Above the Law

Introducing The Legal Tech-To-English Dictionary —Version 2.0

It's back — with updates for the AI era!

Two Years Out Of Law School And Billing $1,410/Hr. Sure, Why Not.

The Spirit Airlines Chapter 11 case keeps delivering. At least for Davis Polk.

Healthcare Moves: A Monthly Summary Of Hires, Exits, And Layoffs

Abridge, Highmark Health, and Merck named new executives. There were also layoffs at organizations including Innovaccer, Intermountain Health, and Novartis.

Morning Docket: 06.01.26

* DOJ wants Judge Eleanor Ross removed from legal effort to seize Georgia's voting rolls, claiming reports that she attended her friend's Democratic primary victory party proves she's biased. The defendant in this case is the Republican Georgia state government by the way. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Federal judges asked to adopt new rule to deal with AI research requiring litigants to verify that cited cases are accurate. We used to call that... the existing rule. [Reuters]

* Scheduling order suggests the Eleventh Circuit might be running out of patience with Aileen Cannon suppressing the Jack Smith report. [Civil Discourse]

* Winston Taylor goes live. [Legal Cheek]

* Ohio looks to junk ABA law school accreditation too. [ABA Journal]

* Judge blocks Kennedy Center name change citing... the explicit statute barring the Kennedy Center name change. [Courthouse News Service]

* Former DOJ national security lawyer joins Cravath. [Law360]

* The looming legal fight over data centers. [Law.com]

A Banner Week For Getting Caught Screwing Around — See Generally

If The Chambers Are A-Rockin’ Don’t Come A-Knockin’: A federal district court judge was caught having sex in her chambers with a high-ranking police official and then lying about it. judicial complaint. Her fellow judges issued a private reprimand, scrubbing the report of obviously identifiable material. But the judges didn’t realize that AI could decipher that it was Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia within minutes based just on the reports and public internet access.

Department Of Justice Served With Bar Tab: A New York bar complaint targets Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche after Chief Judge Waverly Crenshaw found that he orchestrated a presumptively vindictive prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. At the same time, more than 120 scholars and former judges reminded the Florida Bar that it previously said that as long as Pam Bondi remained the sitting Attorney General it couldn’t investigate ethics charges against her. And, well, she’s not anymore.

A Real Dog Of A Case: Houston attorney Steven Swain faces a bestiality charge after his wife’s newly installed home-surveillance cameras allegedly caught him with the family dog.

Two Fox Rothschild Attorneys Shot Outside A North Carolina Courthouse: Both lawyers are expected to survive after a pro se plaintiff allegedly opened fire following a contentious hearing.

DOJ Continues To Confuse ‘Enforcing Criminal Laws’ With ‘Weaponization’: The DOJ fired four career prosecutors who enforced the FACE Act and then released a Weaponization Working Group report branding their work as biased against criminals that Republicans agree with,

When It Rains, It Pours Sanctions: A Cayman Islands judge concluded that a Quinn Emanuel partner’s affidavit was a deliberate attempt to mislead the court, adding to a rough year that already featured a $3 million sanctions order from Judge Edward Chen.

A Hot Bonus Spring: Selendy Gay surprised associates with spring bonuses of up to $25,000, the latest sign that the boutiques are again setting the pace on comp.

Looking For More Experience: For the first time in years, the majority of Biglaw associate hiring happened on the lateral end of the market in 2025, with law student hires sliding to 37.5 percent.

Threats To Judges Apparently Only Count Above A Certain Pay Grade: A swatting attempt at Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home generated headlines, but the documented surge of threats against lower court judges — 241 against 202 judges in 2026 alone — keeps getting buried near the bottom of the story.

Working For Trump Is Its Own Form Of Punishment: DLA Piper’s Caryn Schechtman signed a brief for Trump in the Central Park Five defamation appeal, joining a long line of lawyers serving a client who already owes a dozen firms $1.6 million.

Bonuses Are In The Air! — See Also

Selendy Gay Springs Money On Their Associates!: This boutique pays out the big bucks!

The Climate Scoreboard Is Out!: See where the biggest names in Biglaw rank on climate work.

Attempted Swatting At Amy Coney Barrett’s Home: Dangerous time to be a judge.

Trump Gets Legal Help From DLA Piper: A partner at the firm was hired to defend his comments about the Central Park 5.

Siloed Workers Don’t Learn At The Water Cooler: Senior partners can’t outsource training new talent to LLMs.

A Breakdown Of The DOJ’s Immigration Departures

The brain drain is for real.

Back To Basics

AI hallucinations are exposing weaknesses in legal review processes.

Considerations When Withdrawing As Counsel For Nonpayment Of Fees

When it happens, it can bring subtle complications.

DLA Piper Partner Backs Trump Central Park 5 Defamation Case

At least these briefs won't look like he wrote them.

Nonequity Partners Entered The Chat, And Skadden’s Promotion Numbers Soared

The firm's embrace of nonequity partners helped produce its largest recent partnership class.

US Atty Boutros: If Not Trump Hack, Why Trump Hack Shaped?

That stink doesn't wash off.

Amy Coney Barrett Swatting Incident Tests Whether Anyone Cares About Threats To Judges Who Aren’t On SCOTUS

A fake gunshot report at a justice's home is real and serious. So is the avalanche of threats against the lower court judges getting mostly overlooked.

It’s Time To Say Goodbye To Water Cooler Training

We have to start by recognizing that we actually have a problem.

The World Cup Is Coming To New York. So Why Aren’t Hotel Numbers Higher?

The World Cup may create new tourism while simultaneously pushing some existing tourism away.