Above the Law

Phia Co-Founders Knew The App Was Wrongfully Claiming Sales Credits

When news of the scandal first broke on July 8, the company co-founders claimed that they had just been made aware of the situation.

Morning Docket: 08.13.26

* Jayden Daniels sends cease-and-desist claiming LSU violated his NIL rights by giving his number from three years ago to another player. [ESPN]

* Journalist Katie Phang’s latest filing blasts DOJ’s effort to delay Epstein file release. [Meidas News]

* Immigration enforcement use government databases to stalk women in “dog-bites-man” story. [DNYUZ]

* Trump asks Eleventh Circuit to pause the sanctions leveled against his team for the IRS case. [Law360]

* Structure of new birthright citizenship orders create new mechanism to criminalize women and girls. [Balls and Strikes]

* Treasury rolls back “burdensome” regulation that required corporations to send in a form listing who owned the company. [Forbes]

Boutique Money Is Where It’s At — See Also

Up To $170K In Bonus Bucks! This firm has already handed out three bonuses, while Biglaw associates are waiting to see if they’ll maybe get one.

Purcell Unprincipled: Alabama held its first primary since the Supreme Court jettisoned the Voting Rights Act, and people mostly didn’t vote… which from the Court’s perspective is a feature not a bug.

The DOJ Doesn’t Miss A Lesson: DOJ arrests former SPLC employee now that the court has blessed malicious prosecution.

‘I’ll Be Charging People With Assault’: Florida’s AG discovers the WNBA.

Dance Dance Insurrection: Jeanine Pirro turns to dance photographer to pursue charges with a “special” grand jury.

Asked Why He Cheated, Ken Paxton Would Like To Tell You About His Grandchildren: A town hall caller asked the question we’re all thinking.

Biglaw Surrenders Were Worse Than We Thought

Remember when Trump lost the birthright citizenship case? Because he doesn't.

Alabama’s Primary Drew 5 Percent Turnout Thanks To Supreme Court Destroying Voting Rights Act

The do-over election hastily thrown together by Republicans proved as chaotic as expected.

Elite Litigation Boutique Is Already On Its Third Round Of Associate Bonuses

Associates are already sitting on six-figure bonuses, and another payout is still ahead.

Florida’s AG Wants To Charge WNBA Player With Crime Of Playing Basketball

James Uthmeier saw a white-grievance layup and took the shot.

If You Really Want To Work For The Department Of Justice, Then Do It Regardless Of Who The President Is

In this prestige-obsessed profession, this opportunity may not come again for a long time.

Lobbing Multimillion-Dollar Munitions At Targets Worth Less Than The Missiles Themselves Remains A Bad War Strategy

It is not possible to bomb an entire country into submission from the air using conventional weapons.

Small Businesses Could Face Double-Digit Premium Hikes In 2027

Small group insurers are proposing a median 14% premium increase for 2027, driven by rising healthcare costs.

Morning Docket: 08.12.26

* Elite firms warn that AI spending could impact profits, though most continue to believe they’ll be fine. Ahem… then where are the associate raises? [ABA Journal]

* ICE wants $20 million worth of electric shock gloves, in case you were wondering where we were on the “turning law enforcement into Spider-Man villains” spectrum. [Huffington Post]

* Paul Weiss and Gibson Dunn lead Yankees financing deal to inject $2.6B for the club to not spend during the looming lockout. [Bloomberg Law News]

* We covered this last week, but Trump is moving past rage at the Supreme Court and is now just pretending he won the handful of cases he lost. [Washington Post]

* Alabama primary marred by confusion after being hastily run of new maps after the Supreme Court functionally overturned the Voting Rights Act. If only there were some sort of doctrine to prevent confusing, last-minute alterations to election laws! [NPR]

* FCC vote to raise monopoly cap on media ownership faces legal challenges. [Axios]

* State’s youth prison operator hid abuse. [ProPublica]

Someone Is Keeping Up With Milbank — See Also

Keeping That Raise On Ice: Ice Miller increases associate pay in New York, but not until 2027.

Blame It On The AI: Company tried to pin labor law violation on ChatGPT.

The Tech Isn’t The Key: Legal AI needs to build a winning user experience if it’s going to capture Biglaw.

Everyone In MAGA Land Has Notes For Jeanine Pirro This Week: ‘Never mention her friggin’ name to me,’ fumed the man demanding she fire a prosecutor.

The Most Infamous SCOTUS Feud

Comes complete with a public airing of grievances.

Teaching Judgment In The Age Of AI: Building Legal Professionals Who Rely On AI Responsibly

Comfort and adoption with AI are rising faster than judgment maturity.

Mark Zuckerberg Thinks Everyone Should Have A Superintelligent AI Lawyer

Because justice is apparently what happens when everyone brings a robot lawyer to court.