On The Merits

Client Relationships Suffer as Lawyers Put Billing on Autopilot

Now is the time of year when many law firms pressure their attorneys to get their clients to pay bills before the end of the year. It's something that clients loathe just as much as their attorneys, according to today's guest on our podcast, On The Merits. Eric Dodson Greenberg, the general counsel of Cox Media Group, said the lawyer-client relationship can suffer when firms bill too aggressively and not thoughtfully enough—a problem made worse by the move toward automated billing. He said he's lost some trust in certain outside firms he's worked with when they send him surprise invoices. "What law firms have done is divorced the billing process from the exercise of judgment," he told Bloomberg Law editor Jessie Kokrda Kamens. "Law firms often prioritize that last push in December to get all that they can and not really focus on 'What's the relationship we inherit on January 1st?'" Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

OpenAI's GC Chang Shares Insights from 'Extremely Stressful' Job

OpenAI is a relatively new tech startup with the litigation demands of a massive Fortune 500 company. That means that Che Chang, its general counsel, has had to scale up his department fast. On today's episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Chang speaks with Bloomberg Law reporter Aruni Soni about how he hires lawyers to work for the ChatGPT maker and how OpenAI works with its outside law firms. On top of these usual legal officer duties, Chang discusses the "immense responsibility" of guiding decisions around the "future of human intellect." Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Brad Karp Heckling Shows Anger at Law Firms Hasn't Faded

It's been a difficult year for Brad Karp, chair of Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss. In January he suffered a heart attack and then, a few months later, he chose to strike a pro bono deal with the Trump administration to stave off a punitive executive order.  In a recent speech at a gala event in New York, Karp said the latter was more painful than the former. But during that speech, a fellow attorney stood up and heckled him—an indication of how raw feelings within the legal industry still are over the pro bono deals. Bloomberg Law reporter Mike Vilensky was at the event and saw all of this go down. He joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about who shouted at Karp, why, and what the two had to say to each other after the event concluded. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

McDermott Wooing Outside Investment May Portend Industry Shakeup

As Big Law looks for ways to scale up, McDermott Will & Schulte says it's looking at outside investment in the firm—a move that could set off a paradigm shift in how law firms run their businesses. If it does sell a part of itself to investors, McDermott would be by far the largest publicly known firm to take this step. Outside investment represents a new source of capital for law firms looking to expand, but does come with myriad risks and potential roadblocks. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Bloomberg Law's Jessie Kokrda Kamens and Justin Henry talk about why McDermott is doing this now, whether they can pull it off, and how they're going to get around the ethical rules prohibiting outside ownership of firms. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Top In-House Lawyers Absorb More Responsibility, Much More Money

The top lawyers at the largest publicly traded companies in America are being asked to wear many hats at once—and also getting paid handsomely to do so. That's the takeaway from a recent story by Bloomberg Law senior reporters Brian Baxter and Andrew Ramonas, who crunched data from SEC filings of S&P 500 companies and found out how much these attorneys are making. Alphabet's J. Kent Walker Jr. leads the list with a total compensation package exceeding $30 million. On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Baxter and Ramonas talk about who these highly paid executives are, the new responsibilities they have, and why they don't always hold the titles of "general counsel" or "chief legal officer" at their respective companies. Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.