(Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
* According to a new report, “personal attacks and language that politicizes or otherwise casts doubt on the judicial branch as a whole has the potential to cause significant damage to our democracy.” Thanks, Trump. [Big Law Business]
* Why are there so few minority law clerks?
California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu and Federal Judicial Center director Jeremy Fogel are trying to solve this “mystery” in conjunction with the ABA. [National Law Journal]
* A former IRS staffer has pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing Michael Cohen’s confidential financial information and distributing it to Michael Avenatti, who once represented Stormy Daniels. He faces up to five years in prison and up to $250K in fines. [New York Post]
* With hundreds of flights canceled, Hong Kong’s airport had been at a complete standstill due to protestors clashing with police until this Biglaw firm managed to intervene. Be sure to thank Hogan Lovells for getting an injunction on airport protests. [American Lawyer]
* In case you’ve been wondering about what bar pass rates and law school debt have looked like for the past decade or so, you can see it in some stunning graphics right here. [Law.com]
* Thanks to the Lousiana Supreme Court, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell won’t have to testify just yet in the Rams-Saints NFC Championship game lawsuit. Everything is on pause while the state’s high court decides whether the case should be allowed to continue at all. [NBC Sports]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.