Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

Jonathan Shapiro's career took him from the DOJ, to politics, to writing and producing hit shows from The Practice to The Blacklist to Amazon's Goliath. Along the way he even took a detour back into Biglaw. Joe and Kathryn sit down for a wide-ranging discussion about how a lawyer breaks into Hollywood and how penning lines for James Spader differs from practicing law.

Joe and guest host Kathryn Rubino talk to Jeff Ton of Bluelock about what's on the horizon for 2018. Ransomware attacks, data disasters, robot lawyers... it actually isn't all as bad as that sounds. Lawyers are notoriously behind the times with technology, so take this podcast as your wake up call. These are the obstacles your practice will face and the tools you'll be working with to solve them.

Elie and Joe talk with Above the Law's Kathryn Rubino about the challenges faced by women who go into Biglaw. From the struggle for equitable leave policies to hazing to sexual harassment, the legal industry is fraught with obstacles. Kathryn's new project, The Jabot aims to bring together a community to discuss these and other issues facing women and minorities.

Joe and Elie talk to Cristian Farias about producing a legal podcast non-lawyers listen to, and explaining the Supreme Court to a law audience. 

Joe and Elie talk with Ray English, Career Services Director at Arizona State Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law, about when to start finding a job. (SPOILER ALERT: Now). And how to start finding yourself.

College football is back in all its amazing and absurdist glory. Texas already lost to Maryland?!?! Cam Newton has a little brother?!?! Joe and Elie took advantage of the dawn of another season to examine the ultimate "JD Advantage" job by talking with Shutdown Fullcast co-host and SB Nation contributor Ryan Nanni about college football and how an NYU Law grad transitioned from Biglaw to covering...

Remember the right to vote? That was a fun right, wasn't it? Elie and Joe talk to Professor Rick Hasen about the voting rights and redistricting battles being waged at the nation's highest courts. Also, apparently you can run a whole course on what's wrong with election law by only using examples from North Carolina. Good job Tar Heels.

When Peter Thiel bankrolled Hulk Hogan's ultimately successful suit against Gawker, he didn't just make every litigation financier look bad, he struck another blow in a systematic war on journalists being waged by the powerful. Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press, a new documentary by Brian Knappenberger, probes the Hogan case and other assaults on the press featuring interviews with Gawker pri...

Joe and Elie discuss the relatively sleepy Supreme Court Term with Goldstein & Russell's Tejinder Singh. How has Gorsuch changed the Court? How mad can one guy get over a footnote? What's really happening with that travel ban? We get to the bottom of all these questions.

Lost in the shuffle of big headlines at the end the Supreme Court Term was the decision to take on New Jersey's challenge to PASPA, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, otherwise known as the "why you can only bet on sports in Nevada law." But as guest Steve Silver of The Legal Blitz explains, this is a potentially huge state's rights case directly linked to the Shelby County voting...

With Harvard following Arizona's lead and accepting GRE scores in the admissions process, more schools are starting to warm to the exam. But is the GRE really as good as the LSAT? Are schools just doing this as a cash grab at the expense of the profession? Elie thinks the GRE is basically filled out in crayon. Joe thinks it's a perfectly acceptable alternative test. Jeff Thomas of Kaplan Test Prep...

Above the Law unveils its 2017 law school rankings and uncorks a few surprises. Elie and Joe discuss the new rankings, the ATL methodology, and why everyone should consider the Above the Law rankings if they're deciding on law school with special guest Brian Dalton, Above the Law's Director of Research.

As a new crop of law school graduates prepares for the bar exam, Joe and Elie talk to James Mullen of Law School HQ about the "last test you'll ever take." What is a "UBE" and is it a good development? Why are so many people struggling to pass the bar? And, really, what's California's problem?

Between fake drug bust prom proposals and pulling people over out Christmas gifts, police departments across the country are trying to improve their image in the worst way possible. Joe and Elie discuss how this isn't so much "cute" as "a glaring violation of the Fourth Amendment."

Joe and Elie open the mailbag and answer questions from listeners trying to decide where to go to law school. Even if you're not facing the precise decisions these listeners have, they hit on major issues that all students should consider in making a law school decision.

Joe and Elie discuss how they chose their law schools, and how others should do what they say, not necessarily what they did.

Elie and Joe watched the Oscars like everyone else, and when they saw the Best Picture screw up, they immediately thought what every other lawyer thought... blame the accountants. Caleb Newquist, the founding editor of Going Concern joins the show to talk insider accountant baseball on PwC's embarrassing mistake and why the Oscars won't fire the firm no matter how bad this looked.

Joe and Elie chat with libel law expert and former Bloomberg Global Media Counsel Charles Glasser about the state of the press going forward. Glasser explains why he’s actually optimistic about freedom of the press, despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric about “opening up” libel law and the mainstream press deciding to hold off-the-record meetings in Trump Tower. This episode originally aired on Novemb...

Elie and Joe talk to Gordon Caplan, co-chair of Wilkie Farr, about the firm's representation of Alma Kashkooli, a 12-year-old Iranian girl coming to the U.S. for highly specialized eye surgery in the midst of the administration's travel ban. From arguments in the Turkish airport, to seniors waiting on the courthouse steps to file emergency motions, the saga of aiding this little girl shows the imp...

In this rebroadcast episode of Thinking Like A Lawyer, Elie and Joe talk with a drone law expert about the expanding rights of drones and the diminishing rights of property owners who want to stop them. Steven Hogan is an associate with the law firm Ausley & McMullen and practices in the areas of commercial litigation and state and federal tax law.

Elie and Joe talk about Apple, Samsung, knock offs, child labor, Melania Trump, and open toed shoes... in that order... with Fashionista editor Tyler McCall.

Joe and Elie nominate, debate, and pick winners for a slew of end-of-year awards. The prize money is in the mail. By check. Subject to shipping and handling.

Joe and ATL Editor Kathryn Rubino discuss Biglaw bonus season as firms place the final cherry atop associate compensation after a tumultuous year of raises. Then they walk through college football bowl season and preview every matchup between teams with ABA accredited law schools because that's exactly what people thinking like lawyers would do.

Joe and Elie chat with libel law expert and former Bloomberg Global Media Counsel Charles Glasser about the state of the press going forward. Glasser explains why he's actually optimistic about freedom of the press, despite Trump's campaign rhetoric about "opening up" libel law and the mainstream press deciding to hold off-the-record meetings in Trump Tower.

Joe and Elie talk to fellow ATL editor David Lat about the recent APP Conference in Philadelphia bringing together practitioners and thought leaders to discuss the future of legal practice. And Elie and Joe argue about public schools.