US politics
fromAbove the Law
1 day agoMorning Docket: 04.03.26 - Above the Law
The Department of Justice may become more aligned with Donald Trump's influence following leadership changes.
The more than 3 million pages of documents include accusations by alleged victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's abuse and thousands of emails and photos showing Epstein associated with prominent figures.
The technology at issue is a subcutaneous cosmetic penile implant, a silicone sleeve placed between the skin and 'Buck's fascia' to enhance girth and length.
As part of the newly created Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey, colleges must submit years of disaggregated admissions data-including the test scores, grade point averages, race, sex and income ranges of applied, admitted and enrolled students dating as far back as 2019. The data collection is part of an effort to verify that universities aren't considering race in admissions decisions after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of such practices in 2023.
This is a tragic incident in which a woman has lost her life. We are working to establish the full circumstances of what happened, and we are keeping an open mind to pursue all lines of inquiry. We urge anyone who was in the area of Bath Road, who may have seen or heard anything unusual, to come forward.
Effective discovery requires more than compliance - it requires strategy. Litigators can balance expansive discovery rights and privacy concerns without slowing cases down through practical, results-focused approaches that consider proportionality, electronically stored information management, and the specific discovery rules applicable to their jurisdiction.
In birth injury cases, the collection of evidence is crucial for establishing liability and demonstrating the extent of harm suffered by the child and family. Without sufficient evidence, it becomes challenging to prove that the injury was preventable and that the healthcare providers failed in their duty of care.
The legal profession rewards endurance, precision and control. It also quietly normalizes stress, isolation and overextension. For patent practitioners and other IP lawyers, the pressures are uniquely acute: compressed prosecution deadlines, high-stakes litigation exposure, often unrealistic client-driven budget constraints, regulatory whiplash at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and increasingly complex technologies layered with global filing and prosecution strategy.
"In my judgment, the smart glasses were clearly connected to his mobile phone during his cross examination because no voice was heard out loud until his smart glasses were removed and disconnected from his glasses."
* Judge demands to know why Lindsey Halligan is still listed as "U.S. Attorney" when she is most definitely not a "U.S. Attorney." [ Law360] * Could law firms be on the brink of a financial downturn? [ Reuters] * McGlinchey Stafford will close down. Which might go a ways toward answering the prior question. [ American Lawyer] * "Mid-market legal powerhouse" launches. Which might go a ways toward further complicating that question. [ ABA Journal]
Bishop was found guilty on 24 counts of committing lewd acts on three minor victims, all described in court documents as victims under the age of 14. The span of these offenses covers multiple years. Evidence admitted at trial showed that Bishop possessed more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material depicting two of the minor victims.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision on Tuesday, January 20, concluding that a district court abused its discretion in granting motions to exclude two of Dr. Mark A. Barry's experts and granting judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) to DePuy Synthes Companies. The panel included Judges Stark, Taranto and Prost and Judge Stark dissented.
The 37-year-old poet and mother-of-three was killed by an ICE officer January 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota during what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called "targeted operations" near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue. Noem alleged that "rioters began blocking ICE officers," claiming that Good "weaponized" her vehicle by attempting to run over agents. Noem labeled Good's actions as "domestic terrorism" and those of the officers as "self defense," but multiple eyewitness accounts and video footage from the incident contradict this.
The situation in Minnesota continues to prove an abject nightmare. The Trump administration continues to ignore and flagrantly undermine judges. If the administration put half as much effort into honoring its legal obligations as it places into attacking judges on social media, perhaps they wouldn't be staring down a massive staffing crisis - a crisis they're trying to resolve by asking people on Elon Musk's pornification site to sign up as AUSAs.
The Department of Homeland Security has stopped using software that automatically captured text messages and saved trails of communication between officials, according to sworn court statements filed this week. Instead, the agency began in April to require officials to manually take screenshots of their messages to comply with federal records laws, citing cybersecurity concerns with the autosave software. The policy expects officials to first take screenshots of the text messages on their work phones,
Witnesses play a crucial role in personal injury cases, often serving as the backbone of the evidence presented in court. Their testimonies can provide essential context and details that may not be captured through physical evidence alone. In many instances, the accounts of witnesses can corroborate the claims made by the injured party, lending credibility to their narrative. This is particularly important in personal injury cases, where the burden of proof lies with the plaintiff. A strong witness can help
You're getting ready to make a document production to the other side. You're worried though that the other side may use GenAI tools on the documents that don't ensure they are protected from public disclosure. You ask to see the other side's policies just to be sure. They refuse. You ask the judge for a protective order since some of your documents contain trade secrets.
Karl Seelbach wants to change that. As a personal injury defense litigator and the co-founder of Skribe.ai, he is pushing the legal industry to rethink deposition tech not as an optional upgrade but as foundational infrastructure. What he is building may be aimed at courtroom practice, but the implications reach far beyond litigation. For in-house teams who want to improve trust, clarity, and speed across their legal stack, this conversation is your wake-up call.
They don't drive it. They don't manage it. They don't control it. They let it control them. And then one day, they look up and realize discovery closed last week, the client is asking why nobody has taken the key depo, the adjuster wants a status report "by the end of the day," and the partner is asking the question that makes your stomach drop: "Where are we on this file?"
It's not only law firms and legal departments that are adopting GenAI systems without fully understanding what they can and cannot do - court systems may also be tempted to adopt these tools to short circuit workloads in the face of limited resources. And that poses some risks and concerns to the rule of law, a notion that hinges on accuracy, fairness, and public perception.
A year or so ago, most legal departments were still testing. AI pilots. Workflow trials. Small process experiments. Everyone was learning cautiously. The stakes were relatively low, and the work was labeled "innovation," which made imperfection forgivable. Then something shifted. Those same pilots became part of day-to-day delivery, and the business started relying on them. Sometimes intentionally, because early results looked good.