Podcasts Archives - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event

Dispatches From The End Of Analog Lawyering

Joe Patrice — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 17:02:55 +0000

Joe checks in from the 2023 Clio Cloud Conference joined by Legaltech News editor-in-chief Stephanie Wilkins, dean of legal tech journalism Bob Ambrogi, and Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti to talk about legal technology and the small law market. We talk artificial intelligence, hot legal trends, and access to justice.

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Biglaw Firm Offers Racy, Expensive Summer Event Before No-Offering Summers Anyway

Joe Patrice — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 17:46:17 +0000

Gunderson Dettmer got a lot of flack on Reddit from folks accusing the firm of hosting a summer event at a strip club. It wasn’t a strip club, but it was a nightclub with scantily clad go-go dancers, which doesn’t make it much better from the perspective of a harassment-free work environment. And after making it rain at the club, the firm ended up no-offering a bunch of summers anayway. Jeff Clark took shots at Neal Katyal on social media. He missed. And Goodwin unveiled an office presence tool to let folks know who is in and out of the office at all times. Folks don’t seem happy about it, but is it just the price we pay for hybrid work?

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Elon Musk Is Having A Very Litigious Week

Joe Patrice — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 17:03:56 +0000

(Photo by Diego Donamaria/Getty Images for SXSW)

Elon Musk is desperately seeking a win and if he can’t get it in a cage match against Mark Zuckerberg, he’ll try his hand in court. Spoiler: it’s going to go just about as badly. He’s sent a legal threat to Facebook that fails to articulate much in the way of a legal issue and now he’s suing Wachtell for being the lawyers that forced him to buy the company in the first place. Meanwhile the Supreme Court Term ended in a blaze of gaslighting and a hail of disingenuous spin. And now law schools are facing legal threats if their student body looks diverse. Finally, bar prep is just a little bit more stressful for students prepping with Themis, which continues to suffer website problems in the critical weeks before the exam.

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Free Speech Hypocrisy, Hot Bench Troubles, And ChatGPT Legal Research

Joe Patrice — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 18:34:16 +0000

After a year of sword rattling that higher education is “hostile to free speech” because students don’t appropriately sit quiet and absorb what speakers on stage are laying down, the media grandstanding came to a halt — and in the case of the NY Post, went into reverse — amid calls to defund CUNY Law School over a speaker. Apparently it’s only a “free speech crisis” in one direction. Meanwhile, the Second Circuit seems highly skeptical of Central Park Karen’s claim that her former employer defamed her for citing its zero tolerance for racism in firing her. And by “highly skeptical” we mean the panel appears to have granted oral argument simply to dunk on her lawyer. Speaking of lawyers getting dunked on, the hapless attorneys who filed a response filled with fake caselaw they got off of ChatGPT are in serious trouble. But don’t mistake this for “the perils of technology” because this was a failure of good old-fashioned lawyering.

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Supreme Court Leaves Nine Stones Unturned

Joe Patrice — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 18:43:28 +0000

The Supreme Court’s inquiry into the source of the leak of its draft opinion in Dobbs failed to find the culprit among the clerks and permanent staff. Attorneys familiar with internal investigations pointed out that the report appeared carefully drafted to mislead the public without technically lying about the failure to investigate the people with the most access and motive, leaving the Court’s legitimacy more compromised than when the investigation started. Meanwhile, an attorney caught billing hundreds of hours for document review he didn’t do earns a suspension, and Goodwin Procter makes heads spin as its layoffs are immediately followed with a major lateral move.

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2022 Legal Year In Review

Joe Patrice — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:26:52 +0000

The gang breaks down the biggest trends across the legal industry this year. From the Supreme Court’s leaking to major ethical lapses, 2022 came in with a bang (raises) and leaves with a whimper (stealth layoffs). Did we learn anything? Probably not.

Are we going to talk about it anyway? Of course. What else are we going to do?

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Biglaw Firm Seeks Its Pound Of Bar Prep Flesh

Joe Patrice — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 20:42:53 +0000

When an associate left Jones Day before serving a full two years, the firm billed for pro-rated bar study expenses. Once again, just because an agreement allows a firm to do something, doesn’t mean it should. It’s just not a good look for a firm. Speaking of optics, we also talk about Justice Brett Kavanaugh partying with Matt Gaetz and Alex Acosta — and more importantly, parties with business before the Court this Term — all while Supreme Court legitimacy sinks like a stone. Speaking of legitimacy, the Fifth Circuit agrees that a judge committed an ethical breach in hearing a case, but decided to just sweep it under the rug. Also, by the time this posts, Twitter will have changed its policies five more times, but we discuss the legal ramifications, if any, of Twitter’s short-lived ban on mentioning “competitors.”

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Bar Exam Cheating Tale Almost Too Stupid To Believe

Joe Patrice — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:12:05 +0000

An anonymous Illinois bar applicant took to Reddit to confess to cheating on the exam. Perhaps “anonymous” should be placed in quotes because the author proceeded to provide a ton of identifying details triggering a bar examiner investigation. Also, new data suggests lawyers should raise rates, but is that really true? And merger mania is back in Biglaw with two top-tier mergers. All that and a brief aside about Liechtenstein admiralty law.

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Clio Conversations

Joe Patrice — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 21:17:24 +0000

The crew couldn’t convene this week because of the Clio Cloud Conference, but here’s Joe’s interview with Pamela Smith talking about lawyer public relations.

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Maybe Elon Musk Shouldn’t Have Waived All Those Protections?

Joe Patrice — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 19:15:49 +0000

(by Heisenberg Media)

Twitter has sued Elon Musk for walking away from his plans to purchase the company and it’s hard to see how Musk gets out of this unscathed. Twitter’s deal lawyers negotiated a pretty ironclad agreement, Musk’s complaints fail basic logic, and Delaware law is roundly against him. But other than that, he’s doing great! We also talk about the value of impeaching Supreme Court justices for lying during the confirmation process — even if there’s no hope of removal — and we chat about the value of a good video deposition angle.

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