Episodes

  • DEI Backlash: Companies Are Responding to Diversity Challenges

    DEI Backlash: Companies Are Responding to Diversity Challenges
    Nov 26 2024
    Corporate DEI measures saw a surge during and after the nationwide unrest over George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police, but they've since become a major political, legal, and cultural flashpoint. Companies that adopted diversity initiatives in 2020 and afterward are now trying to figure out how to retool as they confront a backlash that seems to be partly about weariness with bureaucratic initiatives, but also partly a reflection of demographic anxieties. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, analyst Kate Azevedo and reporter David Hood discuss the challenges that DEI initiatives are facing, the way business and other organizations are responding, and what the future may hold under an incoming administration that's openly hostile to diversity policies. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690
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    17 mins
  • How Quinn Emanuel Lawyers Save 50 Billable Hours With One Click

    How Quinn Emanuel Lawyers Save 50 Billable Hours With One Click
    Nov 17 2024
    Generative AI has promised to reshape the practice of law ever since ChatGPT emerged. However, it's been unclear just how large law firms are using AI. Has it changed how practitioners do their jobs on a daily basis? Are we witnessing the emergence of a revolution in how lawyers do their work? Uncommon Law's Matthew Schwartz sits in as guest host on this episode of On the Merits. He talks with John Quinn, founder and chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. They discuss Quinns' firm's stance on artificial intelligence and the future of the billable hour. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690
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    22 mins
  • Trump Judges 2.0: More Conservative, More Outsiders

    Trump Judges 2.0: More Conservative, More Outsiders
    Nov 14 2024
    President-elect Donald Trump is poised to further shape a federal judiciary he remade during his first term. Building on his historic number of appointments, including Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, Trump will likely choose nominees that are even more reliably conservative this time around. And, because of his success moving the judiciary to the right, Democrats seeking to challenge future Trump policies have fewer options for finding a receptive forum. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporters Tiana Headley and Suzanne Monyak, along with Bloomberg Law columnist and Above the Law founder David Lat, discuss how the Trump team will select judges, who those nominees could be, and what this means for litigators. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    18 mins
  • Big Law Associates Waiting on a Milbank Bonus Match

    Big Law Associates Waiting on a Milbank Bonus Match
    Nov 12 2024
    Associates at Big Law firms are accustomed to a tradition: Whenever one law firm raises associate salaries or doles out a bonus, other firms scramble to match. But this year, something strange happened: A Wall Street law firm, Milbank LLP, in August gave out a special bonus, and none of its law firm competitors followed suit. Bloomberg Law’s Roy Strom spoke with his colleague Meghan Tribe about what might happen next for associates' bonuses on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, and how law firms' revenue this year compares to 2021, the last time associates reaped a windfall from a boom in work. We also discuss whether associates across Big Law might still benefit from the special bonuses, which ranged from $6,000 to $25,000. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    16 mins
  • How Antitrust Law Is Confronting the Housing Crisis

    How Antitrust Law Is Confronting the Housing Crisis
    Nov 5 2024
    A group of antitrust lawsuits blames the nationwide affordable housing crisis in part on a conspiracy among some of the country's top landlords to drive up rent using artificial intelligence tools. The scheme allegedly works through property management software that crunches data provided by its customers—the landlords—to maximize rent. Another group of lawsuits also targeted the top hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, saying they operated a parallel cartel using similar software. Two federal judges recently threw out the casino cases, rejecting the idea that relying on the same software is the type of collusion covered by antitrust law. The rulings cast doubt on the broader legal effort to rein in AI pricing algorithms. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, reporters Katie Arcieri and Justin Wise discuss the antitrust cases confronting the residential housing sector and a related push by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    14 mins
  • Tired of Partisan Noise? How NJ's High Court Finds Consensus

    Tired of Partisan Noise? How NJ's High Court Finds Consensus
    Oct 31 2024
    At the New Jersey state supreme court, all of the justices seem to get along–even though they maintain a 4-3 partisan split in their ranks. The unique system, based on an unwritten rule that the governor will select justices and maintain a 4-3 balance politically, leads to an extraordinary amount of agreement among the justices. And attorneys like it, too. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, senior correspondent Alex Ebert talks about how the New Jersey Supreme Court maintains its system when so many state supreme courts have become partisan battlegrounds, and how attorneys prepare to argue in this unusual environment. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    17 mins
  • A Professor Says AI Can Help Solve Contract Disputes

    A Professor Says AI Can Help Solve Contract Disputes
    Oct 29 2024
    Fighting over the meaning of contracts is expensive and time-consuming. But a University of Pennsylvania professor sees the potential of generative artificial intelligence to give judges a tool to clarify a contract. Bloomberg Law senior correspondent Roy Strom spoke with professor David Hoffman, an expert on contracts law who co-wrote a paper on what he calls “generative interpretation.” It’s a pretty simple concept: using large language models to determine what a contract really means. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Hoffman discusses how the untested method could save time and money. He talks about what it might take to convince lawyers and clients to let AI solve major contract disputes. And he dives into the impact that could have on the business of large law firms. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    14 mins
  • Life After Chevron Is Starting to Come Into Focus

    Life After Chevron Is Starting to Come Into Focus
    Oct 22 2024
    It's been almost four months since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling decision in Loper Bright that overruled the oft-cited Chevron doctrine. And now we're starting to see what administrative law is going to look like with judges more empowered to pick apart federal agencies' justifications for their actions. However, there could also be another case on the Supreme Court's docket for this term that upends the field of administrative law once again, and this one involves an arcane principle called the nondelegation doctrine. To break all this down, Bloomberg Law reporters Robert Iafolla and Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson join our podcast, On The Merits, and explain the present and future of federal agency power in a post-Chevron world. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.
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    13 mins