Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

Did you know you could sue for $100 million for breaching an NDA that says breaches cannot be monetized? Neither did we. But Donald Trump has found a new lawyer willing to help him file that claim. He's arguing that his niece stole the documents that suggested a history of tax fraud, thereby unintentionally confirming the documents which is... a choice. Meanwhile, the Biden administration proposes...

Joe and Kathryn break down the long-awaited John Durham indictment that tagged former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann and find it... less than persuasive. Emory Law School has yet another racial slur in class incident, forcing the gang to ask if there's something in the water down there. But given that the most recent incident involves the brother of another repeat offender on this score, ma...

We talk about misbehaving lawyers a lot, but there must be a full moon (per statute a moon "at least 95 percent wholly spherical when measured by appropriate telescopic instruments") or something for lawyers right now because they're wild this week! We've got Biglaw attorneys injecting food with blood, lawyers waving loaded guns around over COVID protocols, a deeply scandalous and tragic situation...

In light of the Supreme Court's abortion ruling, we talk about the nature of the mysterious shadow docket and how it's been transformed over the last few years. The dismantling of Roe is in full swing, reigniting Court expansion talk, which we think is a bad move. Joe and Kathryn also check in on the annual law school scholarly impact ratings to see which law school rules the Ivory Tower. Special...

Big firms are experimenting with hybrid and flexible office models in the hopefully waning days of COVID. And there's a lot of momentum behind transitioning this into a permanent 3- or 4-day work week long term. Except there are some of you out there screwing this up for the rest of us and intentionally not getting the vaccine in an effort to stay home thereby confirming why some firms think every...

On the latest episode of Thinking Like A Lawyer, Kathryn is joined by Above the Law assistant editor Chris Williams while Joe heads to the latest legal tech conference. Chris and Kathryn discuss the English lawyer who died from COVID, but not before he took to social media to decry the vaccine and downplay the risk of COVID. They also chat about the law professor (from ASS Law, because of course)...

As demand for transactional lawyers continues to rise, one firm is reportedly offering big bonuses to attorneys willing to stick it out in key practice areas. Rudy Giuliani is now on Cameo in case you were looking for the gift no one wanted. And in-house counsel didn’t have as good a year as they’re used to. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

Joe and Kathryn chat about the lawsuit against George Mason University brought by GMU Law School -- better known by their unfortunately chosen name "ASSLaw" -- law professor Todd Zywicki over his refusal to get vaccinated. It's a remarkably unimpressive complaint. Cravath, in the midst of many changes, announces a new flexible office work policy based around a floating 6 remote work days per month...

Joe and Kathryn discuss bar exam horror stories. The last -- hopefully -- pandemic bar exam continued to bring calamity and examiners seem largely unfazed that applicants are being put through glitches and computer crashes over it. Amy Chua remains in the headlines, but this time because rumors suggest that the school might punish students for meeting with her. And we talk about more Biglaw firm r...

Irritating judges isn't recommended, but it really went off the rails for a couple of lawyers in the past few days. In Missouri, an attorney told off a judge and landed himself a week in jail. In NY, a lawyer kept picking at a federal judge long enough that the judge absolutely lost it on him. We also talk about the pervert calling libraries across the country asking them to read him a Supreme Cou...

There are limits to the customer always being right. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

Why spend all that money on fancy legal research tools? Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

Get used to this out of the Supreme Court. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

This was a doozy of an ethical issue spotter. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

That wasn't even close. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

In case you were doubting how hot the legal market is. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

They tried to keep a student from graduating... next year they'll be writing your laws! Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

The legal industry is changing in unexpected ways this year. Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

Firms changing up vacation policies worrying associates. Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

You'd think after a year of this, people would be better at it. Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

At a certain point, you have to wonder why he's willing to keep charging up this hill. Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

Obviously, we're not advocating for spoliation of evidence or obstruction of justice, but... shouldn't Rudy Giuliani of all people known not to keep evidence of crimes around? He used to run the DOJ office that's investigating his buddies! Meanwhile, the California bar exam gets caught breaking its own rules and the Pennsylvania bar president gets caught trying to protect himself from extortion. S...

And if you do, can we interest you in this souvenir hat? Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

It probably depends on who we're talking about. Special thanks to our sponsors, LexisNexis® InterAction®, Lexicon and Nota.

Yale Law School seems to have a recurring issue.