On The Merits

The US legal industry was already in a tough spot before President Donald Trump started attacking Big Law firms. Gloomy economic conditions and tariff-related uncertainty quickly tanked law firm leaders' expectations for a rebound that followed Trump's election. They're looking to stay off the president's target list in a wave of executive orders, while navigating a slowdown in deals activity and...

President Donald Trump has targeted major law firms in his second term in unprecedented ways. He hit three Big Law firms with executive orders that pose potentially existential threats to those firms. Then on March 21, the Trump administration issued a broad memo targeting any lawyer who files “frivolous, unreasonable, and even vexatious litigation against the United States.” On this podcast episo...

After Donald Trump won the presidential election, dealmakers at corporations—and the Big Law lawyers that represent them—were optimistic about the prospects for increased corporate mergers and acquisitions. But the first two months of 2025 have fallen far short of expectations. Not only have deal tallies been lower than hoped, they are the lowest in five years. On this episode of our podcast, On T...

The White House has now hit several of the largest law firms in the world with directives that strip their attorneys of security clearances and order federal agencies to scrap contracts they hold with the firms' clients. Paul Weiss is the most recent target, but there's reason to believe it won't be the last. Bloomberg Law reporter Tatyana Monnay says it's now clear that "there's no firm too big t...

Kirkland & Ellis, the world's largest law firm by revenue, brought in more than $100 million last year from just one of its clients: Blackstone Inc. That's more than double the amount Kirkland earned from the private equity giant in 2023. The dollar amount itself is eye-popping, but also notable is that we even know this information at all. Blackstone was required to disclose the payments in inves...

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a mainstay of corporate culture for the last quarter-century, and has cost companies millions, sometimes even billions, of dollars in fines. And that’s before you start counting the lawyers’ fees. This law, used to prevent US businesses from engaging in bribery to win foreign business, has seen a major uptick in enforcement over the last 25 years. And, ov...

Houston's legal market wasn't always one of the most competitive arenas in Big Law. But today, 14 of the 15 largest law firms by revenue have an office in Space City. The market's growth has mirrored the explosion of the country's energy industry over the past decade or so. And the competition among law firms continues to evolve, as the biggest firms fight for their share of a market once dominate...

The federal workforce has been hit with a wrecking ball since Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency started its campaign to fire and furlough federal employees. Meanwhile, law firms are seeing a flood of resumes from attorneys who have lost their jobs and from lawyers who want to leave behind the new instability of federal employment. However, law firms have limits to how many attorneys...

The sports business is booming. You’ve probably seen the headlines. An NFL team sold for $6 billion, and private equity is pouring money into almost anything that involves a ball or a stick. For law firms, that means opportunity. More Big Law firms view the business of sports as a target for the types of megadeals that drive revenue. Naturally, there's a lot more competition coming for a practice...

Delaware has been the US corporate capital for about a century. But a wave of high-profile departures—amid a barrage of attacks from Elon Musk—has many members of the state's corporate community worried about the future. Although the world's richest man has been trying to provoke a corporate exodus for more than a year, the increasingly powerful Musk isn't the only critic of recent Delaware court...

At its height, the influential SCOTUSBlog provided Supreme Court coverage that drew comparisons to the comprehensive way ESPN reports on sports. But while the blog was becoming required reading for attorneys, law students, and journalists, its founder was allegedly racking up millions in gambling and tax debts. High-profile Washington attorney Tom Goldstein was indicted last month on federal charg...

Big law firms are increasingly feeling pressure to grow, and many use mergers with other firms to expand. But a recent Bloomberg Law analysis reveals that about two-thirds of the 18 largest mergers within the past 15 years saw slower revenue growth than their competitors. Bloomberg Law reporter Meghan Tribe joins the podcast to talk about why firms merge, what challenges they face, and what the mo...

People are always finding new ways to listen to music, from vinyls and cassettes to stolen downloads and paid streaming services. So, how is the music business holding up? Who’s making the money today? And what's in store for musicians with the growth of artificial intelligence? On this episode of our podcast, On the Merits, Bloomberg Law’s Roy Strom dives into those questions and more with Sid Fo...

Big Law has long feared that the Big Four accounting firms–Deloitte, PWC, KPMG, and EY–would start practicing law in the US. Now, that may soon be a reality. Big law's fear is that the Big Four has scale that dwarfs even the largest US law firms, and its dominance in legal technology could lead to a paradigm shift in how legal services are delivered. But American lawyers have always had a safety n...

When Russian chemicals magnate Oleg Burlakov died of Covid, he left behind a $3 billion fortune that prompted an international legal battle among feuding members of his family. In one corner stand his sister and brother-in-law, who say they had a secret agreement with Burlakov entitling them to half of what he left behind. In the other: His estranged widow and adult daughters. Their fight over Bur...

Donald Trump’s presidential election had market commenters rushing to conclude that the new administration would yield a flood of corporate dealmaking. But the widely anticipated Trump Bump for deals is already facing hurdles. Interest rates have steadily risen as the fear of inflation remains. Markets are buffeted by every piece of news about potential tariffs. And stock prices have faltered from...

Today on 'On the Merits,' we revisit our March 2024 episode that explores California's ongoing battle to keep homeowners insured amidst the persistent threat of wildfires.

Big Law associates often feel they have little control over their pay or their time. But Steptoe & Johnson's new compensation model will allow associates to choose a 1800-, 2000-, or 2200-billable-hour track with a corresponding pay scale. On this episode of On the Merits, Kate Reder Sheikh, partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa, shares how a tiered compensation plan could benefit both associates and...

Elon Musk's six-year saga defending his $56 billion Tesla Inc. pay package in the Delaware Chancery Court has captivated the state's tight-knit legal community and the wider world of Musk watchers, including his more than 200 million online followers. In January 2024, the court's chief judge struck down the pay package, prompting a months-long social media barrage—and a host of novel legal stunts—...

The year 2024 saw tons of firms looking for merger opportunities and the lightning-fast growth that they provided. Although there's still plenty of room for new mergers, the legal industry is constantly looking for other ways to be competitive as big companies like KPMG are looking to enter the legal services market. This edition of On the Merits was hosted for the first time by Tom Taylor, chief...

New attorneys often leave law school with a lot of ideas about how the legal system works, but they typically don’t know much about the business of being a lawyer. How do law firms make money? How do they govern themselves? And what trends are shaping the law firms where they will work? On this episode of On the Merits, Bloomberg Law’s Roy Strom spoke with Kevin Burke, a former chairman at Hinshaw...

It’s our final episode for the year — and it’s been a year, one that included subtle DEI language, substantial associate bonuses, and the reprise of Donald Trump. Bloomberg Law had a lot of news stories to cover this year. And on this episode of On the Merits, podcast producer Mo Barrow reviews eight of Bloomberg Law's top stories in 2024 with Editor at Large Bernie Kohn. Do you have feedback on t...

Lawyers have demanding careers with late hours and weekend work, for which many of them are handsomely compensated. So it may be surprising to learn that a growing number of attorneys have or are looking for a side gig. A recent Bloomberg Law survey found that 1 in 5 respondents either have a side gig or want one. For attorneys, a side hustle can be a way to explore their creative side, an opportu...

As the presidential transition picks up speed, a legal sector that overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris is preparing for Donald Trump's return to the White House. A handful of Florida-based big law firms with connections to the incoming administration are hoping to leverage those Trump ties, while Democratic-leaning firms are looking to retool. At the same time, a cryptocurrency industry that sp...

Plenty of dealmakers expect a boom in M&A activity next year, anticipating a business-friendly Trump administration will rekindle animal spirits. That may mean private-equity firms will unload companies they've held for years. Traditionally, that means Big Law firms will have a flood of work. But it may also mean less of a certain type of complex transaction that has been occurring over the past y...