A Riot By Any Other Name...

A Riot By Any Other Name...

Author: Legal Talk Network November 5, 2025 Duration: 39:30
DOJ punishing lawyers, the future of the billable hour, and dark times for public interest work. ----- We talk about the DOJ lawyers suspended by the White House for calling January 6 a riot in a sentencing memo. and the conversation veers down a rabbit hole about the proper role of pardons. For years, the billable hour seemed like the cockroach of law firm management, but after surviving numerous brushes with death, AI might finally force firms to look into alternative fee structures. And if you're in law school and thinking about serving the public interest, expect it to be a lot more expensive unless your future employer is blessed by the Trump administration.

Ever wonder how a lawyer's mind dissects the everyday world? That's the territory explored in Above the Law-Thinking Like a Lawyer, hosted by Joe Patrice, Kathryn Rubino, and Chris Williams from the legal news site. This isn't a dry analysis of case law, but a lively conversation where the hosts take common experiences-from pop culture phenomena and business trends to workplace dilemmas and current events-and run them through a distinctly legal filter. You'll hear them untangle the underlying principles, ethical knots, and surprising precedents hidden within topics everyone discusses. The result is often illuminating, sometimes dizzying, but always engaging as they debate whether that framework reveals clarity or complexity. Produced by the Legal Talk Network, the podcast sits at a unique crossroads of news, business, and career insights, offering a pragmatic yet entertaining look at how legal thinking shapes our understanding of everything. It’s for anyone curious about the mechanics of argument, the structure of rules, or just a smarter take on the week’s headlines. Tune in for a regular dose of perspective that is as thought-provoking as it is accessible, proving that a legal lens can be applied to far more than just a courtroom.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer
Podcast Episodes
Rankings Drama Hits Law Schools, Law Firms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:10
And a crazy billing story. ----- It's that time of year where publications look deep into the souls of complex, nuanced legal institutions and assign them a fixed ranking. U.S. News and World Report issued its latest law…
Trump's Awful No Good Day At The Supreme Court [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:06
And Pam Bondi earned a pink slip. ----- The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Trump's effort to erase birthright citizenship from the Constitution via executive order, and it went as poorly for the administration as e…
Afroman And Elon Had Very Different Trial Experiences [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:44
And the DOJ had an atrocious week. ------ Rapper turned First Amendment hero Afroman took his frustration over a heavy-handed police raid on his Ohio home and turned it into music. When the officers sued him for millions…
AI Hallucinations And Judicial Derangements [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:05
And Legalweek talk. ------ It was Legalweek last week, and we discuss the big happenings from the show -- which is pretty much all AI talk -- but while we saw splashy product announcements about the future of working as…
John Roberts Suffers The Slings And Arrows Of Pure Rage Trump [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:53
And the bar examiners prove once again that they don't care about anyone but themselves. ----- After striking down the Trump administration's tariffs, Chief Justice Roberts has earned nothing but disrespect and abuse fro…
Supreme Court Airs Dirty Laundry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:20
Things get testy down at the courthouse. ----- The Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's effort to use IEEPA to impose arbitrary tariffs across the world and in the process delivered around 170 pages of epic shade. Me…
AI Takes The Blame, Epstein Takes The Careers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:44
And law students finally get some good news. With a Biglaw firm officially blaming staff layoffs on AI, what is it going to look like if and when layoffs come for lawyers? It's unlikely to look the same for every Biglaw…
Epstein Fallout Rocks Legal As Admin Tries To Deflect From ICE [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:21
This is likely only the beginning of the reckoning. ----- As predicted on last week's episode, Brad Karp left the top post at Paul Weiss following the disclosure of friendly correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. But Karp…
Accountability In An Age Of Unaccountability [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:17
Between Epstein files and ethical breaches, a reckoning seems so close yet so far. ----- A flurry of stories hit the legal world all at once last week, with the government responding to another ICE killing in Minnesota b…