On The Merits

The future lawyers of America were taking the LSAT this weekend. But, by the time they get their JDs in a few years, law firms may have replaced many of their entry-level associate jobs with AI. That's a fear Mike Spivey hears a lot about these days. Spivey is a former law school administrator who is now an admissions consultant working with schools and prospective students. He says law school applications for the class of 2029 are spiking right now—even though AI may totally transform the legal industry by the time they graduate. Law schools are asking themselves "'Are we admitting people and bringing in large class sizes who, in three to four years, we're setting up to be in great debt? Are we going to have these debt-ridden people without jobs?'" Spivey said on our podcast, On The Merits. "That's the tension." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Legal giant Paul Weiss is getting a new chairman for the first time in nearly two decades, but this transition is definitely not happening in a planned, orderly fashion. Brad Karp stepped down from the role yesterday after the latest tranche of Justice Department documents showed he had surprisingly close ties to disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein—far closer than what Paul Weiss had originally indicated. On this special episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law editor Chris Opfer talks about what happened at this elite law firm and about the informal work Karp did for Epstein shortly before his death. Opfer also talks about why the firm's profits may not actually suffer that much from this abrupt change in leadership. "Long gone are the days of Paul Weiss being this, sort of, large litigation boutique," Opfer said. "It's much more a corporate-focused mega-firm." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

There was a time when elite Wall Street firms such as Cravath or Wachtell seemed to rise above the lateral tug-of-war among other firms. That doesn't appear to be the case any longer, with a handful of partners from both of these firms announcing their departures for competitors last month. "I don't think these are one-offs," legal recruiter Sabina Lippman said. "It's a pattern." Firms like these will need to adjust their mindsets—and perhaps their pay structures as well—to stay at the top, according to two New York-based legal recruiters who spoke on our podcast, On The Merits. Lippman, co-founder and global managing partner at CenterPeak, and Todd Merkin, executive director of Wegman Partners, spoke to Bloomberg Law's Jessie Kokrda Kamens about this newest phase of what Lippman calls "the talent wars." Merkin said that these firms have "really been focused on talent retention, and not so much on talent acquisition. So they're a little bit behind as far as that goes." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Last year, the litigation finance industry was nearly taxed out of existence by a measure Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) tried to attach to a big tax and spending package. The measure, which would have imposed a 41% tax on litigation finance profits, didn't become law. But it did spook many who work on this fast growing $16 billion industry. Two attorneys have responded by launching the American Civil Accountability Alliance, a lobbying group designed to push back against laws targeting the outside funding of lawsuits. One of those two co-founders, Houston patent lawyer Erick Robinson, is our guest on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits. "I think we were all just shocked," Robinson told Bloomberg Law's Emily R. Siegel. The litigation funding tax "came very close, a lot closer than anybody including, I think, Senator Tillis, thought to passing." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The trial of Tom Goldstein, the elite Supreme Court advocate and co-founder of SCOTUSBlog who was charged with criminal tax evasion after years of playing ultra-high-stakes poker games, continues this week in Maryland. Bloomberg Law reporter Holly Barker, who's there covering the proceedings, joins us to talk about it on our podcast, On The Merits. Barker lays out what Goldstein's defense will likely be and why his status as an elite lawyer could make it harder for that defense to succeed. She also talks about why some poker-loving Hollywood celebrities may be called to the stand to testify against Goldstein. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Latham & Watkins beat out its rival Kirkland & Ellis in our annual League Tables ranking of M&A activity for 2025. And on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, the firm's M&A co-chairs talk about what went down in what one called "the year of the mega deal." Alex Kelly and Paul Kukish spoke with Bloomberg Law reporter Mahira Dayal about why Latham was able to work on almost 800 deals in 2025 totaling more than $780 billion in value. Kukish said AI and AI-adjacent deals were a big part of the firm's success—success that smaller firms just now getting into the AI space may not be able to replicate. They also talked about how they think tariffs and other Trump administration policies affected the market this year for buying and selling companies. "There has been an increased focus by our clients on how the president views a particular industry, or a particular company, or a particular country," Kelly said. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

There's never a good time for a law firm to see one of its most prominent partners leave and take several attorneys with him. But this is especially bad timing for Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann. The firm specializes in representing shareholders suing companies in Delaware, the incorporation capital of the world. But ever since Elon Musk reincorporated Tesla outside the state in response to a lawsuit over his pay package—a lawsuit Bernstein Litowitz led—the state has changed its laws to make it harder for shareholder plaintiffs to succeed. In this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporters Jennifer Kay and Tatyana Monnay talk about the unusual bitterness Bernstein Litowitz expressed to its departing colleague after he exited the firm. They also talk about why, after the seismic corporate law changes of 2025, it may no longer be as lucrative as it once was to represent shareholders in Delaware. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

It's not a very controversial statement to say that Donald Trump's attacks on law firms were the biggest Big Law story in 2025. But, according to the guests on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, the ramifications of those attacks are still playing out and may spill over into next year and beyond. Bloomberg Law editors Chris Opfer and Alessandra Rafferty said the attacks are still affecting the decisions firms make, or don't make, in hard-to-detect ways—even though the president is no longer actively lobbing punitive executive orders at firms. The two Big Law editors discuss how this is playing out and also whether—and why—we may see more firms merge in 2026. They also get into how the legal industry will be affected if we see an AI bubble burst. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

New York's oldest law firm answered the outstanding question surrounding its ability to remain independent with a resounding no when it announced a merger with Hogan Lovells last week. As Bloomberg Law reporter Meghan Tribe tells it, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft had been in a gradual decline since the 2008 global financial crisis. It also failed to adapt to the new reality of the legal industry in which lateral hiring is not just commonplace but necessary for a firm's survival, she said. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Tribe gets into what transpired that forced the more than 200-year-old firm to put itself up for sale, and also what made Hogan leap at the chance to merge with Cadwalader. Additionally, Tribe talks about what the tie-up could mean for the pro bono deal Cadwalader struck with the Trump administration earlier this year. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

It's become common now for firms to recruit elite law students even before the end of their first semester of their first year of law school, something that would have been unheard of before the pandemic. That's a far cry from the days when firms waited until the summer before the 2L year to start recruiting students through on campus interviews. It's a trend that hurts everyone involved, according to the guests on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits: columnist David Lat and Nikia Gray, the head of the National Association for Law Placement. Law schools have lost the control over this process they once had; law firms now have to make recruiting decision with far less information about the candidates; and, worst of all, law students now must make important career decisions in some cases just months after they arrive on campus. "I have not heard from a single student yet that thinks this is a good process," Gray said, "nor a single school that feels that way." "I've talked to the firms," Lat added. "They say 'Look, we don't like this process either. But our rivals are recruiting this early and so we can't sit on the sidelines.'" Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Now is the time of year when many law firms pressure their attorneys to get their clients to pay bills before the end of the year. It's something that clients loathe just as much as their attorneys, according to today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits. Eric Dodson Greenberg, the general counsel of Cox Media Group, said the lawyer-client relationship can suffer when firms bill too aggressively and not thoughtfully enough—a problem made worse by the move toward automated billing. He said he's lost some trust in certain outside firms he's worked with when they send him surprise invoices. "What law firms have done is divorced the billing process from the exercise of judgment," he told Bloomberg Law editor Jessie Kokrda Kamens. "Law firms often prioritize that last push in December to get all that they can and not really focus on 'What's the relationship we inherit on January 1st?'" Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

OpenAI is a relatively new tech startup with the litigation demands of a massive Fortune 500 company. That means that Che Chang, its general counsel, has had to scale up his department fast. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Chang speaks with Bloomberg Law reporter Aruni Soni about how he hires lawyers to work for the ChatGPT maker and how OpenAI works with its outside law firms. On top of these usual legal officer duties, Chang discusses the "immense responsibility" of guiding decisions around the "future of human intellect." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

It's been a difficult year for Brad Karp, chair of Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss. In January he suffered a heart attack and then, a few months later, he chose to strike a pro bono deal with the Trump administration to stave off a punitive executive order.  In a recent speech at a gala event in New York, Karp said the latter was more painful than the former. But during that speech, a fellow attorney stood up and heckled him—an indication of how raw feelings within the legal industry still are over the pro bono deals. Bloomberg Law reporter Mike Vilensky was at the event and saw all of this go down. He joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about who shouted at Karp, why, and what the two had to say to each other after the event concluded. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

As Big Law looks for ways to scale up, McDermott Will & Schulte says it's looking at outside investment in the firm—a move that could set off a paradigm shift in how law firms run their businesses. If it does sell a part of itself to investors, McDermott would be by far the largest publicly known firm to take this step. Outside investment represents a new source of capital for law firms looking to expand, but does come with myriad risks and potential roadblocks. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Jessie Kokrda Kamens and Justin Henry talk about why McDermott is doing this now, whether they can pull it off, and how they're going to get around the ethical rules prohibiting outside ownership of firms. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The top lawyers at the largest publicly traded companies in America are being asked to wear many hats at once—and also getting paid handsomely to do so. That's the takeaway from a recent story by Bloomberg Law senior reporters Brian Baxter and Andrew Ramonas, who crunched data from SEC filings of S&P 500 companies and found out how much these attorneys are making. Alphabet's J. Kent Walker Jr. leads the list with a total compensation package exceeding $30 million. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Baxter and Ramonas talk about who these highly paid executives are, the new responsibilities they have, and why they don't always hold the titles of "general counsel" or "chief legal officer" at their respective companies. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Most of the biggest law firms in the US have a two-tier partnership model, where some partners have equity in the firm while others don't. So it was a bit of a surprise when the firm Ropes & Gray announced last month it will be sticking with its one-tier model.  Is this a sign that the trend toward non-equity partners is starting to reverse? Not according to today's guests on our podcast, On The Merits, law firm consultant Janet Stanton with Adam Smith Esq. and legal recruiter Scott Love with The Attorney Search Group. They talk with Bloomberg Law editor Jessie Kokrda Kamens about how prevalent non-equity partnerships are, how they benefit law firms, and what firms need to avoid doing to make sure they work. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we take another look at the reasoning behind the deals law firms struck with the Trump administration earlier this year to avoid punitive executive orders. We previously heard from Yale Law School professor John Morley, who said these firms had no choice because an executive order could have kickstarted a devastating run on the partnership. Today's podcast guest sees it differently. David McGowan, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, says the firms that settled did so because they forgot the unique role they play in the American justice system and, instead, see themselves as more of business venture. "To me, the firms that have come to terms with the administration are signaling that, at their essence, they are financial services, financial adviser companies," he said. "I don't think that that is a given. I think that that is a choice." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Goodwin Procter made a splash this month when it announced it had raked in $2.7 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, a record for the firm and a 12% gain from the previous year On this episode of our news podcast, On The Merits, we hear from the firm's chair, Anthony McCusker, about how Goodwin managed this feat. He tells Bloomberg Law reporter Tatyana Monnay that he attributes the firm's recent success to a long-term strategic plan it developed called "Goodwin 2033." He also talks about where he thinks the legal industry is heading when it comes to tech—specifically, AI—and growing competition for law firms. "In a world where maybe the legal answer might be free, or quick to get into the world, clients are going to value that deep industry experience," McCusker said. "Clients are going to value that business advisory expertise that our lawyers bring. And so ensuring that we are preparing all of our people to be able to deliver that type of benefit to clients is one of the things we're really focused on." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits, is a general counsel who is looking for more from the law firms trying to win his business. Specifically, he wants to hear more about how and why they're using AI. Eric Dodson Greenberg is the top lawyer at Cox Media Group, which owns dozens of TV and radio stations across the country. He recently wrote a series of articles for Bloomberg Law about how generative AI will change the relationship between law firms and their corporate clients—and not necessarily in the firms' favor. Greenberg told Bloomberg Law editors Jessie Kokrda Kamens and Daniel Xu that he wants to hear not just how firms can save him money with AI, but how they're using the technology to fundamentally change how they're working. "Firms are very wary of making the wrong technology bet, and for good reason," he said. "But not making a bet at all? I don't think that's a choice. Waiting to sort of see how it shakes out—which is a tried and true Big Law strategy—I think that's going to be too late." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

President Donald Trump's attacks on law firms have hand their intended impact, even as courts shoot down executive orders against some as unconstitutional and the details of White House deals with others remain unclear, according to Yale Law School professor John Morley. "The point here is to extract a demonstrative form of obedience," Morely said. He said he's already seen a "chilling effect" with firms less willing to take on matters pushing back against the administration than in Trump's first term. Morley, who has studied law firm collapses, does not blame the leaders of firms that struck deals with the White House to avoid punitive executive orders. Court wins for the four firms who have challenged orders targeting them so far show that those firms made the right, albeit risky, choice to fight. "I am absolutely certain that, if one of these executive orders survived a temporary injunction proceeding, that would be the death of the firm," Morley said. "Or at least I think the probability is very high." Morley spoke to Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, about what has become of Trump's attacks on Big Law and what would happen if the President resumed them. He also discussed how they've changed the attitudes of his students at Yale about which firms they may want to work at in the future. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.