On The Merits

We got a window into the inner workings of the usually secretive Supreme Court with a leaked draft opinion in a landmark abortion case. As surprising, even shocking, as this leak was, it could be the beginning of a new era at the court in which the justices' private deliberations are no longer sacrosanct and leaks become more common. On this special breaking news edition of On The Merits, Kimberly...

When it comes to copyright law, stand-up comedy recordings have generally been treated differently than music recordings. At least, until now. The estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin are among several plaintiffs in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Pandora that centers on whether the streaming service has the proper license for their work. Spotify is also having similar disputes wit...

This summer, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. It could significantly alter—or even eliminate altogether—Roe v. Wade and the legality of abortion in America. But rather than waiting to see what the justices do, many Republican-led states are moving to enact their own restrictive abortion laws. And some blue state legi...

A bill is currently sitting on the desk of Gov. Tate Reeves (R) that would make his state, Mississippi, the 50th and final one to adopt a law mandating equal pay for men and women. However, not all women are celebrating. Women's rights advocates say the Mississippi law is watered down to the point of absurdity—for example, it allows employers to pay women less based on their prior salary or their...

Some good news for ESG investors, and even better news for accountants: the Securities and Exchange Commission just unveiled a new proposal that would force public companies to disclose mountains of climate change information. The proposal goes far beyond requiring disclosure of the fossil fuels a company itself uses: It would also have companies report out the carbon footprint of their supply cha...

A Bloomberg Law analysis found that, within the tech industry, Apple uses outside law firms at a rate three times higher than its nearest rival. But which firms the iPhone maker uses may surprise you. On this episode of On The Merits, we hear from three Bloomberg Law reporters about why the Silicon Valley giant steers a large portion of its legal business toward two small-to-mid-size Southern law...

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson spent a good portion of the first day of her Supreme Court nomination hearings in the U.S. Senate defending her work as a defense lawyer. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled the nominee about her time as a public defender, including her work defending prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Senators also targeted sentences she handed down to people convicted...

Law firms that do business in Ukraine or in Russia have had to make a series of rapid decisions over the past weeks that could have the highest of consequences. Maintaining relationships with Russian clients, aside from earning them public condemnation, could put law firms afoul of new sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of its neighbor last month. But dropping clients could also subject the...

In this special bonus episode, listen to Bloomberg Law reporter Ayanna Alexander read her story about women who reject the partner track at big law firms.

The former president of the United States is waging a complex defensive legal battle on numerous fronts. From Manhattan to Albany to Atlanta and elsewhere, prosecutors are circling Donald Trump, his business, and his family. The latest blow came last month when accounting firm Mazars USA LLP not only cut ties with Trump but also announced it was disavowing a decade's worth of his financial stateme...

In this special bonus episode, listen to Bloomberg Law columnist Roy Strom read his story profiling one of the largest and most powerful law firms in America, Kirkland & Ellis.

Within a decade or so, at least several states will have banned the sale of new gas-powered automobiles. The electrification of America's cars is coming, but is America ready? To get the country ready, President Biden and Democrats in Congress gave states more than $7 billion to install electric vehicle charging stations across the country. But, as Bloomberg Government's Lillianna Byington found,...

The Rooney Rule started in the NFL, but it has since transcended the league—and professional sports altogether—to become a diversity initiative used across corporate America. The rule, named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, requires any organization that implements it to interview at least one minority candidate for senior job openings. But, as last week's explosive lawsuit from...

No property tax system is totally fair, but few are as unbalanced and often skewed in favor of the wealthy as New York City's. A law passed in Albany in the early 1980's was supposed to keep taxes on the Big Apple's single-family homes from rising too quickly. But what that means is that now a co-op in Staten Island has a tax bill 2,000% higher than a similarly priced brownstone in Brooklyn. On to...

Justice Stephen Breyer is known for letting his flamboyant intellect shine on the bench. And, according to those who clerked for him, Breyer's personality outside of the courtroom was no different. It was reported earlier today that this will be the 27-year veteran of the Supreme Court's final term. To learn more about who Breyer is, we spoke with some of the attorneys who clerked for the Justice...

There's been a big push in recent years to make the legal profession more diverse, especially within Big Law. So why has this largely excluded people with disabilities? The stigma against people with disabilities in the workplace is strong, even—and especially—at law firms, according to Bloomberg Law reporter Ayanna Alexander. On today's On The Merits podcast, we present a live online discussion w...

It was an extraordinarily lucrative year for law firms that help companies go public, or that help companies make acquisitions. Thanks to the frenzied SPAC boom, along with rock bottom interest rates, corporate transaction activity in 2021 shattered records. However, the largest beneficiaries of this activity were not upstart, boutique firms but rather the titans of the legal world: Kirkland & Ell...

Both employers and employees got a little bit of clarity last month when the EEOC issued guidance confirming that, yes, Covid-19 can trigger a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. But will this document put to rest all disputes between employers and employees about Covid-19 and disability claims? Not by a long shot. On today's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On T...

Federal contractors are going to have to share more information about their greenhouse gas emissions with the public, under new General Services Administration reporting requirements the White House introduced earlier this month. However, this isn't the only climate reporting rule these contractors will have to mind. The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to release its own reporting rule...

It's notable whenever the International Brotherhood of Teamsters elects a new president, but it was especially notable last month when Sean O'Brien soundly defeated a rival backed by the union's outgoing president, James P. Hoffa. During the campaign, O'Brien portrayed himself as an outsider and said the Teamsters should take a more aggressive stance—particularly toward Amazon Inc. O'Brien granted...

Hiring a lawyer is expensive—way too expensive, according to Clifford Winston. The Brookings Institution economist and former MIT professor says the legal profession's excessive licensure requirements are the cause of this, leading to an industry where demand far exceeds supply. Winston has written several books about the problem and about why he thinks basic legal tasks should be opened up to peo...

The case that could overturn the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that recognized abortion as a constitutional right will come before the nine justices tomorrow morning. On today's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, we explain the stakes behind Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health and why abortion rights activists are so pessimistic about their chances to even maintain the sta...

General Electric, the 13-decade-old conglomerate founded by Thomas Edison, announced plans earlier this month to split up into three separate companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy. Whether this will ultimately lead to greater profits is unclear, but one thing is certain: breaking up a company of this size and stature poses numerous legal and logistical hurdles. On today's episode...

The bar exam has been around in some form or another since the 1920s. However, it could be time for a change. The pandemic created challenges in administering the test. Some states allowed diploma privilege, others made significant changes. Many critics think it's time to change the bar exam permanently—or even do away with it altogether. Our sister podcast, [Un]Common Law, will release the first...

Ben Wilson has been affectionately described as the dean of black partners within Big Law. But that title doesn't begin to do justice to the Beveridge & Diamond chairman, who announced his retirement last month after 45 years in the legal profession. Wilson has mentored generations of Black and other diverse attorneys. And, in 2008, founded the Diverse Partners Network, which he intends to continu...