Above the Law

Check The Funny Papers — See Also

Doonesbury Can’t Take Biglaw Serious: Wait until you hear their solution to the Pro Bono Payola problem!

About That Epstein List Disappearing Act: Pam Bondi and the DOJ just did one hell of an about face.

Is This An IP Lawsuit Or An Advertisement Campaign?: Lululemon drags Costco to court over their similar products.

Is More Money On The Way?: We’re talking salary and bonus prospects!

Appellate Litigator Leaves Latham For Jenner & Block: Leaving for a place that actually fights — go figure!

Colin Levy Says Contracts Are Data — So Why Aren’t Legal Teams Listening?

Contract data isn’t limited to party names and payment dates.

Legal Ethics Roundup: TEDLaw Launch, Beautiful Bill Impact, Trump Appeals EO Loss, Fed Judge = Public Official Defamation, Judge Salas – Rule of Law & More

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

Eliminating ‘Waste, Fraud, And Abuse’ In Government

How much did Musk and the DOGE crew actually save America by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse?

Meet Me At ILTACON: Opus 2 And AI Workbench

Swing by Booth 800 for a look at the latest in AI-powered case management.

Spineless Biglaw Firms Featured In Sunday Funny Pages

While they might seem like a lock for Lucy yanking the football, it was a different strip.

How Microsoft Is Sparking Innovation In Rural Hospitals

Rural hospitals are facing growing cybersecurity threats and digital demands but often lack the resources to respond — a gap Microsoft is working to close through discounted tools, free training and an AI innovation lab.

Morning Docket: 07.07.25

* Judge accused of using position to advance family cheesesteak business. Good story to share if you’re wit’ an ethics Whiz. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Robbing Paul to pay Paul?: Paul Weiss partner moves to Paul Hastings because, again, everything is fine at Paul Weiss! [Bloomberg Law News]

* Justice Kagan’s concurrence in D.V.D. makes the most sense when you understand the divide between those who think cold legal formalism can sway these people and those who think we’ve entered a fight for the soul of law. [One First]

* Judge Posner said it all years ago — all the textualism and originalism is just a smokescreen. Too bad Justice Breyer hasn’t learned that lesson yet. [Dorf on Law]

* Street preacher case heading to the Supreme Court, just in time for its new “strict scrutiny, why the hell not?” stance on religion. [Law360]

* Jay Willis really wants to know how much they pay Noah Feldman to keep writing this stuff. [Balls and Strikes]

* Skadden partner takes over as GC at Chinese social media platform Little Red Book. Apparently its founder claims the name was inspired by Bain & Company and his time at Stanford Business and not THE MOST FAMOUS BOOK IN CHINA. [Law.com International]

The Artificial Intelligence Legal Catastrophe Inches Closer To Reality — See Generally

AI Makes Up Cases, Court Says ‘Sure, Why Not’: Judge signed off on party’s proposed order. Apparently didn’t bother to check the made up cases.

Textualism/Originalism May Be Bankrupt, But Like Donald Trump Always Is… Ignoring Costs, Harming People Who Trust Them In Good Faith, And Barreling Forward To The Next Crisis Of Their Own Making: Justice Breyer delivers well-crafted critiques that misunderstand that proponents aren’t trying to win the argument, they’re trying to have smart people treat them like they have ideas worth engaging.

John Roberts Replies On Cue: The Chief Justice took time out of his busy schedule to clarify that people like Breyer may have detailed, powerful, constitutionally valid criticisms, but they’re losers because SCOREBOARD! SIX VOTES, SUCKAS!

Diddy Covers ‘RICO’ Sauve: Prosecutors reached for racketeering. Missed.

The Definition Of Psychosis…: Speaking of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, Trump appeals Perkins Coie loss.

Law Firms Exhibit Serious ‘I Got Dumped, So Let’s Get Married’ Energy: After losing 60 attorneys, Biglaw firm entertains merger talks.

Trump’s Lawyers Play Iowa Civ Pro Roulette: Team Trump’s legal eagles realized they needed to drop and refile their lawsuit. Probably a day late.

Biglaw Firm Parties Like It’s 2019: Another Biglaw firm decides what associates really need is more fluorescent lighting.

Budget Bill Limits Student Loans: If law school is harder to pay for… maybe they’ll lower tuition?

How You Disagree Matters Too, Breyer — See Also

Former Supreme Court Justice Pretends Sham Legal Theory Is Used In Good Faith: You can advocate for pragmatism without pretending originalism is a real thing.

Biglaw Firm Celebrates With Its Audience In Mind: Their firework celebration comes with a quiet room in case it gets to be too much!

What IS Porn, Really?: If it’s up to this Court, it is whatever they and other religious fundamentalists don’t (openly) like.

Alex Spiro Sets His Sights Higher Than Legal: What’s a bigger accomplishment than defending Eric Adams?

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This Law School Has Quite A Bit Of Influence On The Supreme Court

Its grads keep showing up there.

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

June saw a slew of executive hires, promotions, exits, and layoffs across the healthcare sector.

Red, White, And Definitely Blue

While some may celebrate, others will mourn.

Lawyers Should Help Other Lawyers Start Their Own Practices

Few acts of a lawyer have a more positive impact than helping lawyers begin their own practices.