Above the Law

Posts by Above the Law

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.19.25

* The Times looks at Biglaw surrenders through the lens of the history of Above the Law itself. [NY Times]

* McDermott/Schulte merger will create one of the biggest New York presences of any firm (until the looming recession hits and provides a convenient opportunity to trim redundancies, of course). [American Lawyer]

* Wachtell and Latham decide that since everyone is happy with rent-seeking, monopolistic cable companies, it's time to make an even bigger one. [Law360]

* On Friday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that, no, the government can't sell more people to prisons without due process. Alito and Thomas dissent... probably hoping for an awesome all-expense paid luxury vacation courtesy of the El Salvadoran government. [CNBC]

* Relatedly, Judge Xinnis sees the Trump administration inching ever closer to the contempt line in refusing to follow orders in Abrego Garcia case. Meanwhile, someone in the White House is saying, "Xinnis... sounds foreign to me." [Reuters]

* New York case asks if the algorithms tech companies use to steer radicalizing content to specific users have become products susceptible to the state product liability law. Essentially, does ranking and delivering content take it outside the Section 230 shield. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Karen Read gets documentary series. [ABA Journal]

See Also

Seashellgate: Trumpworld Sees Comey’s Day At The Beach As Criminal Assassination Threat — See Also

Work From Home? That Was So 2024: Sidley only gave a week's notice before ordering folks back.

Above The Law In The New York Times: Normally this newsletter is about Above the Law stories of the week, but let's make an exception for this Times feature on ATL.

Hold These Shells Up To Your Ear And You Can Hear Kash Patel Being Insane: Former FBI Director's beach pic inspires administration conspiracy theorists to see Manchurian Clamshell scenario.

Young Lawyers Speaking Up; Law Firm Leaders Hit "Mute" And Turn Up Kid Rock: Lawyers, in particular minority lawyers, feel expendable as firms side with Trump.

Lawyers Of Arabia: Kirkland Chair Jon Ballis leveraged firm's collaboration with Donald Trump into a spot on the Saudi Arabia trip.

Diversity Initiatives? Never Heard Of 'Em: Firm removes diversity billing codes... and if it's not billable it's not happening.

Judicial Campaigning (Contains 0% Real Content): Broward County judge in trouble for campaigning on AI deepfake video.

What's Worse Than One Congressional Investigation? Two! Senator Whitehouse launches probe into the nine Biglaw firms that capitulated to Donald Trump.

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.16.25

* There's an appetite at the Supreme Court to get rid of universal injunctions, but after brutal oral argument, birthright citizenship might not be the case where they pull the trigger. [Law360]

* Giving Jeanine Pirro a temporary appointment after riding Ed Martin's doomed interim run tests temporary appointment power that should give the district court the power to fill that job temporarily. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Biglaw efforts to surrender or fight hinged upon their willingness to act collectively. [Law.com]

* Latham caught in the AI hallucination trap. [Reuters]

* ICE misled a federal judge into issuing a warrant and this should be lesson eleventy billion that judges need to be a lot more suspicious of warrants casually dumped on their desks. [The Intercept]

* Now they've dragged Taylor Swift into the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni debacle. [Newsweek]

* Following all the attention of the Conclave, the ABA Journal offers a brief guide to canon law. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.15.25

* The Supreme Court decided insurrection part of the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't matter anymore, so let's see about birthright citizenship. [National Law Journal]

* Harvard bought a copy of the Magna Carta for less than $30. It turns out it's an original. [Reuters]

* AG Pam Bondi apparently sold massive amounts of Trump media stock right before the tariff announcement crashed the market. What an amazing coincidence! [ProPublica]

* Jenner lawyer loses security clearance in ongoing administration retaliation effort. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Minnesota prepares for Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin. [Minnesota Star-Tribune]

* Facebook says connecting friends is "secondary." Surprised it still ranks that high... [Law360]

* The profession is at a crossroads and how the rule of law crisis is just as big a part of it as AI. [Forbes]

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.14.25

* Judge Luttig explains that we've reached the end of the rule of law. [The Atlantic]

* Abrupt removal of Librarian of Congress looked like a Musk effort to seize control of copyright law for the benefit of his AI interests... but anti-tech MAGA lawyers might have thrown a wrench in those plans. [Verge]

* Government strips Wilmer attorneys of security clearances in case DOJ will lose next. [American Lawyer]

* Chuck Grassley suddenly wants a law to stop "universal injunctions" after four years of letting Amarillo run the FDA. These are not serious people. [Law360]

* FBI ordered to divert work from white collar enforcement to immigration. [Reuters]

* Attorney with big social media following accused of providing no value to clients. Wait until they learn what happens in Biglaw "internal team meetings." [ABA Journal]

* In "you can indict a ham sandwich" news, the Wisconsin judge arrested in her courthouse for refusing to let ICE make arrests in her courtroom off an administrative warrant was indicted. [New York Times]