On The Merits

For the latest episode of the Big Law Business podcast, Josh Block and Casey Sullivan let the leaders of two top grossing law firms take over. This is the full-length audio version of our "Chairs on Chairs" series featuring Kim Koopersmith, of Akin Gump, and Steve Immelt, of Hogan Lovells, interviewing each other about the business of law. Topics include: the Trump administration and travel ban, B...

Jones Day's connection to Donald Trump has landed at least 14 of their lawyers positions in the administration. But the law firm stood out long before the Trump relationship. Jones Day has the most total lawyers working in the United States, according to the most recent ranking. In 2015, they hired 10 U.S. Supreme Court law clerks. And, perhaps most unique by today's standards, they have a managem...

It’s not often that lawyers from Big Law firms are arrested by the FBI, in disguise, accused of selling a whistleblower complaint. When our colleagues at Bloomberg News broke the news early yesterday, we knew we had a story that was about to blow-up in legal circles and beyond. On a day that shut down cities across the Northeast, Casey Sullivan trudged into our NYC studio to record this podcast an...

Is another megafirm about to get even bigger? Yesterday, Norton Rose Fulbright and New York-based Chadbourne & Parke both confirmed that they were in discussions to merge. The combined law firm would have nearly 4,000 lawyers and about $2 billion in revenue. Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss the likely first candidate for biggest law firm merger of 2017. Sponsored by Bloomberg Law: www.bna.com...

Alfred Dewayne Brown was sent to death row in 2005 for a crime he didn’t commit. The dedication of a Big Law associate, Brian Stolarz, to his pro bono representation of Brown helped exonerate him. The price Stolarz paid for the hours he put into the case cost him bonuses and the path to partnership. Stolarz, who wrote a book about his experience, Grace and Justice on Death Row, joins Josh Block an...

Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer, after months of talks, announced today that they will merge effective January 1, 2017. The new firm will have roughly 1,000 lawyers and will be called Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss the largest law firm merger (so far) of 2016. Sponsored by Bloomberg Law: www.bna.com/bloomberglaw?promocode=BLBBLAW Subscribe to the Big Law Busin...

Former United States Solicitors General Paul Clement and Donald Verrilli are among the “top tier” of Supreme Court advocates, according to Greg Stohr who covers the Court for Bloomberg News. So, it’s big news that both announced in September that they are joining Big Law firms. In Clement’s case, he’s taking his whole boutique appellate firm, Bancroft, with him to Kirkland & Ellis. While, in Verri...

It’s cliche to say, in today’s legal market, that only law firms that do “bet the ranch” litigation can charge top rates. Gibson Dunn isn’t just one of those “bet the ranch” type of firms. As Bloomberg Businessweek’s Paul Barrett notes, the firm has been called on by clients to replace both Jones Day and Skadden Arps: “when things kind of go bad and you need to be rescued, you call on Gibson Dunn...

Jeremy Hodges, of Bloomberg News, joins Casey Sullivan to discuss how Britain's vote to leave the European Union is affecting the business of law in the UK. Hodges provides an overview of the London legal market, the work (or lack thereof) that is coming to the biggest law firms as a result of Brexit, and big law mergers past and present. Brought to you by: Bloomberg Law www.bna.com/bloomberglaw?p...

2007. George W. Bush was President, Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone, Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for There Will Be Blood, and across the legal industry, Big Law firms raised the base salary of their first-year associates to $160,000 from $145,000. It would be the last such raise until this month. Probably no other legal news site has covered the associate salary raises of 2016 as extensive...

The former editor-in-chief of The American Lawyer, Aric Press joins Josh Block and Casey Sullivan to discuss his career, law firm rankings, and what he's learned about the legal industry since becoming a law firm consultant. Brought to you by: Bloomberg Law www.bna.com/bloomberglaw?promocode=BLBBLAW Subscribe to the Big Law Business podcast on iTunes. itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/big-l…d1074067483?...

Peter Lattman, formerly of The New York Times, joins Josh Block and Casey Sullivan to discuss covering the business of law at the Times and his stint as the first lead writer for The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog. Lattman talks about his career, from his start as a big law associate at Kramer Levin, to his latest move, just last week, to Emerson Collective, the organization started by the widow o...

The American Lawyer’s Julie Triedman joins Josh Block and Casey Sullivan to discuss K&L Gates. Thirty partners recently left the law firm, but that was after an announcement that the firm would be receiving a $210 million contingency fee award. In light of the settlement, why are partners choosing to leave now, and what is the firm’s outspoken chairman, Peter Kalis saying about the departures? Bro...

Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss deferred prosecution agreements in the Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal case, the end of Dickstein Shapiro, Justice Scalia's Big Law associate days, Richard Susskind's new book and op-ed video, and the one year anniversary of the launch of the Big Law Business website. Brought to you by: Bloomberg Law http://www.bna.com/bloomberglaw?promocode=BLBBLAW Discussed in this...

Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss the impending departure of 22 partners from Schiff Hardin, both Rudy Giuliani's move to Greenberg Traurig and the confirmation that the firm is in preliminary merger talks with a large British firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner. Will Dickstein Shapiro have a new merger partner? And what do the layoffs at Reed Smith mean for Big Law? Brought to you by: Bloomberg Law...

Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss the recent deferred prosecution agreement in the Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal case, the failed merger talks between Bryan Cave and Dickstein Shapiro, Kenyon & Kenyon and the IP firm blues, Sidley's growth in Boston, and a dinner party (at Per Se!) for female law firm leaders. (CORRECTION: In this podcast we say that Dewey’s former chair Steve Davis accepted a plea...

In this teaser episode of the Big Law Business podcast, Josh Block and Casey Sullivan discuss the biggest business of law stories of 2015; the extreme growth of Dentons, and the criminal trial of three former Dewey & LeBoeuf executives for their role in the firm's collapse. Brought to you by: Bloomberg Law http://www.bna.com/bloomberglaw?promocode=BLBBLAW