Law

A Christian-only auto-repair franchisor turned down a Jewish applicant, and the Fifth Circuit just ruled that's not covered by federal race-bias law. Section 1981 bans racial discrimination in contracts, the court says, but not religious discrimination, even when the applicant is ethnically Jewish too.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Eugene Volokh

White & Case still hasn't announced a Milbank match, but a since-deleted job posting listed mid-level M&A pay of $270,000 to $385,000. Those numbers line up exactly with Milbank's new 3rd-to-5th-year scale, which is either a very loose-lipped recruiter or a tell.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

Dartmouth scrubbed a former coach's name from old cross-country rosters years after he left, while volunteers and fired staffers stayed listed. A judge ruled that silent erasure, plus a reference-check call where he was allegedly called "blacklisted," can count as defamation.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Eugene Volokh

A second federal judge has now struck down Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, this time citing a failure to follow notice-and-comment rules rather than the tax-power argument used in an earlier Massachusetts ruling. The fee was already blocked, but two courts reaching the same result on different legal grounds raises the odds it survives appeal.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Ilya Somin

A $28 trillion lawsuit against energy companies hinges on a legal argument one law professor's own ally says doesn't hold up. A rival scholar's guest post argues Prof. Adler's amicus brief backs Boulder County only by misreading the case the county actually filed.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Jonathan H. Adler

Twenty-one lawyers just walked out of Wiley Rein to start an insurer-only boutique called Tyka, shrinking a practice the firm once touted as 35 strong. The founders insist nothing's changed except whose name is on the letterhead.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

The lawyer a scared rich man called first represented McCarthy, Hoffa, a Mafia boss, Sinatra and Hefner, then built a Biglaw litigation powerhouse still standing today. On the side, he owned an NFL team and a World Series-winning Orioles squad.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

An expert witness leaned on ChatGPT to summarize case law for his report, then fought to keep the chat log secret. A Nevada federal judge ruled those AI-generated summaries count as "facts or data" and must be turned over, even though draft reports stay privileged.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Eugene Volokh

The US has pulled its last troops out of Iraq, departing Erbil Air Base and closing a military presence that began with the 2003 invasion. Baghdad now owns the fight against ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias, with Washington promising only "targeted" backup.

— via Above the Law, Ashley Roque - Breaking Defense

Ten law schools dominate the dealmaker pipeline, but the real story is a St. Louis Law grad's screwup embarrassing Senator Eric Schmitt over Jack Smith. Also inside: the full D.C. Circuit weighs whether to let the government dodge Boasberg's contempt inquiry on its word alone.

— via Above the Law, Above the Law

A full D.C. Circuit hearing suggests two Trump-appointed judges may not get the last word after all: the government's own two-sentence declaration naming Kristi Noem as the sole target now looks less like an answer and more like a dodge, especially with Emil Bove's alleged "fuck you" comment still unexplained.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

Locked out of white-shoe hiring in 1948 because he was Jewish, one Harvard Law grad took a job at a fledgling three-lawyer shop instead. He built it into a Biglaw giant by chasing the hostile-takeover work rivals refused to touch. Name him.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

GenAI use among legal professionals jumped from 31% to 69% in a single year, and firms are scrambling to turn that adoption into actual workflow overhauls. Meet the legal engineer, the hybrid role built to redesign legal work around AI rather than just bolt it on.

— via Above the Law, Neil Handwerker and Kimberly Fine

SDNY recruits from the Marine Corps, a senator forgets Iowa exists on live TV, Alito recuses late, a judge brings a gun to Taco Tuesday, and 91% of law school admissions officers see no relief coming.

— via Above the Law, Above the Law

A Georgia judge reached for his wallet at a taco bar and shot himself instead. The bullet ripped through his jeans, hit the floor and left three customers with minor injuries, and he still won't face charges.

— via Above the Law, Staci Zaretsky

A federal civil rights panel says Jewish students can't sue a university over campus hostile environments unless the students causing it acted with antisemitic intent. A rogue AI hypothetical shows why that legal theory falls apart.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), David Bernstein

The White House is running Trump's old campaign ad as a taxpayer-funded PSA, and ethics lawyers on both sides of the aisle call it a blatant conflict. Meanwhile Cravath loses another partner, Jay-Z's accuser reverses her own story, and law firms quietly rewire daily workflows around AI.

— via Above the Law, Above the Law

The White House just aired a taxpayer-funded PSA that's a near carbon copy of a 2024 Trump campaign ad, logo swapped for "Paid for by the U.S. government." Ethics lawyers from both parties call it a Hatch Act violation, and the administration's own defense leans on a Bush-era ad federal auditors already ruled illegal.

— via Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino

A man paid $400, a GoPro run and a bag of gas money to sabotage his sister's wedding. His hired saboteur showed up with a sugar glider, nun chucks, Tannerite and a fake bomb, spent the cash on cocaine and ketamine instead, and still managed to delay the bride 30 minutes.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Eugene Volokh

Some lawyers nearing 60 say they'll just retire rather than learn AI. A near-80 Santana played a two-hour show with no breaks and no stand-in guitarist, and that's the rebuke this piece uses on them.

— via Above the Law, Stephen Embry