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The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Diana Novak Jones, Mike Scarcella and Sara Merken

Good morning. Here’s the top news today: New ABA data shows that the employment rate for new law grads hit a historic high last year – even as the number of graduates increased dramatically. Plus, the DOJ is canceling hundreds of grants; the U.S Supreme Court seemed to side with energy producers in their challenge against California’s standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars; and we’ve got the latest on WilmerHale and Perkins Coie’s fight against President Trump’s executive orders. Have a good Thursday.

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Employment rate for new law grads hit historic high

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The employment rate for law school graduates hit record highs in 2024, according to new data from the ABA, defying predictions that a double-digit enrollment surge would weaken job prospects.

Our colleague Karen Sloan reports that within 10 months of leaving campus, more than 82% of last year’s juris doctor class landed jobs that require bar admission. That percentage, representing the highest rate ever recorded by the ABA for bar admission jobs, was up from 80% in 2023.

That figure is especially notable because the class of 2024 had nearly 11% more graduates than its predecessor, meaning there were 3,722 more new lawyers competing for jobs.

More top news

The buzz

Two U.S. judges grilled a DOJ lawyer over President Trump's executive orders targeting prominent law firms WilmerHale and Perkins Coie, at hearings testing claims that the president's actions were retaliatory and unlawful. Both judges expressed concern about the breadth of the orders.
Democratic lawmakers pressed the DOJ to explain its decision to dispatch armed agents to deliver a letter warning fired DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer about her planned testimony before members of Congress, calling it an intimidation tactic.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate and former chairman of the powerful Committee on the Judiciary, announced he is retiring.

365

That’s how many ongoing grants the DOJ has canceled for projects that funded everything from services for mental health care for police officers to support programs for victims of crime and sexual assault, Peter Eisler and Sarah N. Lynch report. The grants from the Office of Justice Programs, the department's largest grant-making arm, were terminated late on Tuesday. It is unusual for the department to cut off funding on previously awarded grants that support ongoing programs.

"How else can you read what he's done?"

—Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, who asked DOJ attorney Emily Hall how to interpret President Trump’s actions targeting unions that have challenged his policies in court by stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to collectively bargain over working conditions. Friedman during a hearing in D.C. seemed to agree with the National Treasury Employees Union that Trump's March executive order eliminating bargaining at more than a dozen federal agencies was an act of retaliation.

Coming up today

A D.C. Circuit panel will hear arguments over the suspension of Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit. Newman, who is 97, last year failed to convince a district court judge that the suspension should be reversed or that an investigation into her competency should be taken out of her own court's hands.
U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez in Texas is due to consider the ACLU's request to issue a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act. Rodriguez’s temporary restraining order expires on April 25.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

In the courts

U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic to fuel producers including Valero Energy’s efforts to challenge California's standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars under a federal air pollution law in a case involving the Democratic-governed state's power to fight greenhouse gases.
A divided 6th Circuit panel ruled that a 2023 policy by the U.S. Sentencing Commission allowing judges to deem changes in law as "extraordinary and compelling" reasons that justify granting inmates early release from prison is invalid and amounts to a "heavy-handed and unseemly power grab."
New Jersey sued the property management software company RealPage, accusing it of illegally conspiring with some of the state's largest landlords to drive up residential rents. The lawsuit was filed eight months after the DOJ and eight other states also accused RealPage of illegally using pricing algorithms to help landlords drive up apartment rents.
Tyson Foods and two other pork processors have agreed to pay $64 million to resolve a lawsuit claiming they conspired to fix prices for food services providers, in an agreement that pushes total settlements in the case to more than $180 million.

Industry moves

Sullivan & Cromwell hired shareholder activism lawyers Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson away from Vinson & Elkins. The two will be partners in the firm’s New York office. (Sullivan & Cromwell)
O’Melveny added partner Shawnna Yashar, who was previously the director of global IP litigation and enforcement at Lenovo. Yashar will be based in DC. (