Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #biglaw
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As the Marxist agitator #AdamSmith once said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/06/09/com…
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pluralistic.net/2023/06/09/com…
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Smith understood that capitalists hate capitalism. They don't want to compete with one another, because that would interfere with their ability to raise the prices their customers pay and reduce the wages they pay their workers.
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The DoJ's antitrust lawsuit against #Google triggered an avalanche of pearl-clutching editorials from establishment lawyers and economists who argue that such a move is both counterproductive and legally incoherent. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/02/13/the… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/02/13/the… 2/
These Very Bad Takes are only to be expected, since they emanate from ideologues who volunteered to serve as Renfields for vampiric monopolists. 3/
As a #BigLaw survivor, I understand the myths and mystique built up around "hardcore" working.
They're all bullshit. 🧵
They're all bullshit. 🧵
Life is not about work.
Family, self-care, and friends are where most of life's joy comes from. Work can be important and serious without being everything.
Family, self-care, and friends are where most of life's joy comes from. Work can be important and serious without being everything.
Commitment does not come from pain.
Working yourself to death does not prove your job is worth caring about. Commitment to a company and a job comes from actually caring about the people you work with and what you're trying to accomplish together.
Working yourself to death does not prove your job is worth caring about. Commitment to a company and a job comes from actually caring about the people you work with and what you're trying to accomplish together.
There is plentiful evidence that we are prone to empathy and kindness. Not to say that we're always mindful of how our actions harm others, but for most of us, acts of overt cruelty require special effort, at least at first. Greed has to be nurtured and trained. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/10/15/lex… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/10/15/lex… 2/
Even in war, violence doesn't come naturally. The majority of US riflemen in WWII did not fire their weapons, refusing to shoot at the enemy. Many fired over the enemy's head, unwilling to become a killer. 3/
#NAAG is corrupt. Thanks for waking me up to the fact that you’re not there for justice, you’re there to enforce the drug war and massive wealth transfers. The way you sacrificed serious and complex incurable disease patients WILL MAKE THE HISTORY BOOKS. Mark my word….
Imma create a running list of all the evidence of interference in the practice of pain tx that’s come from @NatlAssnAttysGn . Feel free to add to it everyone. …g1r8so11ozniw-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/upl…
My favorite part of writing BIG is the captions. mattstoller.substack.com/p/throw-the-bu…
More BIG captions. mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-pete-but…
Federal Reserve-related caption. mattstoller.substack.com/p/on-inflation…
Seit >2 Jahren prophezeie ich meinen Juristenkollegen die Umdeutung der Grundrechte von Abwehrrechten zu sekundären Anspruchsrechten.
Ich habe in dieser Zeit unfassbare Unkenntnis festgestellt. Rechtsphilosophische Grundlagen, Grundrechtstheorie sind bereits begrifflich 1/
Ich habe in dieser Zeit unfassbare Unkenntnis festgestellt. Rechtsphilosophische Grundlagen, Grundrechtstheorie sind bereits begrifflich 1/
bei diesen Leuten kaum präsent. Die Dreiteilung in Abwehrrechte, Anspruchsrechte und Partizipationsrechte nicht bekannt. Begriffe wie Demokratie und Rechtsstaat werden synonym verwendet, meistens zur Beschreibung des derzeit herrschenden Systems, ohne jedwede wert- und 2/
prinzipienbasierte Einordnung. Es findet kein Abgleich des Vorgefundenen mit, keine Prüfung an den Kriterien statt.
Herrschendes System = Demokratie.
Was in dem System geschieht = gut.
Andere Systeme = undemokratisch.
Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, de Tocqueville, Montesqieu 3/
Herrschendes System = Demokratie.
Was in dem System geschieht = gut.
Andere Systeme = undemokratisch.
Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, de Tocqueville, Montesqieu 3/
@ArmitageJim @premnsikka 1/ The curious case of “disguise, I see thou art a wickedness” [Viola, Twelfth Night]. PART 2/2 <‘the #Emoney shot’>, following on from PART 1 - (). V-Wallet (Europe) Ltd was FCA authorised as an #Emoney op in 11/2018, …
2/ renamed to #Viola Money(Europe) Ltd “VMEL” six months later (05/2019) + purportedly acquired 10 months later (03/2020) by a ‘mysterious’ individual & a Scottish (rumoured to be ex Barclays Bank/Barclaycard/VISA cybersource) purported ‘right hand man’. Noteworthy was that …
3/ shortly before/after the @theFCA authorisation of VMEL, ‘Viola group’ (incl. VMEL) was seemingly ‘re-financed’ with the aid of the notorious now former FCA made men/women at #Alfandari (charges still show as outstanding on some Viola SPV’s).
9 bottlenecks ("BN"), wastes, and delusions law firm business teams (aka. staff or, worse, support staff) create for themselves but struggle to realize and be aware of. And how to remove them.👇🧵 #lawtwitter #biglaw
Many law firm biz teams are conveyor belts, with one big hopper at end labeled “YES". Few use off-ramps to redirect, reject, refine the barrage of requests and demands constantly flowing into the “Yes Hopper.” This creates/supports many unhealthy systemic cultural and org. issues
Yes, you can read that as the Business of Law talent contributes directly to the culture of the firm – good or bad. They are not innocent bystanders.
@ArmitageJim @premnsikka 1/ The curious case of “disguise, I see thou art a wickedness” [Viola, Twelfth Night] - PART 1 of 2: <Background>. On 22/Oct/2021 #ClearBank froze the accounts of @theFCA’s notorious #Emoney op #Viola Money(Europe) Ltd “VMEL”, …
2/ citing “financial crime concerns” + informed the slumbering UK regulator (@theFCA). A week later VMEL’s Estonian bank (#LHV) issued 2 months termination notice to VMEL. 4 days later (on 2/11/2021) the FCA finally issued a pitiful ‘1st supervision notice’ BUT astonishingly …
3/ still allowed VMEL to carry out unsupervised ‘individual transactions’ of <£5k (remember this + this date for Part 2). 6 days later astonishingly the FCA reportedly backtracked + rescinded even the conditions of it’s pitiful ‘1st supervision notice’ (#BigLaw no doubt …
@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic I think emerging data on fake news strongly suggests that human beings are attracted to information bubbles that validate and confirm existing beliefs
So I’m highly skeptical of over-rotating content incentives toward audience eyeballs 👀
Especially in legal bc…
Impromptu 🧵
So I’m highly skeptical of over-rotating content incentives toward audience eyeballs 👀
Especially in legal bc…
Impromptu 🧵
@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic The legal vertical is relatively small (global legal market ~900B, global financial svcs market ~23T) so that means relatively small TAM
The legal industry is highly fragmented (e.g. smalls & solos care about diff things than #biglaw), so that should mean relatively small SOM
The legal industry is highly fragmented (e.g. smalls & solos care about diff things than #biglaw), so that should mean relatively small SOM
@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic 👀 Chasing clicks in relatively small audience pools = extra challenging but remains $/existential imperative for incumbent legal press
So we have big tent shops churning a LOT of headlines everyday, perhaps about stuff that maybe isn't worthy of attention
This matters bc...
So we have big tent shops churning a LOT of headlines everyday, perhaps about stuff that maybe isn't worthy of attention
This matters bc...
Listening now, man the judge is angry at Facebook. Asks plaintiffs to call for sanctioning them over their bad behavior in discovery. Also calls for the lawyers to also be sanctioned. Wow.
Judge Chhabria: "I want to invite the plaintiffs to invite to file motions for sanctions if they agree with me, and in any other areas where Facebook has engaged in sanctionable conduct. The partners in the pleading and Facebook should be jointly liable in the sanctions."
Judge Chhabria is saying the associates perhaps should not be sanctioned, but the partners should be. Perhaps to pay attorney costs for the other side. He's holding #BigLaw accountable.
Seen in one light, America has an epidemic of corporate crime. Companies like United, Boeing, Wells Fargo and Walmart attract *hundreds* of government enforcement actions.
But these companies almost never end up facing criminal charges - instead, they get "leniency agreements," which they violate, again and again (United's done this *533 times*).
prospect.org/power/corporat…
prospect.org/power/corporat…
Functionally, the USA doesn't have a corporate criminal law system at all, even though corporations commit 20x more crimes than natural persons, and their crimes attain a scale and severity no human criminal could ever hope to match:
pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-…
pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-…
What the antitrust bar misses is that the 'participants' are not just #BigLaw but everyone in the economy. Mergers have harmed tens of millions of people, and if we enforced the law as intended most mergers would be illegal. Antitrust law was not written so you could have a club.
The simplest rule would be that all mergers above $1 billion are illegal. The current rule is that all mergers are arbitrarily decided by a random judge who probably finds dueling corrupt economists confusing, intimidating and irritating.
What actually angers antitrust attorneys about Lina Khan is that she isn't in the club and didn't pay her dues. Instead she wants to actually wield the authority Congress gave the FTC to ensure fair markets. That's really all it is.
Law society published some guidance recently on e-signatures...lawsociety.org.uk/topics/busines… - some thoughts and comments...
👁🗨 Witnessing...they conclude that witnesses have to be "physically present" and you cannot witness somebody by video link. Probably correct as a matter of case law. It's a shame they aren't more forceful in their urge for change here...
The point in witnessing has always been evidential. So that if one person claims they didn't actually sign a document, you have somebody you can call upon to attest evidence that they did or did not. Also adds some formality to the process to make people think
1/ For my latest post on Original Jurisdiction, my new @SubstackInc publication, I interviewed @KannonShanmugam, a top Supreme Court advocate -- who yesterday had his 30th argument before #SCOTUS.
bit.ly/37ODjI6 #appellatetwitter
bit.ly/37ODjI6 #appellatetwitter
2/ ICYMI from last week, in my first post on Original Jurisdiction, I interviewed David Boies, a top trial lawyer, and Natasha Harrison, his heiress apparent at Boies Schiller Flexner.
bit.ly/33GE5FH #lawtwitter #Biglaw
bit.ly/33GE5FH #lawtwitter #Biglaw
3/ Tentative publication schedule for Original Jurisdiction:
- Monday: a standard-length post.
- Wednesday or Thursday: an in-depth interview or profile of a legal newsmaker.
- Friday: my weekly update, Judicial Notice.
bit.ly/3qxi85E #lawtwitter
- Monday: a standard-length post.
- Wednesday or Thursday: an in-depth interview or profile of a legal newsmaker.
- Friday: my weekly update, Judicial Notice.
bit.ly/3qxi85E #lawtwitter
The Joe Biden transition teams are... not bad.
It's a mixed bag. There are some really bad signs. For example, the Commerce transition team's lead is the general counsel at the University of Pittsburgh, which has been hiring union busting consultants to go after faculty and grad student unions.
Bridget Dooling, on Biden's OMB team, is a straight up Koch brothers plant. She wants more cost/benefit analysis across government, your basic deregulatory operative. citizen.org/article/koch-c…
Democratic donors dramatically over-invest in elections and grassroots organizing and under-invest in actually understanding how to use the massive and complicated government they are about to take over.
It's an unpopular hot take but maybe hiring a few people to think about how to use the Commerce Department with its authority to, oh I don't know, restructure the entire economy, is better than handing Amy McGrath another eleventy zillion dollars.
The Federal government is a $5 trillion behemoth. Maybe it's a good idea to know stuff about how to run it.
Still some law firm partners joining webinars as innovation experts even though their experience is really on advising tech clients, not instilling change in a law firm. It’s GREAT when they do u/s these things and can combine their legal skillset with product/change/etc skills
Also it’s fine if they don’t have those skills, everyone should still speak up about their thoughts. My issue is more acting as if they are experts on everything and not having an understanding of the real issues at play (and not knowing they don’t have that understanding)
It’s always very obvious when this is the case...ppl think innovation is “telling IT to give me access to Google Docs”, talking as if tool = innovation, and not even mentioning the underlying business model of #biglaw firms
The biggest obstacle we will face in addressing the court problem isn't Mitch McConnell, it'll be @neal_katyal and elite lawyers. It's the legal liberal elites who are trained to worship the Supreme Court and disdain Congress.
There is plenty of flexibility in the Constitution to get around the courts. Just strip jurisdiction when you legislate. The problem is the screams from @neal_katyal and Hogan Lovells and MSNBC when/if they do so. Plus the law schools churn out elite lawyers who worship judges.
There's a reason Supreme Court clerks get $400,000 signing bonuses when they go to #biglaw firms. It's outrageous but fixable. The issue is populists are up against a religion of the elites, which is what the fetish for judges is about.
Why do some people die from #coronavirus/#COVID19, while others show no symptoms? Why did I end up critical in the ICU, while my husband had medium-level flu symptoms for a week?
#COVID19Pandemic #CoronavirusPandemic #CoronavirusUSA
#COVID19Pandemic #CoronavirusPandemic #CoronavirusUSA
It might not be just about age and health conditions; there could be a genetic influence as well. (Thanks to @larry_falbe for the interesting article.)
bayareane.ws/2XgcfxT
#COVID19 #COVID19Pandemic #coronavirus #CoronavirusPandemic #CoronavirusUSA
bayareane.ws/2XgcfxT
#COVID19 #COVID19Pandemic #coronavirus #CoronavirusPandemic #CoronavirusUSA
Suddenly getting lots of queries about my health (from folks not familiar with my story). I’m 44, not overweight, no smoking, no drugs, hardly any drinking. No health conditions except exercise-induced asthma, which I manage with an inhaler.
@NorthwesternLaw presents "EY Law Point of View: The Legal Market of the Future" with Dr. Cornelius Grossmann, @EY_Law's Global Law Leader.
Dr. Grossmann says "EY is not a law firm" but it is seeking to provide legal- related services.
"If you do work in the third tier, you're in trouble. Why? Because there's a new fourth tier" in which ALSPs (aka #lawcompanies) are starting to provide more affordable services.
"If you do work in the third tier, you're in trouble. Why? Because there's a new fourth tier" in which ALSPs (aka #lawcompanies) are starting to provide more affordable services.
Dr. Grossmann says the #biglaw firms in Tier 1 are fighting each other at the top of the market.
"The first tier is fantastic for education. It's not necessarily a fantastic life that you have there."
You can make as much if not more money in the 4th tier, he adds.
@NLawBizTech
"The first tier is fantastic for education. It's not necessarily a fantastic life that you have there."
You can make as much if not more money in the 4th tier, he adds.
@NLawBizTech
1. This is an excellent observation by @joshtpm. There's a very small faction of Democrats who think Obama was a catastrophe, a large chunk who love him, and a large chunk who love him but want to move on. The problem is personnel. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/obama-l…
@joshtpm 2. My premise, as someone who thinks Obama was a disaster, is that Obama systemically lied and had a group around him - call it the Bob Rubin mafia - who participated in those lies. This group sits at places like Amazon, Blackrock, Citi, #BigLaw, Brookings, and so forth.
@joshtpm 3. The Biden restoration is premised on the idea that we can just rerun the Obama Presidency with the Bob Rubin mafia executing different policies. But the Bob Rubin mafia is the problem. You cannot wish that problem away.
1. Meet Debbie Feinstein, the head of enforcement at the FTC under Obama. And a total catastrophe. More than most, she is responsible for high drug prices for allowing pharma mergers through. theintercept.com/2015/12/16/why…
2. I spoke with Feinstein once about her enforcement philosophy. She dismissed the concept that mergers, if they reduced wages, were anti-competitive. Where is she now after her stint under Obama allowing nearly every merger through? Of course, #BigLaw.
3. I bring her up because there was recently a merger in the dialysis industry which will raise prices on people with end stage renal disease. Yay price gouging for kidney failure. The FTC cleared it 3-2. And guess who represented the merging party? ftc.gov/news-events/pr…
