Amy Chua, the Yale Law School professor and self-described "tiger mom," is making headlines again amid a battle with her Ivy League employer. On this episode of On The Merits, Chua talks to Bloomberg Law columnist Vivia Chen about why she finds herself embroiled in controversy now and how challenging it's been for her family. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
Jul 07, 2021•17 min
In April, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice would investigate policing practices in Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Now many law enforcement experts expect to see cities enter into consent decrees to address civil rights violations at the hands of the police, among other operational reforms. Consent decrees present an interesting opportunity for some law firms. In the past, decrees have often requir...
Jun 29, 2021•16 min
On this weekend edition of our legal news podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law editor Carmen Castro-Pagan tells us about a federal judge who grew so frustrated by a protracted discovery dispute that her feelings could only be expressed through with one simple character: 🤯 Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
Jun 26, 2021•7 min
The country's biggest, most profitable law firms—think Milbank, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, and Cravath—are falling all over themselves to increase the salaries of their associates with many bumping up the wages of first-year associates to more than $200,000. On this episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Meghan Tribe explains what's driving this attorney salary arms race, and she talks about how much higher associate salaries can possibly go. She also says that, while these j...
Jun 22, 2021•15 min
Attorneys who leave the federal government after an administration change usually get snatched up quickly by Big Law firms and corporations. But a Bloomberg Law analysis found that hasn't been the case this year. Nearly six months after Donald Trump left office, more than 80% of top lawyers in Trump’s administration have landed somewhere since he left office, even if their roles are part time or not their first choice. That's according to a new story from Bloomberg Law's John Hughes. On this epi...
Jun 15, 2021•14 min
On this special weekend episode of On The Merits, reporter Bobby Magill reads his story about the rush to obtain a federal mining permit before an expected Biden administration environmental regulatory change. Click here to read the story in print.
Jun 12, 2021•9 min
Can your employer require you to get a Covid-19 vaccine? Many legal experts say yes, but very few employers are actually taking that step. Some, of the few who have, are now facing litigation. On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Robert Iafolla talks about a few of the recent lawsuits challenging employer vaccine mandates. He says, even if they get tossed out of court, they're already having a significant impact. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and lea...
Jun 08, 2021•13 min
Earlier this year, our companion podcast, [Un]Common Law, published a series looking at the experiences of African American lawyers and judges working in the legal industry—which, to this day, remains one of the least diverse professions in America. Now, more than a year since George Floyd’s murder, and the wave of soul-searching in the legal industry that followed, 16 of the nation’s largest law firms, nine of which are in the Am Law 200, still do not have even a single Black partner according ...
Jun 01, 2021•21 min
On this holiday weekend edition of Bloomberg Law's legal news podcast, On The Merits, we hear about a federal judge who likes to pepper his opinions with references to Taylor Swift, "The Lion King," and other bits of pop culture ephemera. Carmen Castro-Pagan, an editor on our Legal Intelligence desk, talks about the creative writing style of Judge Joshua D. Wolson and about why some judges like to spice up their opinions this way.
May 29, 2021•8 min
Entertainment law is not quite as glitzy or glamorous as you may have heard. That’s especially the case for music industry lawyers who work with up and coming hip hop artists. On our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we learn what it’s really like behind the music from lawyers Desiree Talley, Gerard Anthony, Karl Fowlkes, and Tiffany Ballard. They say attorneys who represent artists must be hawk-like in guarding their clients’ intellectual property rights. The attorneys talk about fendin...
May 25, 2021•10 min
On this special weekend episode of On The Merits, reporter Holly Barker reads her story about what happens to aging lawyers when they get dementia, and what happens to their clients. Click here to read the story in print.
May 22, 2021•18 min
There are currently more than 160,000 practicing lawyers over the age of 65 in the U.S., a 50% increase from just a decade ago. But this age group is also more at risk of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. That can have serious consequences for a lawyer's clients, especially if that attorney is a solo practitioner or works in a small firm. On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Holly Barker talks about her recent reporting on lawyers that are unaware of, or are in ...
May 18, 2021•16 min
Bloomberg Law columnist Vivia Chen recently wrote about a failed attempt to rank law schools based on diversity. She started her column by saying "old White men" need to get out of the way on issues like this. That line elicited some passionate responses from several Bloomberg Law readers. On this bonus weekend episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we talk to Vivia about the responses, and also hear from one of an "old White man" who wrote to her about the column.
May 15, 2021•8 min
Just accessing, let alone paying for, mental health care was difficult in the U.S. even before the pandemic. Now, especially for people suffering from "long Covid," the situation is dire. On this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we speak with Bloomberg Law's Lydia Wheeler about her latest reporting that examines the financial and policy implications for Covid long haulers. She explains why the protracted version of the Covid-19 disease is causing a spike in demand for men...
May 04, 2021•15 min
The holders of H-1B visas, who work in tech, science, and other highly skilled occupations, can bring their children to the U.S. legally. However, as soon as those children turn 21, they lose their dependent status and risk deportation to a country they may have no recollection of ever having lived in. On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Genevieve Douglas talks about the difficult choices these so-called "legal Dreamers" have to make and the bill, which passed in the House, that co...
Apr 27, 2021•12 min
The ADA requires employers to give disabled workers "reasonable accommodations" in the workplace. But, when it comes to disputes over work-from-home arrangements, employers almost always won with the argument that the job can't be performed remotely. That, as you might imagine, has changed. On this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Erin Mulvaney tells us about how the pandemic may have given employees the upper hand in suits over working from home. (2:50) A...
Apr 20, 2021•19 min
Federal appellate court judges rarely speak to the press. Fortunately for us, Judge Evan Wallach, a nine-year veteran of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who recently announced he will be taking senior status at the end of May, granted an exclusive interview to Bloomberg Law's Perry Cooper. On this episode of On The Merits, Cooper talks about her surprise at how candid Wallach was during their interview, and also about the nakedly partisan reason Wallach gave for why he's taking...
Apr 13, 2021•21 min
The predictions from a few years ago that the so-called "gig economy" would take over the country are looking a little shakier now. That's because California and other states have enacted laws that force many gig apps to classify their users as employees. On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Maeve Allsup talks about how, despite a pro-gig economy ballot initiative last year, many of these apps are still subject to California's employment laws. (3:10) Also, we take a look at the ongo...
Apr 06, 2021•23 min
Berkshire Hathaway is unusual in a lot of ways, including the fact that it doesn't have a general counsel or even an in-house legal team. Today on our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Brian Baxter explains why Warren Buffett's holding company exclusively uses an outside law firm and how that firm has benefited from its relationship to The Oracle of Omaha. (3:12) Also, Bloomberg Law legal reporter Jacklyn Wille tells us about the footnotes of a federal judge in California that are, ...
Mar 30, 2021•19 min
For many businesses, 2020 was a truly awful year—but that was not the case for Kirkland & Ellis’s bankruptcy practice. On today’s episode of our podcast, On The Merits, business of law reporter Roy Strom talks about his analysis of bankruptcy data that shows Kirkland handled a tremendous share of the many major bankruptcies that were filed last year. (2:36) Also, our new columnist Vivia Chen on the necessary and long overdue anti-Asian racism discussion happening now in the U.S. and how it i...
Mar 23, 2021•19 min
State bar exams are getting some tweaks and may be fully overhauled in the near future. On this week’s episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law’s Sam Skolnik talks about how emergency changes made to state bar exams, in response to the pandemic, have many thinking that a wholesale revision of how the exams are administered may not be a bad idea. (2:48) Also, legal editor Carmen Castro-Pagan talks about the ousted CEO of a company who lost a trademark suit with his former employer, an...
Mar 16, 2021•21 min
This week's episode of our new weekly legal podcast, On The Merits, explores the push to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers. The hourly wage for tipped workers, $2.13, hasn't gone up in decades and is $5.12 lower than for non-tipped workers. (3:01) We also get a lesson in negligence while learning about a casino pool party accident that led to an embarrassing benchslap. (12:14)
Mar 09, 2021•19 min
Our new weekly podcast, On The Merits features some of the best reporting from across the Bloomberg Law newsroom. For the inaugural episode, we learn that states are sharing reams of sensitive, personally identifiable information about Covid-19 vaccine recipients with the CDC, all while staying in compliance with HIPAA. Bloomberg Law's Jacquie Lee explains how the famously strict medical privacy law has become much more flexible during this public health emergency, and what the CDC is doing to t...
Mar 02, 2021•21 min
Introducing "On The Merits," a new weekly legal news podcast from Bloomberg Law.
Feb 22, 2021•1 min
A live interview with Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, exploring the current state of risk for public and private companies. Yates is interviewed by David Westin, an anchor at Bloomberg TV and former general counsel of Capital Cities/ABC. Sponsors: Epiq www.epiqglobal.com/ Bloomberg Law www.bloomberglaw.com/ More Information: Big Law Business https://biglawbusiness.com/sally-yates-live-from-bloomberg-laws-in-house-forum
Nov 23, 2018•30 min
Josh Block is joined by legal journalist, Victor Li, the author of a new book about Richard Nixon's time as a law firm partner in New York City. In between his loss in the 1962 gubernatorial election in California and the 1968 presidential campaign, Nixon was a rainmaking partner at the Wall Street law firm, Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. In “Nixon in New York: How Wall Street Helped Richard Nixon Win the White House,” Li chronicles how Nixon’s time as a practicing lawyer, includin...
Aug 23, 2018•35 min
After Ruth Bader Ginsburg graduated from Columbia Law School in 1959, tied for first in her class, she could not get a job as an associate in big law. As her classmate Professor Arthur R. Miller tells it, a partner at a prestigious firm was told about the brightest student in his class but, when her gender was mentioned, the partner wouldn’t even consider her. Which law firm? Miller isn’t saying. “He wouldn’t name the New York firm. It was our impression that it was a big name law firm in New Yo...
May 04, 2018•35 min
Jad Abumrad is the executive producer and creator of More Perfect, a podcast that explores Supreme Court cases and tries to explain the impact of the Court’s decisions on the lives of Americans. The challenge is making the cases “come alive,” Abumrad told Josh Block of Big Law Business. “Can I make it feel exciting and visceral? but also honor the complexity of the arguments?” In this podcast interview, Abumrad, also the creator of Radiolab, tells Block about More Perfect’s unique approach to co...
Feb 28, 2018•27 min
Law firm leaders from Wilson Sonsini and Orrick were joined by in-house leaders from Workday and Malwarebytes to talk about the state of the legal industry at this month’s Big Law Business Summit-West. This episode of the our podcast was recorded live at the Summit. The panel was moderated by Michael Hytha of Bloomberg News and includes Ed Brown, Vice President and General Counsel, Malwarebytes; Katie Martin, Chair of the Board, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Jim Shaughnessy, Senior Vice...
Nov 30, 2017•29 min
"Starting in the 2000s it was women who had already made partner, and who were not leaving [big law] for work-life balance reasons, but were leaving for business reasons and I don’t think that trend is going to change." – Nicole Galli, former litigation partner at Pepper Hamilton, who now has her own small firm. In the second of our two-episode podcast series, Josh Block of Big Law Business explores why many women lawyers are leaving big law and starting their own law firms. Galli and Stephanie ...
Sep 18, 2017•23 min
