Happy Hour Hearsay

// Most folks may not be back in the office yet, but that day is coming and that means you’re going to have to get back to meeting up with your colleagues — seniors and juniors, students and professors — and having some good old fashioned legal small talk. But what are you going to talk about at that three martini lunch, bar review, or off-site happy hour?

We’ve gathered some legal conversation starters from the week.

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And, if you’re a long-time Above the Law reader and thinking, “Isn’t this just a fancy, weekly ‘Non-Sequiturs’?” SHHHHHHHH!

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* “When I’m miserable, I don’t kill people.” This is a quote from the judge in a wrongful termination suit and you’re rightly wondering how the hell that came up. [Lowering the Bar]

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* K, but why? We’ve abbreviated contracts with the letter K for a long time, but most folks haven’t considered the reasons. What do you people have against the letter C, huh? [SSRN via Faculty Lounge]

* Due process sounds great, but it’s hackable. A look at how Kazakhstan uses due process as a weapon against dissent. [Lawfare]

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* Finally! A use for NFTs. You’re not going to end up owning the rights to Dune by dumping way too much money into a picture of a book, but at least NFTs are useful for driving up copyright litigation! [Cointelegraph]

* Speaking of NFTs and Crypto… law firms understand that they boast hefty digital footprints, but did you know they have big digital carbon footprints too?  [Porch]

* Enough about stare decisis! Is the nomination process too hung up on doctrinal issues and ignoring serious ethical ones? I’m not going all the way to the conclusion that the judiciary should have more non-lawyers, but it’s an interesting thought experiment to wonder what questions would we ask nominees in an ideal world where we don’t have to worry that a judge is about to overturn Brown v. Board. [Brian Vukadinovich Blog]

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Photoshop isn’t my strong suit and I’d welcome more talented meme artists to email potential submissions to [email protected] going forward. In the meantime, here’s my stab at summing up the state of the Biglaw salary market right now.

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And the last few weeks have been the increasingly tense series of close-ups.

Podcast Corner

* What would we do if the legal profession wasn’t weird? It’s an existential question at Above the Law, but it’s also an important question for @BigLawBoiz and @NonEquityPartner who team up this week for a wide-ranging interview about covering this space with an eye toward the meme-worthy. [Off Track w/ Big Law Boiz]

* Data could hold the key to better policing. It’s not an idea at the top of the police reform talking points sheet, but in a way it’s always been there. Bodycams get a lot of attention, but ultimately those are just data gathering devices — and only as useful as the data they actually capture. The folks from 3 Geeks and a Law Blog spoke with advocates seeking to use quantitative and qualitative data from both policing and Black communities to identify misalignments. [Geek in Review podcast]

* Too saucy for PG podcast. This is a few weeks back — I’m still catching up on podcasts right now — but I got name-checked on this show but they refused to explain why they brought me up because it’s a “PG podcast.” Frankly, I’m touched that I’m too edgy for most podcasts! [Strict Scrutiny]

Topics

Non-Sequiturs