Law360's Pro Say - News & Analysis on Law and the Legal Industry

The Pro Say podcast is taking a break this week for the holiday. In its place, please enjoy Law360 Explores: The Law School Promise, a two-part series looking at whether the structures of legal education are working. In Episode 1 we start with the rigorous admissions process that includes not just letters of recommendation and statements of purpose, but the notoriously arduous LSAT exam. An except...

Another year, another deluge of legal news, and as usual, the Pro Say gang has you covered. This week’s show is a look back at a whirlwind of judicial activity, headlined by a historic Supreme Court term that saw 50 years of abortion rights precedent wiped away, gun rights expanded and stirred a feverish debate over the institution of the court itself. We’ll also walk through a handful of highly p...

The Supreme Court is once again examining the line between LGBTQ+ discrimination and religious freedom, this time in the case of a Colorado web designer looking to establish her right to refuse service to same-sex couples. That conflict prompted a range of hypothetical questions from the high court at this week’s oral arguments, ranging from amusing to uncomfortable, all of which underscored the j...

A historic challenge to the NCAA over its purported failure to warn college athletes about the dangers of repetitive head injuries fizzled in California state court last week as a jury found that the organization was not liable for the death of a former USC linebacker who was posthumously diagnosed with CTE. This week on Pro Say, the hosts break down the first-ever CTE-related wrongful death suit...

It’s time once again for one of Pro Say’s grandest traditions, as the hosts gather round and give thanks for another crop of legal oddities. This year delivered a bounty, as the crew offers an update on the curious case of the Ana de Armas movie trailer that wasn’t and revisits the fecal rage of a former court officer directed at an Ohio congressman. Finally, a look back at the legal morass caused...

One of the cryptocurrency market’s largest exchanges collapsed in particularly stunning fashion last week after some questionable financial entanglements came to light, leading to a “run on the bank” and ultimately the loss of FTX’s $32 billion value. On this week’s episode of Pro Say, we’re talking you through all the legal elements of the FTX fiasco, including the numerous government investigati...

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter wiped away one thorny lawsuit over his attempts to back out of the deal, but his rough start at the helm of the social network has spawned a new host of legal problems. On this week’s Pro Say, the hosts examine Musk’s decision to lay off thousands of Twitter’s workers, which has invited new litigation from former employees who say they were not given proper notice t...

A $2.2 billion merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has been put on ice after a federal judge found that the tie-up poses a likely threat to the market for publishing top-selling books. The ruling came after a three-week trial that saw testimony from literary giants like Stephen King who warned against the dangers of consolidation in the publishing industry. Joining Pro Say thi...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is facing an existential crisis after the Fifth Circuit said the agency is unconstitutionally funded. On this week's episode, Law360 senior baking reporter Jon Hill tells us about the fallout of that ruling, including a flurry of filings from companies looking to get CFPB cases thrown out. Also this week, we discuss a criminal tax fraud case getting underwa...

The legal headaches keep piling up for Dechert LLP and the former head of its white collar shop in London, Neil Gerrard. The BigLaw fixture and its ex-partner have been targeted with suits on both sides of the Atlantic alleging a range of systemic corruption. The years-long saga gained new steam over the past week as Dechert now faces fresh challenges in D.C. and New York from an aviation executiv...

President Biden’s recent cannabis proclamations mark the most significant shift in federal marijuana policy in decades. Still, the move to wipe out all federal possession convictions is mostly symbolic, as the drug is most aggressively policed at the state level. Law360’s senior cannabis reporter Sam Reisman joins the show to break down what Biden’s moves will mean for the industry, and where lega...

Four years since the FBI’s inquiry into alleged sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, questions linger as to how the agency handled the mountain of tips it received and what that could mean for future high court nominees. Law360 features reporter Cara Bayles joins Pro Say this week to discuss what we've learned since 2018, what we still don't know, and why lawmakers are still...

Federal prosecutors’ decision to drop charges against a Massachusetts state judge accused of impeding the arrest of an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom turned up the heat on an already fraught case, stoking fears that quickly changing political winds played an outsized role in the matter from the start. Law360’s Boston courts reporter Chris Villani joins the show this week to break down the...

Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, have thrust the city’s failure to provide clean water into federal court, suing numerous public officials and engineering firms that they say have degraded the city’s water through negligence and mismanagement. This week on Pro Say, the hosts dive into the specifics of the proposed class action and break down the lengthy battle that likely lies ahead. Also on thi...

Litigants and lawyers involved in bringing high-profile lawsuits are increasingly facing threats and harassment. That’s bad enough on its own but becomes even worse when it stops people from turning to courtrooms in the first place or impacts the outcome of cases that do get filed. On this week’s episode of Pro Say, Law360 senior reporter Jack Karp drops by to help us understand how harassment is...

The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing shift to remote work led many employers to begin using software to monitor workers’ productivity. But are these trackers all they're cracked up to be? Today we're joined by senior employment reporter Amanda Ottaway to discuss the downside of productivity tracking. Also this week, we share the latest on Twitter’s lawsuit over Elon Musk’s decision to walk away f...

Earlier this month the FBI searched President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, turning up 33 boxes of documents taken from the White House with more than 100 classified records. The action set off a firestorm of reactions, but what if instead of the political punditry you just want to understand exactly what happened with the search and the courtroom fallout? That’s the focus of today'...

On a special episode of the Pro Say podcast we go behind the scenes of HBO’s hit miniseries We Own This City. The show explores the true story of a corrupt Baltimore Police Department task force that was ultimately charged with an array of crimes, a depiction that lays bare the systemic problems with policing in America and the war on drugs. Lucas Van Engen, one of the stars of the show, and Leo W...

Until recently, contract provisions meant to guard against unforeseen disasters and “Acts of God” were fairly routine, and even seasoned attorneys didn’t pay them much mind. But that all changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sent attorneys scrambling to make sure their bases are covered in the event of the next global calamity. On this week’s episode of Pro Say, we welcome Law360...

The typically subdued and etiquette-filled sport of professional golf is anything but these days, as a highly contentious battle between the establishment PGA Tour and its newly formed rival LIV Golf has spilled into federal court. LIV and its players allege the PGA operates as a monopoly that violates antitrust laws, while the PGA insists it’s under attack from a well-funded venture that’s succes...

The trial to determine how much right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was adversarial, emotional, and at times downright bizarre. The proceedings saw both Jones and his legal team repeatedly reprimanded by the judge, while opposing counsel also delivered a bombshell about Jones’ lawyers inadvertently turning ove...

Texas federal Judge Alan Albright has spent the last few years turning his Waco court into a patent litigation hot spot. But one judge having that much power over IP cases brought scrutiny from lawmakers and Chief Justice John Roberts that came to a head when a new policy was announced to randomly assign patent cases filed in Waco to one of 12 judges. On this week’s episode, we’re joined by Law360...

A fairly mundane lawsuit over oil and gas royalties in West Virginia has been jolted by the revelation that the judge overseeing the case purportedly brandished a gun at an attorney who had previously tried to get him booted from the case. On this week’s all-host edition of Pro Say, the crew breaks down the truly wild development out of the Mountain State. Also on the show this week, Tesla is foun...

Elon Musk’s months-long dalliance with Twitter has finally spilled into court, as the social media platform sued the Tesla billionaire for backing out of his commitment to buy the company for $44 billion. With months of litigation likely ahead in Delaware’s notorious Court of Chancery, we welcome Law360 Delaware courts expert Leslie Pappas to unpack the complaint, the legal arguments from both sid...

A Supreme Court term that by any measure was historic has concluded, and it takes a village of podcasters to untangle everything that happened. So this week, hosts from Pro Say team up with the hosts of The Term to discuss this momentous term. We take a look at the conservative supermajority’s turn toward originalism and the shifting power dynamics among the justices. We also dive into the biggest...