Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

The bar exam is a daunting obstacle, but it doesn't have to be.Joe and Elie chat with Rich Douglas, COO of Themis, about the bar exam and how to conquer it. Rich also tells us about the Themis Law School Essentials program of free review materials for law school courses and we discuss the impact the GRE is going to have on law school admissions.

"PODigal"... get it? Whatever. The original Thinking Like A Lawyer hosting team is back for a limited engagement! With the team depleted by holiday vacations, Joe is joined by Elie Mystal of The Nation to talk about the Supreme Court, touching on everything from Shinn -- deciding that "actual innocence isn't enough" when it comes to getting people off death row -- to the coming Bruen opinion that will stifle even the mildest of gun regulations across the country. We may even have a little to say about leaking draft Supreme Court opinions.

Yale. Again.Everything keeps coming back to New Haven. Conservatives are doxxing law students for saying they might not party with FedSoc anymore. Professors are whitewashing Alito opinions. Alums are attacking the press. Why can't this school chill out a little? Also a Biglaw firm needs some lessons in collegiality and Elon Musk is trying to make his own law firm.

Does the new Texas social media law banning platforms from moderating content really require you to listen to this episode? Well, it's on Twitter so now you're compelled! Frustratingly, this reasoning is just as stupid as the Fifth Circuit's crayon-scratched opinion rubber stamping the statute. It's an opinion so bad that Justice Alito immediately swooped in to get the appeal rolling. Meanwhile, we also talk about the changing nature of in-house counsel and the growth of "legal operations" as the chief operating officers of legal departments, a judge with a penchant for handcuffing lawyers, and the latest law school dean hypocrisy. Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

A leaked draft opinion informed the world that the far-right wing of the Supreme Court has broken from Chief Justice Roberts and intends to overrule Roe v. Wade outright based on... "we've got five votes now, so suck it." The gang discusses the opinion, the demise of stare decisis, the obsession with the leaker, and a law professor's problematic response to it all. Joe didn't even use the sound board this week, so you know it's serious.Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

If you're tuning in today to hear our thoughts on the leaked Dobbs opinion and what that means for the future of both reproductive rights and the entire superstructure of the 14th Amendment going forward... well, you'll have to wait a week. Putting together a quality show takes time and that means we recorded this before that revelation. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot to cover! We have a breakdown of the latest Am Law 100 ranking of law firms, recaps of the "interesting" lawyering both in and before the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial, way too much talk about the legal woes facing Ron DeSantis as he goes after Disney, the racist standup career of Alex Jones's lawyer, and some pointers on how and how not to report on legal news.Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

That was an exhausting week for legal happenings! Marjorie Taylor Greene flummoxed a poor judge during a hearing into her ability to satisfy the 14th Amendment's proscription against seditionists in office. Justice Kagan had just about enough of Neil Gorsuch and let us all know. Alex Jones took his defamation woes to Bankruptcy Court -- after transferring millions among different legal entities, of course. The Biden administration set its sights on undermining Miranda rights, Johnny Depp has a better grasp on hearsay than most law students, and we got a major arrest in the Dan Markel murder case.And all that's before we even get to one of the least qualified federal judges in American history deciding that there's no statutory basis for the CDC to regulate proactive public health measures based on... some curious wordplay.Phew. Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

Penn Law's Amy Wax is back at it, appearing on Tucker Carlson to talk about the problem with Black people and Asians. We cover Wax's shenanigans and the impact they have on the law school's credibility a lot, but it does make us wonder where we draw the line between informing the public and just feeding a troll. We also talk about Kim Kardashian's ongoing quest to become a lawyer reaching a new high water mark and Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli losing his Biglaw attorneys.Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

There's not an explicit rule of professional responsibility for this, but the general commandment to serve the public ought to stretch far enough to keep the Court from running a propaganda arm. Amy Coney Barrett blasted a sound byte reassuring the public that the Court isn't a corrupt, partisan institution because it issues "opinions," knowing full well that she was about to obliterate half a century of environmental regulations on the strength of an unsigned paragraph that very week. We also have to revisit the Yale Law School culture fight, which seems less a fight than a unilateral assault on free speech in favor of "you have the right to shut up and listen."Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.

US News and World Report released its annual law school rankings last week and delivered chaos upon the legal world, dropping Harvard from its top three perch. As we break down some key insights from the rankings, we remind everyone not to get too hung up on these numbers. Speaking of numbers that lawyers should get hung up on, it looks like a lawyer screw up cost a bank around $600M so that's not great. And speaking of being the opposite of great, unhinged text messages from Ginni Thomas raise questions about the fitness of Clarence Thomas to serve on the Supreme Court. Don't worry, no one will end up doing anything about it.Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptionists, LLC.