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Cooley Law School Won’t Enroll New 1Ls at Ann Arbor Campus, Plans Faculty Layoffs
July 18, 2014
Law students hoping to start their first year at Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Ann Arbor, Michigan, campus this fall will...
July 18, 2014
Law students hoping to start their first year at Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Ann Arbor, Michigan, campus this fall will...
Sleeping Yankees Fan Caught on Camera Sues for Alleged Defamation
July 18, 2014
A Yankees fan who was caught on camera napping at an April 13 game has filed a $10 million suit for alleged defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit filed on behalf of fan Andrew Robert Rector claims the ESPN announcers “unleashed [an] avalanche of disparaging words” about him, implying that he doesn’t understand the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Courthouse News Service has a story, later picked up by the Smoking Gun, the New York Post and the New York...
July 18, 2014
A Yankees fan who was caught on camera napping at an April 13 game has filed a $10 million suit for alleged defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit filed on behalf of fan Andrew Robert Rector claims the ESPN announcers “unleashed [an] avalanche of disparaging words” about him, implying that he doesn’t understand the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Courthouse News Service has a story, later picked up by the Smoking Gun, the New York Post and the New York...
Things Are Looking Up for In-house Counsel Hiring
July 18, 2014
It’s hard to believe that the first six months of 2014 (and then some) are already gone. A new legal hiring trends survey from legal staffing and consulting firm Robert Half Legal looks ahead to the next half of the year and finds that the future is bright for in-house legal professionals in the U.S. and Canada. The survey includes data from both law firms and law departments, but Robert Half broke down the numbers into in-house data sets for CorpCounsel.com. According to the stats, 18 percent...
July 18, 2014
It’s hard to believe that the first six months of 2014 (and then some) are already gone. A new legal hiring trends survey from legal staffing and consulting firm Robert Half Legal looks ahead to the next half of the year and finds that the future is bright for in-house legal professionals in the U.S. and Canada. The survey includes data from both law firms and law departments, but Robert Half broke down the numbers into in-house data sets for CorpCounsel.com. According to the stats, 18 percent...
Arbitration Survives Contract’s Expiration
July 18, 2014
For the first time, a federal circuit court has examined whether an agreement’s arbitration clause still applies after the agreement expires where the agreement’s survival clause does not specifically list the arbitration provision. The court found that the arbitration clause survived because the parties did not clearly imply that it was to expire with the agreement. Huffman v. Hilltop Cos., LLC. Strong Presumption Favoring Arbitration The plaintiffs worked for The Hilltop Companies reviewing...
July 18, 2014
For the first time, a federal circuit court has examined whether an agreement’s arbitration clause still applies after the agreement expires where the agreement’s survival clause does not specifically list the arbitration provision. The court found that the arbitration clause survived because the parties did not clearly imply that it was to expire with the agreement. Huffman v. Hilltop Cos., LLC. Strong Presumption Favoring Arbitration The plaintiffs worked for The Hilltop Companies reviewing...
What ‘Moneyball’ Taught Us About Unbundling Diligence
July 18, 2014
Sometimes change is sought. Sometimes it is dictated. Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s major league baseball team and protagonist in the Michael Lewis book “Moneyball” (2003), found himself in the latter category as his club was cutting expenses—including his best players—while his competition was spending more. He needed a way to beat those teams, and traditional ways of winning typically required great players making big salaries. We’re in a place now in the legal...
July 18, 2014
Sometimes change is sought. Sometimes it is dictated. Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s major league baseball team and protagonist in the Michael Lewis book “Moneyball” (2003), found himself in the latter category as his club was cutting expenses—including his best players—while his competition was spending more. He needed a way to beat those teams, and traditional ways of winning typically required great players making big salaries. We’re in a place now in the legal...
Lawyers Should Park Laptops in Favor of Handwritten Notes
July 17, 2014
We'd previously blogged about a study showing that students who take handwritten notes in class better understand the material than those who transcribe their class-notes on a laptop. The Lawyerist Blog makes the point that lawyers should heed that advice too by ditching laptops in favor of ye olde pad and pen. As the Lawyerist points out, if you really need a verbatim transcript of your meeting, there are other ways of accomplishing that such as making an audio recording. But to focus on the substance...
July 17, 2014
We'd previously blogged about a study showing that students who take handwritten notes in class better understand the material than those who transcribe their class-notes on a laptop. The Lawyerist Blog makes the point that lawyers should heed that advice too by ditching laptops in favor of ye olde pad and pen. As the Lawyerist points out, if you really need a verbatim transcript of your meeting, there are other ways of accomplishing that such as making an audio recording. But to focus on the substance...
In Conflict Resolution, Fairness Concerns Loom Large
July 17, 2014
On June 30, compensation expert Kenneth R. Feinberg unveiled a plan to give restitution to victims of accidents related to the fatal ignition flaw in 2.6 million General Motors vehicles. The plan—designed to be as generous as other compensation plans Feinberg has overseen, including payouts to victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings—is part of GM’s efforts to restore public trust and reduce the number of costly lawsuits it could face, Hilary Stout reports in the New York Times. GM had faced...
July 17, 2014
On June 30, compensation expert Kenneth R. Feinberg unveiled a plan to give restitution to victims of accidents related to the fatal ignition flaw in 2.6 million General Motors vehicles. The plan—designed to be as generous as other compensation plans Feinberg has overseen, including payouts to victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings—is part of GM’s efforts to restore public trust and reduce the number of costly lawsuits it could face, Hilary Stout reports in the New York Times. GM had faced...
Alabama Confirms Arbitrators’ Grant of Judgment As A Matter of Law
July 17, 2014
Just as SCOTUS held its nose and confirmed an arbitration award it thought stunk in Sutter, the Supreme Court of Alabama has confirmed an arbitration award made after only the claimant presented evidence and grounded in a possible misunderstanding of Alabama law. Tucker v. Ernst & Young, __ So.3d__, 2014 WL 2619860 (Ala. June 13, 2014). In Tucker, shareholders of HealthSouth Corporation (in the name of the company) asserted claims against HealthSouth’s accountants, Ernst & Young, alleging that...
July 17, 2014
Just as SCOTUS held its nose and confirmed an arbitration award it thought stunk in Sutter, the Supreme Court of Alabama has confirmed an arbitration award made after only the claimant presented evidence and grounded in a possible misunderstanding of Alabama law. Tucker v. Ernst & Young, __ So.3d__, 2014 WL 2619860 (Ala. June 13, 2014). In Tucker, shareholders of HealthSouth Corporation (in the name of the company) asserted claims against HealthSouth’s accountants, Ernst & Young, alleging that...
Law Schools React to Smallest Incoming Classes Since 1970s; Top Applicants Buck the Trend
July 17, 2014
Law school applications continue to drop this year, spurring a response among law schools hit by the declining enrollments. Law schools admitted 39,675 first-year students last year, the smallest incoming class since the 1970s. That number was an 11 percent drop from the prior year and a 24 percent drop in three years, the Boston Globe reports. The trend appears to be continuing; the number of applicants for the first-year class in 2014 has dropped nearly 8 percent from last year, the story...
July 17, 2014
Law school applications continue to drop this year, spurring a response among law schools hit by the declining enrollments. Law schools admitted 39,675 first-year students last year, the smallest incoming class since the 1970s. That number was an 11 percent drop from the prior year and a 24 percent drop in three years, the Boston Globe reports. The trend appears to be continuing; the number of applicants for the first-year class in 2014 has dropped nearly 8 percent from last year, the story...
Adverse Rulings Insufficient to Show Judicial Bias
July 17, 2014
The judge has ruled against your client on every pretrial motion, including your motion for recusal and your opponent’s motion for sanctions. Could the judge be biased against you or your client? You will have to show more than adverse rulings to disqualify the judge for bias. In Watkins v. Smith, the plaintiff, a non-lawyer authorized to represent clients before certain administrative tribunals, was recorded offering to waive a client’s fee in exchange for a romantic or sexual relationship....
July 17, 2014
The judge has ruled against your client on every pretrial motion, including your motion for recusal and your opponent’s motion for sanctions. Could the judge be biased against you or your client? You will have to show more than adverse rulings to disqualify the judge for bias. In Watkins v. Smith, the plaintiff, a non-lawyer authorized to represent clients before certain administrative tribunals, was recorded offering to waive a client’s fee in exchange for a romantic or sexual relationship....
