Above the Law

Zombie Planes And Other Pentagon Ghost Stories

Trick-or-treat: The Breaking Defense team talks about something truly scary — which Pentagon programs have been killed this year, and some that have come back to life.

Morning Docket: 10.29.25

* Meet the superstar team who have to convince the Supreme Court that the word “tariffs” does not appear in the IEEPA, which for some reason is an uphill battle. [National Law Journal]

* Ninth Circuit will convene en banc to reconsider giving Trump the power to send troops to assassinate costumed frogs. [CNN]

* Freshly pardoned former Binance chief threatens to sue Elizabeth Warren for saying he pleaded guilty to money laundering instead of pleading guilty to setting up the conditions to allow money laundering. Not sure how much reputational damage exists between that technicality trench. [NY Post]

* Cameo sues OpenAI claiming a feature named “cameo” violates their trademark. [Reuters]

* Another Trump U.S. Attorney found to be illegally squatting in the job. [Law360]

* D.C. Bar committee suggests firms who made deals with Trump have ethics issues. [NY Times]

* LinkedIn battles data scrapers to protect us all from a future where every AI response is about B2B marketing. [Bloomberg Law News]

What Do You Mean 3 or 7 Years? — See Also

DOJ Attorneys Casually Assume Third Trump Term At Oral Argument: That’s plainly unconstitutional.

Did They Outsource Editing Too?: Embarrassed Biglaw firm submits filing full of AI hallucinations.

(Halloween) Clothing Optional: SDNY Judge opts for a seasonally appropriate business casual dress code this Friday.

District Judge Makes It Very Clear That ICE Doesn’t Tear Gas Kids In Costumes: Damn shame they need the reminder.

Catch Up On Dateline: ‘Deadly Mischief’ takes the viewer on a tour of the Donna Adelson conspiracy case.

Vals AI’s Latest Benchmark Finds Legal And General AI Now Outperform Lawyers In Legal Research Accuracy

Across all questions, the AI systems scored within four percentage points of one another and an average of seven points above the lawyer baseline.

The Most Important Election No One’s Talking About

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, like other state courts, is the backstop for democracy.

SDNY Judge Tells Biglaw Lawyers ‘Costumes Optional’ For Friday Hearing

Will the lawyers begin the hearing by asking judge, 'Trick or Treat?'

Biglaw Firm ‘Profoundly Embarrassed’ After Submitting Court Filing Riddled With AI Hallucinations

This judge wasn't impressed by AI-generated citations that don't exist in real life.

Women Are Quitting. WTF Is Happening?

Taylor Swift longs for the suburbs, and young women are leaving jobs. Mere coincidence?

DOJ Attorney Handwaves The 22nd Amendment During Oral Argument

Repeat after me judges: See something, say something!

Phony Bank Account Change Requests: A Growing Threat For Healthcare Finance Leaders

Phony bank account change requests aren’t just another check box on a fraud prevention list – they’re one of the most immediate and dangerous threats facing healthcare AP teams today.

Morning Docket: 10.28.25

* Kirkland provides communications training for lawyers after earning reputation as uncooperative. Weird, because the firm was super cooperative when Donald Trump asked them to roll over and give him free legal work. [Financial Times]

* Federal lawyers admit they falsely stated the number of agents sent to Portland — a key claim in the government’s claim that protests met the statutory threshold for deploying troops. You see, they told the court that conditions required 115 agents when the most they ever had was 31. Oops! [Oregon Live]

* Anthropic settlement puts four Supreme Court justices in line for checks. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Exonerated former trader launches suit against UBS alleging the company set him up as a fall guy for the Libor scandal. [Reuters]

* An interview with Anil Kalhan, the professor who coined the term Kavanaugh Stop. [Law Dork]

* OpenAI must face infringement claims from authors whose works were used to train the model. [Law360]

* Hogan Lovells counsels Miami in securing Lionel Messi contract extension. [Law.com International]

A Lawyer Who Serves The People — See Also

Furloughed IRS Attorney Sets Up Hot Dog Stand: The menu is amazing.

The DOJ Got Caught Lying To The 9th Circuit: Will there be any consequences?

Is Trump About To Undermine Protecting Federal Informants?: This dirty part of dealing with El Salvador needs more spotlight.

Biglaw Is Buying Into Clio: Once the merger goes through, of course.

Virginia Has A Case Against TikTok: The app doesn’t seem to be as kid friendly as it claims to be.

The First Few Weeks Of The Supreme Court’s Current Term

But what does the data MEAN?

Legal Ethics Roundup: Judges Critique Lawyer Lies, CA Won’t Expunge Discipline, AG Attacks On ESG As Ethics Violations, AI Keeps Hallucinating Legal Opinions & More

Your tour of all things related to lawyer and judicial ethics, with University of Houston law professor Renee Knake Jefferson.

New Era Begins As Recently Merged Biglaw Firm Ushers In Massive Partner Class

When your firm gets bigger, so does the partner track.