The country's biggest, most profitable law firms—think Milbank, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, and Cravath—are falling all over themselves to increase the salaries of their associates with many bumping up the wages of first-year associates to more than $200,000.

On this episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Meghan Tribe explains what's driving this attorney salary arms race, and she talks about how much higher associate salaries can possibly go.

She also says that, while these just-out-of-law-school lawyers may be earning top dollar, their lives are far from luxurious.

Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Attorneys who leave the federal government after an administration change usually get snatched up quickly by Big Law firms and corporations. But a Bloomberg Law analysis found that hasn't been the case this year.

Nearly six months after Donald Trump left office, more than 80% of top lawyers in Trump’s administration have landed somewhere since he left office, even if their roles are part time or not their first choice. That's according to a new story from Bloomberg Law's John Hughes.

On this episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, Hughes talks about how he collected data on these attorneys, what this data means, and why Washington's famous revolving door may be slowing down for Trump administration alumni. 

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 Bobby Magill reads his story about the rush to obtain a federal mining permit before an expected Biden administration environmental regulatory change. Click here to read the story in print.

Can your employer require you to get a Covid-19 vaccine? Many legal experts say yes, but very few employers are actually taking that step. Some, of the few who have, are now facing litigation.

On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Robert Iafolla talks about a few of the recent lawsuits challenging employer vaccine mandates. He says, even if they get tossed out of court, they're already having a significant impact.

Have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Earlier this year, our companion podcast, [Un]Common Law, published a series looking at the experiences of African American lawyers and judges working in the legal industry—which, to this day, remains one of the least diverse professions in America. Now, more than a year since George Floyd’s murder, and the wave of soul-searching in the legal industry that followed, 16 of the nation’s largest law firms, nine of which are in the Am Law 200, still do not have even a single Black partner according to a report from the American Lawyer.

Back in January we interviewed former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, now a partner with Washington DC-based, Covington & Burling as part of [Un]Common Law's “Black Lawyers Speak Series," and today we are releasing the full Q&A as a bonus episode from that series. 

On this holiday weekend edition of Bloomberg Law's legal news podcast, On The Merits, we hear about a federal judge who likes to pepper his opinions with references to Taylor Swift, "The Lion King," and other bits of pop culture ephemera.

Carmen Castro-Pagan, an editor on our Legal Intelligence desk, talks about the creative writing style of Judge Joshua D. Wolson and about why some judges like to spice up their opinions this way.

Entertainment law is not quite as glitzy or glamorous as you may have heard. That’s especially the case for music industry lawyers who work with up and coming hip hop artists.

On our weekly legal news podcast, On The Merits, we learn what it’s really like behind the music from lawyers Desiree Talley, Gerard Anthony, Karl Fowlkes, and Tiffany Ballard. They say attorneys who represent artists must be hawk-like in guarding their clients’ intellectual property rights.

The attorneys talk about fending off predatory executives and educating their own clients’ on the legal issues they face. They also explain how racial issues are never far from their minds, especially given the music industry’s legacy of mistreating black artists.

On this special weekend episode of On The Merits, reporter Holly Barker reads her story about what happens to aging lawyers when they get dementia, and what happens to their clients. Click here to read the story in print.

There are currently more than 160,000 practicing lawyers over the age of 65 in the U.S., a 50% increase from just a decade ago. But this age group is also more at risk of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. That can have serious consequences for a lawyer's clients, especially if that attorney is a solo practitioner or works in a small firm.

On this episode of On The Merits, Bloomberg Law reporter Holly Barker talks about her recent reporting on lawyers that are unaware of, or are in denial about, their own cognitive impairment. Barker says most state bars are struggling to figure out how to help these attorneys gracefully exit the profession while protecting their clients.

Bloomberg Law columnist Vivia Chen recently wrote about a failed attempt to rank law schools based on diversity. She started her column by saying "old White men" need to get out of the way on issues like this.

That line elicited some passionate responses from several Bloomberg Law readers. On this bonus weekend episode of our podcast, On The Merits, we talk to Vivia about the responses, and also hear from one of an "old White man" who wrote to her about the column.