PODCAST · news
On The Merits
by Bloomberg Law
On The Merits takes you behind the scenes of the legal world and the inner workings of law firms. This podcast offers in-depth analysis on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the business of law and the legal industry overall. You'll gain insights into how the latest government actions, policies, and business developments are impacting the industry and hear from leading attorneys, legal scholars, industry experts, and our own team of journalists as they share their perspectives on the forces driving change.
Episodes
-
Elite Law Firms Are Leaving Their Rivals Behind
A new study from Chambers and Partners reveals that the most elite, fastest-growing law firms, such as Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, are seeing a compounding of their success — and the window is narrowing for other firms to catch up. On this episode of On the Merits, Chambers CEO Tim…
more -
When Winston Met Taylor: US-UK Firm's Chief Looks to Bridge Gaps
"Culture" is a popular buzzword for law firm leaders describing in vague terms what sets them apart from their rivals. For Winston Taylor's Steve D'Amore, it's a key part of melding the two firms that combined in June in Big Law's latest transatlantic merger. "We put culture at the top of the…
more -
Baker McKenzie Head: Law Firm Billing Should Be Ready to Move On
AI is changing the way the legal profession operates and everyone — lawyers, law firms, and especially clients — needs to look past the institution that is the billable hour, according to Baker McKenzie global chair Sunny Mann. “We all need to collectively move on in our thinking to get…
more -
Sidley Leader Yvette Ostolaza Shares Growth Strategy
Sidley Austin LLP crossed $3.74 billion in revenue last year and has its sights set on $4 billion — but according to its top leader, the number is a byproduct, not the goal. The real question is whether the firm is built for what comes next. Today on On the Merits: Yvette Ostolaza, chair of...
-
K&L Gates Goes on the Offensive in the Legal Talent Wars
When it comes to winning the legal industry talent wars, the best defense is a good offense, according to K&L Gates' global managing partner, Stacy Ackermann. Her firm is "going out into the market" rather than "being in a reactionary mode of 'Let's see what comes to us and what the headhunters...
-
Say Goodbye to the Era of Never Changing Law School Rankings
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...
-
John Quinn Warns of Generational Clash When Firms Get Investors
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...
-
Why Polsinelli Lawyers Won't Get Billing Credit for AI Training
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...
-
AI Poses Private Capital Opportunity, Mayer Brown Chief Says
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...
-
Trump's U-Turn in Big Law Fight Shows White House Fury for Firms
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...
-
Goldstein Still Has Cards to Play Even After Guilty Verdict
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...
-
Law Firms Can't Afford to Miss Out on Data Center Boom
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…
more -
DEI at Law Firms Remains Live Issue a Year Into Trump's Term
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...
-
AI and the Coming Mismatch Between Law Schools and Law Firms
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…
more -
New Epstein Revelations Bring Massive Upheaval at Paul Weiss
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...
-
Even Cravath, Wachtell Must Now Fight 'the Talent Wars'
There was a time when elite Wall Street firms such as Cravath or Wachtell seemed to rise above the lateral tug-of-war among other firms. That doesn't appear to be the case any longer, with a handful of partners from both of these firms announcing their departures for competitors last month. "I...
-
Litigation Financiers Won't Be Ambushed Again on Capitol Hill
Last year, the litigation finance industry was nearly taxed out of existence by a measure Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) tried to attach to a big tax and spending package. The measure, which would have imposed a 41% tax on litigation finance profits, didn't become law. But it did spook many who work…
more -
Goldstein to Put His Cards on the Table at His Criminal Trial
The trial of Tom Goldstein, the elite Supreme Court advocate and co-founder of SCOTUSBlog who was charged with criminal tax evasion after years of playing ultra-high-stakes poker games, continues this week in Maryland. Bloomberg Law reporter Holly Barker, who's there covering the proceedings…
more -
Latham & Watkins M&A Leaders on the 'Year of the Mega Deal'
Latham & Watkins beat out its rival Kirkland & Ellis in our annual League Tables ranking of M&A activity for 2025. And on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, the firm's M&A co-chairs talk about what went down in what one called "the year of the mega deal." Alex Kelly and Paul Kukish spoke...
-
Law Firm Crackup Comes Amid Anti-Plaintiff Mood in Delaware
There's never a good time for a law firm to see one of its most prominent partners leave and take several attorneys with him. But this is especially bad timing for Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann. The firm specializes in representing shareholders suing companies in Delaware, the…
more -
Trump, Mergers and AI: A Tumultuous Year in the World of Big Law
It's not a very controversial statement to say that Donald Trump's attacks on law firms were the biggest Big Law story in 2025. But, according to the guests on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, the ramifications of those attacks are still playing out and may spill over into next year...
-
Cadwalader Loses Its Long Struggle to Stay Independent
New York's oldest law firm answered the outstanding question surrounding its ability to remain independent with a resounding no when it announced a merger with Hogan Lovells last week. As Bloomberg Law reporter Meghan Tribe tells it, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft had been in a gradual decline…
more -
Everyone Hates Early Law School Recruiting, But Everyone Does It
It's become common now for firms to recruit elite law students even before the end of their first semester of their first year of law school, something that would have been unheard of before the pandemic. That's a far cry from the days when firms waited until the summer before the 2L year to…
more -
Client Relationships Suffer as Lawyers Put Billing on Autopilot
Now is the time of year when many law firms pressure their attorneys to get their clients to pay bills before the end of the year. It's something that clients loathe just as much as their attorneys, according to today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits. Eric Dodson Greenberg, the general…
more -
OpenAI's GC Chang Shares Insights from 'Extremely Stressful' Job
OpenAI is a relatively new tech startup with the litigation demands of a massive Fortune 500 company. That means that Che Chang, its general counsel, has had to scale up his department fast. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Chang speaks with Bloomberg Law reporter Aruni Soni…
more -
Brad Karp Heckling Shows Anger at Law Firms Hasn't Faded
It's been a difficult year for Brad Karp, chair of Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss. In January he suffered a heart attack and then, a few months later, he chose to strike a pro bono deal with the Trump administration to stave off a punitive executive order. In a recent speech at a gala event in…
more -
McDermott Wooing Outside Investment May Portend Industry Shakeup
As Big Law looks for ways to scale up, McDermott Will & Schulte says it's looking at outside investment in the firm—a move that could set off a paradigm shift in how law firms run their businesses. If it does sell a part of itself to investors, McDermott would be by far the largest publicly known...
-
Top In-House Lawyers Absorb More Responsibility, Much More Money
The top lawyers at the largest publicly traded companies in America are being asked to wear many hats at once—and also getting paid handsomely to do so. That's the takeaway from a recent story by Bloomberg Law senior reporters Brian Baxter and Andrew Ramonas, who crunched data from SEC filings of...
-
Ropes & Gray Is Exception, Not the Rule, for Non-Equity Partners
Most of the biggest law firms in the US have a two-tier partnership model, where some partners have equity in the firm while others don't. So it was a bit of a surprise when the firm Ropes & Gray announced last month it will be sticking with its one-tier model. Is this a sign that the trend…
more -
Firms That Did Trump Deals Forgot They Were Law Firms, Says Prof
On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we take another look at the reasoning behind the deals law firms struck with the Trump administration earlier this year to avoid punitive executive orders. We previously heard from Yale Law School professor John Morley, who said these firms had no...
-
Goodwin Chair on Revenue Rise and New Competitors for Law Firms
Goodwin Procter made a splash this month when it announced it had raked in $2.7 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, a record for the firm and a 12% gain from the previous year On this episode of our news podcast, On The Merits, we hear from the firm's chair, Anthony McCusker, about how Goodwin…
more -
What a GC Wants to Hear From His Outside Law Firms on AI
Today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits, is a general counsel who is looking for more from the law firms trying to win his business. Specifically, he wants to hear more about how and why they're using AI. Eric Dodson Greenberg is the top lawyer at Cox Media Group, which owns dozens of TV and...
-
Trump Attacks Could Have Killed Law Firms, Yale Prof Says
President Donald Trump's attacks on law firms have hand their intended impact, even as courts shoot down executive orders against some as unconstitutional and the details of White House deals with others remain unclear, according to Yale Law School professor John Morley. "The point here is to...
-
NY's Oldest Law Firm Loses Key Partners, Faces Tough Choices
You don't get to be the oldest law firm in New York without weathering some rough spots. But this may be one of the most difficult periods Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has ever gone through. The Wall Street firm, which this week announced a new managing co-partner, has lost nearly three dozen...
-
Every Law Firm Should Build Their Own AI, Yale Professor Says
Law firms "have gold sitting on their hard drives," according to Yale Law School professor Scott Shapiro. Shapiro has enthusiastically embraced the use of generative AI in his classroom. He says firms should draw on the mountains of proprietary information at their fingertips to build their own...
-
Data Center Explosion Hands Big Law Cross-Practice Opportunities
On today's episode of On The Merits we hear from three lawyers working in the white hot world of data center projects. Mike Rechtin and Justin Stolte are, respectively, real estate and energy partners with Latham & Watkins, and Michelle Kallen is an appellate and advocacy partner at Steptoe. "The...
-
Why Law Schools are Making a 'Big Mistake' in AI Era Admissions
The number of law students who graduated in the class of 2024 spiked compared to previous years. That worries Nikia Gray, the head of the National Association for Law Placement. "I think it's going to be a big mistake for law schools to continue to admit large law school class sizes," she said,...
-
Trump's Law Firm Deals May Have Hurt Headcount: David Lat
It's still not clear what, if any, fallout the law firms that struck pro bono deals with President Donald Trump earlier this year will face. But analyzing attorney movements over the last six months provides one data point. On average, law firms that settled subsequently lost attorneys more...
-
Wachtell Has Its Fingerprints All Over Delaware Law Changes
Delaware recently changed its corporate laws to make them more favorable to companies being sued by their shareholders and the mega-firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was deeply involved in that process. That's raising some eyebrows because Wachtell is also a go-to firm for companies in…
more -
King & Spalding 2,400 Hour Rule Is Just the Norm, Recruiter Says
A memo from law firm King & Spalding to its associates saying they need to log 2,400 "productive hours" a year surprised some in the legal world. But today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits, says it shouldn't have. It's always been the case that lawyers need to go beyond meeting their…
more -
Chicago Law Dean on AI: You Won't Be Able to Entirely Avoid It
Like most schools worried about academic integrity, the University of Chicago Law School used to discourage its first-year students from using generative AI but now it has crept into that first-year curriculum. Despite its overall inevitability, William Hubbard, a professor and deputy dean, says...
-
What's KPMG Up to With Its New Law Firm in Arizona?
The Big Four accounting firm KPMG has taken advantage of relaxed rules in Arizona to start a law firm there, but the company has broader ambitions outside of the state. KPMG says it doesn't want to compete with established players in the legal industry, but Big Law leaders are privately…
more -
Big Law United to Save Lucrative White Collar Defense Work
The largest law firms in the country are fiercely competitive, so it's notable when nearly 40 of them agree to sign on to a legal brief. That's what happened in an appellate case that could have eroded the attorney-client privilege—and the firms' lucrative white collar defense practices. They...
-
Ex-Skadden Partner Talks Taking on Trump With New Solo Firm
Benjamin Klubes is a Big Law expat who just founded his own litigation-focused boutique firm—and he's not alone. Other former partners at larger law firms are now either moving to smaller litigation-only firms or, like Klubes, starting their own. In this episode of our podcast, On The Merits,...
-
Law Firms Look Like Enticing Targets for Outside Investors
If it wasn't already clear, it is now: well-capitalized investors want a piece of the US legal industry. The latest example of this trend came this week when the litigation funder Burford Capital announced that now, in addition to financing individual lawsuits, it also wants to buy minority…
more -
Why Do More Big Law Lawyers Want Off the Partner Track?
The allure of making partner doesn't hold the same appeal that it used to for many Big Law associates. Some of them are swallowing a pay cut to jump to a smaller firm. That's according to Major, Lindsey & Africa partner and recruiter Kate Reder Sheikh, who wrote about the trend for Bloomberg Law....
-
When a Law Firm's Tech Venture Goes South, the Lawsuits Fly
The law firm Norton Rose Fullbright thought it was taking a great leap forward when it brought on two partners and acquired the legal tech startup they co-founded, NMBL Technologies. Now, the firm and the startup are mired in a messy litigation battle against one another. On this episode of our...
-
Did Associates Who Quit Over Trump Deals Burn Big Law Bridges?
A wave of associate lawyers resigned in protest from their Big Law jobs earlier this year after their firms struck controversial pro bono deals with the Trump administration. Do they have any regrets? According to Bloomberg Law reporters Justin Henry and Elleiana Green, not really. They spoke…
more -
Risky Bet on Figma Paid Off Huge for Silicon Valley Law Firm
Fenwick & West's decision to seek equity in one of its tech startup clients is now, with the benefit of hindsight, looking like a stroke of genius. Figma Inc. last week had a blockbuster IPO and Fenwick made money not only advising its client on going public, but also through the firm's ownership...
-
Why Susman Godfrey Lawyers Are Happy to Tackle Risky Litigation
Susman Godfrey has shown it's willing to take on high-risk, high-reward lawsuits with unconventional fee structures. Its leaders say this risk appetite is ingrained in the firm's culture. "When we vote to take a case, it is a case of the firm," Kalpana Srinivasan, a managing partner at the firm,...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
On The Merits takes you behind the scenes of the legal world and the inner workings of law firms. This podcast offers in-depth analysis on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the business of law and the legal industry overall. You'll gain insights into how the latest government actions, policies, and business developments are impacting the industry and hear from leading attorneys, legal scholars, industry experts, and our own team of journalists as they share their perspectives on the forces driving change.
HOSTED BY
Bloomberg Law
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does On The Merits have?
On The Merits currently has 320 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is On The Merits about?
On The Merits takes you behind the scenes of the legal world and the inner workings of law firms. This podcast offers in-depth analysis on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the business of law and the legal industry overall. You'll gain insights into how the latest government...
How often does On The Merits release new episodes?
On The Merits publishes regularly with 320 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to On The Merits?
You can listen to On The Merits on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts On The Merits?
On The Merits is created and hosted by Bloomberg Law.
URL copied to clipboard!