Above the Law

This Judge Is Just Begging For A Benchslap — See Also

Judge VanDyke Has Taken To Asking The Supreme Court For Favors: Of the benchslap variety.

Full Metal Briefing: Todd Blanche feared DOJ would get “skullfucked” by the courts.

The Tortured Logic Of John Yoo: Yoo tells Fox News that the DOJ should probe Zohran Mamdani for thought crime, which is as scary as it is buffonish.

No Merger, No Problem: Linklaters is doing just fine when it comes to revenue, thank you very much.

The Process Is The Process: Generative AI is all over the legal industry, but when it comes to discovery, process beats technology.

Congress Has Some Pointed Questions For Skadden: Will they answer? Probably not! But that won’t necessarily make the problem go away.

Enterprise AI Is Quietly Creating Its Own Standard Contract

Markets mature when their contracts become recognizable.

The One Thing You Didn’t Think To Look For In Legal AI 

Accuracy isn’t just about pinpointing the correct answer. It’s also about being able to acknowledge when there is no answer to be found.

Courtroom View Network: Learning Trial Skills By Watching Real Lawyers In Real Trials

Courtroom View Network is a great example of using AI appropriately and in its proper place and combining it with non-AI tools.

No Merger Needed: Linklaters Posts Strong Financial Results

U.S. and Asia led the way as the firm's profits climbed double digits.

The Legal Tech-To-English Dictionary (2.0): Working With AI In A Professional Environment

In this series of definitions, we’ll explore what it looks like for AI to run unchecked in a business and how managers can establish control.

Federal Judge Asks Supreme Court To Please Start Publicly Humiliating His Colleagues

The loudest man on the Ninth Circuit is yelling again.

Law Democratized: Renee Knake Jefferson On Her Blueprint For Solving The Justice Crisis

Renee and Bob talk in depth about the access to justice crisis and what can be done to narrow the justice gap.

The AI Tension In Healthcare: Patent Strategy, FDA Reality, And HIPAA Constraints

These three legal regimes are pulling in different directions, and the developers that navigate them well will be the ones that plan for all three from the start.

Morning Docket: 07.21.26

* Anthropic settles copyright case for $1.5B dollars. [Reuters]

* Roughly half of Americans think the Supreme Court decides the cases based on politics. The other half are currently assisting a Nigerian prince recover his money. [ABA Journal]

* The entire American AI industry runs on financing that looks an awful lot like Enron. Good news for future eDiscovery demos in about 5 years! [Bloomberg Law News]

* Court hits pause on Paramount merger. [CNBC]

* Arizona Supreme Court rules that attorney-client privilege does not extend to communications with the party’s mother. And, since it’s Arizona, here’s the court’s official AI reporter to explain. [AZ Courts via YouTube]

* Border Czar Tom Homan more angry that people criticize ICE for killing innocent people than the fact that ICE is killing innocent people. [The New Republic]

* Lwsuit claims Puka Nacua bit a woman. [USA Today]

* Cop charged with covering bodycam to take pictures of naked prisoners. [Ars Technica]

Supreme Court Takes Up Case Of Most Expensive Six-Pack Of Bud Light Ever — See Also

Just ‘Plane’ Wrong: Alaska wants to take a man’s $95,000 plane because he didn’t notice a passenger bringing a six-pack of Bud on board. By the state’s reasoning, it’s perfectly reasonable that it’s only a $1,500 fine, but a $95,000 forfeiture.

The Trump Administration Has A Theory About Who Shouldn’t Be Litigating The Biglaw EO Case: It argues Susman Godfrey is conflicted out of the case.

Send In The Clowns: Trump brings DOJ into his lawsuit against the BBC after the news organization refuses to just give him money to go away. Because why not spend taxpayer resources to pursue his own flagging lawsuit?

Constitution As Suicide Pact Alert: Fifth Circuit considering blowing up 99 percent of federal law to help a trafficker keep his gun.

Law Student Takes Jeopardy! By Storm: He’s made nearly $350K so far, which is an awesome run.

T14 Degrees Aren’t All That Anymore…

Biglaw is widening its net.

Legal Ethics Roundup: SCOTUS Justices Testify About Enforceable Ethics, 20 AGs Want Clark Discipline Challenge Dismissed, Law Democratized On LawNext & More

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

Angela Madathil Is Right: The Best In-House Lawyers Aren’t Compliance Police. They’re Translators.

Lawyers create value by understanding people.

To Help Heroin Trafficker Keep His Gun, Fifth Circuit Considers ‘What If We Got Rid Of All Federal Laws?’

Clarence Thomas mused that the Commerce Clause may not support most federal law and the Fifth Circuit fell all over themselves to take it up.