With National Judicial Outreach Week around the corner, the Judicial Division has put out the call for active and retired judges to meet with their…
Federal judge’s opinion in Stella Artois too-light beer case is plastered with alcohol references
A federal judge in Nevada has sent a case over underfilled beer glasses back to state court because its amount-in-controversy calculation is “mostly foam.” U.S.…
As some jury trials resume, juror shortages create problems; one court sees a 5% yield on summonses
As jury trials resume in several states and continue in others, finding jurors willing to show up is a problem. Bloomberg Law reports on…
Supreme Court considers warrantless search-and-seizure case from California
Still no action from SCOTUS on Trump’s emergency request for subpoena relief in tax records case
The U.S. Supreme Court is taking its time with an emergency request by former President Donald Trump to block a subpoena for his tax records.…
District attorney is accused of dropped-charges bribery, lying about fantasy statements
A district attorney in Paulding County, Georgia, has been charged with bribery for allegedly dropping charges against the client of a prosecutor in a neighboring…
Police reform and homeland security: Some policy recommendations to close the racial justice gap
Last summer, in response to the killing of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality and amid a public health crisis and economic collapse,…
Afternoon Briefs: California defends bar exam facial-recognition tech; pants-on-fire lawyer arrested
California bar responds to disparate impact allegation regarding facial recognition technology After receiving a Feb. 10 demand letter to remove facial recognition technology from…
What can Texas tell us about the rise and fall of the death penalty?
By the late 1960s, use of the death penalty was on the decline in the United States. But after the U.S. Supreme Court declared in…
Jones Day is hit by vendor data breach; hackers post files they claim were stolen from the law firm
A hacking group has posted files that it claims to be from Jones Day after the law firm was hit by a data breach at…
Jones Day can be sued for retaliation over press release statements, judge rules in former associates’ suit
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has allowed two former Jones Day associates to add a claim to their bias lawsuit that the law firm…
Trump and Giuliani face first civil suit stemming from Capitol riots; violation of KKK Act is alleged
A Mississippi congressman has filed a civil suit against former President Donald Trump and lawyer Rudy Giuliani that says they violated the Ku Klux Klan…
ABA becomes plaintiff in lawsuit over treatment of children affected by remain-in-Mexico program
The ABA’s immigration project in Texas has joined a lawsuit alleging that unaccompanied children affected by the Trump administration’s remain-in-Mexico program are being denied basic…
Lawyer tries to persuade IRS it doesn’t owe him $285K
Lawyer Todd Rothbard of Santa Clara, California, tried to reach the Internal Revenue Service after it told him in a Jan. 4 letter that he…
Lawyers smoke a cigar, drink wine during Zoom hearings; litigants appear from hair salon, while driving
What happened to decorum? Clients and some lawyers are appearing in Zoom hearings doing things that wouldn’t happen in court, the Louisville Courier Journal…
No holding back: Judge Jed Rakoff discusses new book about how to fix a broken legal system
Jed Rakoff tells me that he has “the world’s greatest job.” Lucky for him, he can have it for life. Rakoff’s good fortune is to…
Young lawyers bring meditation to ABA Midyear Meeting
It’s important to offer people opportunities to practice meditation because once you introduce them to it, it’s more likely they’ll try it again on their…
All-virtual ABA Midyear Meeting offers multiple days of free events and programs
ABA members from across the country are convening virtually this week for the 2021 ABA Midyear Meeting. The annual event, which runs from Wednesday, Feb.…
Afternoon Briefs: Law deans want to delay employment reporting; Edelson parody videos tout untraditional mold
Law school deans want more time for reporting employment outcomes Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, law school deans have asked the ABA’s Section of Legal Education…
Advanced border searches of electronic devices don’t require probable cause, 1st Circuit rules
A federal appeals court has upheld government policies that allow basic searches of electronic devices at the border without reasonable suspicion and advanced searches only…
California gets demand letter to stop using facial recognition technology with remote bar exam
The use of facial recognition technology with the remote bar exam could have an unlawful disparate impact on test-takers who are women or people of…
Alternative legal service providers continue to increase their market share, survey finds
Alternative legal service providers continue to make significant inroads in the legal industry, growing their global market share to $13.9 billion by the end of…
Lawyer who pleaded guilty in porn lawsuit scheme must pay $1.5M restitution, 8th Circuit says
A federal appeals court has upheld a $1.5 million restitution order against a Minnesota lawyer who pleaded guilty in a scheme to upload porn to…
Afternoon Briefs: DOJ changes stance on health care law; Scabby the Rat gets NLRB lawyer’s support
DOJ withdraws opposition to health care law The U.S. Department of Justice has notified the U.S. Supreme Court that it no longer supports overturning the…
No federal appeals court has more female than male judges; which one is evenly balanced?
Just one federal appeals court has an equal number of active male and female judges. The court is the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
Alan Dershowitz played a role in at least 12 of Trump’s clemency grants
Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, helped at least 12 people obtain grants of clemency from former President Donald Trump, including two…
Did bar candidates who had a choice do better on in-person or remote exams?
Texas judge changes locks to her office, warns colleagues about trespassing
A Texas judge who campaigned on a reform platform has changed the locks to her office and issued a criminal trespass warning to judicial colleagues…
New York may license social workers to handle some legal tasks
Afternoon Briefs: Judge in ethics trouble for school dispute; lawyer sues ex-client who punched him
Panel recommends judge’s removal for school-dispute conduct A judicial ethics panel has recommended removal of a judge in Union County, New Jersey, based on her…
Acting Alaska AG resigns amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with high schooler in 1991
Acting Alaska Attorney General Ed Sniffen resigned Jan. 27 before the publication of an article alleging he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl…
Legal services sector gains 4,800 jobs in January
The legal services industry added 4,800 jobs in January following a loss of 1,500 jobs in December.Despite the improved outlook in January, the industry still…
Pennsylvania DA is charged with sexually assaulting clients before his election
A Pennsylvania district attorney has been charged with sexual assault and indecent assault in connection with alleged coerced sex acts with five women who were…
5 ways to be shameless in 2021
Negative self-judgment is a career killer. When we believe that we are fundamentally flawed, it is like swimming upstream 24 hours per day, seven days…
Afternoon Briefs: DOJ drops suit over Yale admissions process; 7th Circuit allow courthouse Nativity scene
DOJ drops suit accusing Yale of bias against Asian, white applicants The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit accusing Yale University of…
Afternoon Briefs: DOJ drops suit over Yale admissions process; 7th Circuit allows courthouse Nativity scene
DOJ drops suit accusing Yale of bias against Asian, white applicants The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit accusing Yale University of…
Like Trump, Biden asks ABA to start judicial ratings process after nominations are made
The ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary will continue to review nominees to the federal courts, and the process will continue to take place…
After cutting lawyers in ‘a pace reminiscent of 2009,’ law firms see net income rise nearly 10%
Law firms saw a 9.9% growth in net income last year after cutting discretionary expenses and laying off lawyers, according to two reports released this…
43% of partners took a pay cut because of COVID-19, new survey finds
Forty-three percent of partners reported taking a pay cut directly related to COVID-19, according to Law360’s inaugural Law Firm Partner Compensation Survey: Partnership and Pay…
Goodwin Procter reports data breach from hack of third-party vendor
Goodwin Procter was hacked through a third-party vendor used for large file transfers, the law firm has revealed in an internal memo. The memo reported…
Judge was a policymaking employee subject to patronage termination, 5th Circuit rules
A family court judge in Texas, who refused to support a favored judicial candidate, was a policymaking and confidential employee who wasn’t eligible for First…
Why do barristers wear wigs? ‘Dress Codes’ explores fashion and the law
Ask any attorney about the most outlandish clothing they’ve seen worn in a courtroom, and most will have a colorful story. But what determines the…
7 key areas of legislative and policy successes by the ABA in the 116th Congress
The first session of the 116th Congress started in 2019 with a politically divided government and the longest federal government shutdown in history. It ended…
Afternoon Briefs: Governor seeks Sidney Powell’s disbarment; ex-Davis Polk associate avoids sanctions
Michigan governor seeks disbarment of election lawyers Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seeking disbarment of Texas lawyer Sidney Powell and three Michigan lawyers for…
Cole Schotz settles suit against lawyer accused of revealing confidential documents in bid to injure BigLaw
A federal judge in New Jersey has dismissed Cole Schotz’s claims against a former bankruptcy associate whom it had accused of revealing two confidential law…
Trump impeachment brief cites First Amendment, says call to fight referred to quest for election security
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers maintain that he was exercising his First Amendment rights, rather than inciting a riot, when he spoke to a crowd…
Prove it up: Scholars criticize law prof’s speech about secret folders and say it was unsupported
Female and minority lawyer representation in firms reaches historic highs, but gains are small, new report says
Progress is slow for law firms seeking to increase representation of female and minority lawyers, according to a new report by the National Association for…
