On The Merits

Since the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling, and especially since Donald Trump's anti-DEI campaign, many law firms have swiftly moved to alter or dismantle their programs promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI. So where does that leave people like Oyango Snell, a full-throated, unapologetic advocate of DEI in the legal industry? Snell is a former law professor who now runs a legal operations professional group, and he joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about how the profession can still achieve diversity despite the DEI backlash, but why he thinks it will "get worse before it gets better." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The bar exam is in a state of flux. A new "NexGen" test is about to debut, while several states now offer licenses to attorneys who haven't taken the exam at all. These bar exam alternatives, many of which originated as emergency pandemic measures, are proving successful in smaller states, like South Dakota and New Hampshire, and even some larger ones, like Arizona and Oregon. But a nationwide bar exam alternative is not on the horizon, and large corporate firms have shown little willingness to hire attorneys licensed through these alternative programs, according to Bloomberg Law reporter Maia Spoto. Maia spoke to Jessie Kamens, the host of our On The Merits podcast, about how these programs work and why some advocates say we need to finally ditch the grueling, multi-day test. Maia also gets into what's happening in California, where the development of a new exam went disastrously wrong. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Don't call it "flyover country." The firm Foley & Lardner has seen success opening offices in mid-tier cities such as Nashville, Raleigh, N.C., and Salt Lake City over the past four years. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Roy Strom speaks with Foley's chairman and CEO, Daljit Doogal, about why he's taken his firm beyond the traditional Big Law power centers of California, New York, and D.C. He also talks about the challenges of convincing the attorneys you want to hire that your national law firm is committed to their hometown. "When the people are looking to move, they really want to understand the firm that you are," Doogal said. "And sometimes there's a fear that, if a big law firm is coming into town, is it going to be more bureaucratic, is it going to be more centralized, is our culture going to change?" Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

We don't know who is running ads on podcasts advocating for anti-litigation finance legislation. But, given how many enemies the practice has among conservatives and big business, the list of potential culprits is huge. Bloomberg Law reporter Emily R. Siegel wrote a story about these podcast ads, which call for restrictions on third parties who fund lawsuits in exchange for a cut of any awards they generate. The ads failed to disclose who was behind them as required by law and were quickly pulled after Siegel started asking questions about them. Siegel joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about the stakes of this anti-litigation finance legislation and the beef these groups have with litigation finance. 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 never a good look for a law firm to lose partners in bunches, and that's what's been happening at Paul Weiss in the past few weeks. Some of the firm's high-profile litigators have announced their departures, following the deal it struck with the Trump administration to avoid a punitive executive order. Ironically, the firm negotiated the White House agreement—which includes a pledge to provide $40 million in free legal services on shared priority causes—in part to avoid a run on partners. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporters Roy Strom and Justin Henry explain why this is a setback for Paul Weiss, but not a catastrophic one. They note that, thus far, only trial lawyers have departed the firm, leaving intact its ability to operate in the lucrative deals space. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Brad Bondi, a lawyer at Paul Hastings and brother of the current Attorney General, failed yesterday in his bid to become president of the DC bar association. But criticisms and attacks from conservatives on these legal groups, at both the state and national level, will likely continue. That's one of the takeaways from this week's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, in which Bloomberg Law reporter Tatyana Monnay talks about why Bondi tried to seize control of the DC bar and why his campaign drew so much attention. Also, her fellow reporter Sam Skolnik talks about how conservative attacks on the American Bar Association are hurting the century-old institution in serious and potentially existential way. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

One would think that the Trump administration's pullback on enforcement across the federal government would mean fewer clients for attorneys to defend. But that would be overlooking another important law enforcer in our system: state attorneys general. Karl Racine and Jason Downs, both partners at the firm Hogan Lovells, are bolstering their practice specializing in helping clients under scrutiny by state AGs, many of whom are actively trying to fill enforcement gaps left by the federal government. It's an area the two know well, with Racine serving as attorney general in the District of Columbia during Donald Trump's first term and Downs serving as his chief deputy. They spoke to Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom on the latest episode of our podcast, On The Merits, about a few of the enforcement areas they've seen state AGs prioritizing: crypto, the environment, consumer financial protection, and especially AI. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Being a summer associate at a law firm can be tricky. On the one hand, you want to be remembered; on the other hand, you don't want to be remembered for the wrong reasons. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we hear from Kate Reder Sheikh, a partner in the associate practice group at Major, Lindsey & Africa, about the pitfalls that summer associates can fall into—from over-imbibing at company functions to trying too hard to get face time with a partner. She says, in the legal world, "there probably are such things as stupid questions," especially when they're being asked of a busy partner with a high billing rate. Reder Sheikh told Bloomberg Law editor Jessie Kokrda Kamens that those most likely to fall into these traps are students who are so-called "K-through-J.D.," or who went straight from undergrad to law school. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Dozens of law firms have sought to de-emphasize, or outright kill, their diversity initiatives since the Supreme Court's 2023 affirmative action decision—and especially since Donald Trump retook office this year and started issuing punitive executive orders that mention them. However, one firm is now doing the opposite. Susman Godfrey announced last week it would expand its annual prize awarded to law students of color, even though this program was specifically called out by Trump in his executive order targeting the firm. Bloomberg Law reporter Tatyana Monnay wrote about the firm's move and why it was taking this step now. She joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about what Susman Godfrey did and why its confidence may have been boosted by a federal judge's chilly reaction to Justice Department arguments against the firm. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

We're starting to see the impact of a string of deals reached over the last two months between President Donald Trump and top law firms. Some firms appear to be moving on—and even thriving—after pledging hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services on causes backed by the White House to avoid punitive executive orders like those Trump has lobbed at others. At least three firms that made deals are primed to cash in on Saudi Arabia's plan to invest $1 trillion in the US, thanks to their ties to a leading sovereign wealth fund: Latham & Watkins, A&O Sherman, and Kirkland & Ellis. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, meanwhile, is seeing the downside of doing a deal with Trump. A string of partners have headed for the exit since the firm's agreement with Trump was announced, including some who left because of their opposition to the deal. Justin Henry joins fellow Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about these two developments and about why it's still too soon to say whether law firms that acquiesced to the president made the right move. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.