian] * The great unpaid internship revolt is on. And based on Harris, we should expect the working stiff’s got a great chance here. [Capital New York] * Some right-wing college paper is bent out of shape that a full law professor teaching one class (and running a clinic) is paid over $200,000. That salary actually doesn’t sound all that shocking. Now what would be interesting (though these folks probably wouldn’t care) is how that salary stacks up to his female colleagues’ pay. [The College Fix] * Ever see Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” sketch? Here’s video of professors reading mean evaluations… [TaxProf Blog]

By Joe Patrice