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.

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.