Above the Law

The Argument Doesn’t Need To Be Good To Work — See Also

Trump’s Bad Legal Takes Still Have Efficacy: Legal losses haven’t stopped the bullying from working on some firms.

Pose! Prosecute! Pose!: Jeanine Pirro hired her photographer buddy for a very prestigious side hustle.

Pam Bondi Brings Up The Dow Jones Instead Of Her Job: Here are the highlights from the shameful bait and switch.

Pour One Out For Mansfield: Biglaw would rather give up on diversity than court the Trump administration’s ire.

Small Firm Leans In To AI: Costs are down and profits are up!

A Song Of ICE And Firing

Good news! The Trump-DOJ is hiring.

Critical Training In The Age Of GenAI May Require Training The Trainers

Law firms will have to recognize that future lawyers aren’t going to learn to be good lawyers in traditional ways.

In A Marriage Of Legal Editing Tools, BriefCatch Has Acquired WordRake And Its 12 Editing Patents

The WordRake product will be integrated into BriefCatch as part of a single product offering.

What Anthropic’s Release Of Claude Legal Skills Means For Solos And Smalls: Nothing

In the solo and small space, there's unlikely to be a real upset to the status quo any time soon.

Threading The Needle: How To Win The Case That Can’t Be Won (At Least Not The Obvious Way)

Threading the needle is not flashy. But it wins.

5 Tips For Proving Your Legal Department’s Value

Join our expert panel on March 3rd at 1 p.m. ET to explore actionable, emerging ways you can gather and proactively share the data that demonstrates the impact of your work.

Trump Administration’s Bad Legal Takes Are Surprisingly Effective

Win a case in court? No. Scare Biglaw into submission? Maybe.

Moderna Says FDA Refusal To Review mRNA Flu Vaccine Contradicts Federal Rules, Prior Guidance

The FDA’s refuse-to-file letter cited no safety or efficacy concerns. The company said the agency’s justification for refusing a review is inconsistent with guidance given prior to the start of Phase 3 testing.

Morning Docket: 02.12.26

* Lawmakers grilled Pam Bondi over the DOJ cover-up of the Epstein files, which included both improper redactions of perpetrators and illegal disclosures of victims. Bondi responded by yelling a lot. [Reuters]

* The last remaining enforcement attorney in the Chicago CFTC office resigned. It’s like the movie The Purge except for pork belly futures. [Barrons]

* Prosecutor who left Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office joins the Don Lemon defense team. [ABA Journal]

* Trump fires the official U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York to continue using the guy squatting on the job with no lawful authority. They say “no person is illegal,” but then how do you explain John Sarcone? [New York Law Journal]

* Increasingly irate that the public hates him, Donald Trump started threatening to sue the media for reporting his polling numbers. So Gallup is going to stop polling. [The Hill]

* Tom Goldstein testifies to losing millions on poker in 2016. [Law360]

* Clients are figuring out what we already told them — law firms aren’t going to pass on AI savings. [Artificial Lawyer]

That’s A Lot Of Love For Jeffrey Epstein — See Also

Emails Show Ken Starr Was Very Buddy-Buddy With Epstein: Read about former Baylor University president’s exchanges here.

Former DLA Piper Chair Was Also Close With E: Was anybody in a position of power not cool with this guy?

Former Sheriff Accused Of Killing Judge Wants Death Penalty Off The Table: He’s arguing that he has a serious mental illness or intellectual disability.

Kirkland & Ellis Open Up Shop In Nashville: Hear that? That’s the sound of money!

On This Week Of Thinking Like A Lawyer: Flooding the zone means the DOJ is drowning in work.

District Attorney Sanctioned Over Secret AI Use In Court Filings

Mind your disclosure requirements, people!

Meet The $4,000/Hr Biglaw Partners

A new high in billing rates.

From Doom Scrolling To Rainmaking: Why Lawyers Who Do Everything End Up Invisible

Too many choices feel productive, until they quietly stall your growth. The same thing that kills date-night movie decisions may be hurting your legal business development.

JD Vance Tells Olympic Athletes To ‘Play Sports,’ Not ‘Pop Off’ About Politics

The vice president weighs in on what Team USA is apparently not allowed to say while competing abroad.