Across The Bar Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Across The Bar Podcast

Laura Brounstein & Peter Rahbar

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Business

Frequency: 1 episode/8d. Total Eps: 65

Employment attorney Peter Rahbar and veteran journalist Laura Brounstein's weekly conversation about how the news is affecting the laws that govern our daily work and personal life. We cover negotiation, workplace privacy, pop culture and more!

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Data updated on 06/09/2026

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 65 - Should Employers Cover Menopause Benefits, Uber Blames Its Employees and Anna Wintour Gets Overruled

Episode 65

Friday, September 4, 2026 • Duration 55:25

Should employers be covering menopause benefits? Peter and guest co-host Liz Plosser (Best Case Scenario) take on a listener's question this week — and it opens up a bigger conversation about the legal tightrope employers walk when choosing employee benefits, plus the real fear a lot of women have about whether even asking for support quietly marks them as a liability. Also, Liz's tips on how to survive the current estrogen patch shortage happening right now.

From there the episode swings hard — a business school for eight-year-olds, EY paying employees up to $25K to be more human in the age of AI slop, and the great "cool boss" debate, which Peter is fairly convinced misses the point entirely. Employees don't care if you chug a beer standing on your head; they care if you actually have their back.

Then things get heavier. The Met Gala trustees overrule Anna Wintour on John Galliano as this year's honoree, and it becomes a case study in what happens when nobody around a powerful person is willing to push back. The Good Good Golf CEO is gone after that Callaway ad. And Uber's layoff memo manages to make 3,300 job cuts sound like something employees asked for — which Peter is not going to let slide.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 64 - Quiet Vacationing, Slack Spying & Disney's Family "Un"-Friendly Health Insurance Change

Episode 64

Friday, August 28, 2026 • Duration 50:45

Summer's basically over, and everyone's dealing with it differently — some people are faking Wi-Fi outages to steal one more day off, while Peter's out here treating a plane's spotty signal as a built-in excuse to actually get work done. That tension — who owes their employer visibility into their time, and who's allowed to go quiet — ends up running through the whole episode. It's there in the conversation about Slack, where companies are now feeding entire channels into AI so nothing stays private, "side-slacking" during meetings has become its own art form, and Peter's blunt reminder is that none of it — Slack, iMessage, Zoom chat — comes with any real expectation of privacy. Even your emoji reactions aren't safe; used the wrong way, they can become evidence in a harassment case.

That same question of who gets to decide what's disclosed and what isn't shows up again with the Wall Street Journal's decision to quietly bless AI-written op-eds — including one from a billionaire who compared using AI to using a calculator — a stance that puts the Journal sharply at odds with outlets that have banned the tools outright. And it's there in two harder stories: Disney's new policy stripping spousal health coverage from employees whose spouses have insurance of their own, which Peter calls what it is — a pay cut dressed up as cost-cutting, and a strange look for a company that's built its whole brand on family — and the Neutrogena backlash following Hayden Panettiere's death, where old comments about a "morality clause" invoked over her postpartum depression disclosure are forcing a real reckoning about what brands owe the people who represent them.

Guest co-host Liz Baker Plosser fills in for Laura this week, and the two also get into an $18 billion Meta settlement over kids and teens on social media, plus heroes and zeros closing out with a shared tribute to Dolly Parton.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 63 - The Decoy Plane, GLP-1s at Work, Navigating the Office Gym, and the Death of Board Diversity

Episode 63

Friday, August 21, 2026 • Duration 47:00

Laura is on a well-earned summer break, so Peter's joined by special guest co-host Liz Plosser, former editor-in-chief of Women's Health and the voice behind the wellness Substack Best Case Scenario. First up, the GLP-1 conversation nobody knows how to have at work — commenting on a colleague's weight loss feels harmless until it isn't, and HR is starting to notice. Then, the reader question of the summer: is it actually okay to quit if you have been left on the "decoy plane"? Peter and Liz dig into the lates Presidential story and whether managers are responsible for the safety of their employees, plus Liz's own wild Air Force Two detour involving a cracked windshield and a very unglamorous curbside drop-off at the Delta terminal. From there, the etiquette of writing your own goodbye message (hint: nobody wants your ten-page victory lap), whether LinkedIn's new "AI slop" flag will actually clean up your feed, and a sobering look at the 61 S&P 100 companies that have quietly dropped board diversity criteria altogether. Liz also settles the office gym debate once and for all — yes, you should go, and yes, it's fine to say hi to your CEO at the water fountain.

Subscribe to Best Case Scenario: https://lizplosser.substack.com

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 62 - Snowplow Parents Go Corporate, Tenure Under Siege, AI Comes for HR, and LinkedIn's Top Colleges List

Episode 62

Friday, August 7, 2026 • Duration 30:43

Peter's joining from Sardinia this week, which means the vibe is loose but the topics are not. First up: Gen-Z parents have entered the chat at work, showing up to job interviews and calling managers to contest their kid's firing. Peter and Laura's rule is simple — unless your child is in a literal coma, hang up the phone. From there, we turn to HR, a department that's had a rough couple of years and is now watching AI quietly take over its job. Peter, of all people, makes the case that this isn't entirely bad news — right before explaining exactly how it goes horribly wrong. Then: tenure, the thing every professor was told was untouchable, turns out to be very touchable. A West Point professor challenges a gag rule and wins; a tenured economics professor at the New School gets laid off anyway, and the whole academic world is having a small crisis about what "lifetime job security" actually means. We close things out with LinkedIn's new ranking of top colleges for career success — Princeton's #1, feelings were had about alma maters — and a real conversation about whether the rankings measure anything a 17-year-old should actually care about.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 61 - Fired for a Ketamine Confession, Caught Kissing at Wachtell, and Why Gen Z Is Crying at Work

Episode 61

Friday, July 31, 2026 • Duration 31:11

A Netflix production exec named is suing after getting fired following a corporate retreat where he disclosed medically supervised ketamine treatment for depression during a trust exercise — and also, per Netflix, drank a Guinness standing on his head. Peter and Laura dig into where the actual legal exposure sits: if the termination was really about the medical disclosure, Netflix has a problem; if it was the sum total of "behavior unbecoming of an executive," that's a different story entirely — and a reminder that company policy travels with you to every offsite, happy hour, and business trip.

Then: a Wachtell Lipton partner and associate caught mid-makeout on a Bryant Park bench by a stranger with a camera, nine blocks from their office. He's married, she has a partner, and he's a partner at the firm to her associate — a combination that got him left off the six-lawyer defection to Gibson Dunn and landed him on administrative leave instead. Peter on why judgment, not just skill, is what firms actually pay for.

Finally, the real conversation: a Fortune piece on Gen Z workers napping in movie theaters and crying in Aritzia fitting rooms to cope with workplace stress. Peter and Laura get into why this generation is hitting a harder wall than the ones before it — less in-person conflict practice growing up, employers openly talking about replacing them with AI, and a job market that made the entry-level seat itself feel like the finish line

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 60 - Insider Trading From the Teleprompter, IRS Chief's Spy Games & Planning a Retreat People Don't Dread

Episode 60

Saturday, July 25, 2026 • Duration 32:41

This week we start in the West Wing, where the man responsible for scrolling President Trump's speeches across the teleprompter turned out to have a lucrative side gig: allegedly trading on Kalshi based on what he already knew the President was about to say. It's the kind of insider trading story that writes itself — except it's paired with something arguably worse, reports that early access to the President's Truth Social posts is being sold to companies for somewhere around $100–200K a pop. We get into why any regulated firm even considering paying for that access should think hard about what a state attorney general, or a very different administration two years from now, might make of it.

From there we head to the EEOC, which just voted 2-1 to scrap the EEO-1 reporting requirements that have quietly tracked workplace demographics for six decades — and is doing it on a 30-day comment period instead of the usual 60. We talk about what it means when the agency in charge of equal employment opportunity stops measuring who's actually employed at companies.

Then there's Frank Bisignano, the head of the IRS, who — according to a Wall Street Journal report — allegedly used JPMorgan's own security apparatus to keep tabs on his internal rivals during his time there. We break down why that story matters well beyond his old job, and the basic access controls every company, not just megabanks, should have in place.

We close things out with something a little less felonious: how to actually plan a corporate retreat people want to attend instead of one they've been dreading for weeks — including why the boss should probably stay out of the planning committee.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 59 - Apple Says OpenAI Stole Its Secrets, Meta's AI Fires Illegally, and a Judge Torches Trump's IRS Deal

Episode 59

Friday, July 17, 2026 • Duration 38:42

Apple and OpenAI used to be in business together. Now Apple's accusing its former partner of coaching employees to walk out the door with company files — and Peter's got thoughts on exactly how not to do that when you leave your own job (hint: never sync your work iPhone to your personal iCloud, you absolute rookie). Meanwhile, Meta's facing a lawsuit alleging its layoff algorithm had a very specific taste for people with disabilities and medical leave — which raises the fun question of who you actually sue when the firing squad is a spreadsheet.

Then a federal judge takes a flamethrower to the Trump administration's IRS settlement, referring the president's own lawyers to the bar for what she calls a fraud on the court — Peter calls it "the most fun decision of the week." And because summer isn't all lawsuits, Peter and Laura close out with the internship crisis nobody prepares you for: what to actually do when you're bored out of your skull and too scared to admit it.

Corporate espionage, algorithmic layoffs, a judge with zero patience, and career advice for the terminally bored intern. Your weekly drink with a lawyer and a journalist is served.

Read the Demis Hassabis Proposal for a Frontier AI Framework: https://tinyurl.com/4hkhbj4n

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 58 - AI Isn't Coming for Your Job (Yet), Banks Ban Prediction Markets & Should You Date Your Co-Worker?

Episode 58

Saturday, July 11, 2026 • Duration 35:35

Remember when every AI company was telling you your job was toast? They've quietly changed their tune — Anthropic just leased a whole building in Hudson Square and is hiring by the hundreds, OpenAI did the same in SoHo weeks earlier, and suddenly it's all "efficiency" and "job creation." Peter's not buying the whiplash and explains why so many layoffs blamed on AI have nothing to do with AI at all. Then Wall Street gets serious: Goldman just told employees they can only use prediction markets for sports and entertainment, and hedge funds like Point72 and Balyasny said forget the nuance, no prediction markets at all — Peter breaks down why this is the right call and why the "sports exception" won't survive the year. From there, things get personal: a New York Times op-ed says we should all be dating our co-workers again, and Peter and Laura find out live on mic that they completely disagree about it. Plus, the real reason your boss is so obsessed with getting you back in the building (hint: it might say more about them than about productivity), and the right way for interns to send a thank you note that actually gets remembered — a group email is not it. Legal takes, career reality checks, and the usual amount of bickering, all in one episode.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 57 - SCOTUS Handed the President A Lot More Power, Wall Street's Salami Backlash & AI Co-Worker Problems

Episode 57

Thursday, July 2, 2026 • Duration 38:06

Peter and Laura are recording on the last day of June — drinks in hand, holiday weekend approaching — and the Supreme Court just had one of its biggest weeks in years. They break down what the rulings actually mean for you, your company, and the stability of the business environment Americans have long taken for granted. From the gutting of Humphrey's Executor to birthright citizenship to Citizens United getting even more toothless, the throughline is clear: power is consolidating in the executive branch, and the ripple effects on business, regulation, and predictability are just beginning.

Then: remember the salami incident? A few weeks ago we told you about the JPMorgan employee who got a $4 million FINRA arbitration award after being fired over a $600 expense report. Now JPMorgan and other major banks are so annoyed by the outcome that they want to rewrite the rules of the very system they created — the same system they forced their employees into in the first place. Peter breaks down what that means for anyone working in finance and what you actually can and can't negotiate in an employment contract.

And finally, a fascinating and unsettling piece from the New York Times: companies are putting AI into their org charts — and it's backfiring. Employees are checking AI-generated work less carefully than work from human colleagues, not more. Peter has seen it firsthand with clients sending him AI-drafted contracts full of hallucinated clauses and made-up cases. The lesson isn't that AI is useless. It's that handing it the wheel without supervision is a genuinely dangerous move.

🎙️ Across the Bar is your weekly drink with a lawyer and a journalist — covering workplace law, employment issues, and the stories shaping professional life.
🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Across the Bar Podcast, Episode 56 - What the World Cup Teaches Us About Work — JPMorgan Problems, Meta's Meltdown & the AI Burnout Trap

Episode 56

Friday, June 26, 2026 • Duration 48:46

The World Cup is taking over America — and it's actually a masterclass in everything that makes a great employee. This week, Peter and Laura are joined by Ed Foster-Simeon, President & CEO of the US Soccer Foundation, to talk about what youth sports really build in young people, why coaches are some of the most underrated leaders in our culture, and what this historic tournament could mean for the next generation of workers.

Then things get a little wilder. A JPMorgan employee was caught on video dumping trash on the street during the Knicks championship parade — and walking off with the garbage can. In broad daylight. On camera. At one of the most photographed events in New York City history. She lost her job. The can was $168. There are lessons here.

Speaking of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon made a major move this week — naming two co-presidents as potential successors. It's a reminder that the best leaders are always thinking about what happens after them. Peter breaks down why succession planning isn't just for Fortune 500 CEOs, why the Bob Iger playbook is a cautionary tale, and what every business owner and team leader should have in their drawer right now.

Also this week: former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has assembled Anthropic, Amazon, and Microsoft behind a new nonprofit called RAISE — committing $500 million to train workers for the AI economy. It's the conversation companies should be having with their employees instead of the one Meta is having. Because over at Meta, morale has reportedly never been lower — after the company rolled out keystroke tracking and forced AI transitions and acted surprised when people didn't love it.

And finally: AI isn't freeing up your time. It's eating it. Peter and Laura dig into the rise of the infinite workweek — and why the pressure to always be doing more is burning people out faster than ever.

Across The Bar Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Across The Bar Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Substack1

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Latest published episodes

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Substack1

Apple Podcasts

Spotify