Today's war for associate talent is being fought during the 1L year. The pitfalls are clear, but correcting "mismatches" offers upside.

       

The legal industry's most celebrated indicators—rate growth, PEP, headcount—look solid in isolation but form an impossible shape when viewed together.

       

Broward County Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips concluded that Abbott, which provided its formula to doctors in hospitals, could not be sued for failing to warn Tiana Ennix, the mother of a premature baby named Iyiana, who contracted necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, after ingesting Similac Special Care.

       

Litigation is surging over the use of AI%E2%80%91powered product recommendation tools in the beauty sector.

       

The court looked to its revised framework under its 2024 ruling Bristol Asphalt v. Rochester Bituminous Products, to analyze special motions to dismiss under the state's anti-SLAPP laws, Massachusetts General Laws chapter 231 Section 59H.        

Some observers are viewing it as a victory for the rule of law, now that the U.S. Attorney's Office plans to re-indict some defendants because Alina Habba signed off on their cases.

       

Legal experts say the sudden collapse of the high-profile partnership highlights the risks of “light agreements and the shifting priorities of OpenAI, which is eyeing a 2026 IPO.

       

"Read together, Berk v. Choy and Shady Grove squarely resolve the question of whether Rule 23 applies in federal court notwithstanding a state law class action bar. It does, and therefore the Alabama class action bar is unenforceable in this action," a federal judge in Massachusetts wrote.        

Connecticut has formed a committee to explore other pathways for law school graduates to become lawyers instead of taking the bar exam.

       

Wilmer and Jenner are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to affirm the lower court's permanent injunction of four executive orders targeting law firms.

       

"For legal teams, the environment demands a real-time posture. It's not enough to prepare once a year," said Kilian Moote, a strategist at the governance consulting firm Georgeson.

       

In this Legal Speak episode, co-hosts Cedra Mayfield and Patrick Smith interview Mitratech Vice President of Value Experience Liz Lugones, live from the Legalweek 2026 Conference in New York.

       

In this Legal Speak episode, co-hosts Cedra Mayfield and Patrick Smith interview ProSearch Privacy & Governance Corporate Counsel Odette Claridge, live from the Legalweek 2026 Conference in New York.

       

"My advice to associates looking to make partner is that doing great work is the baseline expectation. You must take initiative, be responsive, and embrace an ownership mentality. I learned early on that there's a huge amount of value in speaking up and providing your own thoughts on strategy and potential next steps, no matter how junior you are or how much about the law you think you don't know."

       

In the legal profession, the central challenge is not unequal pay within the same job.

       

Every decision to onboard a client, partner, lateral hire, contractor, consultant or expert witness carries risk. Yet many firms continue to rely on onboarding practices that have not kept pace with the digital world in which their clients and people operate.

       

Gregory Katsas talked about how originalism has gone from a controversial idea when he was a law student to a theory embraced by many on the bench today.

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Many leaders in the Am Law 100 are taking time to investigate—and listen. Here's some of what they're hearing.

       

The court found X did not prove international defendants Shell International, Lego A/S, Nestle S.A., and Orsted Services were involved in the alleged boycott and dismissed the claims against them without prejudice due to lack of personal jurisdiction.

       

The national mean scaled score for the February 2026 Multistate Bar Examination reveals a slight increase compared to 2025, but still trails results from two of the three previous years.