Above the Law

Biglaw’s Money Can Follow Its Recruits Right Into A Judge’s Chambers, Ethics Panel Says

As long as the check isn't 'tied in any way' to the judicial service, it's all good.

Why Bigger Legal Budgets Buy Less Relief Than Ever

Introducing Axiom’s 2027 In-House Legal Budget Report. Read on to see the details.

The LL.M. Honor Roll: Ranking The Nation’s Best Specialty Degree Programs In Law (2026)

When it comes to tax law, you may be surprised by which schools made the grade.

Like Zeus, Billionaires Should Go Undercover As Derelicts To Reward Kindness And Punish Nastiness

Unfortunately, nobody fears divine retribution today.

US Representative Scrutinizes Practices Of IDR Entities

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., is seeking information from six IDR entities amid concerns about No Surprises Act arbitration practices and rising healthcare costs.

Morning Docket: 09.09.26

* Supreme Court refuses to overturn state supreme court ruling over Missouri’s maps. Federal district judge — sitting alone, as opposed to the three-judge panels required for this — decides to go ahead and impose the opposite result anyway. [Guardian]

* Ogletree opening new office with poached Littler team. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

* Mail-in balloting order an assault on federalism. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Court tosses $125 million award over magistrate judge’s undisclosed tight personal ties to lawyer, crediting argument that party wouldn’t have agreed to let the magistrate judge decide the matter had it known. [JD Journal]

* ABA accreditors vote to repeal diversity standard now that the government doesn’t care about ABA accreditation anymore. [Inside Higher Ed]

* Administration asks Supreme Court to salvage its effort to haphazardly purge voter rolls based on suspected immigration status. [NOTUS]

* Appeals panel bars IRS from handing private tax records over to ICE, calling government’s argument “weak sauce.” [The New Republic]

Is This *The* Worst In-House Job? — See Also

In-House Counsel Woes: Imagine being Jurassic Park’s general counsel.

They Left Biglaw To Build Something New. Now They’re Paying For It: In the best possible way.

It’s Never Too Soon To Start Working On Business Development: Take this important advice from the CEO of an elite boutique.

He’s Not A Regular Dean, He’s A Cool Dean: Elon Law’s Class of 2025 hit a 91.96% first-time bar pass rate, and Zak Kramer paid the tab in ink.

Have You Considered Reading?: Law professors melting down about AI-generated text and the need for more AI detection bots, but maybe there’s a simpler, not-entirely-stupid solution?

The Biglaw Attorney Who Gave Corporate America Its Deadliest Defense

A single defensive tactic reshaped the takeover wars.

Pangram Loving Law Professors Have Reached Peak AI Slop Brain

Pangram-mania is everywhere and all it proves is how little its fans care about critical thinking.

ILTACON News Round-Up Part 4, The Business Of Law: Litera, Aderant, Oddr, TRĒ AI, Intapp

Last week’s ILTACON brought what may have been the busiest news cycle for this conference, with a torrent of product announcements.

B2B Agents Will Need Their Own Contracting Playbooks

Preparing playbooks for agents may finally force companies to improve playbooks for everyone.

Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Asks Trump To Pardon His Client

There's just one huge problem...

Willy Wonka’s In-House Counsel Is Back And Handling Jurassic Park’s Legal Problems

Life... and legal disasters... find a way.

The ILTACON Wrap-Up

Discussing what we learned about legal technology in Nashville.

This Law School Dean Promised A Tattoo If His Students Crushed The Bar Exam

The dean kept his word.