Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

* Adam Feldman poses — and answers — an interesting question: are particular justices more or less partial to certain lawyers’ or law firms’ positions? [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Speaking of the federal judiciary, Carrie Severino offers this helpful scorecard of President Donald Trump’s track record on judicial appointments — which underscores, as she notes, the importance of the 2020 elections. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* And speaking of President Trump, Joshua Matz and Laurence Tribe have this excellent explanation of why the Supreme Court does not have a role in adjudicating impeachments. [Take Care]

* In the wake of the Mueller Report, Ilya Somin pushes back against conventional wisdom and takes this position: “Not all foreign interference in elections is unjustified. Far from it, in fact.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Fair use in the copyright context is an infamously amorphous concept — so the Fourth Circuit’s recent ruling in Brammer v. Violent Hues Productions deserves your attention. [All Rights Reserved]

* Congratulations to Westlaw Edge, voted the “best new analytics product” by the readers of Dewey B Strategic. [Dewey B Strategic]

* And congrats to Kira Systems on being picked by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as its AI solution for “high-volume workstreams” across the firm. [Artificial Lawyer]

* If you’re a libertarian-leaning lawyer with two to six years of experience under your belt, check out these great employment opportunities over at IJ. [Institute for Justice via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* New firm, new pay: Recently merged firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner is going to be moving to a merit-based pay system for partners. Messing with people’s money? This should be interesting! [Legal Week]

* Reed Smith has rolled out a new plan that will “revamp” associate life at the firm, complete with new training, billing requirements, and reviews. This isn’t specifically for millennials (suuuuure), but rather, “an acknowledgment that there are some creative and inventive ways to do things differently.” [American Lawyer]

* In case you missed it, President Trump says he’s considering commuting former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence for corruption and he might even throw a pardon Martha Stewart’s way. Hmm, it’s almost like the president is trying to set the stage for something that could come in the future… [Chicago Tribune]

* According to Vivia Chen, if we really want gender equity in the legal profession, it might be time for some quotas. It’s working for corporate boards in Europe, so it could work here too, but alas, “the topic has largely been a nonstarter in the U.S.” [The Careerist]

* Jennifer Ihns, the former clinic administrator at Notre Dame Law, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzling about $200,000 from the school, but she’ll only spend two years behind bars, with five years of probation. [Law.com]