Original Jurisdiction, 1200 Morris Turnpike, Suite 3005, New York, NY (2025)

02/20/2025

Things are quiet at the U.S. Supreme Court right now. The justices last heard oral arguments on January 22, and they won’t resume hearing arguments until February 24. So they’ve had time to draft opinions and complete other tasks—such as law clerk hiring.

Since I published my last SCOTUS clerk hiring roundup in early December, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson completed their clerk hiring. And I’m guessing all the justices are—as my one-year-old likes to say at the conclusion of his meals, raising his little hands in the air—“all done!” (Yes, this is just as ridiculously cute as it sounds.)

I provide rankings of the law schools and "feeder judges" producing the most Supreme Court clerks in my newest post for Original Jurisdiction (link below). In addition, paid subscribers can view lists of the clerks themselves, by name.

https://bit.ly/3CZsOVX

Plus interim rankings of law schools and feeder judges—and an update on the Bristow Fellows.

02/19/2025

Because of my obsession with the judiciary, I have read, witnessed, and conducted countless interviews of judges over the years. And I’ll be honest: as interview subjects, judges are a mixed bag. Some can’t explain complex legal concepts in understandable ways. Others are too guarded, afraid of saying anything that might give rise to controversy—or recusal requests.

Fortunately, the judges I’ve interviewed for the Original Jurisdiction podcast have been great—and if you’ll indulge me briefly as I toot my own horn, part of this is because I’ve picked the right judges. I invite judges whom I know, based on my own interactions with them, to be thoughtful, thought-provoking, honest, and even fun.

My latest guest, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, continued this tradition. While not addressing any pending cases or specific legal issues that might come before him, he spoke candidly and insightfully about a number of important subjects that are in the news today—including judicial activism, judge shopping, constitutional crisis, and the state of our democracy.

Thanks to Judge Chhabria for a lively and informative conversation, and thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring!

https://bit.ly/413OFUi Mayor Eric Adams The United States Department of Justice

Judge Chhabria speaks candidly about judicial activism, judge shopping, dismissing a criminal case under Rule 48, and other timely topics.

02/18/2025

Here’s the latest installment of Judicial Notice, the weekly legal news roundup that I send out each weekend to subscribers of Original Jurisdiction, my Substack newsletter. In this edition: benchslaps for two former solicitors general, Danielle Sassoon v. Emil Bove (continued), Elon musk’s $97 billion bid for OpenAI, and lots of lateral moves.

Thanks to BriefCatch for sponsoring this edition of Judicial Notice. And thanks to Lateral Link for the Job of the Week, an opportunity for a midlevel litigation associate in Los Angeles. I'll post the information in the comments, and you can reach out to Christina Ahn at [email protected] if interested.

Thanks for your readership!

https://bit.ly/412YvWk

Benchslaps for two former solicitors general, Danielle Sassoon v. Emil Bove (continued), Musk’s $97 billion bid for OpenAI, and lots of lateral moves.

02/14/2025

Did we just witness… a Thursday Afternoon Massacre?

On Wednesday, February 12, Danielle Sassoon, at the time the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.), sent an eight-page letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. In her letter, Sassoon objected strongly to a February 10 memo she received from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, in which he directed her to dismiss the S.D.N.Y.’s indictment against Mayor Eric Adams.

Sassoon’s objections were apparently dismissed by the powers that be at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters down in Washington, D.C. (aka Main Justice). So Sassoon then resigned as acting U.S. attorney, by email, at approximately 1:50 p.m. today (Thursday). Bove then sent Sassoon an eight-page letter of his own, responding to Sassoon’s concerns—and accepting her resignation.

I invite you to read both letters and share your views in the comments, over at Original Jurisdiction (where I offer my own opinion on yesterday's events).

https://bit.ly/4hDp3EI The United States Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

Now-former Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove duked it out in dueling letters.

02/12/2025

For a fascinating new paper, “The SCOTUS Tournament: Winning Isn’t Everything," three law professors reviewed U.S. Supreme Court arguments and outcomes from 1970 to 2023. They used the data to evaluate the win rates of the 4,599 lawyers who argued before the Court in 7,077 cases as advocates for private parties (as opposed to government ones).

The professors found that although “lawyers with more experience win more,” it’s “not that much more than those with some but less experience.” And they came up with all sorts of other interesting findings—including a ranking of 15 star SCOTUS advocates based on their win rates.

You can read more about the study over at Original Jurisdiction. Thanks to these professors for producing such interesting research!

https://bit.ly/3CRd5bn

Plus SCOTUS advocates with the highest win rates, and other interesting info from a new paper.

02/10/2025

Here’s the latest installment of Judicial Notice, the weekly legal news roundup that I send out each weekend to subscribers of Original Jurisdiction, my Substack newsletter. In this edition: Latham raids Wachtell and Simpson, Tom Goldstein fights the feds, a "Trump judge" rules against Trump, and Pam Bondi gets down to business.

Thanks to Lateral Link, both for sponsoring this edition of Judicial Notice and for the Job of the Week, an opportunity for an FDA associate in Washington, D.C. I'll post the information in the comments, and you can reach out to Vered Krasna at [email protected] for more information.

Thanks for your readership!

https://bit.ly/4k3qRIS

Latham raids Wachtell and Simpson, Tom Goldstein fights the feds, a ‘Trump judge’ rules against Trump, and Pam Bondi gets down to business.

02/07/2025

Moral of the story: lawyers at large firms can misuse ChatGPT as well as anyone.

If you use ChatGPT or another AI tool for legal research, please, please use an actual legal-research platform to confirm that (1) the cases exist and (2) you’ve cited them accurately. That’s not too much to ask, right?

https://bit.ly/3WRHtcl

Why is not citing fake cases so hard?

02/06/2025

Skadden Fellowships are in many ways the public-interest world’s version of Supreme Court clerkships. As I’ve explained in years past, these prestigious fellowships allow law school graduates and outgoing judicial law clerks to spend two years working full-time in the public interest.

I apologize for my tardiness in reporting on the recipients of the 2025 Skadden Fellowships, which were announced in late 2024. But my delay has actually made my report unusually timely—for two reasons.

First, I think the (largely left-leaning) public-interest organizations that host Skadden Fellows would argue that in light of everything the Trump administration has been up to over the past few weeks, the work they do is more essential than ever.

Second, I’m guessing that the 2025 Skadden Fellows feel unusually blessed—because at least they still have jobs, unlike their peers who were scheduled to be starting with the federal government in the fall.

This year marks a milestone for the Skadden Fellowship program. Since its launch in 1988—to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Skadden Arps law firm, which provides its funding—the Skadden Fellowship Foundation has awarded more than 1,000 fellowships. Congratulations to the Foundation on this achievement—and congrats, of course, to the 28 newest Skadden Fellows.

https://bit.ly/42LtSHt Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Many of these young lawyers will be unusually busy during their fellowships.

02/05/2025

We’re less than a month into the second Trump administration, and mayors of major cities are already feeling the heat. The barrage of executive orders out of the White House can be hard to keep up with—and mayors of blue cities must decide which ones to fight, which ones to go along with, and which ones to try to change.

So it’s an interesting—and challenging—time to be Mayor Quinton Lucas, the 55th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. He’s having to navigate what all of Trump’s actions mean for the city he governs, one of the 40 largest in the country. And as a Democratic mayor in a Republican-dominated state, he has to deal with his state’s government as well—sometimes confrontationally, and sometimes cooperatively.

As he goes about his work, “Mayor Q” draws upon his legal training and experience—as an Eighth Circuit clerk, practicing litigator, and law professor at the University of Kansas. And he’s ultimately optimistic about the future—including February 9, when his city’s powerhouse football team will go up against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. Go Chiefs!

Thanks to Mayor Q for joining me, and thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring!

https://bit.ly/4gv02dm Kansas City Chiefs

Listen now (47 mins) | As the mayor of Kansas City, ‘Mayor Q’ must pick his battles with federal and state governments—and sometimes collaborate with them as well.

02/03/2025

Here’s the latest installment of Judicial Notice, the weekly legal news roundup that I send out each weekend to subscribers of Original Jurisdiction, my Substack newsletter. In this edition: the latest Trumpworld legal drama, Kellogg Hansen’s $630 million settlement, Doug Emhoff and Adeel Mangi’s new firms, and a big Fifth Circuit gun ruling.

Thanks to Lateral Link for the Job of the Week, an opportunity for a midlevel products-liability associate in Miami. I'll post the information in the comments, and you can reach out to Natasha DiFiore at [email protected] for more information.

Thanks for your readership!

https://bit.ly/4hnJHsk

The latest Trumpworld legal drama, Kellogg Hansen’s $630 million settlement, Doug Emhoff and Adeel Mangi’s new firms, and a big Fifth Circuit gun ruling.

01/31/2025

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines passenger plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. Both aircraft then crashed into the Potomac River. The three U.S. service members aboard the helicopter and the 64 people aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 are presumed dead.

The passengers on the American flight included U.S. and Russian figure skaters, as reported by several media outlets. And they also included at least three members of the legal profession: Sarah Lee Best and Elizabeth Keys, associates at the Wilkinson Stekloff LLP litigation boutique, and Kiah Duggins, an attorney with Civil Rights Corps .

I wrote a tribute to these three remarkable young lawyers—and human beings—over at Original Jurisdiction. As you'll see, all of them had a history of using their legal talents in service of the public good. May their memories be a blessing.

https://bit.ly/40W4SMf

Two Wilkinson Stekloff associates, Sarah Lee Best and Elizabeth Keys, were on their way home after a deposition—and the day was also Keys’s 33rd birthday.

01/30/2025

How will Donald Trump reshape the judiciary during his second term? Although he’s currently focused on Cabinet and other executive-branch appointments, he will soon turn his attention to the courts.

It’s unclear if Trump will have another Supreme Court vacancy to fill in his second term, but he does have four seats to fill in the circuit courts. These appellate courts are hugely important because they have the final word in the vast majority of federal appeals, given how few cases the Supreme Court hears.

Based on my own research, here are some potential picks.

https://bit.ly/40A7X3b

It’s unlikely that he’ll be able to reshape the judiciary as much as he did during his first term, but Trump still has an opportunity to shift the courts rightward.

01/28/2025

Thank God it’s Friday. I’m exhausted—simply from reading all the news, not even writing about it.

During the first week of his second term, Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders. On his first day alone, he took more than 200 executive actions, including a record-breaking 42 executive orders and 115 personnel actions.

I can’t cover them all, so I’ve picked out five that are particularly significant for lawyers, in terms of their direct effects on the legal profession (as opposed to orders that raise interesting or important legal issues). This is an admittedly subjective selection, so if I’ve missed one that you want to discuss, please raise it in the comments the post—over at Original Jurisdiction (link below). Thanks!

https://bit.ly/4ayG6ow

In his first week in office, President Trump has issued executive orders and taken other actions with significant implications for the legal community.

01/27/2025

Here’s the latest installment of Judicial Notice, the weekly legal news roundup that I send out each weekend to subscribers of Original Jurisdiction, my Substack newsletter. In this edition: Justice Jackson’s jewelry, Justice Alito’s surprising vote, Kirkland’s raid on Skadden, Gibson Dunn’s latest wins—and more Trump news than you can shake a stick at.

Thanks to BriefCatch for sponsoring this edition of Judicial Notice, and thanks to Lateral Link for the Job of the Week, an opportunity for a midlevel energy and infrastructure associate in Houston. I'll post the information in the comments, and you can reach out to Wendy Boone Jaikaran at [email protected].

Thanks for your readership!

https://bit.ly/3WCmGto

Justice Jackson’s jewelry, Justice Alito’s surprising vote, Kirkland’s raid on Skadden, Gibson Dunn’s latest wins—and more Trump news than you can shake a stick at.

01/22/2025

Three years ago this month, in January 2022, the constitutional lawyer and scholar Ilya Shapiro almost lost his job at Georgetown Law—over a tweet. The controversy, which I covered extensively in these pages, was followed by disruptive protests of speakers at other top law schools, including Yale and Stanford.

According to Shapiro, these events reflected the “illiberal takeover of legal education”—the subject of his new book, Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites. I interviewed Shapiro—about Lawless, whether the intellectual climates at law schools have improved since his near-cancellation at Georgetown, and what can be done to protect and promote free speech and intellectual diversity in higher education—in the latest episode of the Original Jurisdiction podcast.

Thanks to Ilya for joining me, and thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring!

https://bit.ly/3WsrZvn HarperCollins

The ‘illiberal takeover of legal education,’ as well as how to deal with it, takes center stage in a new book from a prominent legal commentator.

01/21/2025

Here’s the latest installment of Judicial Notice, the weekly legal news roundup that I send out each weekend to subscribers of Original Jurisdiction, my Substack newsletter. In this edition: transitions between government and private practice, Biglaw bonus shenanigans, SCOTUS on TikTok, and a religious-liberty case worth watching.

Thanks to Lateral Link, both for sponsoring this edition of Judicial Notice and for the Job of the Week, an opportunity for a labor and employment associate in Chicago. I'll post the information in the comments, and you can email your résumé to Zain Atassi at [email protected] if interested.

Thanks for your readership!

https://bit.ly/3Egf5Kv

Transitions between government and private practice, Biglaw bonus shenanigans, SCOTUS on TikTok, and a religious-liberty case worth watching.

01/17/2025

Yesterday, a federal grand jury in the District of Maryland issued a 50-page, 22-count indictment against Thomas C. Goldstein—aka Tom Goldstein, the prominent Supreme Court advocate and founder of SCOTUSblog

The legal community is abuzz with the allegations. Here are my thoughts, over at Original Jurisdiction.

https://bit.ly/40CT816

A lengthy indictment accuses the once high-flying Supreme Court lawyer of massive tax evasion—tied to multimillion-dollar poker losses and multiple affairs.

01/15/2025

Devastating wildfires are entering their second week in southern California. They have killed at least 24 people, forced more than 190,000 to evacuate, destroyed more than 40,000 acres, and caused an estimated $250 billion to $275 billion in damage.

Unfortunately, catastrophic wildfires aren’t new to California and other western states. And as with so many other news events, there is a legal connection: over the years, the law has shaped efforts to prevent, respond to, and recover after wildfires.

For more, please see my Original Jurisdiction story linked below.

https://bit.ly/42gFthj

Once the wildfires are extinguished and attention turns to recovery, we should explore what can be done to reduce the risk of fires in the future.

Original Jurisdiction

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