Mark Zaid

* Where does Gordon Caplan go from here? Maybe he goes back to school… I hear there are some folks out there who can help him get in. [American Lawyer]

* Mitch McConnell’s aide is running for Kentucky AG. The only problem? Kentucky has a law requiring candidates for the post practice law at least sometime in the past eight years. He’s arguing that a federal clerkship should count as “the practice of law” as opposed to “one year Fed Soc externship.” We’ve made a mockery of so many rules, why not this one? [Corporate Counsel]

* Mark Zaid’s daily adventures representing whistleblowers. [The Hill]

* Bill Brewer heads to court to see whether or not his $177K benchslapping he received will stand up on appeal. [Texas Lawyer]

* Matt Lauer’s attorney pushing back against rape allegations, explaining that her former anchor client was involved in a completely mutual and consensual affair with someone on the lower end of a gross power imbalance. [National Law Journal]

* Railroaded former Goldman Sachs coder Sergey Aleynikov lost his recent appeal. He’d argued that double jeopardy precluded his conviction, which of course is a non-starter in a dual sovereignty world. [Law360]

* Freshfields partner resigns over accusations of “engaging in sexual activity with intoxicated junior colleague” [Legal Cheek]

* It’s back to work for the justices of the Supreme Court as the October Term 2019 gets started today, with major cases on LGBTQ rights, immigration, abortion, guns, and religion scheduled to be heard over the course of this year. Here’s a good summary of five cases to watch. [New York Times]

* Are appellate advocates ready for a kinder, gentler experience before the Supreme Court? They’ll now receive two minutes of uninterrupted time at the beginning of oral arguments. This is a “dramatic change” of pace for the high court. [National Law Journal]

* According to Mark Zaid, the lawyer for whistleblower #1, there are now two whistleblowers on President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, and the second one reportedly has firsthand knowledge of some of the allegations detailed in the original complaint. [ABC News]

* “All of you know your Constitution. The way that impeachment stops is a Senate majority with me as majority leader.“ Sen. Mitch McConnell is promising to end the impeachment proceedings against Trump in his latest campaign ads. [Louisville Courier Journal]

* Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes hasn’t paid her lawyers in more than a year, and now they’ve asked a judge to let them off her case. “It is unfair and unreasonable to require Cooley to continue representing Ms. Holmes in this action,” her disgruntled attorneys wrote in their motion. [Mercury News]

* “[If] I cannot keep my oath of office, I’d rather die than live without honor.” A judge in Thailand shot himself in court in an apparent attempt to take his own life after acquitting men of murder charges whom he’d reportedly been pressured to convict. [The Guardian]