U.S. News law school rankings leaked!

BREAKING: A document that purportedly shows the 2009 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings has leaked!

Ok, so it’s perhaps not all that exciting. But the folks at Above The Law have a PDF of the leaked document, so to see where your alma mater (allegedly) falls, click here.

Shockingly (not!), Yale tops the list, giving us a reason to show a picture of one if the cool figures on its law school building. It is followed by Harvard and Stanford (tied at second), Columbia and NYU.

(DC Dicta’s alma mater is holding at a respectable #20 for a second year in a row. I misspoke - DC Dicta’s alma mater dropped one spot from last year to #21. Still, go Terriers!)

As nation focuses on elections, Supremes do too

Today, as supporters of Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain celebrate their Granite State victories, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will take on a different election issue.

The subject in question at today’s oral argument: the Indiana law requiring voters to present photo identification in order to cast a ballot. In the consolidated cases of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, No. 07-21, and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, No. 07-25, Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher will argue that the law is a necessary check against voter fraud, but Paul Smith, a Washington D.C. attorney, will argue that the law amounts to an unconstitutional poll tax, imposing requirements that will keep poor and minority voters away at a disproportionate rate. Watchers are also keeping an eye on this case for its political ramifications on another issue, which is apparent in this election season if not in the case’s merit briefs: illegal immigration.

Then the Court will hear a case involving age discrimination claims in Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC, 06-1037. In the case Malcolm Stewart, assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, will argue on behalf of a 61-year-old county deputy sheriff who was denied disability-retirement benefits under his employer’s plan because he was already eligible for normal retirement benefits, that the use of age as a factor was an facially discriminatory in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Florida attorney Robert Klausner will argue that coverage by a another benefit plan is an age-neutral consideration that companies must be free to make to avoid double-coverage, which would unfairly drive up premium costs of all employees at increase costs for companies.

Lawyer USA subscribers can read more about that case in the archives here.

Brief hiatus - see you Monday!

DC Dicta will be taking a brief hiatus and, unlike the Senate, will not be gaveling back in until next Monday, Dec. 3.

In the meantime, click over on your right to get your legal and business blog fixes from some of DC Dicta’s sister sites on Dolan Media, or visit some of our favorite DC blogs on the blogroll. But don’t forget to come on back next week!

Missing pants, now missing job

He lost his pants, he lost his $54 million lawsuit, and now he has lost his job.

Roy Pearson, the Washington, DC administrative law judge who grabbed headlines by suing a local dry cleaner that lost his pants, claiming $54 million in damages - and lost - was dismissed from his bench post and ordered to clean out his locker, The Washington Post reports today.

This comes after the judicial committee in charge of reappointing judges in the Office of Administrative Hearings voted against offering Pearson a 10-year term.

According to the Post’s source, the wacky pants lawsuit was not the basis for Pearson’s dismissal. The committee reasoned that Pearson did not possess “appropriate judgment and judicial temperament” for the job, was “combative,” and failed to follow proper opinion-drafting procedures.

Battle of the Up & Comers

Last month Lawyers USA featured a number of Up & Coming Lawyers - folks with impressive, unique and otherwise notable legal careers who are less than a decade out of law school.

Today, two of those young guns went up against each other before the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments in the case Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons. The petitioner was represented by Jean-Claude Andre, while the government was represented by Kannon Shanmugam, assistant to the solicitor general.

Just because the attorneys are young doesn’t mean they don’t respect tradition. Mr. Shanmugam was dressed in coattails for oral argument, joining Clerk of the Court William K. Suter (who wears coattails every day) as the two formally dressed in the room.

Loss of a legend

Dc Dicta has just learned that a legal giant - the esteemed Harvard, Columbia and Boston University law professor Dr. Clark Byse - passed away earlier this month.

The news has a personal element for me because, like Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and David Souter, I had the pleasure of being a law school student of Prof. Byse. Byse’s spry mind, witty sense of humor (he was 83 when I was a 1L in 1995), and genuine caring about his students made Contracts class at Boston University School of Law a highlight of my time there.

The Boston Globe has a nice write up about Byse’s extraordinary life here, although curiously it leaves out the fact that Byse is widely believed to be the inspiration for the character Prof. Charles Kingsfield in the novel and film “The Paper Chase.”

The story does include one of my favorite Clark Byse facts: how getting a mention in the film “Quiz Show” led him to reconnect with an old sweetheart from 50 years before - and then marry her.