On The Merits

For his 100th column for Bloomberg Law, Roy Strom looked back at the seismic changes that have taken place in the legal industry during the pandemic. He says the pandemic has shown many of the country's biggest law firms that there is much more to Big Law than chasing prestige.Law firms are now opening satellite offices in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. And we've seen Big Law continue to move away from lockstep compensation, which many in the industry now consider an anachronism. Additionally, the mindset of prizing revenue above all else is starting to fade as well.Roy Strom joins this week's episode of On The Merits to talk about Big Law two years later.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this special weekend episode of the podcast, Bloomberg Law’s Paige Smith reads her recent story on how laws that allow companies to pay disabled workers below minimum wage may be changing soon.

When some companies started implementing vaccine mandates on their employees, it was only a matter of time before they applied the same rules to their job applicants as well. According to a recent survey, nearly one third of employers are now disqualifying candidates who cannot or will not confirm that they've received a Covid-19 vaccine.Bloomberg Law's Erin Mulvaney is reporting on this trend. Her sources say discriminating against unvaccinated candidates likely doesn't violate civil or disability rights laws. But they also say it does matter when in the hiring process an employer asks an applicant about their status. Mulvaney discusses the legal issues around hiring and vaccines in this week's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The Supreme Court's bombshell 5 to 4 ruling this month on Texas's new abortion restrictions law was both an end and a beginning. It put an end to the hopes of abortion rights activists who wanted to overturn this law before it took effect, but it also marked the beginning of a frenzy of litigation aimed at getting this issue back before the court as quickly as possible. And the litigation has come from all sides, with plaintiffs as varied as the Department of Justice, Planned Parenthood, and two disbarred attorneys from Arkansas and Illinois.On today's episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporters Lydia Wheeler and Mary Anne Pazanowski help us sort through where many of the abortion lawsuits are coming from, and which ones have the best chances of making it back to the Supreme Court.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

As recently as 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas received only 90 patent cases or 2.5% of the patent cases filed nationwide. However, after Judge Alan Albright took the bench in Waco, Texas, his federal court has become a hotbed of patent litigation. Just last year, Albright saw nearly 800 new patent suits filed.On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Albright speaks to Bloomberg Law reporter Matthew Bultman about why patent plaintiffs are so eager to litigate in his court, and why other judges don't seem to want to try these cases. Albright also talks about the changes he's made during the pandemic and why he expects many of them to become permanent.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Delta Air Lines grabbed some headlines late last month with its plan to encourage its employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. It would not fire employees who refused to get the shot, but would rather impose on them a $200 monthly surcharge.Then, last week, President Joe Biden made even bigger news by announcing a sweeping plan to require vaccination for all federal employees, federal contractors, and many health care industry workers.On this week's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, Bloomberg Law labor reporters Robert Iafolla and Paige Smith break down the implications of these fast moving developments and discuss what the future of vaccines and employment will look like.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Since 2008, Britney Spears’ life has been controlled by a conservatorship. Renewed interest and public support for ending the conservatorship followed the release of a documentary film, Framing Britney Spears, which highlighted the efforts of the #FreeBritney movement.But how did it come to this? What role can trusts and estates attorneys play in helping high net worth clients avoid ending up in Spears' position?Barbara Grayson, a partner with the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and Joshua Rubenstein, a partner at Katten, talk to us in this episode of On The Merits about what went wrong in the Spears case, the soft skills needed to be a trusts and estates attorney, and why Big Law has largely left the practice area.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The video game maker Activision Blizzard, Inc. is being sued for gender discrimination and harassment. The $60 billion company, behind games that include Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, isn't being sued by female employees in this suit though. They're being sued by the state of California.California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing says its two-year investigation into Activision Blizzard found a "frat boy" culture where its female workers are regularly subjected to sexual banter and jokes about rape, among other forms of harassment. The female employees were also held back from promotions, paid less than their male coworkers, and criticized for leaving to pick up their children from daycare, according to the suit.On this episode of On The Merits, Maeve Allsup, our California correspondent, talks about why the state brought the hammer down on the video game maker, and why the involvement of a government regulator could represent a turning point. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this special weekend episode of On The Merits, reporter Lydia Wheeler reads her story about the difficulties some long-Covid victims are facing with insurance claims. Click here to read the story in print.

Several states opted to temporarily suspend their bar exams when the pandemic broke out last year. This led many in the legal community to question why the exam exists in the first place.Now at least one state is seriously considering alternative ways to certify new law school grads. The Oregon Supreme Court is currently weighing a proposal that would make the bar exam just one of several options aspiring attorneys there can choose to earn their license.On today's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we hear from Brian Gallini, one of the people who drafted that proposal. Gallini, the dean of the Willamette University College of Law, talks about why he thinks the bar exam should be scrapped altogether but why replacing it with so-called "diploma privilege" isn't a good option either.audio embed goes hereHave feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.