Big Law Firm Paul Weiss Caved to Trump's Bogus Order in 4 Days. It Was Cowardly and Inexcusable.
Release Date: 03/28/2025
T3BE67: To Larse or to Burgle?
Opening Arguments
T3BE67 - It's another bar question with Heather Varanini! First we get the answer to last week's very bad and ungrateful father question, and then it's time for our next one! We crown some new winners, and then thank the best winners of all - our patrons! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, and look for the appropriate t3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at and play there! Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the...
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Meet the Absolute Heroes Behind CourtListener.com
Opening Arguments
OA1152 - We are pleased to welcome Mike Lissner, the Executive Director and CTO of the Free Law Project to discuss his outstanding work in bringing federal court filings out from behind the PACER paywall, how just a few people with good ideas can fill in the gaps left by government services, and why he hasn’t created an Article III Hot or Not with his vast library of judicial portraits (but how you could). Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at ! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can...
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Just When We Thought Big Law Could Not Be More Pathetic
Opening Arguments
OA1151 - We’re (kind of) live from New York! Thomas, Matt, and OA regular Liz Skeen meet up in person for the first time on Liz’s home turf to review the state of the law three months into the second Trump administration. We begin with a brief update on some recent developments in Trump’s war against Biglaw before turning to some encouraging developments in two of the most significant federal civil cases of our lifetimes. Finally, Matt cedes today’s footnote to a New York minute from Liz about a welcome legal setback for Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign. sent to major...
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T3BE66: Drowning in Camera Repair Debt
Opening Arguments
It's Thomas Takes the Bar Exam question 66! Heather's here to break down the answer to T3BE65, and Lydia jumps in (because of reasons we explain in the show) to help us congratulate the winners and tackle the question for T3BE66. If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at and play there! Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at !...
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DHS Tries to Get Citizen To Self-Deport. The Story Went Viral. Turns Out SHE'S MATT'S LAW PARTNER!
Opening Arguments
OA1150 - Did the Department of Homeland Security really just give Massachusetts-born immigration attorney Nicole Micheroni seven days to leave the US? Matt has the inside (his law office) scoop on this viral story. Then in today’s deep dive: what if Congress accidentally legalized some THC products seven years ago and no one noticed? We discuss how this unexpected dutchie was actually passed on the right hand side and what, if anything, Congress should do it about it. about the notice she received to leave the U.S. in seven days “,” Whitt Steineker, National Law Review...
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Republicans Might As Well Pass the "No Things We Don't Like" Act
Opening Arguments
OA1149 - Even as most of the Biglaw establishment falls to Trump’s whims, lawyers from smaller firms are stepping up to do the most necessary work on the most important issues of our times. We’re here to tell you a little more about some of them! But first: The House passes the “No Rogue Rulings Act” and we rip into some fascist nonsense from MAGA legal “thinker” Mike Davis defending the President’s absolute right to call anyone a terrorist and send them to hell without a hearing. Also: DHS’s “evidence”(?) in support of Mahmoud Kahlil’s deportation, ...
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ICE Disappeared One of Matt's Clients
Opening Arguments
OA1148 - We interrupt your regularly scheduled T3BE to bring you three stories of why Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the worst. Matt starts off by reporting on how ICE disappeared one of his detained clients shortly before his scheduled bond hearing this week. On that theme, you might have seen the viral video of an attorney confronting deportation officers at his minor client’s home. What in the world was that? Matt has the brekadown. We then try to understand why the Supreme Court has just agreed that the President can kidnap and throw pretty much any non-citizen* out of the...
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The Karen Read Trial(s)
Opening Arguments
OA1147 - It’s the retrial of the century, and Matt’s bringing his local perspective for the single most-requested story in OA history. Jury selection is underway for the second trial of Karen Read for her alleged responsibility in the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe in the same Massachusetts courtroom where a mistrial was declared last July, and we’ve got everything you need to know to follow this case which has become a global phenomenon. We review some of the basic facts as revealed at the last trial and take a closer look at the legal issues. Where did both the...
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Kafka, Esq.
Opening Arguments
OA1146 - We begin with a quick review of SDNY Judge Dale Ho’s scathing 78-page (!) order dismissing all federal charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams at DOJ’s request to see how it compared to our recent predictions. Then in our main story, Matt breaks down a true legal nightmare from this week’s news and goes beyond the headlines to explain why ICE’s recent admission that it accidentally sent a man on a one-way ticket to hell with no intention of ever returning him is actually even worse than it sounds. Also featured: Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem face actual for-real legal...
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The HHS Massacre
Opening Arguments
Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: OA1145 and T3BE65 - Lydia joins this Wild Card Wednesday to discuss the awful, inhumane HHS layoffs. Workers were lined up around the block to wait hours to find out if they were fired or not. These are human beings. The people responsible for this should be imprisoned. (awkward transition) and then it's time for a bar exam question! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your...
info_outline*** Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/opening ***
OA1143 - In the past month, Donald Trump has issued a series of truly fascist orders targeting some of the country’s best-known law firms for crimes ranging from hiring people Trump doesn’t like personally to doing some favors for special counsel Jack Smith to flagrantly hiring non-white non-men. What is actually in these orders, and how bad is it that one of leading litigation firms in the country gave in to Trump’s demands without a fight? And what will it mean for the already-overloaded immigration court system when they start going after immigration lawyers as they have also promised? Former NYC Biglaw associate (and current NYC public defender) Liz Skeen joins to help us to understand this uniquely un-American moment in American legal history.
(UPDATE: This episode was recorded shortly before news broke about the Trump administration taking action against major US law firms Wilmer Hale and Skadden Arps.)
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Addressing Risks From Jenner & Block (3/25/25)
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Addressing Remedial Action by Paul Weiss (3/25/25)
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Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court (3/22/25)
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Suspension of Security Clearances and Evaluation of Government Contracts (Covington & Burling LLP)(2/25/25)
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“Complicity in the Perversion of Justice: The Role of Lawyers in Eroding the Rule of Law in the Third Reich,” Cythnia Fountaine, St. Mary’s Journal of Legal Ethics (2020)
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