Fired female associate at Kirkland alleges biased treatment by ‘discriminatory cadre’ in IP group

Male associates in the intellectual property litigation group at Kirkland & Ellis were allegedly treated better and paid more money than a fired female colleague, even though they did similar work and had similar experience, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Oct 13, 2022 1:12 PM CDT

Disability law ‘tester’ can sue hotel, despite no intentions of staying there, 1st Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that a disabled person has standing to sue a hotel for failing to provide accessibility information, even though she does not intend to stay there.

Oct 12, 2022 9:37 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Judge tosses challenge to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law; gun-makers win dismissal of Mexico suit

Challenge to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law gets tossed A federal judge in Tallahassee, Florida, has tossed a challenge to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. In a Sept. 29 order, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor of the Northern District of…

Oct 7, 2022 3:30 PM CDT

Justice Jackson, other liberal SCOTUS justices appeared determined ‘to go down swinging’ in voting-maps case

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan called a challenge to Alabama’s congressional voting maps a “slam dunk” during oral arguments Tuesday, even as the conservative justices on the high court appeared to be searching for a narrow way to uphold them.

Oct 5, 2022 10:11 AM CDT

How law, family and history shaped my career

“Life is a dance. For more than a decade, the legal profession has been the floor on which I’ve danced. It’s been hilariously comical, painfully awkward and immensely powerful. At its best, practicing law is a medium through which we experience and discover who we are when the lights are the brightest, when we’ve fallen short and when we dare to lead. That is our profession’s genius. Here’s what I’ve discovered while dancing to our profession’s mesmerizing tune.”

Oct 1, 2022 1:20 AM CDT

Lauren Champaign has big goals for BigLaw

In summer 2020, Lauren Champaign and two colleagues proposed to Foley a three-part action plan for addressing racial injustice and inequality. “We took it very seriously and talked about how it felt to be in this moment as African American lawyers and what we wanted to see changed,” Champaign says. “Sometimes people think about organizational change, and that’s something, but with our three-part action plan, we were like, ‘No, we are intelligent, corporate attorneys doing really creative things. Here is a massive problem that has gone on for centuries. We can do more than just internal work.’”

Oct 1, 2022 12:40 AM CDT

ABA works to provide nonpartisan info and protect access to the ballot box

Oct 1, 2022 12:15 AM CDT

Tulsa Reckoning: An ongoing lawsuit seeks justice for massacre victims

With the clock ticking, the stakes are high. This case could be the “last best hope” for the survivors to see some form of justice before they die. “This massacre impacted Black people around this nation. This is a win that we need as a people.”

Oct 1, 2022 12:00 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: SCOTUS justice’s wife stands by stolen-election views; district attorney’s daughter arrested in his stabbing

Ginni Thomas tells Jan. 6 committee about her stolen-election views Conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack that she still thinks that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, according to the committee’s chair, Democratic U.S.…

Sep 30, 2022 3:13 PM CDT

Supreme Court ready to tackle free speech, affirmative action and election law in new term

The U.S. Supreme Court—and those in its orbit—has been going through the usual machinations leading up to a new term in recent weeks: Panels of law professors and practitioners are previewing the big cases of the new term, and a few justices are making public appearances to send one message or another.

Sep 29, 2022 12:36 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: Supreme Court poised to sharply advance the law to the right

Last year’s term was momentous: The court overruled Roe v. Wade, greatly expanded gun rights and aggressively protected free exercise of religion. There is no doubt that the coming term, too, will be filled with blockbuster decisions.

Sep 29, 2022 9:52 AM CDT

California’s ban on private immigration detention facilities violates supremacy clause, 9th Circuit rules

An en banc federal appeals court ruled Monday that California’s ban on private detention facilities is unconstitutional when applied to facilities used to detain immigrants.

Sep 28, 2022 9:40 AM CDT

Black defendants make up more than 50% of exonerations since 1989, new report says

People who are Black comprise 13.6% of the population in the United States but 53% of exonerations from the past 33 years, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Registry of Exonerations. The report shows Black people are overrepresented among exonerations for all serious crimes except white-collar crimes.

Sep 26, 2022 11:01 PM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Bias suit against Trump lawyer resolved; Montana no longer defies court order over birth certificates

Trump lawyer resolves rap-music bias suit Alina Habba, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has resolved a race- and gender-bias lawsuit largely based on the rap music that she was accused of loudly playing in the office. The case filed by legal assistant Na’Syia Drayton claimed that the music…

Sep 23, 2022 1:05 PM CDT

Feds drop charges against judge accused of helping immigrant evade ICE custody

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a Newton, Massachusetts, judge accused of helping an immigrant evade a courthouse arrest by immigration officials.

Sep 23, 2022 9:46 AM CDT