Ballard Spahr LLP

They're taking lots of shots at the trial court.

And media outlets sue to get case docs unsealed.

More firms join in to protect their employees from the spread of COVID-19.

Salaries keep dropping thanks to the global health crisis.

The firm knows just how unusual it is to find itself in the position of offering a reward in a shooting case.

This was... unorthodox.

He just won't be able to do it.

* Roy Moore’s lawyer — you know, Richard Jaffe, the Jewish one — is a “passionate supporter” of Senator-elect Doug Jones, and raised and donated money for his Senate campaign before voting for him in the Alabama special election. [Washington Examiner]

* Eversheds Sutherland celebrated the new year by announcing a merger with a Dutch affiliate firm, composed of eight partners and 32 lawyers across two offices. It’ll be known as Eversheds Sutherland Netherlands once the acquisition is complete. [American Lawyer]

* Speaking of mergers, Ballard Spahr celebrated the new year by completing its combination with Lindquist & Vennum. Ballard Spahr will retain its name, and the new firm will have 650 lawyers across 15 offices in the U.S. [Big Law Business]

* The former head of alumni relations for Chicago’s John Marshall Law claims in a new lawsuit that he was fired due to the school’s bias against older male employees. He alleges that Dean Darby Dickerson is trying to “eliminate the employment of men, and particularly older men.” [Law360 (sub. req.)]

* “If you’re too busy to follow this advice, you should follow this advice.” Try this New Year’s resolution on for size: take better care of yourself with these stress management tips. [Law.com]

* Former tax partner gets two year prison sentence. Maybe he can claim a good behavior deduction. [New York Law Journal]

* Chilling report on South Carolina’s routine violation of constitutional norms. [New York Times]

* Top in-house counsel share their thoughts on forging a privacy policy. As we all know, the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. [Law.com]

* Austria’s racism manages to punish a law student in a shark costume. It’s the saddest moment for sharks since Left Shark. [Lowering the Bar]

* Checking in on Rogers Stevens, the Blind Melon guitarist who now works as a mid-level Labor and Employment attorney at Ballard Spahr. [Coverage Opinions]

* Experts say the Cowboys edict that the team will bench anyone who kneels during the anthem doesn’t run afoul of the NLRA… yet. [Law360]

* A conversation with Ellisen Turner, Irell & Manella’s newly minted managing partner, about race and discrimination and the added pressure that comes with being a person of color in the legal industry. [Am Law Daily]

Exciting news, but will this inspire the firm to adjust its salary scale?

* The government can work out exactly how NSA contractor Reality Winner leaked classified documents, but no one seems capable of explaining how America gave Top Secret clearance to someone named “Reality Winner.” [Quartz]

* An open letter to Tiffany Trump from one of her future classmates. [Teen Vogue]

* A profile of Don McGahn that begins “By day, Don McGahn is a straight-laced lawyer, but by night, he’s a long-haired rocker.” Oh? An affluent middle aged white guy sublimates his sad existence through a Peter Pan complex… tell me more! [NPR]

* If you were wagering, we now know that Robert Barnes picked up his client Cassandra Fairbanks on Twitter. I’d have bet on the Pepe the Frog subreddit. [National Law Journal]

* Kokesh puts kibosh on SEC disgorgement. [Corporate Counsel]

* Chamber wants a rule to expose litigation financing. [Law.com]

* Now the Trump administration is hitting firms in the wallet — with partner Charles Tobin moving to Ballard Spahr, bailing on Holland & Knight over their alleged policy of never taking on matters adverse to Donald Trump. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Speaking of Ballard Spahr, they’re moving to a new office in New York. [NY Post]

* Can you hear me now? Modern marvels of technology like cellphones and other electronic devices are barred from the Supreme Court during oral arguments, but yesterday, justice was interrupted by the ringing of… a Justice’s cellphone. Who was the culprit? The offending phone belonged to Justice Stephen Breyer. Oopsie! [AP]

* After a week charged with sexual harassment allegations and the ouster of Bill O’Reilly, just when Fox News thought its troubles were over, a group of current and former employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the network alleging “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers got in this zinger of a statement: “When it comes to racial discrimination, 21st Century Fox has been operating as if it should be called 18th Century Fox.” [DealBook / New York Times]

* Ever since it dumped Eversheds, Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner has been out on the prowl for another merger partner, and it looks like the firm has finally found its ideal mate in New York boutique Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman. The whole thing seems to be a bit “incestuous” if you ask us. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]

* Ahead of his confirmation hearing todays, Makan Delrahim, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the antitrust division of the Department of Justice who’s been called a “centrist nominee,” has pledged to recuse himself from all matters involving his prior work as a lobbyist, including the merger between Anthem and Cigna. [Big Law Business]

* At some firms, like Ballard Spahr, senior partners must “transition[] their practices” by age 60, but at other firms, like Cozen O’Connor, age is nothing but a number. “We have so many lawyers who are extremely productive and terrific lawyers and if they want to work well into their 70s, God bless ’em,” says CEO Michael Heller. [Philly Inquirer]

Which of these law firm holiday cards is the best of 2016? Cast your vote!

These are the firms that work to allow distressed corporations a fresh start.

As Biglaw begins to run itself more like a “business,” vestiges of the traditional law partnership have started to fall away.

The ATL Law Firm Gender Diversity Index is the most comprehensive and accurate database of its kind available anywhere.

* David Simon, the creator of The Wire, weighs in on Baltimore. He points blame at a police force rooted in “a culture that taught them not the hard job of policing, but simply how to roam the city, jack everyone up, and call for the wagon.” F**k. [Talking Points Memo]

* In Colorado, marriage is defined as one man and… well, that’s all you need actually. [Business Insider Law & Order]

* No sooner did I tweet Chief Justice Roberts for his cynical inconsistencies than Brianne Gorod offers a more charitable theory about the jurist. [New Republic]

* Hull takes a stab at explaining his problem with the parlance of email. [What About Clients?]

* A fly on the wall at the post-Obergefell chambers conference. [Law Prof Blawg]

* Professor Hasen examines Williams-Yulee. [Election Law Blog]

* Another reality TV legal run-in: the restaurant from “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” settles a discrimination suit over an employee claiming she was fired for refusing to join a prayer session. I think the important question here is: there’s really a show called “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s”? [Missouri Lawyers Weekly]

* Did you follow that child custody hearing over letting an 11-year-old attend a P!nk (is this how we write that now?) concert? Because it was crazypants. [Bronzino Law]

* Could the Uber class action suit spell relief for contract attorneys? [Law and More]

* Ballard Spahr’s Chair Mark Stewart talks about the competition between law firms and the distribution of… oh, face it, you just want to hear him talk about hiring Rogers Stevens of Blind Melon as an associate. [Bloomberg BNA / Big Law Business]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzXBlzvxuMs

Because every episode of VH1's Behind The Music should end with a healthy discussion of ERISA.

Where did he go to law school and where does he now work?

* Who is the real John Roberts? Will he forever be known as health care reform’s savior, or the man who disregarded precedent to gut minority voting rights? Hell if we know, so we’ll let you be the judge. [Opinionator / New York Times]

* The man may be a mystery, but one thing’s for sure when it comes to Chief Justice Roberts: it’s fair to say that at this point, he’d sincerely appreciate it if his colleagues would kindly STFU during oral argument. [Big Story / Associated Press]

* Elena Kagan, a justice who was never a judge, is now being praised for her ability to put the law into terms that non-lawyers can understand. That’s a score for law professors everywhere. [New York Times]

* In terms of the Voting Rights Act, while the chances of the current Congress enacting a universal voting law are approximately nil, there are other effective avenues that could be taken. [New York Times]

* On Friday, the Ninth Circuit lifted the stay on gay marriages in California, and less than 24 hours later, Prop 8 supporters filed an emergency motion with SCOTUS to stop all of the weddings. Lovely. [NPR]

* Meanwhile, ex-judge Vaughn Walker thinks Justice Scalia’s having joined the high court’s majority on standing telegraphed the fact that he didn’t have votes to uphold Prop 8 as constitutional. [NPR]

* Rubber stamp this: Judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court are so upset that they’re being made out as government patsies that they’re talking to the press about it. [Washington Post]

* Whether you think Chevron is “suing [Patton Boggs] lawyers for litigating” or for promoting fraud that “shocks the conscience,” here’s a summary of what’s going on in an epic case. [Washington Post]

* Got a high-profile criminal defense firm? Look out, because you may have captured Biglaw’s eye. Take, for example, Stillman & Friedman, which will be merging with Ballard Spahr. [New York Times]

* Apparently being in your mid-50s is a “good time to [retire]” for law deans who pull in six figures. Ken Randall, outgoing dean of Alabama Law, says he’s “really ready for the next challenge.” [AL.com]