Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

We've made it through another year. Well, almost. We probably shouldn't start counting our bats and pangolins before they've hatched. Joe and Kathryn look back at the wild ride of 2021 and make some predictions about what 2022 holds. Also... it's that time of year to send in your Lawyer of the Year nominations. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota.

As the year winds down, folks seem a little extra agitated. A judge called her colleagues names and got booted from the bench. A partner bailed on his firm rather than get the scientifically proven vaccine. Meanwhile the legal press jumped on news of another round of salary raises as an extra dose of year-end drama that didn't actually happen. 2021 is bad enough, folks... don't try to make it any...

Last week, a handful of Biglaw firms contacted Above the Law trying to rewrite their whole firm image. International firms still headquartered overseas trying to rebrand as American and firms historically embraced as for growing up outside the NYC white-shoe culture wanted to be portrayed as Knickerbocker blue bloods. Who thinks this will work? Also, we discuss Latham's holiday party COVID debacle...

After more than a week of wondering when firms would start playing follow the leader with Biglaw bonuses, Davis Polk finally set a standard that the rest of the industry felt comfortable following. In unrelated large firm news, Cravath announces a change to its partnership model... could this be the final nail in the lockstep compensation coffin? Joe, Kathryn, Chris also talk about a salty exchang...

We thought we entered Biglaw bonus season last week, but after Cravath rolled out a higher bonus schedule, the majority of firms responded with silence. What's going on, and is someone finally going to break that logjam? We also talk about the verdict in the Arbery murder and continue last week's discussion about the troubling balancing act when it comes to prosecutorial discretion. And an Ivy Lea...

Joe and Chris discuss the Rittenhouse verdict and the limits of self-defense standards. Specifically, at what point can stripping a case of all its context rob it of value. Meanwhile, Sheriffs are refusing to enforce laws -- usually vaccine and mask requirements. What are the limits of prosecutorial discretion and, how in the world is it okay for an activist group to offer scholarships to law enfo...

Is there a significant crossover between this podcast's audience and Taylor Swift? I guess we'll find out this week as we discuss her latest re-release and the intellectual property issues driving her new recording strategy. Because everything comes back around to the law... even pop music. We also talk about Above the Law's role in the latest inquiry from the House Judiciary Committee and the tec...

Sidley is offering associates firm branded AirPods and jackets as a token of appreciation after bringing lawyers back to the office. Putting aside whether or not that's a fair deal for associates, what exactly makes for a good branded gift? Not all swag is created equal. We also chat about a town in California that has declared itself an independent Constitutional Republic (that's not a thing), th...

The Supreme Court heard from the braintrust behind SB8 in Texas and unleashed some withering contempt for the novel effort to craft a statute that avoids over 100 years of precedent. Meanwhile, Trump's new social media endeavor runs afoul of copyright law and Biglaw is going big when it comes to paying for key talent... but will it translate to the rest of the associates? Special thanks to our spo...

Yale just can't keep out of the legal news. Over the last several months we've had high-profile fights with professors, a student club behaving badly, and now this. This time it's the school's commitment to outside counsel Day Pitney, a firm making quite a name for itself pulling discovery shenanigans in the Sandy Hook mass shooting trial. Meanwhile, we have new rankings out featuring the best law...

A lot of folks would plead the First Amendment last week, and it was all nonsense. Yale Law School's Federalist Society advertised an event by throwing a whole mess of racist stereotyping at the wall just to see what would stick and when other students asked how this fit within the private school's standards for student organizations... First Amendment! Conspiracy theorists are convinced that Merr...

This week's top stories were all about the judges. Should judges be held to a higher standard when it comes to vaccines? Should they at least endeavor to hire clerks that don't have resumes drenched in red flags? How much should clerkships matter anyway? And we got judges making some tough talking threats. All that and a couple of sound effects -- what more could you ask for? Special thanks to our...

What's the next Supreme Court Term going to look like? Not great! We've got full-on assaults aimed at abortion, gun regulations, and affirmative action and that's just in the first handful of cases. Which you know if you've taken our Supreme Court quiz. Joe and Kathryn welcome ATL's newest editor Christopher Williams to break down these and other cases primed for this Term. Special thanks to our s...

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.