Above the Law
Posts by Above the Law
-
* Regulators tell Elon Musk that he can’t start putting chips in people’s brains. GAH! Kill a monkey (or 1500) and suddenly the bureaucrats in Washington won’t let you do anything anymore. [Reuters]
* “Murdaugh Committed Murders As Career Spiraled” should be every attorney’s defense to a rough month… “I know I just considered taking my book of business to Jones Day, but I could’ve done a double murder.” [Law360]
* Biden administration plans to shift the liability for hacks to software manufacturers. This policy seems stupid but at least the president is trying to address the harms of massive data breaches instead of having public fever dreams about drag story time. America is broken. [Bloomberg Law News]
* After securing abortion restrictions, the new right-wing legal mission is advocating for strict voting restrictions. [ProPublica]
* Legal technology made the national news! Our coverage was better. [MSNBC]
* Let the battle for AI supremacy in Biglaw begin! [Legaltech News]
-
* When the Trump administration used COVID as a rationale to unilaterally rewrite immigration laws, the Supreme Court thought that was fine. Today, the same justices will scream bloody murder at the idea of the Biden administration using the COVID economic slump to justify forgiving $20K worth of student loans the same way the government forgave millions in PPP loans. Because… reasons. [Reuters]
* Law firms get conservative on legal technology amid recession fears. I guess this means they aren’t trying to bring in tech to reduce attorney ranks. [Legaltech News]
* Rupert Murdoch acknowledges in testimony that Fox News lied about the election. Did these people even have in-house counsel in 2020? [Law360]
* Merrick Garland’s appearance on Capitol Hill tomorrow will very much suck for him. [Esquire]
* The ongoing Neil Gerrard scandal will go to court next week to find out just how much Dechert owes one of its former clients. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Florida court denies the habeas petition a pregnant detainee filed on behalf of her fetus. As always “Life Begins At Conception… Some Terms and Conditions Apply.” [The Guardian]
-
-
* Another effort to strike “non-lawyer” from the industry vernacular. Deploying the phrase to denigrate other professionals is bad, but… it’s pretty important for a host of ethical reasons that folks know if their law firm contact is a lawyer or not. [Law.com]
* Shocking absolutely no one, when faculty met to discuss an effort by some Christian law students to get official recognition for new clubs to exclude LGBTQ students, the meeting was recorded and leaked to Fox News. Because the whole point for these initiatives is to get on Fox News. But now police are involved and students are getting a crash course in the difference between one- and two-party consent states. [NHPR]
* Alex Murdaugh’s lawyer pulled a gun on the prosecutor? Meh, seems par for this course. [Intelligencer]
* Even if Section 230 survives, it won’t shield ChatGPT. [Lawfare]
* Regulators are starting to think billion-dollar crypto deals might be a problem. Welcome to the party. [Reuters]
-
* Fox doesn’t own the Discovery Network, but discovery now owns Fox News! See… it’s a Rule 26 joke. [Law360]
* A lawyer who represents themselves may have a fool for a client, but it’s possible that a lawyer hired to represent another lawyer over the handling of Trump’s classified documents case also has a fool for a client. [Reuters]
* There’s a lot of panic that the Supreme Court will fundamentally destroy the internet as we know it, just because they’ve already destroyed voting rights, reproductive rights, and the Second Amendment as we knew them. But everyone is forgetting that the Supreme Court needs to refill its Mana meter before it can obliterate another cornerstone of society. [CBS]
* NBA team hires Weil partner to head up in-house efforts. [Bloomberg]
* Another Republican governor pushing to get the data period-tracking apps into the hands of law enforcement because unlike periods, the fascism train is never late. [Washington Post]
* Jeremy Clarkson tells a lawyer with dyslexia to “learn to spell,” because Jeremy Clarkson is a dick. [Legal Cheek]
-
* Supreme Court considering whether or not to blame Google for terrorism, which seems like a stretch because even if someone searched for terrorism, they’d have to wade through 35 ads for unrelated garbage before getting anything relevant. [Vox]
* Allen & Overy becomes first firm to go all in on ChatGPT style tech announcing that it’s working with Harvey. [Legal Futures]
* NBA great George Gervin sues Ralph Lauren for releasing a retro-styled shoe called the “Gervin Mid.” So… apparently Ralph Lauren thought George Gervin was dead. [Law360]
* New York Governor Kathy Hochul fought hard for her right to be publicly humiliated, and officially succeeded as the NY Senate that attempted to offer her basic political dignity caved and officially rejected Hector LaSalle nomination to serve as chief judge. Crackerjack politicking! [Politico]
* Litigation financing spent $3.2B last year. It would be nice if justice didn’t need speculators to function, but if this is the system we’re sticking with, it’s nice that they’re there. [Reuters]
* Kari Lake’s lawyers get slapped with bar complaints because… obviously. [NBC]
-
Lawmaker ‘Definitely’ Considering Value Of Independent Cyber Force, But Wants More Study
‘I think the hesitancy on our side would be – well, so soon after creating the Space Force, we don’t want to just create a bunch of bureaucracy,’ Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., said.
-
DoD’s Update To Autonomous Weapons Policy Accounts For AI’s ‘Dramatic’ Future Role
‘I think one of… the things we sought to accomplish in the course of the update is clarifying the language to ensure a common understanding both inside and outside the Pentagon of what the directive says,’ said Michael Horowitz, director of the Pentagon’s Emerging Capabilities Policy Office.
-
4 Health Systems Invest In A Cybersecurity Startup As Threats Loom
MemorialCare, Ballad Health, Cedars-Sinai, and UNC REX Healthcare recently participated in Censinet’s $9 million funding round. The company’s flagship product is a cloud-based network that allows healthcare organizations to share and manage risk data to strengthen cybersecurity planning.
-
Health Care / Medicine, Technology
Which Health Tech Companies Might Go Public Or Get Acquired In 2023?
As macroeconomic forces continue to negatively impact the healthcare sector, health tech experts predict that 2023 will be another slow year for the IPO market. However, they think consolidation deals will continue to be a constant, according to a new report.
-
-
Biglaw, Small Law Firms, Technology
For Law Firm Cybersecurity, Does Bigger Mean Better?
Share your thoughts for a chance at a $250 gift card.
-
What We Learned From Cybersecurity Attacks In Healthcare In 2022
In 2022, the healthcare sector is on track to meet or exceed the more than 50.4 million patient records that were breached last year. As we look ahead to 2023, increasing cybersecurity budgets will be a necessity for healthcare organizations, despite their tight financial circumstances.
-
Health Care / Medicine, Technology
What Should Tech Companies Do To Navigate Privacy Concerns In Post-Dobbs Era?
Patient privacy is evolving rapidly in the post-Dobbs era, according to healthcare and life science lawyers in a webinar hosted by the American Bar Association on Wednesday.
-
Military / Military Law, Technology
A Musk Monopoly? For Now, Ukraine Has Few Options Outside Starlink For Battlefield Satcoms
‘I think everyone agrees that if there’s a reasonable cost-based argument that paying for use does make sense,’ industry analyst Tim Farrar said. But ‘I think Elon has made that more difficult rather than less difficult because you don’t normally negotiate your weapons contracts on Twitter.’
-
Hackers Are Exploiting The Very Security Tools Providers Use To Protect Themselves, HHS warns
Providers can protect themselves by having a firm grasp of what their IT environment looks like, as this may help them spot any suspicious security tool commands.
-
Key Senators Renew Push To Undo FCC’s Ligado Spectrum Ruling
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is planning to release on Sept. 9 its review of the impacts on DoD use of GPS – just a few weeks before Ligado plans to go live.
-
How Contract Management Systems Control The Chaos
Drowning in documents? Read on.
-
Cyber Spies Sway Litigation Battles And Break Into Attorney Emails
At least 75 U.S. and European companies, three dozen advocacy and media groups, and numerous Western business executives were the subjects of these hacking attempts.
-
An Often Overlooked Cybersecurity Threat: Employees, Current And Former
Seventy-four percent of employers report that they’ve been harmed by an employee getting past their digital security.