On The Merits

Prominent lawyer and high-stakes poker player Tom Goldstein was convicted on some, but not all, of the 16 criminal charges against him when his federal trial wrapped up this week. But Goldstein's legal fight may be far from over.

Several issues came up during the trial that could be fodder for a successful appeal, according to Bloomberg Law reporter Holly Barker, including a dispute over where Goldstein was physically located when some of these crimes were committed.

Barker covered the trial of the disgraced SCOTUSblog founder and she joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about why the jury split its verdict and about how Goldstein's famous propensity for risk taking influenced his defense strategy.

Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Large law firms are going all in on the nationwide data center build out—nevermind that lurking AI bubble.

On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we hear from Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom about several examples of law firms deploying multidisciplinary practice groups to solve complex problems for data center builders. Roy also talks about why it may not pay for firms to approach the data center boom cautiously.

"If this work goes away, the law firms will struggle, there'll be some partners who have a lot of time on their hands," he said, "but the bigger risk to the law firms right now is probably missing out on a sort of once-in-a-generation extravaganza."

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 over a year since Donald Trump returned to the White House and almost immediately made it a priority to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at large law firms. There's evidence that this effort is bearing fruit for the president, even after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission walked away from investigations into several firms.

The EEOC recently told a court it dropped the probes without getting most of the information it sought on firms' recruiting programs and promotion decisions. Still, the move came after some of those firms struck deals with the White House and several others—including some not involved in the inquiries—scaled back diversity initiatives. Citing the cost of defending itself against Trump's attacks, a DEI nonprofit said it's shutting down its Mansfield Rule program that sought to have firms consider underrepresented candidates in hiring and promotions.

To talk about all of this, Bloomberg Law reporter Tatyana Monnay joins our podcast, On The Merits. She explains all the recent developments on this front and also talks about the risks that firms may face if they shut down all of their DEI programs entirely.

Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

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.