Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 20

Thanks Jon. Andrew is celebrating the day in court, as litigators should.

Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 20

Thank you for all your help. You’ve been a godsend.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 20

Today is the 4 year anniversary of Durant Barristers. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of building a great little law firm.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 16

We live in strange times, friend.

Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 15

She is right.

jen sometimes aph 🌻 @bunnibytz.bsky.social · May 15

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson:

"Your argument seems to turn our justice system, in my view at least, into a catch me if you can kind of regime … where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people's rights."
www.npr.org/2025/05/15/n...

Supreme Court justices appear divided in birthright citizenship arguments

The arguments focused on whether federal district court judges can rule against the administration on a nationwide basis.

www.npr.org

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 12

Blue-headed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, Baltimore oriole and grey catbird today in Russell.

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Steffani [Scary Name Here] Cameron 🇨🇦 @snarkysteff.bsky.social · May 10

Meanwhile, you can’t get a room in Vancouver because now all the Canadians are staying home to travel and the Americans want to escape the Nazis for a few days.

ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · May 9

Seattle, feeling the pinch from lack of Canadian tourism with border crossings down 50%, have started a tourism campaign where local restaurants/hotels take Canadian dollars at par this weekend for the annual Jays-Mariners series

'Open Arms for Canada' discount offered to Canadian tourists in Seattle this weekend
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/discount-canadian-tourists-seattle

Canadian tourists vising Seattle for the Toronto Blue Jays series will get a roughly a 30% discount at select restaurants and businesses this weekend.
It's part of the "Open Arms for Canada" campaign, an effort to bring in more Canadian tourists.
SEATTLE - Dozens of Seattle restaurants, attractions and hotels are taking part in the Open Arms for Canada campaign to bring in more Canadian tourists.

What they're saying:
"We're approaching 40 businesses and organizations that will accept Canadian currency at par, roughly a 30% discount, if they come to Seattle and show us a [Canadian] driver's license or passport," said Bob Donegan, President and CEO of Ivar's.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 9

The problem with the propensity to hyperfocus is that sometimes you find yourself spending half a day and the evening thinking of and organizing an elaborate advocacy campaign instead of just watching tv like a normal person.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 8

Link: open.substack.com/pub/durantba...

Market Update: Negative Headcount Growth at Canada's Major Law Firms

Is the recession here? Is this part of the annual cycle? A result of higher associate salaries? I am not sure I have the answers, but the numbers are interesting.

open.substack.com

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 8

My latest Substack was my quarterly update on the Canadian Big Law legal market. Link below.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 6

Another reason not to travel to the USA.

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · May 6

Planes were briefly “flying blind” into Newark Liberty International Airport last week after a communications blackout occurred. Sources said the outage lasted 90 seconds on April 28th and shook up the on-duty controllers so much that some were placed on “trauma leave.”

Control Meltdown Left Planes ‘Flying Blind’ at Major Airport

Air traffic controllers lost contact with planes flying into Newark Liberty International Airport last week. A “fried piece of copper wire” may be to blame.

www.thedailybeast.com

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 6

How big law lawyers reacted when Trump targeted them is terrifying to me. It shows how quickly some rich people leave their virtues behind when their wealth is even remotely at risk. I’m glad I don’t need to worry about how my colleagues feel about this.

60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · May 4

Few lawyers are willing to speak publicly about President Trump’s actions against law firms. Fear is rippling through Washington. But, despite being a target, Marc Elias is still talking. Scott Pelley sits down with him tonight on 60 Minutes.

Scott Pelley sits down with Marc Elias tonight on 60 Minutes.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 4

Marc Elias understands the assignment.

60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · May 4

Few lawyers are willing to speak publicly about President Trump’s actions against law firms. Fear is rippling through Washington. But, despite being a target, Marc Elias is still talking. Scott Pelley sits down with him tonight on 60 Minutes.

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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · May 3

Mexican President Sheinbaum confirms that Trump has phoned her to secretly pressure her to allow US troops to enter the country.

The president said no to Trump and told him "Mexico's sovereignty is inviolable and it's not for sale."..."We will never accept a US military presence in our territory."

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 2

Weekend reading.

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · May 2

102 pages of straight fire from Judge Beryl Howell

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PERKINS COIE LLP,
Plaintiff,
V.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, et al.,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 25-716 (BAH)
Judge Beryl A. Howell
MEMORANDUM OPINION
No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this
lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, HENRY VI, PART 2, act 4, sc. 2, 1. 75. When Shakespeare's character, a rebel leader intent on
becoming king, see id. I. 74, hears this suggestion, he promptly incorporates this tactic as part of
his plan to assume power, leading in the same scene to the rebel leader demanding "[a]way with
him," referring to an educated clerk, who "can make obligations and write court hand," id. 1. 90,
106. Eliminating lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law removes a major impediment to the
path to more power. See Walters v. Nat'l Ass'n of Radiation Survivors, 473 U.S. 305, 371 n.24
(1985) (Stevens, J., dissenting) (explaining the import of the same Shakespearean statement to be
"that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government").
The importance of independent lawyers to ensuring the American judicial system's fair
and impartial administration of justice has been recognized in this country since its founding era.
In 1770, John Adams made the singularly unpopular decision to represent eight British soldiers
charged with murder for their roles in the Boston Massacre and "claimed later to have suffered the

Reposted by Erin Durant

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · May 2

🚨BREAKING: Federal Court permanently BLOCKS Trump executive order targeting my former law firm, Perkins Coie.

Executive Order 14230, entitled “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP,” violates the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and is therefore null and void

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · May 2

JUST IN: Judge HOWELL rules forcefully in favor of Perkins Coie against Trump's punitive executive order, comparing him to a Shakespearean character who famously called to "kill all the lawyers" in order to amass power.

ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · May 1

Harvard Law professor Michael Klarman gave an inspiring lecture about the need for lawyers to protect democracy. I was honored that he noted the attacks and threats aimed at me. His words serve to steel my spine and make me more committed than ever to fighting for democracy.

Thank you professor.🙏

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 1

I’m inviting people to go on a bird watching tour. Never thought I’d say that.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · May 1

White-eyed vireo. #birds

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Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · May 1

The more the people who control the Internet talk, the more I think we should destroy the Internet and all go hang out in curling rinks and bowling allies

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · May 1

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's chatbots will supplement your real friends: "The average American has fewer than 3 friends ... but has demand for ... 15 friends" (h/t x.com/romanhelmetg...)

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · Apr 28

An update on me from my new LinkedIn page (I deleted the old one as a result of some of the things discussed in the post): www.linkedin.com/posts/erin-d...

A lot of people have been following my journey so I thought I would… | Erin Durant

A lot of people have been following my journey so I thought I would provide an update. Over the last few years, given my mental health challenges, I largely stopped litigating. I was concerned that my...

www.linkedin.com

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · Apr 27

The going out of business numbers are particularly alarming. That’s a lot of jobs.

David August ❌👑 @davidaugust.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · Apr 27

Toys under trees could get pricey for Christmas under #trumptariffs. US Toy Companies may go under, "…nearly half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) state they may soon go out of business due to the current U.S. tariff policy." […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

Infographic titled "Impact of Tariffs: U.S. Toy Industry." Text states: "96% of American toy companies are small & mid-sized businesses. ~50% of them say they will soon go out of business due to current U.S. tariff policy."

Section titled "Christmas 2025 at Risk": "Tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports have frozen the toy production supply chain, having a devastating impact on SMEs, many of whom are family owned...including high levels of cancelled orders and significant retail cancelled purchases, which will quickly result in loan defaults and bankruptcies."

Bar charts show:
- 81% of small toy companies are delaying orders, compared to 87% of mid-sized toy companies.
- 64% of small toy companies are cancelling orders, compared to 80% of mid-sized toy companies.
- 46% of small toy companies will go out of business within weeks/months, compared to 45% of mid-sized toy companies.

Notes:
- Small toy manufacturers' revenues are less than 10 million dollars.
- Mid-sized toy manufacturers' revenues are less than 100 million dollars.
Source: Toy Association Member Survey (April 2025); 410 SME respondents.

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Erin Durant @erindurant42.bsky.social · Apr 27

I was interviewed for this article about how the Donald Trump presidency is impacting Canada’s large law firms and their culture.

www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

A chill within the profession

The targeting of U.S. law firms by the Trump administration has led to concerns on this side of the border

www.nationalmagazine.ca

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StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻❌👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · Apr 26

Fmr. V.P. Al Gore: "Something is different about this administration... We are really in danger right now, and we have got to rally the grassroots to take back the destiny of America.

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