Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner

It's the season for gratitude–and here are my top 10.

 I'm thankful for every minute that law firms donate to pro bono work. On Dec. 2, for example, a pro bono team from Kirkland & Ellis is heading to trial along with co-counsel from the National Immigrant Justice Center. They're challenging ICE's practice of transferring immigrant children to ICE adult detention facilities upon their 18th birthdays in a national class action.

I'm also thankful for lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. They teamed up with the Innocence Project to secure a stay of execution for Texas inmate Rodney Reed, who had been scheduled to die on Nov. 20. 

These are just two of the most recent examples to cross my desk, but I salute all firms for your pro bono efforts. As former Attorney General Janet Reno once said, "I think lawyers who engage in pro bono service to protect those who cannot help themselves are truly the heroes and the heroines of the legal profession."

I'm thankful for the American College of Trial Lawyers, which not only recognizes excellence in litigation, but also limits its membership to those "whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality."

In other words, no jerks.

The group inducted a new batch of fellows earlier this fall. I didn't have a chance to recognize the new members at the time, but the latest Big Law inductees are: John Potter of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Graeme Bush of Zuckerman Spaeder; Kathryn Ruemmler of Latham & Watkins; Christopher Lind of Bartlit Beck; Deborah Ellingboe of Faegre Baker Daniels; William Gage of Butler Snow; Morton Dubin II of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; and Aneca Lasley of Squire Patton Boggs.

Congratulations to the ACTL new members.

I'm thankful for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I'm starting to think of her as the Timex justice—she takes a licking and keeps on ticking. On Nov. 22, the 86-year-old was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after suffering from fever and chills. After receiving intravenous antibiotics and fluids, she was discharged on Nov. 24th. 

As my colleague Marcia Coyle noted, Ginsburg was also absent from the bench on Nov. 13 due to a stomach bug. She's also been treated for four bouts of cancer, most recently for pancreatic cancer in August. "The tumor was treated with radiation and, according to the court, there was no evidence of disease elsewhere in her body," Coyle wrote. "She also had lung cancer surgery, which caused her to miss court sessions in January."

Here's to wishing Justice Ginsburg good health in the year ahead. 

I'm thankful for our 2019 Litigators of the Week—there have been 77 of you to date—who took the time to answer my questionnaires about your wins. I hope you were showered with glory; that parades were thrown in your honor and streets in your hometowns renamed. Or at least that you got some nice congratulatory emails.

I'll do a full run-down at the end of the year, but so far, the firms with the most winners in 2019 are Quinn Emanuel; Kirkland & Ellis; Gibson Dunn; Sullivan & Cromwell; and Boies Schiller. Nipping at their heels are Paul Weiss; Latham & Watkins; WilmerHale; Weil Gotshal and Davis Wright Tremaine.

In case you're wondering, there will be no Litigator of the Week on Friday. However, we'll adjust next week's cutoff date so that wins dating back to Nov. 20 will be eligible for consideration.

Which reminds me…I'm thankful for law firm PR people.

You are the unsung heroes who keep me in the loop, send me transcripts of hot moments in court (seriously, I love getting transcripts), track down hard-to-reach partners and understand why I'm not covering your announcement about hiring a new of counsel in Minneapolis

I'm thankful for U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who just penned a snappy 120-page opinion holding that former White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena.

My colleague Jacqueline Thomsen highlighted some of the decision's most memorable lines, such as "Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings."

And this: "Indeed, absolute testimonial immunity for senior-level White House aides appears to be a fiction that has been fastidiously maintained over time through the force of sheer repetition in OLC opinions, and through accommodations that have permitted its proponents to avoid having the proposition tested in the crucible of litigation."

And this: "As a matter of pure logic, it would seem that if one's access to the Oval Office is the reason that a categorical exemption from compelled congressional process is warranted, then that trump card should, at most, be a raincheck, and not the lifetime pass that DOJ proposes."

I'm thankful for law firm partners who share the limelight with associates.

Earlier this month, for example, I wrote about Will Marks, a Paul Weiss sixth-year who recently argued and won his first-ever appellate case. The timing wasn't ideal, but appellate practice head Kannon Shanmugan told him, 'Look, we'll make it work," Shanmugam recalled. "It's such a priority to me that associates are able to take advantage of these opportunities." 

Also in November, I covered a trial in the Southern District of New York against former JPMorgan Chase & Co. FX trader Akshay Aiyer. Opening arguments were delivered by Willkie Farr & Gallagher associate Jocelyn Sher, who worked on the case with senior counsel Joseph Baio and Martin Klotz.

And in July, Orrick associate Easha Anand won an en banc argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, backed by supervising partner Melanie Bostwick.

Hogan Lovells appellate head Neal Katyal has also been an enthusiastic champion of firm associates. In January, I wrote about Hogan associate Katie Wellington, who notched arguments before the Sixth and Tenth Circuits.

I'm thankful that more law firms are dropping mandatory arbitration of employment disputes—and that those that haven't are getting flak from law students.

My colleague Karen Sloan reported earlier this month that LGBTQ+ student groups at 13 highly ranked law schools said they will no longer accept donations or promote law firms that use mandatory arbitration.

According to the People's Parity Project—which started at Harvard Law School in 2018 but has since expanded with chapters at eight law schools across the country—less than 10% of the law firms that recruit at top schools now use mandatory arbitration. It's "a testament to the success law students have had in eradicating the practice," Sloan wrote.

I'm thankful for the lawyers who tweet. I have no idea if it's a savvy marketing strategy or impresses prospective clients, but I love hearing quick takes from so many smart lawyers. 

Among those whose tweets I most enjoy: Wachtell lawyer/ Mr. Kellyanne Conway George Conway; First Amendment champion and Gibson Dunn partner Ted Boutrous; University of Michigan Law School professor Leah Litman; Hogan Lovells appellate ace Neal Katyal; Hogan appellate rising star Sean Marotta; Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Tribe; Center for Class Action Fairness director Ted Frank; and former SDNY U.S. attorney Preet Bharara. 

I'm thankful for my editor Vanessa Blum and my boss Leigh Jones for helping me produce this column every day. 

And most of all, I'm thankful for you, my readers. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.