Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

Recent Episodes

1. Law Firm Passive Aggressiveness On Parade

   Sep 16, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Catherine Robito discuss three major legal stories of the week: Weil's passive-aggressive characterization of Cravath as a "smaller platform" following partner Mike Iello's departure, revealing internal tensions between growth-focused and tradition-focused factions in Big Law; Missouri's attempted gerymandering and the resulting constitutional crisis involving conflicting state and federal court orders; and First Circuit Judge Rogery Thompson's informal, Gen Z-influenced bankruptcy opinion that sparked social media debate about judicial writing style and propriety.

2. Legal Catastrophes The Old-Fashioned Way

   Sep 9, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Catherine Rubino discuss three major legal ethics failures from the week: Holland & Knight's removal from an NCAA case after lawyers sent emails calling a Rhode Island judge "dumb" and a student-athlete "poop man" to opposing counsel; Skadden Arps and Kirkland Ellis receiving a $2 million sanction for repeatedly withholding evidence in a false claims act case; and Lewis Rice's former bankruptcy practice head departing following allegations of serving the founder's interests rather than the bankrupt entity's interests.

3. The ILTACON Wrap-Up

   Sep 4, 2026

   Joe Patrice discusses the International Legal Technology Association (ILTACON) conference in Nashville with Maddy Martin, Senior VP of Growth at Smith.ai. They explore trends in legal technology, including the shift from proprietary platforms to modular, integration-focused architectures; cost consciousness among big law firms; and the evolving role of AI in legal workflows. The conversation examines how enterprise legal tech innovations are trickling down to small and solo firms, and emphasizes the importance of keeping humans in the loop rather than fully automating legal processes.

4. A Tribute, A Tactic, Or An Appellate Issue?

   Aug 27, 2026

   Catherine Urbino hosts the Thinking Like a Lawyer podcast with co-editor Stacy Zaretski from Above the Law, discussing three major legal stories: prosecutor Shanan Buckingham's hair bow fashion choices in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial and their potential appellate implications; Wood Smith Henning & Berman's $700 million private equity deal with Charlesbank Capital Partners, marking the largest PE investment in a U.S. law firm; and attorney Paul Robinson's felony tampering charges related to his son's alleged involvement in a Penn State cocaine distribution ring. The episode explores how these stories intersect professional ethics, business innovation, and personal consequences in the legal world.

5. Luigi's Double Jeopardy Gamble And The DOJ's Complicity

   Aug 19, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Fino discuss three major legal stories: a Yale Law School Signal group chat where classmates discuss Usha Vance's rightward drift and J.D. Vance's new book 'Communion'; Luigi Mangione's federal stalking plea and his team's controversial double jeopardy argument to block New York murder charges, with analysis of potential DOJ complicity; and Big Law's exploration of private equity investment through management services organization (MSO) structures to fund AI infrastructure while circumventing non-lawyer ownership rules.

6. Biglaw Surrenders Were Worse Than We Thought

   Aug 12, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Catherine Robino discuss major legal industry developments, including Paul Weiss's reported compromises with the Trump administration—including allegedly considering Stephen Miller's review of website edits and paying $3.5 million to push out its first openly transgender partner. They also cover big law's emergence as the largest employer of new law graduates despite overall first-year hiring declines, and the administration's latest birthright citizenship executive orders that misrepresent the Supreme Court's actual ruling on the issue.

7. Will We Never Learn Our Lesson About The Bar Exam?

   Aug 5, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Catherine Rubino discuss major developments in legal industry news, focusing on failures of the bar exam rollout across multiple jurisdictions. The hosts examine the NCBE's Next Gen bar exam disaster in Washington State (where the test was cancelled due to Wi-Fi failures), delays in Missouri and Maryland, and draw comparisons to California's earlier exam failures. They also discuss Milbank's summer bonuses, lateral partner moves at Wachtell including an ethics incident, and the importance of work-life balance in BigLaw.

8. Park Benches And Supreme Court Benches

   Jul 29, 2026

   Joe Patrice and Catherine Robino discuss major legal stories from the week, including a viral video of a Wachtell Lipton partner and associate making out on a park bench in New York City, Todd Blanche's contentious confirmation hearings for permanent Attorney General, and Elena Kagan's recent comments suggesting the Supreme Court doesn't have a legitimacy problem—which Patrice argues undermines her progressive colleagues like Sotomayor and Jackson who are raising valid concerns about the Court's political behavior.

9. 2026: A Rule Of Law Odyssey

   Jul 22, 2026

   This episode of Thinking Like a Lawyer features hosts Joe Patrice and Catherine Pino discussing major legal stories from the week. Topics include K&L Gates layoffs affecting roughly 10% of staff across multiple departments; the Trump administration issuing subpoenas to nine Big Law firms that signed compliance agreements, creating a complex discovery dispute with the ABA lawsuit; and a U.S. attorney in Western Washington fired after 54 minutes, highlighting constitutional violations in the vacancy appointment process.

10. Collateral Damage Across The Legal Industry

    Jul 15, 2026

    Joe Patrice and Catherine Urbino discuss the week's legal industry news, including the Cadwallader merger's impact on timekeeping systems requiring associates to review six months of time entries, law schools' AI policies (Berkeley's blanket ban versus University of Chicago's nuanced approach), and controversies including Sullivan & Cromwell's handling of Trump representation, Supreme Court justices' polymarket betting, and Yale Law School's pushback against university leadership.