On The Merits

For a long time, the top dozen or so law schools in US News & World Report's annual rankings stayed remarkably consistent, with Yale for example holding the top spot every year since the rankings debuted in 1990. But not this year.

Yale is now no longer at the very top of the highly influential rankings, which were unveiled earlier this week, having slid down to number two. While this may seem insignificant, Bloomberg Law columnist David Lat said even dropping one spot can tangibly affect a law school's brand.

Lat spoke about this with Bloomberg Law editor Jessie Kokrda Kamens for our podcast, On The Merits. He said recent changes in the methodology for compiling these rankings means we should expect more movement in and out of the top spots in years to come. Lat also talks about why the rankings matter for Big Law talent recruitment and beyond.

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Law firms bringing in outside investors is one of the hottest topics in the legal industry right now. John Quinn, founder and chairman of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, says firms that want to take the cash need to figure out how to avoid alienating their younger attorneys.

Non-lawyer investment isn't common yet in the US, but some firms are experimenting with different ownership models—especially as they consider the price tags on AI tools. Bringing in outside investment can help raise capital. It can also dilute the pool of profits that associates and younger partners were hoping they'd one day get to enjoy, Quinn said on our podcast, On The Merits.

"They have to be persuaded that that's in the long-term interest of the firm," he told Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom. "But these are some awkward conversations. And it's a generational conversation."

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

The chair of law firm Polsinelli says he doesn't want his attorneys—and especially not his junior attorneys—to use AI legal tools grudgingly. But the firm will not be giving associates billable-hour credit for learning how to use the technology.

"They need to be very, very good at utilizing these tools and investing in themselves," Chase Simmons said on Bloomberg Law's podcast, On The Merits. "If you need motivation to learn how to use AI in your career right now, we probably have other things that we should be concerned about with you."

"This should just be every day you wake up and have breakfast and think about how to incorporate this into your career," Simmons added.

Simmons, who leads one of the fastest growing firms in the country, talked about how Polsinelli is adopting AI across the firm. He also explained Polsinelli's focus on being a "daily and weekly law firm" for its clients and discussed his views on the Trump administration's attacks on the legal industry.

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

Outside investors circling law firms may help some shoulder the growing costs of artificial intelligence, according to Mayer Brown's Jon Van Gorp.

"I could see private capital providing specific funding for AI with a use agreement between the firm and the AI vehicle where it's tailored, just like litigation funding," Van Gorp, the firm's chairman, said on Bloomberg Law's On The Merits podcast.

Still, the unique aspects of the legal services business pose challenges for broader outside investment in large firms, Van Gorp said. The "practice of law is still a profession, and lawyers still have their way of doing things," he said.

Van Gorp spoke to Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom about AI's "big question that everybody's talking about." He also discussed his firm's focus on servicing energy markets, the turbulent times for private credit markets, and the impact of President Donald Trump's war on the legal industry.

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

The Trump administration surprised everyone last week when it first dropped an appeal in its fight against four law firms and then, less than 24 hours later, reversed itself and declared the case to be back on.

The White House and Justice Department have yet to explain what prompted the dizzying two-day stretch. Late last week, a DOJ lawyer instead pressed an appeals court to overturn four separate rulings striking down Trump's executive orders against the firms last year.

The about-face has highlighted questions about the legal rationale behind Trump's orders, targeting firms over ties to lawyers and causes the president sees as threats to his administration. But even if Trump ends up losing the appeal, he's already gained a significant amount of leverage from the legal industry in hard-to-quantify ways, according to Bloomberg Law reporters Meghan Tribe and Justin Henry.

On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, they speak with host Jessie Kokrda Kamens about the chaotic events of last week and where the president's battles against the legal industry may be heading next.

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