Above the Law

A Banner Week For Getting Caught Screwing Around — See Generally

If The Chambers Are A-Rockin’ Don’t Come A-Knockin’: A federal district court judge was caught having sex in her chambers with a high-ranking police official and then lying about it. judicial complaint. Her fellow judges issued a private reprimand, scrubbing the report of obviously identifiable material. But the judges didn’t realize that AI could decipher that it was Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia within minutes based just on the reports and public internet access.

Department Of Justice Served With Bar Tab: A New York bar complaint targets Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche after Chief Judge Waverly Crenshaw found that he orchestrated a presumptively vindictive prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. At the same time, more than 120 scholars and former judges reminded the Florida Bar that it previously said that as long as Pam Bondi remained the sitting Attorney General it couldn’t investigate ethics charges against her. And, well, she’s not anymore.

A Real Dog Of A Case: Houston attorney Steven Swain faces a bestiality charge after his wife’s newly installed home-surveillance cameras allegedly caught him with the family dog.

Two Fox Rothschild Attorneys Shot Outside A North Carolina Courthouse: Both lawyers are expected to survive after a pro se plaintiff allegedly opened fire following a contentious hearing.

DOJ Continues To Confuse ‘Enforcing Criminal Laws’ With ‘Weaponization’: The DOJ fired four career prosecutors who enforced the FACE Act and then released a Weaponization Working Group report branding their work as biased against criminals that Republicans agree with,

When It Rains, It Pours Sanctions: A Cayman Islands judge concluded that a Quinn Emanuel partner’s affidavit was a deliberate attempt to mislead the court, adding to a rough year that already featured a $3 million sanctions order from Judge Edward Chen.

A Hot Bonus Spring: Selendy Gay surprised associates with spring bonuses of up to $25,000, the latest sign that the boutiques are again setting the pace on comp.

Looking For More Experience: For the first time in years, the majority of Biglaw associate hiring happened on the lateral end of the market in 2025, with law student hires sliding to 37.5 percent.

Threats To Judges Apparently Only Count Above A Certain Pay Grade: A swatting attempt at Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home generated headlines, but the documented surge of threats against lower court judges — 241 against 202 judges in 2026 alone — keeps getting buried near the bottom of the story.

Working For Trump Is Its Own Form Of Punishment: DLA Piper’s Caryn Schechtman signed a brief for Trump in the Central Park Five defamation appeal, joining a long line of lawyers serving a client who already owes a dozen firms $1.6 million.

Bonuses Are In The Air! — See Also

Selendy Gay Springs Money On Their Associates!: This boutique pays out the big bucks!

The Climate Scoreboard Is Out!: See where the biggest names in Biglaw rank on climate work.

Attempted Swatting At Amy Coney Barrett’s Home: Dangerous time to be a judge.

Trump Gets Legal Help From DLA Piper: A partner at the firm was hired to defend his comments about the Central Park 5.

Siloed Workers Don’t Learn At The Water Cooler: Senior partners can’t outsource training new talent to LLMs.

Back To Basics

AI hallucinations are exposing weaknesses in legal review processes.

Considerations When Withdrawing As Counsel For Nonpayment Of Fees

When it happens, it can bring subtle complications.

It’s Time To Say Goodbye To Water Cooler Training

We have to start by recognizing that we actually have a problem.

The World Cup Is Coming To New York. So Why Aren’t Hotel Numbers Higher?

The World Cup may create new tourism while simultaneously pushing some existing tourism away.

How Appealing Weekly Roundup

The week in appellate news.

How Cleary Gottlieb Created A Virtuous Cycle With Tech

Litera recently celebrated a group of innovative customers that are utilizing their Foundation platform in transformative and unique ways. Here, we’re profiling how an elite firm is staying on the cutting edge.

‘Trump Mobile’ Has Struggled To Ship Any Phones, But Has Already Leaked Subscriber Data

From the cheap-crap,-very-on-brand dept

Surprise! Spring Has Sprung, And So Have The Bonuses

Will these bonuses give rise to a hot bonus summer?

Sam Alito’s Son Was Quietly Working At Treasury While His Dad Ruled On Trump’s Tariffs

Just add it to Sam Alito's ethics file.

Morning Docket: 05.29.26

* Amy Coney Barrett targeted with possible swatting call. [NBC News]

* CFPB is already undermining and bad-mouthing its own career attorneys, but its return to office plan might actually make some people quit. [Law360]

* Former Biglaw lawyer breaks down how the system is broken. [NY Times]

* Stephen Colbert tested intellectual property law on his way out. [Bloomberg Law News]

* CNN sues Perplexity for using its content to provide users with material that keeps users from ever clicking on CNN. [New York Law Journal]

* Biglaw itself may pose the biggest threat to Harvey and Legora. [The Information]

Naming Unnamed Fornicating Judges — See Also

This Is Going To Be The Best AI Sleuthing Story You Read Today: Here’s how we figured out Eleanor Ross was the unnamed judge.

Todd Blanche Faces NY Bar Complaint: Vindictive prosecution has consequences. Sometimes.

Patagonia Takes Pattie Gonia To Court: This IP suit is about as far from drab as it gets!

Nice Win, I Guess: Paxton’s wife couldn’t bother to endorse him.

On This Week Of Thinking Like A Lawyer: Pauline Newman’s very loud absence and Quinn Emanuel’s “deeply disturbing” ethics.

Biglaw Firm Busy Building Its Own AI

A pretty penny is going into the firm's AI venture.

Nice Guys Can Finish First

Why today’s top rainmakers win with trust, not tactics.