National Law Journal: Justice Stevens, in New Essay, Laments Washington's Partisanship, Read the Letter: Mueller Complains Barr Caused 'Public Confusion'



A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

This morning, we would like to shine a spotlight on our 2019 Pro Bono Hot List honorees. Whether advocating for the Sixth Amendment rights of a man on death row, securing the largest civil single-plaintiff human trafficking award in U.S. history, scoring a win for Georgia voters or going to bat for children in New York and New Mexico, these lawyers have used their legal expertise to take on some of the biggest issues of our time.

Check out their stories and other reports below.
– Sarah Tincher, Managing Editor, The National Law Journal

The 2019 Pro Bono Hot List

The lawyers on our 2019 Pro Bono Hot List have taken on some of the biggest issues of our time. Read More

LAW FIRM HIRING | NEWS

Paul Weiss Expands New SCOTUS Practice as More Follow Shanmugam From Williams & Connolly

By Meghan Tribe
The firm can finally claim to be among "the best in the business" for appellate advocacy, said chairman Brad Karp. Read More

Call for Nominations: Washington D.C. Legal Departments of the Year

The National Law Journal is seeking nominations for our Washington D.C. Legal Departments of the Year Awards. Read More

GENERAL COUNSEL AND IN HOUSE COUNSEL

New DOJ Guidance Confronts 'Effectiveness' of Compliance Programs

By C. Ryan Barber
The new guidance provides greater detail about what prosecutors should look for in compliance programs. Read More

LEGISLATION | NEWS

NY Lawmakers Set to Move Bills to Target Trump's State Taxes, Sidestep Pardons

By Dan M. Clark
Both bills were inspired by Trump, who has decided against releasing his tax returns to Congress and the public, while... Read More

INTERNATIONAL - EUROPE | NEWS

Greg Craig's Lawyers Bash 'Vague, Cryptic and Confusing' Charges

By C. Ryan Barber
Defense lawyers for the former Skadden partner and Obama White House counsel contend the indictment "jumbles allegations... Read More

EDUCATION LAW | NEWS

Senator Claims Trump's Judicial Picks 'Instructed' to Evade 'Brown v. Board' Questions

By R. Robin McDonald
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, suggested the four nominees had "obviously been instructed" to avoid answering... Read More

CONTRACTS | NEWS

New Lawsuit Pits Dentons Against Former Government Contracts Leader

By Ryan Lovelace
Jessica Abrahams, who now heads the government contracts group at Drinker Biddle, claims Dentons owes her close to $400,000... Read More

SAVE THE DATE

SuperConference

SuperConference 2019 delivers the key insights and practical solutions today's general counsel need to manage and better leverage C-Suite relationships, prevent/mitigate the risks of a cyber attack, successfully overcome a litigation crisis, do more with fewer resources and MUCH MORE! Learn More

RESOURCES

The Ultimate Guide to Drive Law Firm Growth and Client Success with AI

Sponsored by: Intapp
Learn how your firm can apply technologies such as intelligent automation and AI across the entire client lifecycle to win more business, operate more profitably, and deliver higher levels of client satisfaction. Learn More

A Primer on Ethics Topics Relating to Commercial Litigation Funding

Webcast date: April 30, 2019. In a webcast learn what legal finance is and how it works while addressing its practical applications. Learn More

MORE FROM THE ALM NETWORK

A Primer for Legal Operations and Law Firm Pricing Professionals | New York Law Journal

New York Law Journal
A guide to legal finance pricing providing an understanding of the principles that guide pricing and how terms can be... Read More

Pioneering Connecticut Attorney Michael Koskoff Has Died | Connecticut Law Tribune

New York Law Journal
Litigator Michael Koskoff of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder was president of the Connecticut chapter of the American Board... Read More

New Lactation Room Laws: What Employers Need to Know | New York Law Journal

New York Law Journal
An examination of existing federal, New York State and New York City policies regarding lactation rooms in the workplace,... Read More

BANKING AND FINANCE LAWS | COMMENTARY

He's Back: Andy Sandler Launches New D.C. Firm with Ex-Buckley Partners

By Jenna Greene
The lawyer who retired last year and ex-Buckley partner Andrea Mitchell announced they're launching a new firm: Mitchell... Read More

PRO BONO

The 2019 Pro Bono Hot List

By Lisa Helem
The lawyers on our 2019 Pro Bono Hot List have taken on some of the biggest issues of our time. Read More

CIVIL APPEALS

Justice Stevens, in New Essay, Laments Washington's Partisanship

By Tony Mauro
Stevens made the remarks in the latest edition of the Michigan Law Review, reviewing a 2017 biography of James Madison... Read More

ELECTION AND POLITICAL LAW

Read the Letter: Mueller Complains Barr Caused 'Public Confusion'

By Nate Robson | Mike Scarcella
“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote. "This... Read More

GOVERNMENT | NEWS

AG Bill Barr Defends Rollout of Mueller's Report

By Ellis Kim
The comments came during Barr's first appearance since the release of a redacted version of Mueller's report. Read More

LITIGATION | Q&A

Sanford on Major Litigation and #MeToo

By Lisa Helem
David Sanford and Jeremy Heisler founded Sanford Heisler Sharp in 2004. Since then, the firm has reached major settlements... Read More

INVESTIGATION

Ninth Circuit Reaffirms Applicability of ADA to Websites

By Jeffrey Ranen and Kelley Fox
In 2001, I wrote a law review article opining that the “public accommodations provision of Title III of the Americans... Read More

GOVERNMENT | COMMENTARY

The House as Prosecutor: Speaker Pelosi on Impeachment After the Mueller Report

By Victor Hansen and Lawrence Friedman
Notwithstanding the Mueller investigation's conclusion that President Donald Trump did not conspire with Russia to... Read More

SAVE THE DATE

SuperConference

SuperConference 2019 delivers the key insights and practical solutions today's general counsel need to manage and better leverage C-Suite relationships, prevent/mitigate the risks of a cyber attack, successfully overcome a litigation crisis, do more with fewer resources and MUCH MORE! Learn More

RESOURCES

The Ultimate Guide to Drive Law Firm Growth and Client Success with AI

Sponsored by: Intapp
Learn how your firm can apply technologies such as intelligent automation and AI across the entire client lifecycle to win more business, operate more profitably, and deliver higher levels of client satisfaction. Learn More

A Primer on Ethics Topics Relating to Commercial Litigation Funding

Webcast date: April 30, 2019. In a webcast learn what legal finance is and how it works while addressing its practical applications. Learn More

MORE FROM THE ALM NETWORK

Autism and the Law, Part 4: Separation, Divorce and a Child with Autism | New Jersey Law Journal

There are additional challenges for parents, attorneys and judges when the parties in a divorce case have a child with... Read More

Mueller Moments, Parkland Public Defender, Practicing Together: What You Said | Law.com

The recently revealed Mueller report keeps on giving. Two of the week's top quotes come from within. Also sharing... Read More

Municipal Authority Is Increasing Under Redevelopment Law | New Jersey Law Journal

A recent appellate decision shows that courts are curtailing property rights in favor of increased municipal authority... Read More



NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL
Supreme Court Brief
POWERED BY LAW.COM
Tony Mauro
Marcia Coyle
May 01, 2019
Happy Wednesday—and welcome to Supreme Court Brief. Oral arguments this term have ended, and that means the return of the "prom party" for SCOTUS advocates. We've got the details below. Plus: the latest effort to extend 'Janus' failed—but another challenge is in the wings. And scroll down for our report on a tribute to the life and legacy of Barbara McDowell. Feedback is welcome, and thanks for reading Supreme Court Brief. Contact us at tmauro@alm.com and mcoyle@alm.com, and follow us on Twitter at @Tonymauro and @MarciaCoyle.
Georgetown ‘Prom Party’ Celebrates End of Supreme Court Arguments

The feeling of relief was palpable at Georgetown University Law Center on April 25, the final day of oral arguments in the current term. As usual, Georgetown’s Supreme Court Institute celebrated the occasion with what’s been called the Supreme Court bar’s prom party.

Justices Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh were spotted, along with the familiar faces of lawyers from the solicitor general’s office and the private Supreme Court bar, including #AppellateTwitter aficionados.

Irv Gornstein, executive director of the institute, thanked the lawyers who helped populate moot courts at Georgetown for 70 out of the 71 argued cases this term.
Then, Sidley Austin partner Virginia Seitz (at left) introduced Carter Phillips who, with 87 Supreme Court arguments under his belt, was being honored by the institute. Seitz praised Phillips as someone who “doesn't take himself too seriously. He's a happy camper, a cheerful warrior,” and someone who is quick to give credit to colleagues and adversaries.

Phillips made brief remarks, recalling that when he first argued at the court in the early 1980s, there was little need for the moot courts that Georgetown and other institutions organize for Supreme Court practitioners.

“The reason they didn't do moot courts is that if you gave a 30-minute oral argument, the chances were pretty close to even that you might get five or six questions in the 30 minutes,” Phillips said. “There wasn't much point in trying to moot you because you couldn't really guess very well what the questions were going to be like. Of course, Justice Scalia went on the court [in 1986] and it went from five to ten questions in 30 minutes to five to ten questions from him in the first 30 seconds.”
Pushing Boundaries of Union-Fee Blockbuster
An attempt to extend the justices' union-fee ruling last term in Janus v. AFSCME failed on Monday—at least for now. Another challenge is pending.

The high court denied review in Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization. The petition, brought by The Buckeye Institute, urged the justices to find that a state violates the First Amendment when it recognizes a union as the "exclusive representative" of public-sector employees who refused to join the union.

BakerHostetler partner Andrew Grossman represented Kathy Uradnik, a college professor, in the petition. The case, which came to the high court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction, returns to the district court for trial on the merits.

But another Eighth Circuit petition—Bierman v. Dayton—also from Minnesota and decided by the appellate court shortly before Uradnik, now raises the exclusive representation issue but adds a wrinkle: Is it constitutional for the government to compel individuals who are not public employees (here Medicaid providers) to accept an exclusive bargaining representative?

The lawyer who won the Janus ruling—William Messenger of the National Right to Work Defense Foundation—represents a group of the providers. Scott Kronland of San Francisco's Altshuler Berzon represents the union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, and Minnesota Solicitor General Liz Kramer is counsel for the state.

The Bierman petition, listed for the justices' May 9 conference, has drawn amicus support from a number of conservative legal and business groups, including the Pacific Legal Foundation, The Buckeye Institute, NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Goldwater Institute and Cato Institute.
Remembering Barbara McDowell
Ten years after she died of brain cancer in 2009, Barbara McDowell’s legacy resounds within the Supreme Court community.

Her friends and admirers gathered at Drinker Biddle & Reath's Washington office April 23 to mark the tenth anniversary of her death, celebrate her life and support the Drinker Biddle Barbara McDowell High Impact Pro Bono Initiative led by her husband Jerry Hartman, now a retired partner at the firm.

From 1994 to 2004 as an assistant to the solicitor general, McDowell (pictured above, from 2004) argued 18 cases before the high court—a large number then and now, especially among female advocates.

Judge Patricia Millett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who worked with her at the SG’s office, said in remarks at the celebration that when McDowell left the office, “She could have had just about any job she wanted and just about any salary she wanted.” Instead of heading to BigLaw, McDowell became the first director of the Appellate Advocacy Program at the Legal Aid Society of Washington, D.C.

Among the veterans of the solicitor general’s office in attendance, besides Millett, were Jeffrey Minear, counselor to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.Jeffrey Lamken of MoloLamkenDouglas Hallward-Driemeier of Ropes & Gray, and Matthew Roberts, now special counsel to the Sentencing Commission.

Roberts, who clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she was on the D.C. Circuit, conveyed the justice’s memories of McDowell:

"Whether arguing a complex case before the Supreme Court, entertaining a Shakespeare Theater audience at a moot court, or leading the appellate advocacy endeavors of the Legal Aid Society, Barbara McDowell was an advocate to appreciate and applaud. It is fitting that a foundation has been established in her memory. I join legions in celebration of the foundation's 10th anniversary. May it continue to thrive in its efforts to aid those most in need of caring advocates committed to promoting justice that is equal and accessible to all."

Roberts and Millett both recalled one of McDowell’s best-known Supreme Court arguments in the 1999 case Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians. She immersed herself in the case by visiting the tribe, and famously smoked a peace pipe with her clients shortly before she argued and won the case.
Supreme Court Headlines: What We're Reading
• What the Supreme Court Is Doing Behind Closed Doors. "In deciding what to decide, through internal rules not made public but described here, they can often influence the nation's law as much as any signed opinion." [CNN]

• Paul Weiss Expands New SCOTUS Practice as More Follow Shanmugam.Former Williams & Connolly associates Stacie Fahsel, Joel Johnson, William Marks and Benjamin Moskowitz are now with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Washington, while Masha Hansford joined the firm as of counsel. It's been three months since Kannon Shanmugam left Williams & Connolly to launch a Supreme Court and appellate practice at Paul Weiss. [NLJ]

 David Boies, Judge Posner’s Pro Bono Case Stops at Supreme Court. "Big Law partner David Boies and retired federal appeals court judge Richard Posner fell short on Monday in a pro-bono case at the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices decided not to hear William C. Bond’s appeal about access to justice for litigants representing themselves." [Bloomberg Law]

• Supreme Court Asks SG's Views on Oracle-Google Copyright Case. Our colleague Scott Graham reports: The U.S. Supreme Court just doesn’t seem to know what to make of the titanic copyright clash between Oracle Corp. and Google LLC over the Java application programming interfaces, or APIs. The high court asked the solicitor general’s office to weigh in for a second time on Google v. Oracle, which Google calls “the copyright case of the century.” [NLJ]

• The Three-Letter Word that Triggered a Revolution. "Because of sex. Over the past 55 years, that single three-letter word has had momentous legal and social consequences for American life that the man who inserted it into the 1964 Civil Rights Act on a wintry Saturday morning could never have imagined. And now that the Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether that landmark law forbids employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the adaptive power and enduring meaning of that plain little word is about to be tested once more." [The Atlantic]

• The Supreme Court Can't Allow Trump to Weaponize the Census. "Litigation over the inclusion of a citizenship question has raised significant constitutional concerns. It has also clearly shown that the Commerce Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act in failing to appropriately test its proposed change to the census questionnaire," Covington & Burling's Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general, writes. [The Washington Post]
 Roberts Delivers Latest Pro-Arbitration Ruling for Divided Court. The ruling in Lamps Plus v. Varela was the second pro-arbitration ruling this term, joining Schein v. Archer and White Sales in the Supreme Court’s longstanding trend of strengthening the Federal Arbitration Act against attack by consumer groups that view arbitration as a one-sided process working against employees. [NLJ] The New York Times has more here.

 Supreme Court Adopts Rules Changes Aimed at Modernization. "The U.S. Supreme Court adopted amendments to federal appellate and evidentiary rules intended to make them more modernized and user-friendly. These amendments will take effect on Dec. 1, unless Congress enacts legislation to the contrary." [Bloomberg Law]

• U.S. Supreme Court Hears Dispute Over Debt Collection Violations. "The nation’s highest court will decide soon whether debt collectors should have more leeway to fight steep fines for pursuing collections even after a consumer used bankruptcy to make that debt disappear. Consumer advocates worry the case could weaken protections for Americans that file for bankruptcy." [The Wall Street Journal]

TRENDING STORIES

These Firms Once Graced the Am Law 100. Where Did They Go?


THE AMERICAN LAWYER

The 2019 Am Law 100: By the Numbers


THE AMERICAN LAWYER

Big Law’s Worst-Kept Secret: Discounts


LAW.COM

Cancer-Survivor Judge Steps Down From Case Over Insurer's 'Barbaric' Denial of Treatment


DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

Lawyers, Experts Fear Dire Consequences as the Pace of Legal Work Accelerates


NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL








Comments