Hello and welcome on the Terry Sanford Federal Building in beautiful downtown Raleigh, NC where I will be live-posting a show cause hearing starting at 4:00 ET

Paging @juliedicaro.bsky.social & @chrisgeidner.bsky.social (and I continue to appreciate that @maxbernstein.bsky.social always includes links to actual court documents).

Made a last-minute decision last night to watch John Woo’s 1996 action thriller “Broken Arrow,” a truly cheesy offering staring John Travolta & Christian Slater. The acting is hammy, the pre-CGI effects delightfully corny. Delroy Lindo was great. At 1:48, it was the perfect use of my time.

This is especially ironic for a guy who, in his book Ending Medical Reversal, decried the medical industry's tendency to supplant "evidence-based decision making" with "eminence-based decision making."

I’m seeing so many bad AI-generated contracts, but at least my clients are having a real lawyer review them. It’s going to be a mess when the ones that don’t get reviewed lead to lawsuits in a few years and courts have to discern intent when the parties neither wrote nor read their “agreements.”

That “lost dog” commercial is a funny way for Ring to admit they are creating a surveillance state.

Democracy Dies in “The Data”

The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a ruling that barred the deployment of the National Guard in Portland, @maxbernstein.bsky.social reports:

This headline is misleading. It should say “Federal left hand dismayed that right hand keeps doing things to actively erode trust in all things Federal.”

Another welcome example of a federal judge holding the line (emphatically) against administration overreach. This time protecting Oregon’s voter rolls. cc: @chrisgeidner.bsky.social @juliedicaro.bsky.social And thank you to @maxbernstein.bsky.social for linking to the opinion in the article!

I am. But there are three things at play here regarding ICE collecting private data. Quick rundown on the issue, why you should be paying attention, and what I'm doing about it:

@joepatrice.bsky.social we should talk about the tools for beginning misconduct proceedings against lawyers. It differs by jurisdiction, but is is not so simple as “state bars sanction or disbar bad attorneys.” There’s a specific process worth explaining to people (hoping they’ll use it).

Sharing one last time for anyone who might need this.

I know I don’t have much reach on Bluesky yet, but I’m using what I have to urge folks to sign up for Julie’s newsletter. It is well worth it.

This is a mad thing to say in privacy policy for a home alarm / security camera monitoring app (Alarm.com) Paraphrasing the highlighted text - “We will not your data with others … unless ‘necessary’ for our business”

Great thread by @tessbridgeman.bsky.social on DOJ OLC memo purporting to justify legality of Maduro’s arrest.

If you happen to be watching the CFB playoffs, and you happen to be on YT tv, you should know what the “sky cam view” audio is just the stadium feed: the bands, the crowd, and the stadium announcer. None of the booth announcer hype. It is a relatively peaceful way to consume the game. #cfbplayoff

It makes zero sense to me why so many people were willing, without evidence, to give the Hilton corporation credit for doing the right thing here. Not all corporate actors are bad actors, but trends are trends.

AI companies are playing a game wherein these computer programs are presented to the public as autonomous individuals capable of issuing a meaningful apology. The machine is just a machine. Human beings owe the apology for building the machine irresponsibly and unleashing it on the world.

This is riveting! It is the first piece of content I consumed (via @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy ‘s podcast) and boy did I pick a good one. It is the most hopeful take on the current political mess I’ve seen. Bleak as hell in describing that mess, but hopeful in its potential path out of it.

Help me get to 500 paid subscribers by January 1?

Wait, has Medium become something like Spotify but for writing? I obviously haven’t read a Medium post for awhile — it is prompting me to become a (paid) “member” in what looks like an all you can eat approach where they pay contributors some (probably paltry?) percentage of my fees for each read?

#Thanksgiving & football go hand in hand, and THE FRESHMAN (1925) shows the frenzy has been around for over a century. Harold Lloyd’s chaotic climactic game helped shape every underdog sports comedy that followed. Touchdown! 🏈 Watch the full #publicdomain classic ⤵️ archive.org/details/the-...

At Law Dork overnight, I wrote about Wednesday's shooting of two National Guard troops — their presence, the shooting, and Trump's response. Quite simply, all of it is wrong. The troops shouldn't have been in DC, violence is unacceptable, and "more troops" is not the answer.

2 points: (1) This is the fundamental flaw in any argument that AI will increase access to justice. It will undoubtedly increase the volume of new proceedings, but justice happens at the end of those proceedings, not just because they were initiated. (2) the inevitable result will be an AI arms race

To sum it up, this country kidnapped a child and sent him across state lines. He’s been locked up for over a month and forced to make a life changing decision without the support of his family. A decision that results in him being sent even further away from that family. I could just scream. 5/

Pretty remarkable that Judge Sommer guy, in her ruling on Oregon v. Trump extensively documented her factual findings that: (1) Federal Officials regularly testified to things in her court that were not supported by documentary evidence, giving her reason to find the testimony not credible; …

We just had a three-day trial in Portland where Portland police testified that this wasn't true.

Blazers about to get bought by the owner of the Hartford Whalers

Lawyers deal with stress, burnout, and trauma more than we admit — not just in clients, but in ourselves. To many lawyers have normalized stress, disconnection, and burnout as part of the job. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 🧵 (1/9) #LawSky #LegalOps #lawfirm

Most of my business involves helping law firms find efficiency in their operations. But efficiency ≠ speed. The point is to create balanced systems that produce quality outcomes. Due process is an intentional inefficiency in our justice system that improves the quality of its outcomes.

This week I talked with Jonah Perlin from Georgetown Law about why audience and purpose are the keys to effective legal writing — and how generative AI can be a double-edged sword if you aren’t careful. AI can help — but it can't replace the wrestle. Listen here: www.agileattorney.com/67

This is always my favorite thing to see in Wordle

Subscribe to Law Dork, independent legal journalism about the Supreme Court and our legal system. I started the original Law Dork before SCOTUSblog began, and I'm still here — and still independent. www.lawdork.com

Seems like something you’d have noticed 🤣

At ABA TECHSHOW I'm organizing a gathering for all lawyers attending who want to explore how we can live our ethical obligation to be public citizens who protect the rule of law. Thursday 4/3 at 12 pm CST Stay tuned for location — will be somewhere in the Hyatt. Democracy dies in silence.

Tonight, hours after the Paul Weiss news broke, an associate at Skadden Arps sent a firm-wide email: "Please consider this email my two week notice, revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment...We do not have time. It is now or it is never..."

I’m not a fan of the Supreme Court’s recent precedent-overturning rulings, but it’s not lost on me that the end of Chevron deference may have happened just in time… www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/u... #chevron

✈️ Is your legal work delivered on a direct flight — or with a long layover? Speeding up your 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 with AI and automation can help… but if you’re not managing the 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 in your system, you’re still stuck at the gate. www.agileattorney.com/61

Seems there is a deliberate and coordinated effort to challenge court orders. See www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/u...

“Despite court order…” Bad facts make bad law, and the people in charge know it. So they are betting that nobody will stand up to say that (alleged) Venezuelan gang members are worth fighting over. This is the most direct possible threat to the rule of law. www.bbc.com/news/article...

#People + #Process + #Technology. Chatted with amazing @agileattorney.bsky.social (John Grant) about #LegalTech + #AI impact on #law: 8hr research → 2 mins. Smart firms shifting from hourly → value pricing. What remains = uniquely human (empathy + judgment). Experiment safely! youtu.be/Zp93iKiFDDQ

🎙️ The ABA opinion on AI that shocked @jonathanstark.com. Jonathan Stark has spent years helping professionals ditch hourly billing—but when I told him about a recent ABA ethics opinion on AI-assisted legal work, he was stunned. Can you guess what it said? Find out at agileattorney.com/59

Join me this week as I sit down with Brita Long to talk flat fee pricing—not as a cure-all, but as a tool to help you manage your workload and reclaim your capacity. If you’re looking to build a more sustainable practice, this one’s for you. Listen here: www.agileattorney.com/58

Your engagement agreement fulfills a tough dual role: It governs the legal relationship, but also serves as the final step in your marketing process. In this week's podcast episode I critique a real-world engagement letter and show how to make your engagement letter work. 🎧 www.agileattorney.com/57

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🎯 The counterintuitive path to higher productivity in legal practice: doing less at once New episode drops the science behind WIP limits + practical tools to transform your workflow. Because sometimes, the best way to do more is to do less. 🎧 Listen now: www.agileattorney.com/56

Guide to finding archived versions of the thousands of federal webpages and datasets removed since January 20. https://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/Where-to-Find-Removed-Federal-Websites-and-Data