On The Merits

Morgan Stanley's chief legal officer issued a memo earlier this month that has the legal world buzzing. In it, Eric Grossman all but demanded that the law firms working with the financial industry giant end their pandemic work-from-home policies.News of an in-house counsel dictating to outside law firms the locations from which their lawyers should be working (news that was first reported by Bloomberg Law) has ricocheted across the legal world. In this episode of On The Merits, reporters Brian Baxter and Meghan Tribe discuss why Grossman sent this memo, whether Morgan Stanley can actually force its firms to end remote work, and how all this could affect big law recruitment.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

A team of Bloomberg reporters has been reaching out to elections officials in every state for months to try to get a sense of how often voting fraud actually happens. In all, they found roughly 200 instances over the past two years, where people were charged or convicted for alleged voting fraud.On today's episode of On The Merits, we hear from the lead reporter on this team, Alex Ebert, about voting fraud prosecutions in America. Ebert also talks about the state officials from both parties who worry the current discussion on voting fraud is eroding faith in the electoral system.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and once the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, has been disciplined over his role in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Other lawyers who represented the President could also get hit with sanctions.What does it mean to have your law license suspended? What can and can't lawyers do when they've been sanctioned? And why are these attorneys facing discipline when their clients are, by and large, happy with their work? For answers, we turn to Bloomberg Law legal ethics reporter Melissa Heelan. She breaks down the distinction between license suspension and disbarment and explores why, what these attorneys are accused of, makes their cases so unique.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

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.

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 required that outside firms are hired to monitor the conduct of the police department and make recommendations for reforms. Big firms like Venable and Sheppard Mullin have served this role in some cities and others, like DLA Piper, are trying to get into the game.On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Ayanna Alexander tells us why some Big Law firms are taking on this work, and the unique challenges that firms face when they do.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

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.

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 just-out-of-law-school lawyers may be earning top dollar, their lives are far from luxurious.Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

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 episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Hughes talks about how he collected data on these attorneys, what this data means, and why Washington's famous revolving door may be slowing down for Trump administration alumni. 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 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.

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 leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.