Original Jurisdiction
by David Lat
Original Jurisdiction, a podcast about law and the legal profession, features host David Lat interviewing some of the most interesting, influential, and important people in the world of law. It's the companion podcast to Lat's Substack newsletter of the same name. You can follow David on Twitter (@DavidLat) or email him at [email protected], and you can subscribe to his newsletter at davidlat.substack.com. davidlat.substack.com
Episodes
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Demystifying The MSO: Trisha Rich
The rise of the management service organization (MSO) will reshape—and is already reshaping—the legal industry. In terms of important trends for the business of law, it’s up there with the rise of AI. But unlike AI, relatively few people know much about MSOs, including the basics of how they work...
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The Disappointed Originalist: Sherif Girgis
Within the world of legal nerds, there has been a lot of buzz lately about originalism, the theory of constitutional interpretation that calls for interpreting the Constitution based on the original public meaning of its provisions. Some of this might be due to the start of the latest Term of the...
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‘There’s Always A Way’: Jaime Santos
Earlier this month, Jaime Santos joined Proskauer Rose, making her the latest in a series of appellate advocates to switch firms in 2026. She came from Goodwin, where she practiced for more than a dozen years and served as co-head of the Supreme Court and appellate practice. What led Jaime to…
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The Making Of A Celebrity Litigator: Mathew Rosengart
Five years ago this fall, Mathew Rosengart made international headlines when he secured the termination of the 13-year conservatorship of pop icon Britney Spears. But while he might be most famous for how he helped #FreeBritney, Rosengart has litigated many major matters over the years,...
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Google Goes All In On Legal AI: Halimah DeLaine Prado
Legal AI is a big deal—and a big business. How do we know this? It’s attracting interest beyond specialized, law-focused providers like Harvey and Legora (which are themselves already multibillion-dollar businesses). Last month, Google announced Gemini Enterprise for Legal, part of the company’s...
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Building A Legal Playbook For Crypto’s Next Chapter: Molly Abraham
Cryptocurrency is at a critical point in its evolution. The existential questions have been answered—crypto is here to stay—and now the main issues relate to how it will be regulated (and by whom). Last year, Congress passed the GENIUS Act, landmark legislation governing a particular category of...
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Biglaw’s Embrace Of Contingency Litigation
For much of the time that I’ve been writing about the legal profession, the line between plaintiff- and defense-side litigation was clear, stable, and widely respected. Small, scrappy firms took plaintiffs’ work on contingency; large, prestigious firms defended corporations for hourly rates. That...
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From Cravath Partner To Boutique Founder: Ben Gruenstein
Earlier this year, Benjamin Gruenstein left Cravath Swaine & Moore, his professional home for almost two decades, and founded his own boutique, Gruenstein Law. Ben and I first met around the time that he launched his firm, after we were introduced by a mutual friend (but not his brother, former...
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Supreme Court Term In Review: Zach Shemtob
Last Tuesday, June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its final opinions in argued cases for October Term 2025. So it’s an ideal time to review the Term that was—and to look ahead to what’s on the docket for OT 2026. I could think of no better guest for this project than my husband, Zachary Baron...
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Taking On Tough Cases For The Trump Administration: Abhishek Kambli
Defending some of the Trump administration’s most controversial policies in court, before frequently skeptical judges, can be difficult. But Abhishek “Abhi” Kambli, who recently stepped down as deputy associate attorney general, took on this challenge—repeatedly. During 15 months at the U.S....
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‘A Simple Ambition—The Very Best Appellate Practice’: Kannon Shanmugam
For longtime observers of the legal profession, here’s a headline we wouldn’t have expected a few years ago: “The Eight-Figure Talent Race for Supreme Court Lawyers.” According to Ryan Barber and Erin Mulvaney of The Wall Street Journal (gift link), superstar SCOTUS advocates—including former...
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A Prosecutor Turned Partner—And Pioneer: Jessie Liu
The trend of leading litigators launching their own boutiques continues. Last month, three Chambers-ranked trial lawyers—Jessie Liu, Justin Shur, and Jonathan Kravis—left their respective firms to found Liu Shur Kravis in Washington, D.C. What makes LSK particularly interesting is that it’s a...
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From Litigation To Legislation And Back Again: Rob Bonta
State attorneys general have been playing an increasingly important role in American law and politics in recent years, as I discussed in my recent podcast interview of former New Jersey attorney general Matthew Platkin. Continuing the conversation on this interesting evolution, last week I...
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How Law Firms Can Lead The Agentic AI Era: Sabastian Niles
Artificial intelligence is transforming the practice of law in countless ways, as I’ve explored in this podcast and newsletter. Thus far, I’ve focused mainly on AI’s implications for lawyers and law firms. But how is AI affecting clients, what they expect from their firms, and the attorney-client...
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Last Branch Standing: Sarah Isgur
Sarah Isgur is one of the busiest people in legal media. She hosts the delightful Advisory Opinions podcast (on which I sometimes appear); serves as an editor of SCOTUSblog, the leading online outlet covering the Supreme Court; and appears regularly on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos....
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Winning For Workers Before A Conservative Court: Jennifer Bennett
My latest guest is an acclaimed appellate and Supreme Court advocate, Jennifer Bennett of Gupta Wessler. To introduce her, I’m going to turn over the floor to a former podcast guest: Judge Vince Chhabria (N.D. Cal.), for whom Bennett clerked. When I mentioned to Judge Chhabria that I was going to...
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Building A Law Firm, Five Years In: Jed Bergman
I’ve interviewed many law firm leaders on this podcast, usually from one of two extremes: brand-new boutiques or long-established Biglaw institutions. But the most interesting moment in a firm’s history may be the middle—when the early bets have paid off, but the long-term trajectory is still...
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The Very Model Of A Modern Attorney General: Matt Platkin
Over the three decades that I’ve been in and around the legal profession, one of the most interesting developments has been the rise of what I’d call “The Modern Attorney General.” Years ago, the typical state attorney general had a fairly sleepy role. Much of the job was reactive—enforcing...
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Build Windmills, Not Walls: Michael Gerstenzang
Last month, Michael Gerstenzang concluded a nine-year run as managing partner of Cleary Gottlieb, one of the world’s leading law firms. During his tenure, he guided the firm through the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical turbulence, and the early stages of the AI transformation—an area where Cleary...
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On Vigilantism And Violence: Elliot Williams
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com If you’re my age, you’ll recall the story of Bernhard Goetz. On a New York City subway car on December 22, 1984, Goetz shot four Black teenagers from the Bronx at point-blank range. Accused of attempted murder,...
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Launching A Boutique In Turbulent Times: Timothy Heaphy
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com How would you react if you saw Jack Smith, the former special counsel who prosecuted Donald Trump, at Costco? It might just happen. Last week, Jack Smith launched his own litigation boutique, along with three…
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Running A Global Law Firm In 2026: Jon Van Gorp
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to the first Original Jurisdiction podcast episode of the new year, an opportune time to both reflect on 2025 and look ahead to 2026. To kick things off, I decided I wanted to interview a Biglaw leader, to...
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AI Data Center Dealmaking: Steven Messina
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Every time you ask a question of your AI assistant, it gets sent to a data center, where the response is generated before getting sent back to you. These data centers are critical to the AI revolution. The biggest...
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Serving On A State High Court: Justice David Wecht
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com During the three-plus years that I’ve been hosting this podcast, I’ve welcomed a diverse range of guests. They’ve exhibited demographic diversity, of course, but also other forms of diversity—including diversity…
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Judging The Justice System In The Age Of Trump: Nancy Gertner
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Resolving The Unresolvable: Kenneth Feinberg
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Trial Lawyer To The Stars: Orin Snyder
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Who’s the Biglaw partner with the most star-studded client roster? Orin Snyder, co-chair of the Trials Practice Group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, has to be up there. Consider this: at least a half-dozen of his...
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A Happy Warrior, For Her Clients And For The Rule Of Law: Jeannie Rhee
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Jeannie Rhee is one of the nation’s leading litigators, with the awards and accolades to prove it—including, most recently, recognition last month from Forbes as one of America’s Top 250 Lawyers. But her legal...
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When You Come At The King: Elie Honig
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com As Omar Little of The Wire famously quipped, “When you come at the king, you best not miss.” It’s a very true saying—and an apt title for the third book by prosecutor turned bestselling author Elie Honig, When You...
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The Maestro Of Mass Torts: Christopher Seeger
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Mass-tort and multidistrict litigation is one of the most interesting and important practice areas in American law today. But even though these cases represent more than 70 percent of the federal civil docket,...
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A View From The Top Of The M&A World: David Lam
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com One question I frequently receive, as a lawyer turned writer, is whether I miss the practice of law. My honest answer is no. In my current job, I feel I get some of the best aspects of a legal career, such as the...
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Trying High-Profile Cases For Controversial Clients: Marc Agnifilo
Few lawyers in America have handled more headline-making cases than Marc Agnifilo of Agnifilo Intrater. A former prosecutor in both the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey—where he and I met and became friends, around 20 years ago—Marc has defended a...
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‘A Period Of Great Constitutional Danger’: Pam Karlan
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its latest Term. And over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has continued to duke it out with its adversaries in the federal courts. To tackle these topics…
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‘Calling It Down The Middle’: Judge Ana Reyes
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com I’ve been writing about the judiciary for more than 20 years, and in my opinion, the current time is the most difficult I’ve seen for serving as a federal judge. This is especially true in courts where a...
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Aspiring Rainmakers Should Become ‘Activators,’ New Study Shows
How can law firm partners get better at business development, given how important it’s become to their work? That’s the subject of “The Activator Advantage: What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently,” published by the Harvard Business Review Press. Orrick chairman Mitch Zuklie described the book as...
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A Pioneering Advocate For LGBTQ Rights: Shannon Minter
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Managing Through Crisis: Debra Wong Yang
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Paying It Forward: Sandra Leung
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Litigating At The Center Of Law and Technology: Neel Chatterjee
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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‘Fight With Everything You Have’: David Oscar Markus
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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‘Come In With The Hammer’: Elie Mystal
Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here. Democrats and...
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Leading A Biglaw Firm Through Interesting Times: Yvette Ostolaza
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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The State Of Legal Tech Is Strong: Joe Borstein
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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On Constitutional Crisis And The Current ‘Precarious’ Moment: Vince Chhabria
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Big-City Mayors In The New Trump Era: Quinton Lucas
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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Lawless: The Miseducation Of America’s Elites, With Ilya Shapiro
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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The Rise (And Rise) Of Private Credit: Jennifer Daly
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at [email protected]. This is a...
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How AI Is Transforming Legal Writing: Ross Guberman
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com As 2024 draws to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the most important topics and trends that shaped the legal profession this year. At or near the top of the list, of course, was artificial intelligence. How will…
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Ready To Take On The Trump Administration: Amol Sinha
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com Early wishes for a happy Thanksgiving. As the holiday season gets underway, those of us who have so much to be thankful for should think about—and reach out to help—those who are less fortunate. So as I did last...
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A Veteran—And Victor—Of Many Courtroom Battles: Beth Wilkinson
Veterans Day was last week, so it was very fitting that I interviewed Beth Wilkinson, one of the nation’s top trial lawyers and founding partner of Wilkinson Stekloff. After graduating from Princeton and UVA Law, she began her career as a lawyer in the Army JAG Corps. She then continued her…
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About this show
Original Jurisdiction, a podcast about law and the legal profession, features host David Lat interviewing some of the most interesting, influential, and important people in the world of law. It's the companion podcast to Lat's Substack newsletter of the same name. You can follow David on Twitter (@DavidLat) or email him at [email protected], and you can subscribe to his newsletter at davidlat.substack.com.
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