Tag: Maine

It is really hard to do discovery when people are pretending they don't see you.

* The IRS is AFK when it comes to Church law breaking. [Texas Tribune]

* Talk about “Give me Liberty”… [Law.com]

* Dropbox under fire for alleged patent infringement. Sounds more like dropping the ball. [Law.com]

* Maine is facing a defense lawyer deficit. [News Center Maine]

* Tune in, legal nerds! Breyer gave his Ecce Homo at Harvard. [The Crimson]

* A Maine healthcare law has been putting patients in danger. [Press Herald]

* Few things say COVID relief like…strengthening the police force? [Axios]

* Morgan Lewis just got a bump in partners! [Law.com]

“I say unto ye, the money is cool and all, but if it means teaching those yucky kids I made wrong, just ignore it forreal” - Jesus, apparently

* Sick flight: airborne passengers remove masks mid flight in response to a Judge overturning federal mask mandates. [Vice]

* It’s hip to be kind: Mainers want to extend their Good Samaritan laws. [WMTW]

* Not done fighting: Wendy Davis continues the legal fight against SB8.  [KTSA]

* Governor increases penalties for selling Fentanyl.  [WAPT]

* Forgiveness ain’t cheap: NJ diocese shells out over $85 million to settle sexual abuse claims. [AP]

The state is considering going a step further.

* New York State and a group of restaurants were unable to resolve a lawsuit over the closure of restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe sharing a meal would help the sides reconcile, oh wait… [WIVB]

* Check out this article on new laws that are taking effect in 2021. [CNN]

* Porn star Aria Lee is defending herself pro se in a defamation lawsuit filed against her. [Page Six]

* Lawyers supporting President Trump in election cases may face professional discipline. [Bloomberg]

* A new lawsuit alleges that a Maine salmon producer made false claims about sustainability. The plaintiff must have known something smelled fishy… [Press Herald]

* A $50 million lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a woman who was declared dead and later found alive at a funeral home. This sounds like an episode of Tales from the Crypt… [Fox News]

* A Maine lawyer is accused of sexual misconduct and other unethical acts against indigent clients he represented. [ProPublica]

* Michael Flynn’s lawyer is calling for the disqualification of a judge overseeing Flynn’s criminal case. [National Law Journal]

* A New Jersey lawyer has been suspended from practice for accepting retainers from clients and performing no work on the files. [New Jersey Law Journal]

* The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Yale University yesterday over admissions practices that are allegedly unfair to Asian and white applicants. Yale must have some decent lawyers that can represent it… [Wall Street Journal]

* Steve Barnes, co-founder of New York personal injury powerhouse Cellino and Barnes, was killed in a plane crash along with his niece this past Friday. [New York Times]

* Joe Bornstein, one of Maine’s best-known personal injury lawyers, also passed away late last week. [Press Herald]

* Attorney General Barr will self quarantine after he had close contact with several Trump associates who tested positive for COVID-19. [Boston Globe]

* Several aides are accusing the Attorney General of Texas of bribery, abuse of office, and other illicit conduct. [CNN]

* The Attorney General of Michigan will no longer enforce certain executive orders issued by Michigan’s governor after the state’s highest court found that the governor exceeded her powers in issuing many executive orders related to COVID-19. [ABC News]

* A boxing champion is facing a lawsuit after allegedly failing to pay for around $500,000 in jewelry. This would have been a much less dramatic ending to the Adam Sandler movie Uncut Gems. [New York Post]

* A special prosecutor appointed in the Jussie Smollett case found that the prosecutor’s office abused its discretion in overseeing the matter. [Wall Street Journal]

* A Texas lawyer is being sued for allegedly leading clients to a failed real estate investment with which the attorney had an undisclosed interest. [Texas Lawyer]

* The Boston Bar Association is urging Attorney General Barr not to pursue the death penalty for the Boston Marathon bomber. [Boston Globe]

* Apparently it’s not libelous to tell a lawyer that he “needs to go back to law school.” Maybe this is because lawyers learn very little about how to be practicing attorneys in law school… [Volokh Conspiracy]

* A 97 year-old trial lawyer has been allowed to stay on a murder case despite an outburst that forced a judge to release six jurors who had already been seated. [NorthJersey.com]

* New York lawmakers are mulling legislation aimed at providing lawyers to immigrants facing deportation proceedings. [New York Daily News]

* A number of colleges and universities are led by lawyers, but the jury’s out about whether this is a good thing. [Washington Post]

* Maine has posthumously pardoned a lawyer who was prosecuted for his involvement in representing a Native American tribe against the state. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

* A new lawsuit alleges that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked girls to the U.S. Virgin Islands up until 2018. [ABC News]

* The expression “Ok, Boomer” has finally made it to the Supreme Court. [CNN]

The written prescription is on the way out.

It's time to briefly visit each marijuana ballot initiative, especially since legalization or medical marijuana reform in one state can greatly impact other marijuana-friendly states and even federal marijuana policy.

* We hope that all of our readers had a wonderful weekend! In case you haven’t been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that raised salaries on Friday: Jones Day, Pillsbury, and Nixon Peabody. If you’re ever worried that you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, you can check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect all of these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

* Karmic retribution? The ABA keeps popping out accredited law schools as if it were some sort of a clown car, but it may lose the power to accredit law schools for a one-year period thanks to a recommendation from the Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. [Big Law Business]

* “For the time being, at this specific time on this court, Kennedy remains the pivotal justice.” Justice Anthony Kennedy may be almost 80, but he remains the Supreme Court’s constant swing voter. In his opinion in the Fisher affirmative action case last week, he was able to successfully “gut his own precedent.” [Washington Post]

* With a net worth between $7.6M and $25M, if Judge Merrick Garland were ever to be confirmed to the position for which he’s been nominated, then he’d be the wealthiest SCOTUS justice of them all. According to their financial disclosures, the next wealthiest justice is Stephen Breyer, with a net worth between $6.1M and $16M. [ABA Journal]

* Disbarred defense attorney F. Lee Bailey — who you may remember as being part of O.J. Simpson’s “dream team” — filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to escape $5M+ of debt owed to the IRS. He says the IRS previously turned down his settlement offers because he’s “a celebrity, and it would look bad for them.” [Portland Press Herald]

* David Mourey, the former assistant dean for bar preparation and academic success at Barry Law, was fired after students continued to fail the bar exam, but in a recently filed gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, he claims he was discriminated against because he was “singled out for discipline by an all-female management team.” We may have more on this later. [Orlando Sentinel]

* Despite the wishes of the public and rumors of his firing in the face of the Baylor University coverup of reports of rape and sexual assault by football players, “Ken Starr is [still] president and chancellor of Baylor University.” According to a university spokeswoman, the school has not yet finished reviewing Pepper Hamilton’s report on the matter, but Baylor will likely make an announcement by June 3. [Associated Press]

* “We are willing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to.” Eleven states have filed suit against the Obama Administration in an effort to get around its guidance on transgender rights for children in schools, calling the policy a “massive social experiment.” The states suing are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. [Reuters]

* Sumner Redstone turns 93 years old tomorrow, and he’s been in and out of court for the past few months in a battle to prove he’s mentally competent. The salacious case filed by his former female companion may have been dismissed, but now he’s attempting to fend off claims from Viacom directors who were ousted from a trust that will control his media holdings if he dies or is found incompetent. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Now that the world knows that PayPal’s co-founder provided funding for Hulk Hogan’s invasion of privacy suit against Gawker, it’s time to take a look at the lawyer who’s been representing the wrestler. Charles Harder is no stranger to Hollywood cases, and may be a longtime fan of litigation finance since he “[tries] to win and do so in a way that’s cost effective for a client, so they don’t lose when they’re winning.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* Since revenge litigation finance’s recent invention, what’s there to keep billionaires from destroying you with lawsuits? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not much, especially when “there is no obligation to disclose the litigation financing arrangements” that have been made. Ethical issues aside, we really hope the super-rich wield their new power to ruin lives through rented lawsuits carefully. [Fortune]

* A must-have for all those Biglaw overachievers gunning for partner. [Next Shark]

* Racists don’t even know how to racist right. [Wonkette]

* To recap acceptable responses to tickets: writing on the ticket “FUCK YOUR SHITTY TOWN BITCHES” = totally fine; wiping your butt with the ticket and throwing it at the police officer = not okay. [The Smoking Gun]

* Welp, this is an interesting clause to stick into a settlement agreement. [Deadspin]

* Maybe, just maybe, the Supreme Court will weigh in on the student debt crisis. [Bloomberg Business]

* Is it possible to make your writing benchslap-proof? [Legal Writing Pro]

* It’s best to be vague yet forceful when trying to escape new Biglaw work. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Former law student and old school ATL star Kumari Fulbright is getting the MTV treatment. [MTV]

* A protest over art? Well, the Florida courthouse mural does depict heroic KKK members, so that makes sense. [Slate]

* “[P]rotective impulses toward his female clients” get one lawyer suspended. [Legal Profession Blog]

* Did Maine’s governor just try to veto something that was already law? [Talking Points Memo]

* “I own a dog so I can understand how to be patient with associates.” More on the best of Partner Emeritus. [What About Paris?]

* Police are now looking for a Prius in connection with the murder of Dan Markel. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* Covington partner Mark Mosier’s son, Michael, passed away at age 6 from DIPG, a rare brain tumor. Consider supporting the Michael Mosier Foundation. [Defeat DIPG]

Would you advertise with a sign like this?

There's no warding off a polar bear attack. Trust this guy, he would know.

* An analysis of Vijay Singh’s suit against the PGA. Any legal analysis that requires that much use of the phrase “deer antler spray” is worth it. [Sports Law Blog] * The highest paid state employee by state. If you’re a lawyer, you want to live in Maine. [Deadspin] * A visual representation of every Federalist Society event. [UChiLawGo] * Cheez-Its are really, really good. [Legal Juice] * “The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a bear cub with a gun. Or something.” [Bear Lawyer] * Professor Nick Rosenkranz wonders if a 50/50 quota is appropriate to generate intellectual diversity at law schools since Harvard Law seems to think that gender diversity merits a 50/50 quota. The answer is no. Thanks for playing. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Our own rankings guru Brian Dalton sat down for an interview about the new ATL Top 50 Law Schools rankings. [PrawfsBlawg] * And Elie went on Bloomberg to discuss our inaugural rankings, too….