Stat(s) Of The Week: Judicial Elections
Is Wisconsin an outlier? How many other states let voters decide who sits on their highest court?
Elon Musk Sets New Benchmark For Purchasing State Supreme Court Seat
Controlling the presidency isn't enough, I guess.
4 Ways That Lexis® Create+ Delivers Personalized Legal Drafting
Lexis Create+ merges legacy drafting tools with AI-powered assistance from Protégé and secure DMS integration enabled by the Henchman acquisition.
Morning Docket: 07.24.23
* Come August, The Wisconsin Supreme Court will be a majority Democrat. Liberals in the state have big plans -- particularly on abortion and voting rights. [Huffington Post] * The DOJ and FTC have released new merger guidelines. They want to bring antitrust enforcement back to its roots. [Law360] * Want a corporate board seat? Now's your moment! Thanks to increased regulations everyone wants an attorney on their board. [Bloomberg Law] * Sam Bankman-Fried will finally shut up. The talkative founder of crypto exchange FTX has accepted a gag order in the criminal case against him, though his attorney contest that his previous interviews with reporters amounts to witness tampering. [Reuters] * Biglaw "caste system"? Sounds pretty accurate to me. [Law.com] * With more legal threat closing in, Donald Trump is only getting Trump-ier. Thankfully, that's unlikely to work in court. [Salon]
Morning Docket: 09.15.20
* A Florida city has repealed an ordinance against saggy pants over claims that the law unfairly targeted people of color. [Fox News] * An Iowa lawyer, who transferred a case to another lawyer without client consent, has been suspended from practice. [Bloomberg Law] * The Mayor of Rochester, New York, has fired the city's police chief and suspended the Rochester City Attorney over the death of Daniel Prude. [Hill] * The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the Green Party will be off the presidential ballot in Wisconsin for the upcoming election. [CNN] * Law school deans are asking for an open-book bar exam given the hardships that bar candidates presently face. [ABA Journal] * A Nebraska lawyer has been sentenced to up to four years in prison for purportedly keeping thousands of dollars of settlement money meant for clients. [Lincoln Journal Star] * Attorneys General of several states are calling on Netflix to remove the show Cuties due to alleged sexualization of children. [ABC News]
Morning Docket 05.01.20
* Bed Bath & Beyond has a new top lawyer. Hope she gets more than a 20% discount. [Bloomberg Law] * The husband of the Los Angeles County District Attorney is under investigation for pointing a gun at protesters. [Los Angeles Times] * The NCAA is facing a lawsuit alleging that it did not do enough to protect women from violence perpetrated by male athletes. [USA Today] * The Florida Bar has launched a hotline to help attorneys dealing with stress amid the ongoing pandemic. [Daily Business Review] * R. Kelly "didn't believe he could fly" to Brooklyn for an arraignment on new charges, so he teleconferenced into the proceedings from his jail cell in Chicago. [New York Daily News] * Several death row inmates in Arizona have died because of COVID-19. [NBC News] * A Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice who lost re-election has unrecused himself. Hey, what about no backsies? [CNN]
Non-Sequiturs: 04.22.18
* Joel Cohen makes the case for appointing a special master to review the attorney-client privilege claims in the case of Michael Cohen (no relation). [Law and Crime] * A fun profile of Judge Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.), who's presiding over the Cohen case -- and who "doesn't need to eat the whole barrel to know it's not a pickle." [Politico] * Circuit judges can play it safe, in the hopes of making it to the Supreme Court someday, or they can be bold (which might help their SCOTUS chances, or might hurt them); Judge James Ho is going for the second approach. [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit] * Professor Eugene Volokh: "What is this, Mean Girls: Supreme Court Edition?" [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason] * Still on SCOTUS, which leading appellate lawyers (according to Chambers & Partners) have the most active practices before the high court? [Empirical SCOTUS] * What's the best new legal-information product out there, and what's the best new product feature or function? Survey says.... [Dewey B Strategic] * Because having a law school named after him wasn't enough, Philadelphia trial lawyer Thomas R. Kline is now honored by a giant marble statue. [Philly.com] * The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide an important case about academic freedom (and Above the Law gets cited in the amicus brief of the National Association of Scholars -- see footnote 29). [Badger Pundit] * Congratulations to former Miss America winner Deidre Downs Gunn and attorney and writer Abbott Jones on their recent nuptials! [People] * And congratulations to the recipients of 2018's Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Awards! [LGBT Bar]
Best Practices In Trust Accounting: What Every Lawyer Needs To Know
Learn legal trust accounting best practices to ensure compliance and protect client funds. Discover expert tips to set your firm up for success.
Morning Docket: 04.13.15
* It's gettin' hot in herre, so take off all your clothes. Nelly's gettin' so hot, he wanna take his clothes off -- for his jailhouse strip search? The rapper was arrested in Tennessee this weekend for felony and simple possession of a potpourri of drugs on his tour bus. [CNN] * “It usually takes much longer for a position to become so disreputable that no respectable lawyer will touch it." If you haven't noticed, Biglaw firms don't want to touch the SCOTUS gay marriage arguments with a 10-foot pole. [New York Times] * “I think we’re going to see a 10,000-lawyer law firm within five years." In case it's not entirely obvious by now, Dentons is trying to become the largest firm in the universe, with "no logical end" in sight to its lawyer hoarding ways. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)] * "[T]his one has me bumfuzzled." Like other legal experts, this law prof isn't sure how to tackle Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson's lawsuit to preserve her power, but he does win the award for best usage of "bumfuzzled." [Lacrosse Tribune] * Yikes! Pennsylvania State Attorney General Kathleen Kane recently found herself embroiled in scandal after two of her offices were searched and she was ordered to explain to a three-judge panel her reasoning for firing one of her prosecutors. [Morning Call]
Morning Docket: 04.10.15
* Moonlighting for Biglaw partners: golf caddy? This Alston & Bird partner spent the week caddying for Gunn Yang at the 2015 Masters Tournament. Oh, to watch a partner be subservient and lug someone else's junk around all day. [Am Law Daily] * Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is suing each of her judicial colleagues over a constitutional amendment that could get her demoted from her seat of power. Maybe this judicial diva is a "total bitch" after all. [New York Times] * If you plan to run for president of this country and hope to discuss reform of the criminal justice system while you're shaking hands and kissing babies on the campaign trail, you better be prepared to answer each and every one of these questions. [Washington Post] * "I want to see in an application that ... Law School is a default option for you.” At least one elite law school "actively preference[s]" work experience after college. Get a job. It'll probably be easier now than after you graduate from law school. [Harvard Crimson] * Aside from absurd tuition rates and deceptive employment statistics, here's one more absolutely vital thing that members of the legal profession should consider tossing out during their spring cleaning sessions: the third year of law school. [Washington Post]
Possible Ethics Sanctions for Wisconsin Judge Who Allegedly Choked a Bitch
It seems that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser isn’t as charismatic as Wayne Brady, because he’s facing possible ethics sanctions over allegedly choking one justice, and calling another a "total bitch."
Non-Sequiturs: 07.13.11
* Has anybody considered pouring a Chernobyl-like sarcophagus over the Wisconsin Supreme Court? [WSJ Law Blog] * If Mark Zuckerberg ever tries to sue Kash for stalking him, I’m sure a bunch of ATL readers will offer to defend her. [Not So Private Parts / Forbes] * Intelligent design my ass. An intelligent creator wouldn’t […]
Calculate Your Firm’s Time-Saving Potential
Want more time for what matters most? MyCase streamlines your firm so you can focus on winning cases. See how much time you could save with our Law Firm Time Savings Calculator—try it now!
Does a Wisconsin Judge Have to Choke a Bitch?
The justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court have been in the legal tabloids for quite some time due to their inappropriate antics. But this time, one of the justices decided to take matters into his own hands... literally.
Non-Sequiturs: 05.23.11
* I might have stopped smoking, but I’ll never stop fighting against Mike Bloomberg’s nanny state laws that seek to turn New York City into a place that doesn’t tempt Mike Bloomberg into doing all the things he used to do. [CNN] * Tyler Clementi’s former roommate, Dharun Ravi, pleaded not guilty to a bunch […]
Morning Docket: 04.06.11
* On the same day that Lady Kaga wrote her first dissent, Governor Deval Patrick nominated Barbara Lenk, an openly gay woman, to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Big week for… uhh, female judges. [New York Times] * The prosecution in the Barry Bonds case rested their case yesterday, and the judge is considering […]
Have We Looked Into Declaring a ‘No-Fly Zone’ Over Wisconsin?
We’ve spent a lot time covering Wisconsin’s dysfunctional state legislature. But did you know the state’s judicial branch is just as messed up? We’ve discussed this before, but now there’s more to report. You know any semblance of bipartisan civility has broken down when one justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court calls the chief justice […]
Update: ‘Baby Mama’ Drama on Wisconsin Bench Reaches Resolution
Back in February 2009, we named the Honorable Joseph Wall a Judge of the Day. Joe Wall, at the time a Wisconsin trial court judge, used the term “baby mama” at the sentencing of an African-American defendant. He also made additional amusing quips — e.g., suggesting that “baby mamas” congregate at “a club” to find […]