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The state of Texas is creating an entirely new corporate law court in an attempt to lure big firms away from Delaware, the current incorporation capital of the world. However, just days before its official opening, there's trouble with the new court's rollout. It's been difficult for the state to find basic physical office space for the Texas business court to operate in. But beyond that, there are also questions about why its judges are serving only short, two-year terms and why, unlike in Delaware, trials will be heard by juries and not by judges with more corporate law expertise. Bloomberg News' Madlin Mekelburg and Bloomberg Law's Ryan Autullo just wrote a story about this trouble and they join this episode of our podcast, On The Merits. The reporters talk about why standing up this new court is a pet project of Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and why one of the first litigants to try it out may be Elon Musk. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The number of non-equity partners has ballooned in recent years, with some data estimating there will soon be more of them at law firms than full partners. But not all of these attorneys are happy with their job classification. There are several ongoing employment lawsuits against firms from non-equity partners who claim they get the worst of both worlds: none of the profit sharing that full partners enjoy, but also no benefits or tax withholding that's standard for most employees. The guest on today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, says the non-equity partnership can benefit both lawyers and firms—if it's managed well. David Lat, author of the Original Jurisdiction newsletter and a Bloomberg Law columnist, talks about how firms can do make the non equity title work for everyone, and what types of attorneys can benefit. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

A judicial clerkship can put a young lawyer on a path to a dream career. But if the judge is abusive or unethical, that dream can very quickly turn into a nightmare. That's what happened to Aliza Shatzman, a former clerk who had a terrible experience working for a judge. Shatzman went on to found the Legal Accountability Project, a group advocating for more workplace protections for clerks and other judicial branch employees. Shatzman joins our On The Merits podcast in the wake of a scandal involving an Alaska federal judge who resigned amid allegations of pervasive harassment and abuse of his clerks. We also hear from Bloomberg Law reporter Jacqueline Thomsen about why courts have their own system for handling employee disputes and why they don't want Congress to interfere with it. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The Supreme Court's landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling last month was the end of Roe v. Wade, but the beginning of a whole new era of turmoil over reproductive rights in corporate America. For example, big corporations and law firms are weighing whether they should offer to pay for their employees to travel to receive an abortion. And if they do, how to respond if Republican lawmakers retaliate against them. Will some of these companies play both sides of the issue and continue to donate to GOP lawmakers, while publicly denouncing the abortion laws they enact? Beyond corporate politics, there's also the more tangible issue of health care access. Some new state anti-abortion laws place restrictions on drugs that can terminate a pregnancy. But some doctors, pharmacists, and patients say it's unclear if it's still legal to prescribe these drugs for vital off-label uses. Bloomberg Law has been covering all of the fallout from the abortion ruling, and on this week's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, reporters Maia Spoto, Clara Hudson, and Celine Castronuovo dig into all of the new issues that have arisen in the past few weeks. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Last week Paul Clement, arguably the most experienced Supreme Court litigator ever, announced he was leaving Kirkland & Ellis, arguably the largest law firm ever. He cited "client loyalty" as his reason for packing his bags. Clement left after the mega-firm decided, in the wake of several mass shootings, that it would no longer work on gun rights issues. He said he disagreed with this decision and that attorneys have a "professional responsibility" to represent these clients. The move raised an eternal question within the legal world: do clients choose their attorneys, or do attorneys choose their clients? On this week's episode of our legal news podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom weighs in. He says, at least in civil cases, there's no ethical problem with dropping a client and that firms have a long history of being selective about whom they represent. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The actor Seth Green has reportedly paid a ransom for the return of his purloined NFT, and that's disappointing some intellectual property attorneys. For those not in the know: Green, who played Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers franchise, was planning to develop a TV show around an NFT he had purchased. But then a hacker stole the digital token from him. This raised all sorts of novel legal issues around whether Green still had the rights to exploit the IP. Riddhi Setty, an IP reporter with Bloomberg Law, says a lot of attorneys were hoping Green would go to court and get a ruling from a judge about whether he still owned the stolen token's IP. This could have cleared up some unanswered intellectual property questions around digital assets. For this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Setty explains to us why Green was in this situation in the first place, and why Green's decision not to go to court only delays the legal reckoning for NFTs and intellectual property. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

As the pandemic started to ease, big law leaders worked to fine-tune their remote work policies. Should lawyers be in the office two days a week? Three? Quinn Emanuel had another idea—never. The Los Angeles-based firm, led by its iconoclastic founder, John Quinn, embraced a work-from-anywhere policy. Quinn says it wasn't without its challenges, but that he's glad his namesake firm made this move. At the very least, he says, he hopes it will spur disgruntled attorneys working at more inflexible firms to send him their résumés. On this week's episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Quinn speaks to Bloomberg Law's Roy Strom about why Quinn Emanuel is going all in on the remote work trend within Big Law. He also talks about why he thinks a tremendously profitable 2021 was not a fluke for the litigation-focused Quinn Emanuel. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this special weekend edition of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Alex Ruoff reads his story about terminally ill patients fighting the DEA for the right to use psychedelic drugs. Click here to read the story in print.

Former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to one federal judge. In an expansive and unusual ruling earlier this spring, David O. Carter, a Clinton-appointed judge from the Central District of California, gave federal prosecutors a blueprint for how they could indict the former president. But don't expect an indictment anytime soon. Ex-prosecutors say that, even if the evidence is there, federal prosecutors must take other factors into consideration, such as the threat of domestic unrest. Bloomberg Law's John Holland joins our weekly podcast, On The Merits, to talk about his conversations with these former prosecutors and about why bringing charges against Trump would be difficult—though far from impossible. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Crypto prices are plummeting, but Big Law isn't rushing for the exits. Far from it. Many of the country's biggest law firms have thrown themselves head first into the cryptocurrency world, with some even establishing specialized crypto practice groups. Bloomberg Law reporter Sam Skolnik says the reasons are clear: a confusing regulatory environment combined with crypto companies now flush with enough funds to be able to afford Big Law representation. On this episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Sam talks about which firms are most active in crypto and why Big Law is bullish on the industry's future. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is a household name, but that doesn't mean he gets everything he wants from Congress. As the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fauci is heading to Capitol Hill to try to convince legislators to fund President Biden's $10 billion Covid-19 bill. Bloomberg Law health reporter Jeannie Baumann spoke to Dr. Fauci about what his agency needs the funding for, what will happen if it doesn't materialize, and whether we'll see a new viral variant in the future. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

We got a window into the inner workings of the usually secretive Supreme Court with a leaked draft opinion in a landmark abortion case. As surprising, even shocking, as this leak was, it could be the beginning of a new era at the court in which the justices' private deliberations are no longer sacrosanct and leaks become more common. On this special breaking news edition of On The Merits, Kimberly Robinson and Jordan Rubin, hosts of our Supreme Court podcast Cases and Controversies, talk about what this might mean for the future of the court and about how the leaked opinion itself could affect women seeking abortions. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

When it comes to copyright law, stand-up comedy recordings have generally been treated differently than music recordings. At least, until now. The estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin are among several plaintiffs in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Pandora that centers on whether the streaming service has the proper license for their work. Spotify is also having similar disputes with comics, though out of court. On today's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Isaiah Poritz explains how the copyright discrepancy between comedy and music started, why it may be going away, and why the comics suing these streaming giants will probably end up laughing all the way to the bank. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On the Merits is on hiatus for a bit while we create some great new episodes for you. Until then, we're pleased to offer a special presentation of our ABA Silver Gavel award-winning series, UnCommon Law. Generative AI tools are already promising to change the world. Systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT can answer complex questions, write poems and code, and even mimic famous authors with uncanny accuracy. But in using copyrighted materials to train these powerful AI products, are AI companies infringing the rights of untold creators? This season on UnCommon Law, we'll explore the intersection between artificial intelligence and the law. Episode one examines how large language models actually ingest and learn from billions of online data points, including copyrighted works. And we explore the lawsuits filed by creators who claim their copyrights were exploited without permission to feed the data-hungry algorithms powering tools like ChatGPT. If you like this episode and want to hear part 2, visit news.bloomberglaw.com/podcasts, or search for UnCommon Law in your podcast app. Guests: Matthew Butterick, founder at Butterick Law, and co-counsel with the Joseph Saveri Law Firm on class-action lawsuits against OpenAI and others Isaiah Poritz, technology reporter for Bloomberg Law James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School

This summer, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. It could significantly alter—or even eliminate altogether—Roe v. Wade and the legality of abortion in America. But rather than waiting to see what the justices do, many Republican-led states are moving to enact their own restrictive abortion laws. And some blue state legislatures are working to bolster abortion access. On today's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, we examine the state of abortion laws in the states. Bloomberg Law correspondent Jennifer Kay explains why some states are not waiting for the Dobbs opinion to act, while Bloomberg Law reporter Lydia Wheeler discusses whether these laws could apply to out-of-state health care providers. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

A bill is currently sitting on the desk of Gov. Tate Reeves (R) that would make his state, Mississippi, the 50th and final one to adopt a law mandating equal pay for men and women. However, not all women are celebrating. Women's rights advocates say the Mississippi law is watered down to the point of absurdity—for example, it allows employers to pay women less based on their prior salary or their "negotiating tactics." On today's weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we hear from Andrea Johnson, director of state policy at the National Women's Law Center, about where the equal pay movement stands, both in the courts and state legislatures. She tells Bloomberg Law correspondent Jennifer Kay that lawmakers are acting out of unfounded fears that employers will be deluged with compensation-related lawsuits. In reality, Johnson says, bringing and winning a pay discrimination suit is very difficult, even in states with robust equal pay laws. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Some good news for ESG investors, and even better news for accountants: the Securities and Exchange Commission just unveiled a new proposal that would force public companies to disclose mountains of climate change information. The proposal goes far beyond requiring disclosure of the fossil fuels a company itself uses: It would also have companies report out the carbon footprint of their supply chains and even, in some cases, of the customers who use their products. On today's On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, we hear from Bloomberg News sustainability editor Eric Roston about what's in this SEC proposal and why, for so-called "green investors," this has been a long time coming. We also hear from Bloomberg Tax's Amanda Iacone about why these disclosure rules could be a boon for accountants. After all, someone has to audit all of those new corporate climate statements. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

A Bloomberg Law analysis found that, within the tech industry, Apple uses outside law firms at a rate three times higher than its nearest rival. But which firms the iPhone maker uses may surprise you. On this episode of On The Merits, we hear from three Bloomberg Law reporters about why the Silicon Valley giant steers a large portion of its legal business toward two small-to-mid-size Southern 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.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson spent a good portion of the first day of her Supreme Court nomination hearings in the U.S. Senate defending her work as a defense lawyer. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled the nominee about her time as a public defender, including her work defending prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Senators also targeted sentences she handed down to people convicted on child pornography charges when she was a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we talk to Bloomberg Law reporter Jordan Rubin about how the hearings have been going so far, why Republicans are choosing this line of attack, and whether there's anything the GOP might do to stop Judge Jackson from becoming Justice Jackson. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Law firms that do business in Ukraine or in Russia have had to make a series of rapid decisions over the past weeks that could have the highest of consequences. Maintaining relationships with Russian clients, aside from earning them public condemnation, could put law firms afoul of new sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of its neighbor last month. But dropping clients could also subject their Russian staffers to state-sanctioned retaliation. And this is to say nothing of the firms that have offices in Ukraine itself, where just ensuring the physical safety of their attorneys is a challenge. On today's On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, Bloomberg Law editor Chris Opfer talks about why some firms have turned on a dime to drop their Russian business, while others haven't and still others can't. Chris also talks about why the developments of the past weeks show that reputational risk is a much bigger factor in law firms' decision making than it was just a few years ago. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

In this special bonus episode, listen to Bloomberg Law reporter Ayanna Alexander read her story about women who reject the partner track at big law firms.

The former president of the United States is waging a complex defensive legal battle on numerous fronts. From Manhattan to Albany to Atlanta and elsewhere, prosecutors are circling Donald Trump, his business, and his family. The latest blow came last month when accounting firm Mazars USA LLP not only cut ties with Trump but also announced it was disavowing a decade's worth of his financial statements. It was a move that some speculated may indicate Mazars is now cooperating with prosecutors investigating Trump's businesses. On today's episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, we speak with three reporters covering the intricate legal dealings of the former president. Amanda Iacone, Erik Larson, and Greg Farrell talk about some of the most prominent investigations into Trump, why they're moving so slowly, and about whether Trump will have enough resources to keep fighting them. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

In this special bonus episode, listen to Bloomberg Law columnist Roy Strom read his story profiling one of the largest and most powerful law firms in America, Kirkland & Ellis.

Within a decade or so, at least several states will have banned the sale of new gas-powered automobiles. The electrification of America's cars is coming, but is America ready? To get the country ready, President Biden and Democrats in Congress gave states more than $7 billion to install electric vehicle charging stations across the country. But, as Bloomberg Government's Lillianna Byington found, an Eisenhower-era law means these charging stations can't be built on highways, as many EV advocates had hoped. On today's episode of our On The Merits podcast, Lillianna explains why road-tripping EV drivers will have to get off of the highway to charge up. She also talks about some of the other obstacles EVs must overcome before overtaking their gas-powered predecessors. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

When California's new mental health courts were getting started, the debate centered on whether they had too much power–or too little. Now, roughly six months in, the state is discovering a new flaw: too few people are using them. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Maia Spoto talks about why California's Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment, or CARE, Courts, have had such an underwhelming start. Also, what this means for the state's governor, Gavin Newsom (D), who invested a large amount of political capital into them. We also hear from one of the judges helping to set up a CARE Court in Orange County, who talks about the large amount of manpower needed to adjudicate these special types of cases. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The Rooney Rule started in the NFL, but it has since transcended the league—and professional sports altogether—to become a diversity initiative used across corporate America. The rule, named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, requires any organization that implements it to interview at least one minority candidate for senior job openings. But, as last week's explosive lawsuit from former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores shows, the Rooney Rule has some glaring limitations. On this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we discuss those limitations with Bloomberg News courts reporter Chris Dolmetsch and Bloomberg Law employment reporter Erin Mulvaney. Chris tells us about the origins of Flores' suit and the high-profile lawyer representing him, while Erin explains the current thinking on whether the Rooney Rule is still effective. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

No property tax system is totally fair, but few are as unbalanced and often skewed in favor of the wealthy as New York City's. A law passed in Albany in the early 1980's was supposed to keep taxes on the Big Apple's single-family homes from rising too quickly. But what that means is that now a co-op in Staten Island has a tax bill 2,000% higher than a similarly priced brownstone in Brooklyn. On today's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we hear from Bloomberg Law's Donna Borak and Andrew Satter, who just published a big investigation into this topic. They tell us about what they've learned and about exactly how the city's Kafkaesque property tax system hurts its homeowners. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Justice Stephen Breyer is known for letting his flamboyant intellect shine on the bench. And, according to those who clerked for him, Breyer's personality outside of the courtroom was no different. It was reported earlier today that this will be the 27-year veteran of the Supreme Court's final term. To learn more about who Breyer is, we spoke with some of the attorneys who clerked for the Justice over the years. Breyer was described as someone with an insatiable, extroverted mind, who thrived on conversation—sometimes to a fault. Andrew Crespo, a former clerk and current Harvard Law School professor, said going to lunch with the Justice required finding a restaurant with lots of space "so that, when we're sitting down and he's telling us all these stories about the Court, that we weren't accidentally sitting next to a reporter." In this special episode of our Cases & Controversies podcast, former Breyer clerks share stories from their time at the Court and about the man they describe as a "happy warrior," who remained optimistic despite a tenure spent, for the most part, in the Court's ideological minority. In this episode we hear from: Danielle Gray, global chief legal officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance Pratik Shah, a partner at the firm Akin Gump Brianne Gorod, chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center Andrew Crespo, a professor at Harvard Law School Do you have feedback on this episode of Cases & Controversies? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

There's been a big push in recent years to make the legal profession more diverse, especially within Big Law. So why has this largely excluded people with disabilities? The stigma against people with disabilities in the workplace is strong, even—and especially—at law firms, according to Bloomberg Law reporter Ayanna Alexander. On today's On The Merits podcast, we present a live online discussion with Ayanna about her recent story about the push to diversify the diversity movement within the legal profession. Ayanna talks about why so few law firms have signed an ABA pledge on people with disabilities and why firms likely employ many more attorneys with disabilities than they realize. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

It was an extraordinarily lucrative year for law firms that help companies go public, or that help companies make acquisitions. Thanks to the frenzied SPAC boom, along with rock bottom interest rates, corporate transaction activity in 2021 shattered records. However, the largest beneficiaries of this activity were not upstart, boutique firms but rather the titans of the legal world: Kirkland & Ellis, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Ropes & Gray, and so on. On today's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, we hear from Bloomberg Law's Roy Strom and Ruiqi Chen about why the rich seem to only get richer in the Big Law world. They also get into the reasons why 2022 could be a far less active year for M&A and IPO business. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Both employers and employees got a little bit of clarity last month when the EEOC issued guidance confirming that, yes, Covid-19 can trigger a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. But will this document put to rest all disputes between employers and employees about Covid-19 and disability claims? Not by a long shot. On today's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, employment law reporter Erin Mulvaney joins us to talk about what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission just did. She explains why the agency is addressing both employers who aren't recognizing a disability, and employers who are tagging their workers as disabled unwillingly. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Federal contractors are going to have to share more information about their greenhouse gas emissions with the public, under new General Services Administration reporting requirements the White House introduced earlier this month. However, this isn't the only climate reporting rule these contractors will have to mind. The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to release its own reporting rules early next year, and no one seems to be sure where or whether the two rules will overlap. On today's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, Bloomberg Law's Andrew Ramonas explains how these dueling climate rules could open federal contractors up to serious legal liability—especially if these firms provide conflicting data to different federal agencies. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

It's notable whenever the International Brotherhood of Teamsters elects a new president, but it was especially notable last month when Sean O'Brien soundly defeated a rival backed by the union's outgoing president, James P. Hoffa. During the campaign, O'Brien portrayed himself as an outsider and said the Teamsters should take a more aggressive stance—particularly toward Amazon Inc. O'Brien granted a post-election interview to Bloomberg Law's Ian Kullgren. And in this episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, Kullgren asks O'Brien about his plans to take on the e-commerce giant and his relationship to Labor Secretary, and fellow Bostonian, Marty Walsh. President-Elect O'Brien will lead the union starting in March 2022. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Hiring a lawyer is expensive—way too expensive, according to Clifford Winston. The Brookings Institution economist and former MIT professor says the legal profession's excessive licensure requirements are the cause of this, leading to an industry where demand far exceeds supply. Winston has written several books about the problem and about why he thinks basic legal tasks should be opened up to people who haven't necessarily passed the bar, or even possess a law degree. Winston spoke with Adam Allington, a Bloomberg Law audio producer and host of the investigative podcast series, [Un]Common Law, for Adam's recent three-part series on the bar exam. In this interview, Winston lays out his argument for why lawyers are harming the public good, while also lining their own pockets, by making it so difficult to join their ranks. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The case that could overturn the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that recognized abortion as a constitutional right will come before the nine justices tomorrow morning. On today's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, we explain the stakes behind Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health and why abortion rights activists are so pessimistic about their chances to even maintain the status quo. We're joined on the podcast by Kimberly Robinson, Bloomberg Law's Supreme Court reporter and, due to social distancing restrictions, one of the few people who will actually be inside the courtroom for Wednesday's arguments. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Marijuana is now legal in about half of the states, but still maintains its illegal status at the federal level. What does this mean for an employer who wants to, or has to, administer drug tests for its employees? We tackle that question on our podcast, On The Merits, with Sean Mack, a partner and co-chair of the cannabis and hemp law practice at the New Jersey firm Pashman Stein. Mack says testing employees for marijuana–or even firing them for testing positive–is now so fraught with employment law issues that it may no longer be worth the hassle. Mack also talks about a case out of Ohio, Fisher v. Airgas, in which an employee who was fired for a false positive marijuana test result won at the federal appellate level. Mack says it's a sign that, in employment law cases, even federal judges are able to look beyond pot's controlled substance status. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

General Electric, the 13-decade-old conglomerate founded by Thomas Edison, announced plans earlier this month to split up into three separate companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy. Whether this will ultimately lead to greater profits is unclear, but one thing is certain: breaking up a company of this size and stature poses numerous legal and logistical hurdles. On today's episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, three reporters from three different desks in our newsroom discuss the most significant issues that could arise as GE pursues this move. Kyle Jahner, who covers IP issues for Bloomberg Law, talks about how GE's numerous patents, trade secrets, and brands could be divvied up. Environmental reporter Daniel Moore talks about who will inherit GE's sizable cleanup liabilities and what this breakup will mean for renewable energy. And Bloomberg Tax's Michael Rapoport tells us whether GE will be able to achieve tax-free status from the IRS for the spinoff. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The bar exam has been around in some form or another since the 1920s. However, it could be time for a change. The pandemic created challenges in administering the test. Some states allowed diploma privilege, others made significant changes. Many critics think it's time to change the bar exam permanently—or even do away with it altogether. Our sister podcast, [Un]Common Law, will release the first episode in a three-part series on the state of the bar exam for lawyers, where it is now, and where it could be heading in the future. The host of that series, Adam Allington, joins On The Merits this week to talk about this project and about the pros and cons of the different plans to remake the final barrier to becoming a practicing lawyer. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Ben Wilson has been affectionately described as the dean of black partners within Big Law. But that title doesn't begin to do justice to the Beveridge & Diamond chairman, who announced his retirement last month after 45 years in the legal profession. Wilson has mentored generations of Black and other diverse attorneys. And, in 2008, founded the Diverse Partners Network, which he intends to continue to lead after retirement, renamed as the Diverse Lawyers Network. He is also the founder of the African American Managing Partners Network, tight-knit network of African American leaders of major law firms that began in 2009. Lisa Helem, Bloomberg Law's Executive Editor for Strategic Initiatives, spoke with Wilson this week for nearly an hour about leadership, the state of diversity in the legal profession and the Civil Rights attorneys who motivated him to seek out the law as a career. We're going to air an extended version of this interview later this month as a special episode of our award-winning "Black Lawyers Speak" series, hosted on our sister podcast, UnCommon Law But today, for our weekly news podcast, "On The Merits," we present a preview from Lisa and Ben's conversation. Wilson speaks about his upbringing in the segregated South and the work needed in order for the legal industry to fully diversify. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Operation Varsity Blues was the code name given to the investigation of parents that spent millions of dollars to increase their children's chances of getting into universities like the University of Southern California. Many of the parents who were charged entered guilty pleas, but the first two to stand trial were convicted earlier this month. Patricia Hurtado covers the courts for Bloomberg News. She has been following the Varsity Blues cases since the indictments were announced more than two years ago. She says the convicted parents may have a strong case at the appellate level. One of their arguments will likely be that they didn't receive a fair trial because the man who orchestrated the bribery ring, William Singer, never took the stand. Hurtado joins our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, to talk about the significance of the Varsity Blues case and the issues that are likely to come up on appeal. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

For his 100th column for Bloomberg Law, Roy Strom looked back at the seismic changes that have taken place in the legal industry during the pandemic. He says the pandemic has shown many of the country's biggest law firms that there is much more to Big Law than chasing prestige. Law firms are now opening satellite offices in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. And we've seen Big Law continue to move away from lockstep compensation, which many in the industry now consider an anachronism. Additionally, the mindset of prizing revenue above all else is starting to fade as well. Roy Strom joins this week's episode of On The Merits to talk about Big Law two years later. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this special weekend episode of the podcast, Bloomberg Law’s Paige Smith reads her recent story on how laws that allow companies to pay disabled workers below minimum wage may be changing soon.

When some companies started implementing vaccine mandates on their employees, it was only a matter of time before they applied the same rules to their job applicants as well. According to a recent survey, nearly one third of employers are now disqualifying candidates who cannot or will not confirm that they've received a Covid-19 vaccine. Bloomberg Law's Erin Mulvaney is reporting on this trend. Her sources say discriminating against unvaccinated candidates likely doesn't violate civil or disability rights laws. But they also say it does matter when in the hiring process an employer asks an applicant about their status. Mulvaney discusses the legal issues around hiring and vaccines in this week's episode of our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The Supreme Court's bombshell 5 to 4 ruling this month on Texas's new abortion restrictions law was both an end and a beginning. It put an end to the hopes of abortion rights activists who wanted to overturn this law before it took effect, but it also marked the beginning of a frenzy of litigation aimed at getting this issue back before the court as quickly as possible. And the litigation has come from all sides, with plaintiffs as varied as the Department of Justice, Planned Parenthood, and two disbarred attorneys from Arkansas and Illinois. On today's episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporters Lydia Wheeler and Mary Anne Pazanowski help us sort through where many of the abortion lawsuits are coming from, and which ones have the best chances of making it back to the Supreme Court. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

As recently as 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas received only 90 patent cases or 2.5% of the patent cases filed nationwide. However, after Judge Alan Albright took the bench in Waco, Texas, his federal court has become a hotbed of patent litigation. Just last year, Albright saw nearly 800 new patent suits filed. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Albright speaks to Bloomberg Law reporter Matthew Bultman about why patent plaintiffs are so eager to litigate in his court, and why other judges don't seem to want to try these cases. Albright also talks about the changes he's made during the pandemic and why he expects many of them to become permanent. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Delta Air Lines grabbed some headlines late last month with its plan to encourage its employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. It would not fire employees who refused to get the shot, but would rather impose on them a $200 monthly surcharge. Then, last week, President Joe Biden made even bigger news by announcing a sweeping plan to require vaccination for all federal employees, federal contractors, and many health care industry workers. On this week's episode of On The Merits, our weekly legal news podcast, Bloomberg Law labor reporters Robert Iafolla and Paige Smith break down the implications of these fast moving developments and discuss what the future of vaccines and employment will look like. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Hetal Doshi, the top antitrust litigator at the Department of Justice, says she tries to make the cases her team pursues easy for the average person to understand. "If we are litigating cases inside an echo chamber, or like in a very narrow, technocratic way that only other lawyers can understand, then we're failing to do our jobs," Doshi says on this episode of our podcast, On The Merits. Doshi spoke to reporters Leah Nylen and Danielle Kaye about how this philosophy played into recent cases that blocked mergers in the airline and publishing industries. Doshi also talks about the idea that antitrust laws are meant to protect not only consumers from higher prices, but also to protect workers from lower wages. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Since 2008, Britney Spears’ life has been controlled by a conservatorship. Renewed interest and public support for ending the conservatorship followed the release of a documentary film, Framing Britney Spears, which highlighted the efforts of the #FreeBritney movement. But how did it come to this? What role can trusts and estates attorneys play in helping high net worth clients avoid ending up in Spears' position? Barbara Grayson, a partner with the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and Joshua Rubenstein, a partner at Katten, talk to us in this episode of On The Merits about what went wrong in the Spears case, the soft skills needed to be a trusts and estates attorney, and why Big Law has largely left the practice area. Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The video game maker Activision Blizzard, Inc. is being sued for gender discrimination and harassment. The $60 billion company, behind games that include Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, isn't being sued by female employees in this suit though. They're being sued by the state of California. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing says its two-year investigation into Activision Blizzard found a "frat boy" culture where its female workers are regularly subjected to sexual banter and jokes about rape, among other forms of harassment. The female employees were also held back from promotions, paid less than their male coworkers, and criticized for leaving to pick up their children from daycare, according to the suit. On this episode of On The Merits, Maeve Allsup, our California correspondent, talks about why the state brought the hammer down on the video game maker, and why the involvement of a government regulator could represent a turning point.  Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this special weekend episode of On The Merits, reporter Lydia Wheeler reads her story about the difficulties some long-Covid victims are facing with insurance claims. Click here to read the story in print.