On The Merits

Have you seen the ads recruiting plaintiffs in the Camp Lejeune case? If you haven't, you've surely seen ones for mesothelioma, pesticides, talcum powder, or any number of big mass tort cases in recent years.The marketing used to find clients for these cases has become much more sophisticated, and the budgets used to identify potential clients have been growing exponentially. For the Camp Lejeune case, which involves decades of contaminated drinking water at a military installation in North Carolina, the spending could shatter records.Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom dug into how this type of legal marketing works and who benefits from it. He joins our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, to talk about how the mass tort bar finds its clients and why this makes some people uneasy.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

A trial is currently underway against the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives over allegations he accepted millions in bribes. But he says the money was political speech protected by the First Amendment - and that he has Supreme Court cases to back him up.One case, 2010's Citizens United vs. FEC, reversed longstanding campaign finance restrictions as violating the First Amendment. Today, former Ohio speaker Larry Householder's trial is a test of how money works in politics in a post-Citizens United world. If Householder is ultimately acquitted, it may set a new precedent for just how far prosecutors must go to win a political corruption case.On this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law correspondent Alex Ebert explains how Householder got in this legal trouble in the first place and also why his novel defense is worrying some campaign finance watchdogs.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Investors may have a lot more opportunity to sue their boards of directors for mismanagement after a ruling last month in a Delaware opioid case.The ruling from Delaware Chancery Court, the country's premiere venue for corporate law disputes, was in a case against drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen that centered on allegations its reckless opioid selling damaged the company's stock price. The court found that investors can introduce evidence of mismanagement dating back years—a much longer time period than AmerisourceBergen had wanted.Bloomberg Law reporter Jennifer Kay wrote a story about the implication of this ruling on shareholder suits and on corporate accountability. She spoke about these topics to Washington & Lee University School of Law professor Carliss Chatman on our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The FDA has known for years that baby food can contain alarming amounts of toxic metals, including lead, arsenic, and cadmium. But why has it been slow to act?A team of Bloomberg Law reporters set out to answer this question, and to see how bad the baby food problem really is. For their project, Bloomberg Law independently tested more than two dozen products for contaminants.Two of those reporters, Gary Harki and Celine Castronuovo, join our weekly podcast, On The Merits, to talk about why they launched this investigation and answer why regulators may be behind the curve on this issue.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On Oct. 31, 2022, the Supreme Court heard arguments that Harvard's and the University of North Carolina's use of race in admissions goes too far. Given the current ideological makeup of the Supreme Court, it's almost certain the justices will overturn more than 40 years of precedent and declare affirmative action in higher education unconstitutional.But, as Bloomberg Law's Matthew Schwartz explains, there is a remote-but-not-impossible chance that the court may issue a surprise ruling upholding affirmative action but further limiting how it can be used.In this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Matthew joins us to speculate on the court's ruling in this potentially landmark case and to talk about his recent four-part podcast series on affirmative action. Matthew also talks about the anti-affirmative action activist driving this case and what is behind his motivations.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Forum shopping is the art of selecting a specific court in which to file a suit, and lawyers have been doing it since time immemorial. But a Bloomberg Law data analysis shows that the practice has changed in recent years.Republican Attorneys General who are suing the Biden administration have gravitated toward a handful of small, rural courthouses run by Trump-appointed judges. And those judges have been keen to issue nationwide injunctions halting administration policies.Bloomberg Law reporters Lydia Wheeler and Madison Alder join our weekly podcast, On The Merits, to discuss their findings, explain who these judges are, and what this means for the future of administrative law.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

News of the demise of law school rankings has been greatly exaggerated, according to the guests on our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits.You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Around a dozen of the top law schools in the country have said they'll no longer provide data to US News & World Report for its annual rankings. The schools say the rankings over-emphasize metrics that benefit already privileged and wealthy applications, and give short shrift to lawyers interested in public service or who need financial aid.However, Bloomberg Law's Vivia Chen and Kaustuv Basu say that even without these schools' participation, the rankings will likely continue on with no interruption. And, they say, the move to boycott the rankings will likely not improve legal industry diversity in the way the schools hope.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

After the Bernie Madoff scandal, the SEC created a whistleblower program that encouraged people to provide information by promising them a cut of the recovered funds.At first, the agency was inundated with tips. But now, the number of people reporting financial fraud is dwindling. The guests on this week's episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, say they know why.One problem: it's unclear how or why the SEC pays rewards to some whistleblowers but not others. And, even if you're entitled to a reward, it can take years of waiting for the agency to pay out. Bloomberg Law's John Holland speaks with whistleblower Janice Shell and whistleblower attorney Bill Singer about the problems with this program and how they can be fixed.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Elections are typically decided at the ballot box. But in the past few years, the judicial system has been getting more and more involved.Spending on election-related litigation has ballooned during this time, according to George Washington University law professor Spencer Overton. This is one of many indications that political fights aren't ending when the results are announced but are instead migrating to courthouses across the country, he says.Overton joins our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, to talk about why this trend is happening and to run down the most significant election law cases that were filed after this month's midterm contests.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

If you're an attorney who lived through the dark days of the Great Recession, you could be forgiven for having flashbacks after reading a recent story by Bloomberg Law's Roy Strom and Meghan Tribe.They reported that several heavy hitters in Big Law, including Cooley LLP and Kirkland & Ellis, have laid off attorneys in recent months. Other firms are expected to follow suit next year. But they also spoke to several industry watchers who say this isn't Great Recession 2.0.For one, global economic conditions aren't as bad—at least not yet. And demand for legal services is still robust, even if not at the frenzied levels it was earlier this year and last year.Tribe joins our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, to talk about why firms are following a mega-profitable 2021 with layoffs in 2022. We also hear from Bloomberg Law video producer Macarena Carrizosa about one of the main drivers of legal industry volatility—the billable hour—and whether moving to a new compensation system is advisable or even possible.Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.