Wachtell Lipton

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.21.18

* Lawyers for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford say that she's "prepared to testify next week" before the Senate Judiciary Committee on her allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, but not on Monday (an "arbitrary" date), and only under "terms that are fair and which ensure her safety." [CNN] * Everyone and their mother and their dog who's been caught up in the Kavanaugh controversy has lawyered up. Patrick Smyth, one of SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh's former high school classmates who was reportedly at the party where Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was allegedly assaulted, has hired Kobre & Kim to represent him. [American Lawyer] * "Cohen’s disavowal of Trump has triggered a series of events that turned once very good friends into permanent enemies." Michael Cohen has been chatting with Robert Mueller, and his conversations have focused on Trump's dealings with Russia, possible collusion, and whether he's ever discussed a pardon with Trump. [ABC News] * When it comes to Wachtell, "[i]t may be the last true partnership," but that's not how 87-year-old "Poison Pill" creater Martin Lipton sees things. "If I wasn’t here tomorrow, the firm wouldn’t be any different," he says, because he wants to pass everything on to the next generation of lawyers in the future. [Big Law Business] * $26.5 million can buy you lots of fancy things, including a law school. The University of Alabama School of Law will now be known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at the University of Alabama after Culverhouse donated the largest gift in the school's history. Congratulations and ROLL TIDE! [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] * For the first time in history, there are more women than men at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. Fifty-two percent of BYU Law's first-year students are women. According to the dean of admissions, applications increased by 6.7 percent this year, with a nearly 21 percent rise among women. [Daily Herald] * The trial for Katherine Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia, who are accused in the 2014 murder of FSU Law professor Dan Markel, was scheduled for October 8, but it's been delayed due to a defense attorney's medical treatment. [Tallahassee Democrat]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.06.17

* The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to toss the travel ban case on mootness grounds -- and to scrub the lower-court rulings against it from the books. [How Appealing] * Meanwhile, the District of Columbia won't take the fight over its concealed-carry law to SCOTUS, fearing that the Court might just make the situation worse if called to rule on gun rights. [Washington Post] * At age 86, Marty Lipton of Wachtell Lipton is still in the mix, issuing influential client memos on important issues of corporate law. [Big Law Business] * Does the emperor have no clothes robes? Zoran (Zoki) Tasic, a former Seventh Circuit staff attorney, calls out Judge Richard Posner over alleged errors in the judge's new book (affiliate link) about the treatment of pro se litigants. [How Appealing] * Support staff at Hogan Lovells seem to love the firm's buyout offers; the firm's voluntary-retirement program attracted even more interest than expected. (Expect more on this later.) [Law.com] * What does the future hold for the Obama administration's proposed changes to overtime rules? Senators seek guidance from Cheryl Stanton, the former Alito clerk and Ogletree Deakins partner who enjoyed smooth sailing at her recent confirmation hearings to serve as head of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. [Bloomberg BNA] * In other news about the fate of Obama-era regulations, it looks like the Trump administration will be rolling back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, expanding exemptions for religious objectors. [New York Times]

By David Lat